SOUTH African cricket coach Mickey Arthur is looking for a dramatically improved performance with the ball when the Proteas play Zimbabwe in the second one-day international at Centurion today.

The Proteas batsmen performed well in the opening match in Benoni on Sunday, but the bowlers will be determined to make up for their sub-standard performance in the second half of Zimbabwe’s innings.

Defending 295 for five, South Africa did well enough with the new ball, and had Zimbabwe on the ropes at 94 for five wickets when a thunderstorm arrived after 29 overs. But they battled after the resumption as Tatenda Taibu and Stuart Matsikenyeri shared a superb record stand of 188.

The duo took Zimbabwe to 250 for six in their 50 overs, with Taibu completing a scintillating 110-ball century in the final over. It was just his third hundred in an international career stretching back eight years, but his second against SA.

“Our bowling performance was a little disappointing. For 75 to 80 overs, we were very good and achieved exactly what we wanted to achieve,” said Arthur.

“Unfortunately, after the rain break, we were a little bit sloppy.

“Our intensity just dropped off a little bit.”

Arthur said South Africa have worked at adopting new strategies to counteract the perceived predictability in their game.

“We had a recipe that worked. Maybe we did become a little bit too predictable. Maybe we became pretty easy to plan against. That was worrying. We have had a look at a ‘new’ flexibility, if you like, and we’re getting there with it. I do think you’ll see a lot of different things and there will be one or two surprises down the line,” he said.