FINE FORM Joburg Super Kings seamer Lutho Sipamla might just be on the Proteas selection radar for the Champions Trophy. Picture: Ron Gaunt/SportzPics
Image: Ron Gaunt/SportzPics
Lutho Sipamla may just be on the Proteas selection radar with the Champions Trophy fast approaching next month.
After a slow start to the SA20 competition where he claimed just two wickets in his first four matches for the Joburg Super Kings (JSK), the 26-year-old has returned figures 3/13 and 3/26 in his last two outings.
The Proteas are still short of a fast bowler in their squad since Anrich Nortje was ruled out a matter of days after being included in the team for the ICC event.
His expected replacement Gerald Coetzee has also since been ruled out of the SA20 with injury, but the SA selectors are still hoping he will recover in time.
Sipamla has already played 11 T20Is, five One-Day Internationals and three Test matches for South Africa.
That means it would not be a major shock if he is indeed on that plane to Pakistan.
In the interim though, Sipamla is chiefly focused on the short-term.
“I'm just trying to stick to a process. I'm just trying to stick to a process that I'm trying to follow every single game,” Sipamla said.
“Where that comes off in terms of outcomes, I'm not really too bothered by that. I'm just trying to be as consistent as I can with my process, ball by ball.”
The influence of former Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis at JSK has also helped Sipamla.
“It's been working very nicely with Faf. I'm really enjoying it. I'm really enjoying the way he's leading. It's quite nice.
“I think we're just bouncing off ideas from one another, trying to understand where the batsman is, what the batsman's mindset is, especially him being a batsman, a top-order batsman.
“So I think he uses a lot of that knowledge to just come and keep feeding me and letting me know in terms of what state of mind the batsman is.”
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