00:00 Obviously there's a lot of expectation when the Spooners do a tour of the subcontinent.
00:04 Just think it's not for the Spooner to put the added pressure on himself because there
00:08 are still 10 match winners in the team, including yourself.
00:12 But obviously when conditions are in your favour you expect it to strike.
00:16 It's not always going to happen that way and I think it's important that I just do the
00:21 simple basic stuff, putting the ball in the right areas and things like that.
00:24 So from there on in I don't have control of what happens from there.
00:28 As long as I'm doing the right things, whatever is written in my stars will happen.
00:33 I think people always say, "Oh, South Africa's Spooners."
00:36 But I don't believe in accolades until I can look back at my career one day and hopefully
00:41 say that I helped South Africa get to number one in the world and obviously I produced
00:45 the results and performances to sort of hinder that tag.
00:48 But for now I'm still a long way to go from sort of having that expectation of being the
00:56 best Spooner since re-admission or what have you.
00:58 But yeah, I'm taking it one ball at a time, one game at a time, one series at a time.
01:04 Whilst this is an extremely big tour for the team, it's for myself just to test myself
01:09 in really tough conditions, not just from what we faced with outside of cricket and
01:14 things like that.
01:15 But I think in terms of the characters and people that we play against, highly skilled
01:19 people, they're the best that they trade in the world.
01:23 So I think it's a good way to test yourself, your skill, your character and see how far
01:29 ahead with your skills you are and can be.
01:31 The Indian conditions seem to prepare yourself to be able to get to this point.
01:35 Yeah, I think I like new challenges.
01:39 I get bored very quickly when it comes to having things sort of being monotonous to
01:45 me.
01:46 So whenever a challenge is posed, I have to find a way for myself.
01:48 I am a person who is sort of OCD in the sense that I will do something until I get it right.
01:54 Even if it takes me 100 tries or chances or whatever, I will do it and make sure that
01:58 I come on top of that.
01:59 So I think it's a good learning curve as well.
02:03 It's not every day that you can sit back and say that I played cricket here, there and
02:07 everywhere in the world.
02:08 So when you do get the opportunity to play somewhere else, you obviously want to make
02:11 a name for yourself.
02:12 You want to do well.
02:13 You want to aid the team.
02:15 It's been a while since South Africa have come triumphant in a tournament.
02:18 Oh, sorry, a series like this.
02:21 In the context of cricket, it's a series of big magnitude if you look at it.
02:27 And hopefully we can come on the winning side of things.
02:30 However, it's going to be a tough task, but not an impossible task.
02:35 I think we've got some fresh faces in the side and sometimes that youth and energy sort
02:41 of spurs you in the right direction and channeling the energy is really important.
02:45 Yes, it's been a tough week in terms of training and acclimatising to conditions, but we've
02:52 had a rigorous pre-season in terms of getting ourselves into the physically correct shape
02:58 that we should be.
02:59 So, fingers crossed that everything goes according to plan.
03:03 What is concluded?
03:05 Obviously it would have been nice to have played the full duration of the game, but
03:08 unforeseen weather patterns is something we can't control.
03:12 I think from the team point of view, it was really good that the batters got a sufficient
03:17 hit and obviously the bowlers got the workloads.
03:20 It wasn't an easy wicket to bowl on, neither was it an easy wicket to bat on, but we found
03:25 a way through it.
03:26 I think we bowled really, really well, especially in partnerships as well.
03:31 And then the batters, Temba and Aiden, just short spending time with the crease.
03:35 Having a game plan to the various types of bowlers that they were posed with sort of
03:40 made them come out on top and they scored big scores.
03:42 Temba spent a lot of time at the crease.
03:44 You know, he's a simple player, but he's just, he reminds me very similar to Hashim.
03:49 Even in the way he prepares, he's very structured and he's marks of a great player.
03:54 South African batters have always been good going into the test?
03:59 Yeah, I think Aiden's batting up front with Dean and as soon as you get a good partnership
04:03 up front, it sort of throws the first punch at the opposition and lots of people find
04:07 it difficult to come back from that.
04:09 But also if you do lose wickets up front, we know we have the stability of Temba and
04:13 Faf and Zoubaye and Tienes to come, you know, and although they're young in terms of the
04:19 number of matches they've played, they're very experienced and seasoned campaigners
04:22 back home.
04:23 And sometimes the transition from franchise cricket to international cricket, some people
04:29 find it a lot easier than most.
04:31 And I think with the amount of years and years of cricket they've played domestically, it
04:35 sort of shows when they do take the step up.
04:37 But yeah, like I said, it's really encouraging, especially two youngsters putting their hand
04:41 up to score runs.
04:42 I mean, Aiden's only played 20-odd tests, Temba's sort of 35 or so.
04:47 So still very young, but obviously also still very experienced at the same time.
04:51 So it's positive and there's a lot of batters that are still going to come to fire.
04:55 So it's very exciting.
04:56 The brand that South Africa seems to be lacking in the team, what is the team like right now?
05:01 Yeah, I think when we say throw the first punch, it's taking the positive approach,
05:05 as opposed to taking the sort of more subtle approach.
05:07 I mean, we've got nothing to lose.
05:10 We've got everything to gain from this tour.
05:13 There's always positives that can come out.
05:16 And yeah, I think the positive brand of cricket that we want to play is just the energy that
05:21 comes from the younger group that have obviously been the incumbents of the guys that have
05:25 sort of stepped down.
05:28 And I think it's exciting.
05:30 It may not pay off now, but it's obviously a succession plan and a process to where we
05:34 want to be in four years' time.
05:36 And with the amount of work that the guys have put in since the previous tour, which
05:41 was last year, I think it will be very fitting to just bear a little bit of fruits from that
05:46 coming forward.
05:47 So my fingers are crossed.
05:50 I know and I'm very hopeful of the fact that we will shock a few people when it comes to
05:55 the end of this series.
05:56 Considering the amount of preparation in India?
05:59 Yeah, I think everyone's played a lot of cricket.
06:02 More importantly, it's our off-season to pre-season back home.
06:06 But there's been tours, guys have been overseas playing.
06:08 So I don't think it's a regard of match fitness in that sense.
06:12 But like I said, I think we do have, in terms of the balance of the squad, yes, there are
06:17 some big names that we're playing against.
06:19 But in the same thing, it's always an underdog title.
06:23 It can be working in your favor when you have nothing to lose.
06:27 It's been done before.
06:28 I'm not sure of the year when South Africa have come here and won a series.
06:33 So anything's possible.
06:34 I still do believe we have a really strong chance of winning this.
06:40 And like I said, the energy is something that's going to probably carry us and hopefully be
06:45 on the positive side of things coming towards the end of this series.
06:50 Thank you.
06:50 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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