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SA working on staying in the moment - Langeveldt

South Africa's bowling coach Charl Langeveldt has said the team is working on developing their situational awareness and "staying in the moment"

Firdose Moonda
Firdose Moonda
13-Oct-2015
How long is a moment? The time it takes for Dale Steyn to stare an opponent down? Is it the time it takes for Morne Morkel to do his customary half-circle at the top of his run-up, which has been lengthened by a metre specifically for this tour? Or is the time Kagiso Rabada took to take in the combined advice of Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers and consult with himself before he bowled the match-winning ball in the first ODI?
A moment can be all of those things or much longer. How many moments did Charl Langeveldt, South Africa's bowling coach, spend trying to explain South Africa's new-found attention to the detail of the moment? "We've been really working hard at staying in the moment," Langeveldt said in Indore ahead of the second ODI. "In the past, we have had moments where we have lost big moments, so at the moment we are trying to stay in the big moments." At least five.
In an average ODI, there are likely to be at least twice that number of moments which the eventual winner has to seize. Taking all ten wickets wins a match but the process of taking those wickets can involve multiple moments, especially in India, where conditions provide an additional challenge. Although batsmen have to work hard for their runs, bowlers have to work harder to stop them on slow, flat surfaces so South Africa have adopted a mantra to urge them to concentrate on all the moments.
"In India, you don't give up. You are going to go for runs. So the saying in our team is to always compete. If you go for six, you compete in the next ball," Langeveldt said. "If we are competing every ball, there's a good chance we are going to win the game."
Some balls require more competition than others, like the first ten that Rohit Sharma, who has scored two centuries in three games, faces. "The first ten balls are important to him. If we can try get him out then, that's the way forward because he is one of those players, who, once he goes past 20, he normally kicks on."
Rohit's runs have bothered South Africa but they have not been enough on both occasions as South Africa's death bowling seized the moment better than India's finishing. Their execution of the yorker has become more frequent and better but it is their ability to quickly assess which deliveries will push the opposition's pressure points that has noticeably improved since Langeveldt took over.
"We don't try and stick to just bowling yorkers. There will be games when you will need to bowl a few more yorkers so when we do training as well I'd rather see them focus on bowling everything - mix up with slower balls, bouncers and yorkers because you never know when you need to adapt," Langeveldt said.
As a result, even South Africa's stock ball - back of a length on or just outside off - has been a far more effective weapon for them at the end of an innings. Kagiso Rabada used it twice in the final over in Kanpur to win the big moment for South Africa, and the match.
Rabada's rise has been so rapid that he has edged out the other reserve bowler in the squad, Kyle Abbott, who may be confined to the sidelines again after Langeveldt said South Africa will "probably go with the same seam attack" for the second ODI. India's middle order may need to take a few moments to talk about that.

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's South Africa correspondent