NEW DELHI: Unbeaten South Africa look to “maintain discipline and intensity” in their last Super Eights match of the T20 World Cup against Zimbabwe, batting coach Ashwell Prince said Saturday.
The 2024 runners-up have already secured a semifinal place ahead of their match in New Delhi on Sunday.
The Aiden Markram-led side will take to the pitch in the dead rubber game after scoring convincing wins over hot favorites India and two-time champions West Indies in the Super Eights.
Zimbabwe meanwhile have stunned Australia and co-hosts Sri Lanka in the group stages.
“I think you’ve got to respect the opposition — they’ve done their bit to qualify for the Super Eights, they’ve had a fantastic tournament, our neighbors,” said Prince.
“From our point of view, we’ve been really sharp and what we want to ensure is that we maintain that discipline and intensity and that we don’t drop off as far as those are concerned.”
South Africa had just one close shave against Afghanistan in a group game they won in a double super over, while all the other victories have been fairly comfortable.
But former South Africa batter Prince said victory is all that matters.
“Obviously winning creates good momentum,” he said.
“I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way of doing it or an ideal way — I think it’s nice not to have a lot of close games, but I think close games definitely help in terms of team morale.”
South Africa beat Australia in the World Test Championship final in June 2025 to win their first major International Cricket Council trophy and shrug off their “chokers” tag.
Prince said the triumph has done a world of good for the players.
“Getting over the line in the World Test Championship was a big moment for us... as a cricketing nation and for this group of players,” said Prince.
“And what that creates is a lot of confidence within your teammates and trust that whenever they are going to be called upon and when the moment presents itself, they can step up.”
Markram has led the team from the front with his 264 runs including three half-centuries an an unbeaten 82 in their previous nine-wicket win over the West Indies.
“The phrase that my kids would use is he’s really locked in at the moment in terms of his focus, his batting and in terms of his captaincy,” said Prince.
“And at the same time the rest of the players are enjoying each other’s company.”
South Africa coach looks to ‘maintain intensity’ against Zimbabwe
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South Africa coach looks to ‘maintain intensity’ against Zimbabwe
- Zimbabwe meanwhile have stunned Australia and co-hosts Sri Lanka in the group stages
- “They’ve done their bit to qualify for the Super Eights, they’ve had a fantastic tournament, our neighbors,” said Prince
Aston Martin says its car risks giving drivers ‘nerve damage’ and can’t finish F1 season-opener
- Aston Martin has predicted it is unlikely to finish Formula 1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix without its drivers risking suffering permanent nerve damage
MELBOURNE: Aston Martin has predicted it is unlikely to finish Formula 1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday without its drivers risking suffering permanent nerve damage.
Adrian Newey, the F1 car design great who’s heading into his first race as Aston Martin’s team principal, said Thursday the team’s Honda power unit causes vibrations which could damage the hands of drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Neither will likely be able to tolerate even half of the 58-lap race distance, Newey added.
Aston Martin had a poor preseason, often slower even than new team Cadillac and it logged the fewest laps of all 11 teams.
“That vibration (transmitted from Honda’s power unit) into the chassis is causing a few reliability problems,” said Newey.
“Mirrors falling off the air, tail lights falling off, that sort of thing, which we are having to address. But, the much more significant problem with that is that that vibration is transmitted ultimately into the driver’s fingers.
“So Fernando is of the feeling that he can’t do more than 25 laps consecutively before he will risk permanent nerve damage into his hands. Lance is of the opinion that he can’t do more than 15 laps before that threshold.
“We are going to have to be very heavily restricted on how many laps we do in the race until we get on top of the source of the vibration — and to improve the vibration at source.”
Despite the long list of issues, Newey says the AMR26 car has tremendous potential as F1 starts a new era of regulations.
He argued the chassis is F1’s fifth-best behind the expected top-teams Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull and that, following an aggressive development program, has the potential to run at the front at some point in 2026.
Alonso, though, is keeping the faith until Friday practice in Melbourne, where he believes fixes on the car might provide a sunnier outlook.
“For us, it’s just vibrating everything,” the two-time F1 champion said.
“But it’s not only for us. The car is struggling a little bit, so that’s why we have some issues, some reliability problems that made our days slightly short.
“Since (pre-season testing in) Bahrain, there were a couple of tests done and some of the solutions are implemented on the car now, so (I’m) curious to see what (happens) tomorrow (and) if we can improve.”
Its disappointing performance has been variously attributed to a compressed design time due to late arrival; Honda’s need to rebuild its research and development capabilities after leaving Red Bull, the challenge of producing a new in-house gearbox, and the team running a so-far unproven fuels partner in Aramco.
But it’s the side effects that will likely sideline its cars early in Sunday’s race at Albert Park.
