05/02/2026

SPORTS THURSDAY | FEB 5, 2026

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Proteas have reason to believe Coach plots first South Africa World Cup win after Test triumph H EAD COACH Shukri Conrad had a clear plan which culminated in South Africa winning last year’s World Test Championship final, but he has shaken things up as he plots a first major white-ball trophy at the T20 World Cup. the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. But Conrad is upbeat about their chances of breaking their white-ball duck after they registered their first T20 series win under his tenure against the West Indies on Sunday. “Yes, we used a lot of players – strong in bowling but short of batting superstars.

spill over into a squad which includes eight play ers who were at the Lord’s final. “There is a belief that we can mix it with any one,” he said. A batting line-up which includes captain Aiden Markram, a rejuvenated Quinton de Kock, the exciting Dewald Brevis and the experienced David Miller has the ability to post big totals. And bowlers such as Rabada, Jansen, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi are able to take crucial wickets during the powerplay. South Africa could potentially play five matches at Ahmedabad, the world’s biggest cricket stadium, including their first three group matches. “It is an advantage to get used to certain grounds and it also means less travel,” said Conrad.

“Having such a good bowling attack is always going to keep us in games. We had to find a way of posting competitive totals,” said Conrad. It put a premium on what Conrad calls “character above cover drives” – batsmen willing to grind out scores. The nature of T20 cricket means bat dominates ball, although “skilful

“One thing I did from a long way out was to bring some stability to the Test squad,” the South African head coach told AFP . Stability has, of necessity, been lacking from the T20 team’s build-up ahead of the World Cup, where South Africa start against Canada in Ahmedabad on Monday. Thirty-one players have been used in 21 matches since the white-ball team was added to Conrad’s responsibilities last May. Results were paramount in the Test campaign, with points at stake in every match and the win in the final against Australia at Lord’s was South Africa’s eighth in a row. In contrast, the T20 side has won only eight matches while losing 13 under Conrad ahead of

deliberately so,” he said. “We always had to prioritise Test cricket, which meant managing the well being of our players.” Leading fast bowlers Kagiso

bowlers remain skilful bowl ers,” according to Conrad and batsmen need to clear

Rabada and Marco Jansen played only seven T20 matches in that period.

boundaries rather than eke out long innings. South Africa suffered an agonising defeat in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup after playing themselves into a winning position against India in Barbados. Conrad believes the core values and team spirit that clinched the World Test Championship will

But a highly competitive SA20 franchise com petition enabled players to find form under pres sure before the World Cup squad came together. A significant difference in adapting to the shortest format after a long Test campaign is the type of cricket needed. Modern Test pitches suit a South African team

But he is not looking too far ahead. With tricky group matches against Afghanistan and New Zealand to come, “the first priority is to make sure you get out of the round-robin phase”. – AFP Pakistan hit form, but boycott risks early T20 exit

England spins into WC momentum

JACOB BETHELL underlined his impor tance to England’s T20 World Cup hopes as he spun them to a hard-fought 12-run win over Sri Lanka to complete a 3-0 clean sweep at Pallekele on Tuesday. The series served as a dress rehearsal for the 20-nation showpiece that Sri Lanka is co-hosting with India. The contest hung in the balance heading into the 18th over with Sri Lanka needing 21 runs off 18 balls with four wickets in hand but the part-time spin of Bethel turned the game. The left-armer snared three wickets in a dramatic over to flip the game on its head as the hosts were skittled for 116 with three balls to spare. Bethel finished with career-best figures of four for 11. “It was one of the most fun games I have been part of,” said England captain Harry Brook. “We showed we can adapt to chal lenging conditions. Today we bowled 16 overs of spin and to do that against a Sri Lankan side in their own conditions is really satisfying.” England had mustered only 128 for nine but showcased their depth and nous, defending a total that looked well below par on a surface offering turn and bounce. After just four overs from the quicks, the spinners took centre stage and wove a web around the Sri Lankan batters, much as they had throughout the tour. The spinners had been pivotal in England’s ODI series triumph in Colombo last week and again proved the ace up their sleeve. England head to India to launch their World Cup campaign with momentum at their backs, while Sri Lanka have plenty of soul-searching to do with their frailties against spin brutally exposed.

Bethel found able allies in Will Jacks, who bagged three wickets, while fel low tweakers Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson chipped in with one apiece to keep the hosts on a tight leash. Sam Curran, England’s hero in the opening game with a hattrick, showed his all-round pedigree in the dead rubber, carving out a career-best 58 from 48 balls to rescue the side that had slipped to 60 for six. Returning quick Dushmantha Chameera, back after a groin injury, was a rare bright spark for Sri Lanka, claiming his maiden five-wicket haul in T20Is. His five for 24 are the best figures in England-Sri Lanka contests and the third-best ever “Very disappointing. We need to address a few areas, especially the options we take against spin bowl ing,” said Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka. “I thought we had addressed that issue in the last game but the old problems resur faced again.” – AFP at Pallekele.

PAKISTAN’S spin-heavy squad are in winning form ahead of the T20 World Cup, but a controver sial decision to forfeit their mar quee clash against

not said what their stance might be if the team were to end up fac ing India again in the semifinals or final. Salman was not thinking about that. “Our job is to win, and we are capable of doing that,” he said. Pakistan will be keen to avoid a repeat of the last T20 World Cup in 2024, where a shock super over defeat to co-hosts the United States led to them failing to get out of the group. The side has since faced criti cism for failing to adapt to the modern demands of T20 cricket, with the batting, particularly Babar Azam’s low strike rate, under scrutiny. The criticism was fuelled by Pakistan’s record last year, where 21 of their 34 T20 international wins came against lower-ranked opponents. Against elite teams, the results were sobering: three losses to India in the Asia Cup and a 4-1 series defeat to New Zealand. However, Salman believes recent performances have restored con fidence. Pakistan beat South Africa 2-1, won a home tri-series, and then completed a 3-0 sweep of an under-strength Australia. “We’ve had good preparation by beating Australia. We have the luxury of quality spinning all rounders like Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan and Saim Ayub. “We’re ticking most boxes and believe we can win the World Cup,” Salman said. – AFP

India could still trigger another early exit. Pakistan came close to withdraw ing from the tourna

ment in solidarity with Bangladesh, who pulled out after refusing to play in India, citing security con cerns. The Pakistan government eventually cleared the team’s participation but it barred them from facing India in Colombo in a blockbuster clash on Feb 15. With two points for a win, a forfeit of the match will leave Pakistan with no margin for error if they are to progress as one of the top two from a five-team Group A. It means they must win their opening game against the Netherlands in Colombo on Saturday and beat the United States three days later to stay in contention. Their final group game will be against Namibia on Feb 18. Captain Salman Agha said the move to boycott the India game was out of the team’s hands. “That is not our decision. We have to follow what our govern ment decides,” he said. The Pakistan government has

England’s Jacob Bethell (left) celebrates with teammate Jos Buttler after taking the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Dunith Wellalage (unseen) at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy on Tuesday. – AFPPIC

F1 fans sent ominous overtaking warning

HAAS DRIVERS Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman have warned that passing cars could be challenging under the new regulations. The two F1 stars joined nine other teams in testing their 2026 challengers at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with only Williams absent from the private outing in Montmelo. The new generation of F1 cars offers a major overhaul, bringing new technical specifica tions, active aerodynamic components and a greater array of tools for the drivers to use to improve their lap times. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton described it as the most significant season-to-season shift of his long career after

Ocon echoed the sentiment of his Haas teammate. “I’ve been following a few cars,” he explained. “You seem to lose quite a lot of front load, a bit more maybe than before, but we need to see. And the Overtake (Mode), yes, I played with it. “I don’t want to give too early conclusions on how it’s going to be because obviously, you know, it needs to be adjusted, optimised, for that to work in a perfect way. “But so far, it looks to be difficult to pass. That’s my first thought about it, but I hope it’s going to get on the easier side.” – Express Newspapers

ing to follow, just given my relatively few laps I did. It picked up quite a big shift in balance compared to clean air, which seemed a bit more so than the previous generation of cars. But again, it’s very early days. “No, I didn’t really get to use the overtake mode, but I was still able to try it just in clean air. We need to obviously see the difference in cooling and all of those things. “So I was able to try it, but I wasn’t able to use it to overtake someone, if that makes sense.”

driving his SF-26 machine. However, while the drivers have more tools to succeed than ever before, this might not translate into better on-track action. According to the Haas duo, overtaking could prove more challenging than in the ground-effect era. “In terms of following and overtaking and everything, I didn’t really get a massive feeling on that of course, it’s not a priority,” Bearman explained after pre-season testing. “I managed to do a few laps in and around other cars. “I must say that it was a bit more challeng