South Africa Must Sharpen Up at the Death to Keep World Cup Dream in Focus

In the last five overs in their first ODI against New Zealand on Tuesday, South Africa conceded 45 runs. This was despite the Black Caps being nine wickets down. South Africa eventually won but not before New Zealand managed to recover from being 157-9 to 230 all out.

It is not a new problem for South Africa. During their recent tri-series in Zimbabwe, they regularly conceded between 40 to 60 runs in the latter stages of the bowling innings, against both Australia and Zimbabwe. Similar happened when they toured Sri Lanka earlier in the year. These failures are yet to cost South Africa heavily, but it is a problem that’s been present for quite some time.

Death bowling is an art that has been perfected by very few. Bowling a perfect yorker should be a delivery that’s in every bowler’s arsenal but in recent years, slower ball bouncers have become a far more popular choice.    

Ian Bishop, who took 118 ODI wickets for the West Indies, explained in an interview with the BBC earlier this year that bowlers need to have an array of deliveries to choose from.

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The fact is that the yorker is a very high-risk ball. If you stuff it up by six inches then it's a four or a six. So unless you are right on top of your game and able to nail them five times out of six, it's a pointless ball to try. Every type of ball should be an option - it's just the time that you bowl them and who you bowl them to.

If you've got a new batsman on strike, bowling length outside off stump is great because it is very hard to get a bat on it. But if you try to bowl a yorker and he gets any bat on it, then you bring the more established player on strike.

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Getting the tailenders or the new batsmen out is something South Africa were not able to do against New Zealand. It cost them because Luke Ronchi was on the charge and ended up smashing his way to 99 before eventually being dismissed by Dale Steyn. Before that, though, Vernon Philander, Ryan McLaren and Morne Morkel were carted around the park as AB de Villiers made some questionable bowling changes.

Instead of persisting with Steyn and Tahir, De Villiers opted to shuffle things around. This method can work, if the new batsman remains on strike, but South Africa leaked too many easy singles, which allowed Ronchi to go on and bash the ball around. South Africa are aware of these issues, though, and their bowlers are working on getting better.

Philander, who struggled to get things right toward the end, recently spoke about how he is looking to refine his skills, especially with the old ball. Prior to the series, he was quoted by ESPN Cricinfo as saying:

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I'll be looking to strike upfront but then maybe also at the end of the innings. That's something I have been working on as well. I went out to equip myself with those (death-bowling) skills in case I should be needed.

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South Africa’s failure to execute their plans toward the latter parts of the innings have not cost them yet. However, in a World Cup, when everyone’s senses are heightened and the pressure is on, it’s something that could come back to bite them. As it stands, they are definitely contenders for winning the World Cup, but these tournaments are won by small margins, even in the one-day format. If the Proteas hope to compete for a piece of silverware, they need to sharpen up their death bowling and fast.