RAWALPINDI: It was a rush; there were practice sessions to be held at the Islamabad Club for both teams. South African skipper Temba Bavuma and Australian batter Alex Carey had come over to the Pindi Cricket Stadium for their news conferences and they quickly set off once they were done.
Tuesday’s fixture is the first Champions Trophy clash between two sides who are coming in having won their opening games. After their stunning victory against England at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, where they chased down the highest score in the venue’s history, Australia are enjoying “a good vibe around the group”.
“We’re really excited for tomorrow,” Carey told reporters on Monday. “It’s a beautiful place to play cricket here. I think South Africa are playing really well and they look like they’ve got a great balance across their 11 players. It’s another exciting opportunity for the Australian team.”
Australia might be shorn of their frontline pace attack due to injuries – a fact that Carey accepts — but they’ve shown their batters can provide the required runs. Australia’s middle-order came to the fore against England in their chase of 352 to win with Carey hitting 69 and Josh Inglis starring with a century.
“We’ve come into the tournament really confident that our bowling attack will still do a fantastic job without the big three [of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood] and hopefully as a batting group we can score as many runs and make it easy for our bowlers,” said Carey, who suggested Australia might need to score 400 if they bat first against South Africa.
Bavuma, whose side eased past Afghanistan in the opener, shared similar views. “The wickets [here] are ones that are favourable towards batting,” he said. “Batting second does seem to be the thing. It does seem to be a bit easier and a bit tough to defend. If we find ourselves on the other side of the coin toss where we are batting first, then we will have to do that extremely well.”
A victory for either side would put them on a better footing for the semi-finals and both aren’t keen on letting the opportunity pass.
“We’re quite bullish about our chances,” said Bavuma. “Confidence is good. But we’re quite optimistic about our chances and how far we can go in this tournament.”
“South Africa are pretty strong across the board, which I think for us is a great opportunity to come out here, coming off the back of a great game against England, play with a lot of freedom, take the game on, for our bowling attack [to] get stuck in and try to take early wickets.”
Bavuma, though, is not taking Australia lightly, saying, “they don’t have their mainstay bowling attack but I think they still have enough to be successful as a team.”
Carey is hoping Australia’s bowlers come to the party against South Africa.
For cricket fans in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the game offers an excuse to watch some quality cricket after the deflating performances of the Pakistan team. The opportunity to watch top international sides going head-to-head against each other in a tournament clash has come after nearly three decades.
“The crowd was fantastic [in Lahore], they were very kind and it was a pleasure to run around in the field with the Pakistan fans behind us,” said Carey.
Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium witnessed a classic when the Ashes rivals collided for the first time in the country. The Pindi Cricket Stadium awaits its turn in the first game between Australia and South Africa on Pakistani soil.
Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2025
