The Proteas will stick to their guns in the third and final T20I against England at Newlands tonight (6pm), despite having already lost the series 2-0.
With the team rebuilding and the T20 series basically verby, it was put to captain Quinton de Kock in his pre-match media briefing yesterday that this might be the perfect opportunity to try new players.
De Kock, though, says: “It’s disappointing to lose, but I don’t think we will change much.
“We still want to play the best team we have and still try to win. We do want to give guys opportunities, but we do need to win – just for our own sake.”
The Proteas were rocked with the news that two of their players tested positive for Covid-19 before the start of the limited overs series, which also includes three ODIs.
Added to that, allrounder Dwaine Pretorius was ruled out because of a hamstring injury.
With fellow allrounder Andile Phehlukwayo not having featured in the series to date, the current squad lacks a fast bowler that can bat.
And with David Miller also missing in action, SA's middle-to-lower order options are thin. But De Kock says both Miller and Phehlukwayo should be fit for the ODI series
The skipper adds: “We don’t really have all the options that we would like. We have a couple of difficulties. At the end of the day, it is what it is. We just have to deal with what we have, carry on and hope for the best...
“It’s difficult not to have a specialist allounder – Georgie [Linde] was there, it was just unfortunate that Dwaine
[Pretorius] got injured at the wrong time.
“It’s not easy just to fly in a person with the bubble, they have to be in quarantine also.”
De Kock, though, wants fans to be patient with the team and concludes: “Patience is key at the moment. The team hasn’t played together for five or six months or whatever.
“When we start playing more cricket together, the results will start to show.”