NEW DELHI: South Africa’s batting coach JP Duminy made an sudden return to the sphere throughout the third and last ODI towards Eire in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
Identified for his distinguished worldwide profession earlier than retiring from all codecs of cricket in July 2019, Duminy was referred to as upon to fill in as an alternative fielder as a consequence of fatigue and warmth exhaustion affecting a few of South Africa’s gamers.
The extreme desert warmth left a number of of the group’s common fielders struggling, prompting the group to search for speedy reinforcements.
Whereas it is uncommon for a coach to step onto the sphere in an lively sport, Duminy’s expertise and health made him a super candidate to quickly fill the hole.
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His presence on the sphere added an attention-grabbing piece to the sport, displaying his willingness to step up for his group even in a non-playing capability.
Having misplaced their earlier two video games, Eire, in the meantime, put up a powerful struggle of their last ODI of the sequence, with Paul Stirling main the cost by smashing 88 runs.
His partnership with captain Andy Balbirnie (45) helped Eire to a much-improved complete of 284/9, their highest of the sequence.
Harry Tector additionally contributed a useful 60, whereas Curtis Campher’s quickfire 34 off 36 balls supplied a lift within the center order.
Regardless of Eire’s improved batting show, South Africa’s bowlers, particularly Lizaad Williams, made essential breakthroughs.
Williams was the choose of the bowlers, taking 4 wickets for 56 runs in his 10 overs.
Ottneil Baartman and Andile Phehlukwayo supported effectively, with two wickets every, making certain South Africa remained aggressive within the match.
Duminy’s impromptu stint as a fielder, nevertheless, was the spotlight as his enduring reference to the sport and the lengths to which the group was keen to go to adapt to difficult circumstances had been on full show.