SYDNEY (Reuters) – Lungi Ngidi says South Africa will be looking to blast Bangladesh off the park with pace at the Twenty20 World Cup on Thursday, targeting the top order in particular to “cut the head off the snake”.
The Proteas lost a home one-day international series to Bangladesh in March and Ngidi, a key member of South Africa’s pace unit, said he and his team mates had learned some lessons from that reverse.
“Their batsmen came out pretty aggressively against us, so we’re very cognisant of that fact so we’ll definitely be targeting their top order,” he told reporters at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday.
“As the bowling unit, we’re definitely looking cut the head off the snake, take out their top order and restrict them to as low a total as possible.
“They outplayed us (in March), it’s that simple. But tomorrow, it’s a new day and we shall see what happens.”
South Africa can ill-afford any slip-ups at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday after their first Group 2 match against Zimbabwe was abandoned because of rain, leaving both sides with a single point.
Ngidi, who took 2-20 in what play was possible in Hobart, said that while the rain-disruption had been a setback it could have been worse.
“Everyone’s talking about it in a negative sense, but there was a chance we might not get out on the field,” he added.
“It’s one point more than we had at this stage in the last tournament. From here on in, we have to win all of our games, it’s as simple as that.”
Unfortunately, rain is also forecast for the Sydney area on Thursday.
“You control what you can,” said Ngidi. “We’ve just got a bit of bad luck, to be honest. We’ll just get here and be ready to play.”
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)
