The Proteas will reshuffle their batting line-up to give their middle order some middle time in the fourth ODI against the West Indies at St George’s Park on Sunday.
South Africa’s emphatic wins in the first three matches has left most of the middle and lower order without much time at the crease.
Russell Domingo has already rested some of the senior players, and will look to give the fringe players in the squad some valuable game time for the last two matches.
‘I’m more than likely going to shift up the batting order but not sure exactly where,’ JP Duminy said in Port Elizabeth on Friday. ‘With a lot of us not having proper game time in the middle I’m sure there will be a bit of shuffling around to hopefully give some opportunities to the middle order.’
The all-rounder says the middle order isn’t too concerned with the lack of ‘middle time’, and is rather feeding off the team’s series-winning performances.
‘Not at all,’ he said when asked if he was frustrated. ‘At the end of the day a win is a win. I think we take a lot of confidence out of the convincing victories that we have had. I guess in an ideal situation we would have liked a little bit of game time out in the middle but I’m not too worried about it.
‘From a team perspective we are in a good place, obviously with the way we have played we take a lot of confidence. I’m sure over the last two games I will get a bit of game time out in the middle and hopefully I can put in good performances which will help ahead of the World Cup.’
Duminy says the Proteas will be aiming for a series whitewash, and will take confidence from the way they have executed their plans with bat and ball in the last three matches.
‘In a World Cup event, to be successful you have to win back-to-back games,’ he said. ‘Yes we have won three in a row but the challenge for us will be to try and go four-nil, five-nil up to put ourselves under that kind of pressure to take into the World Cup. When you get into the knock-out phase of a competition you need to win back-to-back games and from our point of view if we can do that convincingly in this series we will take a lot of confidence.
‘If we are going to play against the West Indies, we play them in the third game at the World Cup, I can guarantee you that they won’t put in a performance like they have this series,’ he explained.
‘They will come out fighting, and will also have a few changes. In many ways, we don’t want to be too blasé about the performances that they have had. When you go into a big tournament, as much as you want to take confidence out of previous series, it actually means nothing.
‘It’s about how you perform on the day at these tournaments. When you get to that knock-out phase it’s not about what has happened in the past against an Australian or Sri Lankan team, it comes down to what you are going to produce on the day, that’s the most important part.’
