South Africa pacer Lungi Ngidi is hoping that the upcoming three-Test and three-ODI home series against India can set the “ball rolling” in the right direction for South African cricket, which has gone through a changeover stage over the past few years while enduring cataclysms.
The three-Test series will be South Africa’s first series in the 2021-23 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle and Ngidi, who is part of the South Africa Test squad, wants his team to start on a perfect note.
“A tour like this can really get the ball rolling in the right direction. The processes we are following now are putting us in a good position to compete in this Test Championship (cycle]). We’ve been speaking about a rebuilding phase, but I think it’s coming together,” Ngidi told ESPNCricinfo.
Ngidi also acknowledged the competition in South African team for the spot of fast bowlers.
“We’ve got very good competition and I am really looking forward to it. I don’t think anyone can be comfortable in their spot at the moment,” Ngidi said.
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The whole South Africa-India series will be played in a strict bio-bubble owing to the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 variant wreaking havoc in the rainbow nation and around the world. Ngidi said that he respects anyone who would want to pull out of the controlled environment.
“I have full respect for anybody who pulls out of a tour because mentally they feel like they cannot handle it. I probably have felt that at some stage but it didn’t get to the point where I was ready to go home. It does affect you a bit. We find different ways to release the pressure,” he said.
Talking about the upcoming crop of Proteas players, South Africa bowling coach Charl Langeveldt said: “We’ve got a good crop of players now and we are experimenting a bit with different combinations for different conditions, so I think those brave decisions are putting us in a better position and we are actually getting the results.
I don’t think we can ever stop saying we are rebuilding, but I think we are past that stage now. We’ve got the momentum going and we kind of know which direction we want to take South African cricket.”
(PTI inputs)
