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T20 World Cup 2026, SA vs WI: Aiden Markram said that South Africa can't take things for granted despite their unbeaten run in the tournament. On Thursday, the Proteas beat West Indies by nine wickets after which India's win over Zimbabwe helped them qualify for the semis.

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00:02Hi Eden, well played. We asked you about the bowling plans a lot but obviously today was
00:06different. I think you described the wicket as tacky up front and then we saw quite a bit of
00:10pace on actually at the beginning and then pace off at the end. Can you just talk us through those,
00:14how that worked? Yeah, it actually, I mean up front it was tacky and felt like the new ball was
00:20the seam because it was hard with holding the wicket and either nip or have a bit of extra
00:24bounce and with our boys you need to try use that as much as you can when it's on offer.
00:29It got a bit tricky at some stage with the balance of do you continue with that or I mean
00:35I think to
00:35a lot of us it looked like the wicket kept getting better and better and then going to as if
00:40it's a
00:40really flat one and how would we approach it from there. So that's pretty much why the plans changed
00:45today. Credit to the bowlers to be able to get it right the way that they did. More often than
00:51not
00:51you just end up doing one thing throughout and for them to adapt and change and still pretty much
00:57execute was a big feather in their cap. You're talking about Lungi but I'm just wondering about
01:02a word on Corbin Bosch. He bowled an excellent last over and he's got a great economy rate.
01:06Do you know what is he doing that's so impressive? I think he just keeps it really really simple.
01:12He trains smartly, he trains hard, he doesn't give himself too many options. He just tries to
01:18get really good at the things that he backs. Obviously Ball's a really good Yorker which
01:23everyone has seen and it's nice to be able to have that sort of variety I guess in our attack
01:30because
01:30we've got some tall guys that hit the wicket really hard. You have a Lungi that's got a really deceptive
01:35slow ball and then Marco and KG are Marco and KG. So it's been a great addition since he's joined
01:41in
01:41I don't know how long it's been now maybe 18 months and yeah he keeps training well and keeps getting
01:47better and better. There during that partnership you've mentioned now that we could keep getting
01:55better while Holden and Shepard were batting and building a nice partnership. What sort of was the
02:01thinking from you guys because I know Shai Hope also now said that they were maybe 40 or 50 runs
02:08short.
02:08Was that always in the back of your mind as well or what was the thinking? Were you frustrated?
02:13I mean you can get frustrated when you have a team I don't know what it was seven down or
02:17something but
02:18you have to try to paint the bigger picture and see the reasons behind it. Is it poor bowling?
02:23Is it good batting or has the wicket become really good? And I thought they played really well
02:28obviously two massive humans and their mishits go for six and makes it tougher for you and keeps you
02:35keeps you challenged and locked in as a bowling group but yeah I thought 180 you still need to bat
02:41well
02:41but the way that the wicket kept getting better and better it didn't feel like it was too much of
02:45a stretch.
02:46For you guys now you've beaten three of the best teams in the comp in New Zealand, India and
02:52the West Indies quite comprehensively. Is there sort of almost a danger that you know was it too easy
03:00going into the semis? I don't know if you understand what I mean like the mindset after such comprehensive
03:05performances against such good teams. Yeah it doesn't feel easy to be honest. The boys are
03:13every game every meeting we have they they've fully locked in and we've been on good and bad sides at
03:20World Cups and it's definitely not something this group would take for granted. I don't think it's
03:24even worth mentioning to the group. The guys have a lot of pride and are really on a mission to
03:29try
03:29achieve something and you sort of don't want to create things where there aren't really anything so
03:35if we need to guard against it based on what our eyes tell us we will mention it but for
03:39the time
03:40being the guys have been been tracking really well. Aidan like you guys West Indies came here today
03:46an unbeaten side and and now you know suddenly it looks very hard for them to reach the semis. Does
03:51that give you an appreciation for how cutthroat it is? One loss and you might be gone. Massively.
03:58We guys put in a really good performance a couple nights ago and you wake up the next morning and
04:03you go Jesus still could all be over in a couple of days time so it is seriously cutthroat. It's
04:08a
04:09high level of cricket obviously but the intensity and the amount of energy that drains you
04:14and each game is is quite high so you need to stay on your toes as we mentioned earlier you
04:21can't take
04:21many things for granted and keep locking into to ultimately why you're here. So it can be really
04:27cutthroat really good teams. It can be tough at times but I think we've all been through that in
04:33specifically a T20 World Cup. To go into a game now against Zimbabwe who I think most people would say
04:39you should beat you know how do you how do you go into that? Yeah I mean it can sometimes
04:45be more
04:46nerve-wracking to be honest but you give them the absolute respect that they deserve. They're there for
04:53reason and have beaten some quality teams in in the sort of group stages and coming into this so
04:59again if you want to win a competition you want to keep the good things going for as long as
05:04possible and
05:04you don't want to take your foot off the gas and I'm sure that's that's where a lot of the
05:08conversations
05:08will be around going into that game. Aidan you spoke about Lungi's slow deliveries you know
05:14with the copious amount of you and Alison available every unique and unplayable delivery eventually gets
05:20deciphered you know Sam came up with the moon ball which for a point seemed unplayable and now batters
05:24have started to pick it up. What is it about Lungi's deeper yorkers that makes him so deceptive when you
05:30are facing him in the nets what is it that kind of sets him apart from the other bowlers? I
05:35think
05:35he just nails it to be honest so the deception of pace is obviously massive he bowls a really good
05:42yorker in between all of that to keep you on your toes and he lands it exactly where it's meant
05:47to
05:47land so ultimately that's what it always comes down to on really good wickets if you just miss it can
05:53it can still travel but ultimately it's one of his best skills that and his yorker at the back end
05:58and
05:58if he keeps mixing it that's that's something that um yeah i'm sure he'll keep really close to him
06:03and keep backing because you have to back something and and ultimately you want to back with what's
06:07working and something that you're comfortable doing. Your reasons behind you know your unbeaten run in
06:12this competition is that every player has contributed when the need was there in the last few matches
06:18we've seen Jansen and Keshav were the better ballers this time around the first two overs were expensive
06:23KG did not pick any wicket in the last three games today he kind of changed the game with the
06:28third
06:28over as a captain how relieving it is at this stage of the competition that all of your bowlers are
06:33contributing at some stage of the competition yeah it's it's massive because you don't ever want to get
06:40into a t20 comp where you feel like you're relying on a handful of guys um if one guy has
06:46a tough day you
06:47you trust that someone picks up their load and and you keep doing that game through game and sharing that
06:52sort of load so we're fortunate to be in that position doesn't always work out that way but
06:58yeah we're fortunate to be in that position
07:04the 18th over by Jansen went for 23 runs did it kind of worry you guys that next two overs
07:11they could
07:11have gone up to 200 and how what did you plan to kind of stop that because you all gave
07:16only 13 runs
07:17in last two overs so was there any kind of description before these two overs were bold that
07:22and the other thing is do you think your team is speaking too early
07:31yeah i think the planning was exactly what happened in the last two overs so the guys executed that and
07:37got it right and kept them under that 200 mark but the west indies is always a team that you
07:41i mean they can make 60 and three overs and it'll feel like it's normal so um you have to
07:47appreciate
07:47that and ultimately back your plans which i thought the guys did really well um peek into early it's hard
07:53to say um we've just taken it game by game and trying to tackle it head on and see where
07:58it sort of gets
07:59us so um yeah hopefully we can keep continuing the good cricket we're playing hi so south africa have
08:06played five matches here so how do you think that experience helped you with both bat and ball today
08:11or did it at all yeah we've been fortunate to play here for sure um we sensed it was tacky
08:18up front it
08:19was tacky in the previous day game that we played here and obviously that affects the toss and how you
08:24operate in the power play i guess so um that familiarity helps i think the guys get comfortable with
08:30conditions and knowing what to expect having said that the india wicket that was completely different to
08:35what we've had here um and still in nowadays you have to keep a really open mind and try and
08:42come
08:42up with plans and adapt to to the wicked as much as you can thank you
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