Of the 30 batters dismissed across the two matches, 23 fell to spinners, and two of them — Bjorn Fortuin and Aaron Phangiso — are among the top wicket-takers in the competition so far.
For the Proteas' new limited-overs coach Rob Walter, who no doubt tuned in from New Zealand, it would have been pleasing to see how the South African players have attempted to adapt and the lessons they will heed from the kind of matches played in Paarl and Gqeberha. Coetzee is well known for propelling the ball at speeds topping 140km/h, but made the required adjustments and was rewarded with figures of 4/24.“We assessed early that the wicket was slightly slower. So it was important to take pace off, aim to hit the top of the stumps and try not to be too predictable,” he said.