Two-match Test series between South Africa and West Indies will begin on Tuesday, February 28.
South Africa has been quite successful in the longest format of the game against the West Indies, having lost only three out of the 30 matches they played against them.
The last time these two teams played a Test series was in 2014-15, where South Africa won 2-0 in a three-match series.
The upcoming Test series will be South Africa’s first under the leadership of Shukri Conrad and Temba Bavuma, and they will be looking to perform well against Kraigg Brathwaite’s team.
While the West Indies have many talented players, they will need to be at their best to challenge the South African team.
Brathwaite, all-rounder and West Indies opening batsman, sees his team “doing well” and is “quite confident” they can produce a series-winning performance.
He expressed pleasure with their display, both with the bat and ball, in the practice match and wants an all-round effort from his squad to gain early momentum ahead of the multi-format tour.
“I think it (practice match) was decent. I was really happy with the bowling effort yesterday. The aim was to bowl out the team in the day and in doing that, I thought it was good.
“Batting-wise, I think we could have been better but I’m still happy that guys spent time in the middle and we really look forward to this Test series.
On Holder and Da Silva’s batting contributions, he added, “I see them doing well. It was good to see those two guys getting runs and I feel good. I’m quite confident we’ll do well in this series as batters.”
Reflecting on their bowling performances, Brathwaite said, “I think building pressure is very important as a bowling unit. I thought those two guys (Jordan and Chase) yesterday stuck to the task.
“We saw Jordan coming in for his first game for WI and he showed good skill and control. Roston had a number of overs to bowl and it was decent. One or two overs went for a few runs but I thought he did a good job.
“In South Africa, bowlers will get some assistance from the pitch but it’s important to not get carried away. Once we stay disciplined and bowl to the field we have set, mixed with some aggression, I think we will do well.”
Brathwaite closed by saying their preparation is all mental now.
“Especially the batsmen, just to get in that mental zone, how you want to go about spending time and scoring runs and bowler to get some good rest and go through the paces in the nets in the next three days. It’s all mental.”
I do hope we will be competitive enough to put S A
in some kind of a worry. I am more concerned about our batting standing up to the task. That is what we need to do first up. Our bowling with create a bit of a challenge. We are going to need runs on the board each time we bat.