Replacements in top form, South Africa well covered for T20 World Cup: Anrich Nortje

Johannesburg: South Africa pace spearhead Anrich Nortje on Friday played down the Proteas’ injury concerns ahead of the T20 World Cup, saying the team has the depth and quality to absorb the setbacks, with replacement players performing strongly and ready to step up for the global event.

South Africa were forced to make two changes to their 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup with Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs included in place of the injured duo of Tony de Zorzi and Donovan Ferreira.

While acknowledging the “sad and unfortunate” impact of injuries on the squad, the South Africa and Sunrisers Eastern Cape speedster backed the depth of the Proteas’ T20 World Cup roster, stating that the replacement players are fully capable and currently in top form.

Flamboyant batters David Miller and Dewald Brevis, along with fast bowler Lungi Ngidi, are also battling injuries.

“Obviously, it’s sad to lose and it’s unfortunate. I’ve been on that side as well with a few World Cups and ICC events. But I think all in all, the guys that are replacing have put their hand up. They’ve done really well,” Nortje told select Indian reporters after Sunrisers booked a place in the SA20 League final with a seven-wicket win over Paarl Royals in the second qualifier here on Friday.

“They’ve either played in previous World Cups or been in the squad and they’ve put their hand up in the SA20 as well. So the replacements, it’s not like it’s guys who haven’t played or guys who aren’t performing. It’s really proper players as well,” he said.

“So it is unfortunate, but luckily we’re in a fortunate position where we can replace them with good quality players. And that’s exactly what’s happened,” the South African speedster said.

The Wanderers pitch has once again been slow in nature, with batters struggling to score runs, but Nortje believes this is not a concern given the variety of conditions on offer in South Africa.

“You’re going to get different wickets wherever you go. In South Africa, there’s a massive variety of conditions. Conditions change every venue. I’m just glad the boys really adapted as quickly as we did,” said Nortje, who has so far played 66 limited-overs matches (22 ODIs and 44 T20Is) for South Africa.

He acknowledged that the schedule has been quite hectic over the past few months, but felt the workload has ensured every player has had enough match practice heading into the World Cup.

“The way the tournament has been and the amount of cricket played, the schedule has been quite hectic. There hasn’t been a lot of time available. You have to travel on your off days. I think the boys have played a lot of cricket now, which is great for us. I don’t think anyone has gotten less cricket,” the 32-year-old fast bowler said.

“Maybe one or two guys coming in, but everyone’s been playing a lot of cricket. That’s brilliant for us going into the World Cup."

Nortje admitted that had there been a T20I series just before the start of the World Cup, it would have been better.

"Obviously, you probably would have wanted to play together as a team for a bit more. But I think all in all, everyone is looking really good. Everyone’s got good confidence and played well. It’s probably as close as ideal as it can be,” Nortje said.

Asked about the biggest threat his team could face against Pretoria Capitals in the SA20 final in Cape Town on Sunday, Nortje underlined the unpredictable nature of the T20 format.

“In T20 cricket, any one player can make a difference. We saw Kyle (Verreynne) score 50 today. It can be any guy. One guy can take a fiver,” Nortje said.

“So I’m not going to point out a single individual. You have to take everyone very seriously and that’s just the nature of T20 cricket as well. The guy might score a quick 50 or a quick 20. So you’ve got to take every player seriously. So it’s hard to point out single names.”