- Proteas fast bowler Anrich Nortje said he hasn’t seen the pitch in Rawalpindi for the second Test.
- They have had the hard chats after the seven-wicket defeat in the first Test in Karachi.
- Nortje said the first Test experience was eye-opening.
Proteas speedster Anrich Nortje said he’s not going to look at the Rawalpindi pitch they will be playing on against Pakistan for the second Test that starts on Thursday.
The Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium pitch is known to assist fast bowling and with the conditions being much cooler in the northern city that is 20km away from Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, the fast bowlers and Nortje in particular will be at home.
That the conditions could be more conducive hasn’t gone to Nortje’s head, while he confirmed that the Proteas have had "good chats" after the seven-wicket loss in the first Test.
“I’m not going to even have a look at it. The last 24 hours, it hasn’t changed much from what we saw, so I’ll have a look on game day,” Nortje said.
“We had a good chat after the game with regards to what we did right and what we didn’t do right. We’re quite clear on what we want to achieve and how we want to go about it.”
Nortje said the first Test defeat to Pakistan in Karachi has made them more positive than negative ahead of Thursday’s second Test.
The loss at the National Stadium was South Africa’s first loss against Pakistan in Pakistan since 2003 and only their second one overall in the country.
SA’s fast-bowling didn’t do badly in unfavourable conditions in the port city, but the batting again disappointed with two collapses that decided the outcome of the game.
Nortje, Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada took nine of the 13 wickets that fell in Karachi.
Nortje said the first Test has sharpened up their knowledge with regards to what they need to do in Pakistan.
“It opened our eyes to one or two aspects, the important areas in the game where we might have given it away. Our eyes were also opened up to what we did right. I won’t say the loss has changed anything with regards to the mood of the team. If anything, it’s brought energy and positivity into the group,” Nortje said.
“We know what to expect from their team and a little bit more when it comes to the conditions. We were quite clued up, but no one had real experience of playing here, except for Faf du Plessis to an extent. You can’t have all the experience after one game, but we can use it in the next game.”