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Rob Walter, South Africa’s white-ball coach, is not too discouraged by Anrich Nortje’s statistics since his comeback from a six-month hiatus due to a stress fracture. Nortje is not “very far away” from returning to his best.
In addition to refusing to sign a central contract for this year, Nortje skipped the entire South African home summer and the ODI World Cup by not playing a match between September 2023 and March 2024. He has participated in 11 T20 matches since going back into action, including the CSA T20, the IPL, and, most recently, a series against the West Indies. In 40 overs, he took nine wickets for 449 runs. Despite his two T20Is at a pace of over 12 runs per over and an overall economy rate of 11.22, Walter is still optimistic about his abilities in front of the T20 World Cup.
“They’ve been tough conditions for a fast bowler and [Nortje was] coming up against a side who were pretty brutal if you were off the mark. He probably experienced the exact same thing having come off a break into his first four games at the IPL. So he probably landed himself in a perfect storm, which in many ways can harden you and get you even more ready,” Walter told a press conference on Tuesday. “I still don’t believe he’s very far away. A world-class performer finds a way and I don’t doubt that he will as well.”
Lungi Ngidi, who missed the IPL due to a lower back ailment but returned for the CSA T20 Challenge, where he claimed eight wickets at an average of 19.37 and gave up runs at an over of 8.30, was benched in favour of Nortje in South Africa’s T20 World Cup team.
Despite Ngidi’s wide-range of slower-ball variations, when the T20 World Cup squad was announced, Walter explained he opted for Nortje for raw pace, and he stands by that choice. “The ideal is to use every person’s x-factor to the best of our ability. His x-factor is his pace so we are definitely always looking to use that 150-plus speed that he has,” Walter said.
In the two matches Nortje played against West Indies, he reached above 150kph with some deliveries – and those were often dispatched as quickly as they arrived – but also took pace off, going down to 110kph. “He is more than that (pace), really, and he has developed a good set of skills from a slower ball point of view,” Walter said. ” So I do believe he can bowl on different surfaces and in different positions of the game. But his main job is to strike, really, and break the game open, and then finish it, and then close it up.”