Proteas expecting stronger challenge from Australia, says Rabada

Facing a tougher battle on Tuesday, experienced fast bowler Kagiso Rabada says South Africa will need to adapt quickly to new conditions as they gear up for their second Champions Trophy match against Australia in Rawalpindi.

South Africa beat Afghanistan by 107 runs in Karachi on Friday, coasting to a convincing victory in their first Group B encounter of the tournament.

Australia, meanwhile, beat England by five wickets with 15 balls to spare in Lahore in their Group B opener on Saturday, chasing down their 352-run target in the 48th over of their innings.

And with Afghanistan currently lying seven places below world No 2 Australia in the ODI rankings, Rabada admitted the Proteas were preparing to square off against a more powerful all-round unit in their second clash of the campaign.

Assessing conditions

He said they would watch Monday’s Group A game between New Zealand and Bangladesh in order to assess the conditions in Rawalpindi.

“Australia will be a different challenge, obviously with higher quality batters,” Rabada said yesterday.

“We’ll have to adjust to the conditions in front of us here, so we’ll have a good look at what the pitch will do [in the game between New Zealand and Bangladesh]. I think we might be on the same pitch, so we’ll have to adjust to that.

“We watched the game [between Australia and England] and it went pretty well for them to score more than 350.”

Rabada not surprised

After losing six ODI matches on the trot before the tournament, the Proteas hit their straps against Afghanistan, shining in all areas of the game.

Rabada was not surprised by the result, however, with the SA team having fielded a full-strength side at the weekend after relying on second-string squads in the build-up to the tournament.

With senior players giving the squad a boost, he hoped they would continue to gain momentum as they set their sights on the Champions Trophy playoffs.

“I wasn’t too worried, and some of the other guys weren’t too worried (about the six-match losing streak),” Rabada said.

“When everyone’s back together, and the senior players get together, there’s more stability, so it wasn’t a surprise that we performed that way (against Afghanistan). We just turned it up, and hopefully we can keep going in a similar vein for the rest of the competition.”