The Proteas are comfortable with the make-up of their pace bowling attack, despite suffering a blow with the loss of Gerald Coetzee for their two-Test series against the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana starting next month.
Coetzee is the latest fast bowler to fall out of the Proteas mix, who are already without Anrich Nortje, who is not playing Test cricket this season after returning from a back injury earlier this year, and Marco Jansen who is being rested for the series.
Absence feltCoetzee picked up a side strain injury playing for the Texas Super Kings in the Major League Cricket T20 competition in the USA, and although his absence will be felt, Proteas captain Temba Bavuma said they were confident the players they have on tour will deliver the goods.
We arent worried, but it is certainly a setback. We often build our game around our fast-bowling attack and Gerald is one of the guys who can get his pace up and over that 150km mark. So it is a loss from that point of view, explained Bavuma.
But I think the guys coming in, and the guys we have in reserve, are good enough to cover. We have a guy like Dane Paterson, who might not have the same pace but he makes it up in skill as he showed against New Zealand.