Tabraiz Shamsi has called for the Proteas to be brave against an aggressive West Indies side.
The Proteas take on the West Indies at the Rose Bowl on Monday, the same venue where they suffered a third consecutive World Cup defeat against India on Wednesday.
The West Indies are known to be an aggressive side, but Shamsi believes that their approach might work in the Proteas’ favour.
‘The Windies are a very aggressive team, I think they are more aggressive than the Indians,’ said Shamsi.
‘We have to be brave. A team like the West Indies is going to come hard, we just have to be brave and back our skills.
‘You are always in for a chance, especially when the batsmen are taking chances against you, versus when people are just looking to work you around and there is no scoreboard pressure.
‘It could either go one way or the other, but that’s exciting for me, Immy [Imran Tahir] and the rest of our bowling unit.
‘When guys are taking chances against you, if it doesn’t work it doesn’t work, but it can also bring a lot of rewards.
‘We have to be brave, that’s just the way the pitches are and the way the games are going. So it’s exciting to bowl against guys like that, yes you might get hurt, but the rewards are there.’
READ: Amla: Six wins will do it
Shamsi believes that the team’s new relaxed approach will help them win more consecutive games.
‘We only played one-third of the tournament, there are still two-thirds left. Our team, if I’m not mistaken, have the shared record for the most consecutive wins, and there is no reason why we can’t win the next few games,’ said Shamsi.
‘That has been an emphasis with the team, to be relaxed, that’s when you play your best cricket. It may look like the guys are not putting in enough effort, but we are, that’s just the new approach that the team has taken, where in the past maybe it was said that under pressure moments [we choke].
‘But the stat now is that we’ve had 11 must-win games, obviously bilateral series, and I think we won 10 of those. That’s because of the new approach we have.’
