ICC World Cup: Temba Bavuma Most Active as Keshav Maharaj and Marco Jansen Battle it Out During South Africa Nets

Net sessions are an integral part of any cricket team’s training regime but they often turn into a battle of sorts between individuals.

South Africa’s training session on Thursday (October 5) evening displayed a similar setting.

Their session began with warm ups and a rigorous football game. Then the squad was divided with a few players staying out on the main ground for fielding drills and a major lot getting into the nets at the back.

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Three nets – the corner-most allotted to spinners, the pacers operating on the farther most net and the centre one was used for the throw-downs – were in operation.

The spinners’ net was the liveliest amongst the three as it saw an interesting battle between Keshav Maharaj and Marco Jansen.

Maharaj bowled a probing spell to Jansen who spent most of his time batting rather than bowling.

Jansen tried to take on Maharaj but could only do so on fewer deliveries.

The highlight was when the lanky pacer tried to use his feet against the wily Maharaj who managed to deceive his South African team-mate.

The two laughed it off and exchanged a few words before getting back to business.

Every time the batter was beaten, Maharaj would have a wry smile on his face.

But every time Jansen played a good shot, Maharaj didn’t hesitate to applaud.

As the players geared up, over 100 school students were rehearsing with two large South African and Sri Lankan flags that are used during national anthems before the start of the match.

Coming back to the nets, Quinton De Kock took throw downs from Head Coach Rob Walter and skipper Temba Bavuma faced pacers in Gerald Coetzee and Lizaad Williams.

Bavuma, in fact, was one of the most active players in the entire session in an otherwise relaxed looking environment.

Batting coach JP Duminy asked the batters to change their nets after half an hour. Bavuma straight away went to the spinner’s net.

However, Jansen took a breather before getting into pacers’ den.

After more than an hour, Heinrich Klassen, David Miller, and Aiden Markram, who were earlier doing fielding drills on the main ground, then entered the nets.

While Klassen and Miller padded up and went in to bat, Markram polished his off-breaks in the company of Tabraiz Shamsi. The spinners’ net was livelier, full of chirps than the batters.

Shamsi and Markram bowled alongside a net bowler to Klassen.

Shamsi looked in a very good rhythm and did beat the batters on regular occasions, also catching them plumb in front of the stumps.

Proteas are obviously not known for their prowess against the spin and while they were good in patches, the also struggled for a bit.

Bavuma and Jansen earlier, and subsequently Klassen, all focused on playing reverse sweeps while facing spin.

Only time will tell if that turns out to be handy.

South Africans have been training hard against spin considering their opening game against a spin-heavy Sri Lanka.

On the other side, pacers Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi, who were sitting relaxed at the back after a fielding session, finally took the ball in hands.

But the duo didn’t bowl to any batters initially. Instead, they tried to work on their pitch with a shorter run-up

Rabada, at one stage also aked the coach which stump should he target. The duo slowly went on to increase their run ups before finally bowling to Reeza Hendricks.

Maharaj, Bavuma, Jansen, and Williams then went to the main ground and started their fielding drills. These drills included high catches, flat catches as well as grounded shots.

The South African unit looked largely relaxed and knew what they wanted to derive from the practice session, with all of them taking turns in the nets and out in the field.

Just when the net session seemed to be coming to a close, Bavuma once again padded himself up and took throw downs from Duminy.

He was the most active player throughout the session, probably still trying to justify that that he wasn’t sleeping.