A long month in Pakistan finally comes to an end for the Proteas on Saturday in Faisalabad, where they are targeting an ODI series win to end a largely encouraging tour on a high.
Though there’ve been changes to the playing personnel for the different formats, players like Tony de Zorzi and Corbin Bosch, who were part of the Test squad, have been in Pakistan for a month and dealing with the limitations placed on travel in that country has been challenging.
Unlike other tours where visits to cafes, museums, golf courses and nature reserves are the norm, because of the strict security rules in Pakistan players and the support staff cannot leave the hotel.
“Your room can feel like a dungeon,” De Zorzi mused on Friday.
Besides one meet and greet with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and a visit to a market in Islamabad, the Proteas have only seen planes, buses, hotels and cricket fields.
One of the best 100s i have ever watched from start to end..wow..take a bow!
— Blessing K Mafuva (@BlessKM86) November 6, 2025
“Guys do stay connected. We try not to isolate ourselves. You try to break up the day, try to get into routines,” said De Zorzi.
“There’s guys who’ve been playing poker, there are the pranksters that will keep themselves entertained and the more intellectual guys like myself that read. You end up connecting more than on other tours because you’re in the hotel.”
It’s a mentally demanding tour, but De Zorzi is able to appreciate the benefits there’ve been for his cricket.
“It’s a grind on and off the field, so you’re almost [forced] to stay in that work mindset. You’re only really focused on cricket, there’s nothing else to focus on or to do. But you make peace with that and as a cricketer you’re happy to do that grind and you remind yourself that you’re lucky to be here, it’s your job.”
De Zorzi has used that added focus well in the last four weeks and emerged with renewed confidence. Having started the tour thinking he’d only be a stopgap until Test and ODI skipper Temba Bavuma returned from injury, De Zorzi notched up a century and a fifty in the Tests, scored a rapid-fire 33 in the first T20 and in the second ODI on Thursday made 76, sharing a 153-run partnership with Quinton de Kock that sealed the outcome and forced Saturday’s decider.
“The conditions suit my style of play in terms of the pace and bounce of the wickets,” he said.
Even with Bavuma returning for the Test series against India later this month, De Zorzi’s success against Pakistan made it impossible for the selectors not to include him. Even his limited overs form is giving them pause for thought and with a T20 World Cup just four months away and the ODI World Cup in two years’ time, De Zorzi has made himself a candidate for both.
Victory on Saturday would further push his claims, and the Proteas’ eight-wicket thumping of the home team in the second match provides them with momentum heading into the clash.
De Kock seems to have gradually found his range at international level after reneging on his retirement, with Thursday night’s century providing evidence of the kind of value he felt he could provide when he announced his return.
“When he’s in full flight I don’t know of many batters who are as scary to face for the opposition,” added De Zorzi. “He hits the ball everywhere and it’s instinctive.”
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