Captain Bjorn Fortuin is hoping for the Proteas to take confidence into the “business end of the series” with another improved showing against Namibia in their final group match on Friday.
The Proteas fell short against the hosts in the opening game but have since responded with consecutive victories over Zimbabwe to virtually assure themselves of a place in Sunday’s T20I Tri-Series final.
The midweek 43-run victory over the northern neighbours was certainly comprehensive, but Fortuin feels there are still areas of improvement, particularly in the field, where the Proteas dropped some regulation catches that allowed Zimbabwe some free runs towards the latter part of the innings.
“Happy with the performance. Obviously, with the standards we set for ourselves, there are some areas we would like to tidy up,” Fortuin said.
“We were a bit loose with the ball at the end, and with the bat we wanted more, but I’ve learned not to take any wins for granted.”
Bar the fielding, there certainly were plenty of positives against Zimbabwe. Young batters Lhuan-dre Pretorius (94) and Dewald Brevis (41) set up the Proteas’ innings before the bowlers were particularly good during the first half of the chase.
Fortuin, in particular, led from the front with career-best T20I figures of 4/24, while rookie seamer Duan Jansen also claimed 3/21.
“Good to see bowlers standing up at different points,” he said. “Fairly happy with some wickets. We never really strive for individual performances — we are looking for wins, but to contribute like that was quite cool.
“Obviously, we want to go into the business end of the series with some confidence, and getting a good performance against Namibia will do that.”
