Standing up to spinners on wearing wicket tough, says South Africa wicketkeeper Vilas

Mumbai: Standing up to the wicket against his team’s spinners on wearing Indian tracks would be a big test of his skills, feels South African wicket-keeper Dane Vilas. “This wicket is not a typical Indian wicket where there is more spinning and spitting out of rough on day 4 and 5. It’s going to test you as a keeper. We don’t get the deterioration like here back home. I have prepared for it,” said Vilas after day one of the two-day practice game against the Board President’s XI team at the Brabourne Stadium. He said it was good that he had come with the South Africa A team to play their Indian counterparts in Wayanad in two four-day games. [caption id=“attachment_2489642” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Proteas wicketkeeper Dane Vilas in action against BP XI in Mumbai. AFP[/caption] “It was a good experience in playing in these sorts of conditions. I had previously played in Champions League games but to come and play two four-day games is very good for me. Hopefully that experience of standing up to the spinners will help me,” Villas said. He said it was overall a satisfactory day for his team as all the bowlers had a feel of the conditions along with players like him who joined the Test squad after missing the ODI and T20 part of the tour. “It was a satisfactory day. The bowlers got overs under their belt, and bowling with the white ball is different from the red ball. And guys joining like me had time on the field, but a match game obviously is a lot different from the practice game.” Villas said the South African slow bowlers bowled well after lunch. “Before lunch they bowled too straight but they came back and bowled a lot better and the line they bowled was the key. They got extra bit of bounce as well. “We wanted to see all three spinners and they all bowled equally well at stages. There was not too much reverse swing, pitch was not abrasive and the outfield too was good,” he said, adding that the SG balls used had surprised the team. “I think it was a surprise, a lot better ball than we expected. We were very happy with the ball.” Asked about competing with a very good player like Quinton de Kock who scored two solid hundreds in the ODI series before leaving for home, Vilas said competition was always good and showed the depth of talent. “De Kock is a very good player. But I am not focusing too much on that. I am going to do the job for the team and play as many games as I can. It shows there is depth in the squad; it’s good competition is going to help the team.” PTI