World Cup 2023: Tom Latham backs bowling unit to surpass South African challenge

Tom Latham has stated that the team will look forward to being proactive in the game against South Africa and decide their tactics according to the situation in the fixture.

Pune: Wednesday awaits a big clash in the World Cup as South Africa and New Zealand are going to lock horns in the league stage of the World Cup. South Africa are at second place in the points table with 10 points currently while New Zealand are at third place with eight points in the team standings. Ahead of the game against South Africa, Latham has stated that he expects the bowling unit to be proactive in the game.

"Yeah, I think it's just recognising situations as best you can and trying to be proactive as much as we can as well from a bowling point of view and I guess from a field placement point of view as well," Latham said during the pre-match press conference.

"Like every team we do our scouting, trying to find weaknesses from a batting point of view from South Africa, they're a team that's running pretty hot at the moment. They've got some guys in form from a batting point of view. So again, it's going to be another great challenge. And we have come to a different venue and we've got to adapt as quickly as we can to this ground here in Pune," he added.

"Wickets are really important. That's the way to stem the run rate as best you can by taking wickets and that's not just at the top, that's through the middle as well. We've seen South Africa, they're running really hot at the moment. And they've got a lot of power throughout the whole line-up."

In terms of team selection, there is still some uncertainty looming over the selection of Lockie Ferguson, Kane Williamson and Mark Chapman considering their fitness status. Latham revealed that the team will be hoping for Ferguson's return to the squad.

"There's Lockie, Kane and Mark Chapman. We'll obviously get through hopefully a bit of work today and then we'll see how they pull up from a selection point of view. But yeah, obviously, Lockie went off in the last game with a bit of Achilles' niggle, so fingers crossed he'll be fine for tomorrow," he concluded.