SA face New Zealand in Group D fixture

South Africa has, not surprisingly, spent the 48 hours after Wednesday’s double super over madness, focused on being more disciplined.

Contrasting outcomes from their first two Group D fixtures, had something in common - the high number of extras conceded. Against Canada they donated 14 by way of 12 wides and two no balls, and followed that with 14 again, against the Afghanistanis, via 11 wides, Kagiso Rabada’s two no balls and one bye.

That’s 27 extra runs (byes can’t be helped). “That’s a lot of runs in this format,” Aiden Markram commented. He wants to avoid such generosity against New Zealand in SA’s third match at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday (3.30pm SA time).

Markram did well to publicly mask his anger in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday’s contest but his words that day, while measured, cut straight to the bone. “You’re already under pressure in these kinds of tournaments, so it doesn’t help when you put yourself under even more pressure,” the Proteas skipper said.

A few days later he mentioned that “chats” had occurred behind closed doors. “It’s not just the no balls.”

Keshav Maharaj’s wide in his super over added further tension, although in his case, there was the excuse that at least he was sticking to his plan.

Markram said the bowling unit needed to stick to their individual strengths. The team’s best bowler in the tournament has been Lungi Ngidi, whose variation is a crucial tool. But while he is good at bowling slower balls - and has a variety of them in his repertoire - others may not be as comfortable executing that skill.

“You can’t have a set plan as a unit - if a (batter) can really expose slower balls and the other (bowler’s) slower delivery may not be as good, you are taking a chance that the guy is doing something that maybe he’s not as good at.”

It’s been noticeable how many times Marco Jansen and Rabada have tried change ups in the first two matches, without much success. In fact it’s left them exposed and made them less effective. Between them they’ve taken five wickets so far, but their economy rates; 9.00 for Jansen and 10.17 for Rabada, exceed their career figures in that column - Jansen’s at 8.58 and Rabada’s 8.48.

Slower balls have been the rage at this year’s World Cup, with flat wickets and small grounds, leading seamers to try something different. “As a batter, it is challenging, especially when it is quite deceiving,” said Markram, who was dismissed by a Fazalhaq Farooqi slower ball on Wednesday.

Between bowlers who can get the ball to grip off the surface (off-cutters or leg-cutters) and those like Ngidi whose change of pace through the air is deceptive, batters are being asked different questions.

“You are breaking the pace of the game, you’re asking the batter to swing at different speeds. When wickets are good, like we’ve seen, you have to find ways to make it tougher for the batters, which is why a few teams have gone to changing of pace quite a bit,” said Markram.

New Zealand fast bowler, Matt Henry said it was more venue specific. “When you look at that five match series we had against India, the slow balls weren’t too effective obviously with the dew factor.”

“But then the games in Mumbai have obviously been a little on the slower side, so those cutters have been massively effective. So I think across the board, the venue and the wicket will be massively dependent,” Henry added.

Dew will be a factor on Saturday. It will be the Proteas third match in the city, and they learned from the clash with Canada under lights, that spin isn’t effective, especially in the second innings.

“The dew makes it tough for the spinner,” said Markram. That might lead to a return to the starting team for Corbin Bosch in place of George Linde, which will also help SA’s death bowling, which wasn’t effective on Wednesday.