The question was posed to me as the South Africans took on the Dutch in the group match in Chittagong, with the expectation that the match would be close to a walk in the park for the Proteas. Not much incident was expected and, at the time, Hashim Amla was blazing away at the top of the order after losing his opening partner Quinton de Kock rather early. To say that things were going according to plan would not be too far from the truth but that plan was soon disturbed and even derailed as wickets tumbled and getting to 150 looked a particularly difficult task, despite the talented batsmen in the side. Albie Morkel was sent in ahead of JP Duminy and David Miller and that certainly did not work as intended. In fact, it slowed things down considerably and had the side under more pressure. For the second game in a row a rescue act was required; first from a batting perspective and then by the bowlers. One dreads to think what might have been and what the general reaction would have been if the last wicket had not put on those crucial ten or so runs. Back then to the question on whether the Proteas' stronger suit is the batting or the bowling. At the time of being asked, my thoughts were that it is very tough to look away from the batting because, when you mention names such as Hashim Amla and AB De Villiers it's difficult to come up with many better and more talented batsmen. The bowling stakes, seemingly, are lesser star quality and talent. It is really only Dale Steyn, with the rest being arguable one way or the other. I did, however, lean in the direction of the bowling unit being the stronger and more dependable suit for the Proteas because of one reason alone; the handling of tight situations. When the side is in a tight spot, with a match looking like it is slipping away from them, it is more likely and believable that there could be a turnaround. One tends to think that one of the bowlers, whether it be Steyn, Tahir, Tsotsobe or whoever is given the ball, will come up with some sort of inspiration that could spark a comeback. Innings like that of JP Duminy against New Zealand are few and far between in limited overs matches for the Proteas. Usually, as was the case against the Dutch, if the batting loses its way it does not really recover...at least that is how things have been for some time. So for me, I would go with the bowling as the stronger part of the Proteas side, despite it not looking so on paper.
