“He is a guy that can turn the game with a good spell”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

South Africa have drafted pace bowler Marchant de Lange into the Test squad for the last two Tests against India as a cover for fellow seamer Dale Steyn.

Steyn suffered a groin injury during the first Test in Mohali and subsequently missed the second Test in Bangalore. The 32-year-old is currently listed as doubtful for the third Test in Nagpur on November 25 as he has yet to make a full recovery.

“At the moment we only have three fit seamers in Morne Morkel, Kagiso Rabada and Kyle Abbott, so with Dale still struggling with a groin injury we decided to bring Marchant in as cover so we are prepared in case one of the three breaks down,” South Africa coach Russell Domingo said. “Marchant’s biggest strength is pace, if the ball does start to reverse swing his pace through the air brings him into the contest.

“Even though his performances back home have been a bit inconsistent, we do know that as an impact player he is a guy that can turn the game with a good spell. Guys that can bowl at 150 km per hour will always be good value.”

South Africa trail 1-0 heading into the third Test as they were beaten by 108 runs in Mohali. Despite the second Test having ended as a draw after four days were washed out due to persistent rain, Domingo is confident that his side can turn their fortunes around in the last two Tests.

“We’ve done it before,” he said. “We know that we are still in the contest with two matches to play, the wickets are definitely going to produce results.

“We are 1-0 down so we have every chance of turning it around in Nagpur. We have a lot of inexperienced players who haven’t played in India before so hopefully they will have learnt a lot of lessons from these first two matches.”