Proteas have lost intimidation factor in Nortje - Simons

Proteas bowling consultant Eric Simons says the team has been robbed of several things in the loss of fast bowler Anrich Nortje, the most important being his intimidation factor.

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Simons was speaking after Nortje was ruled out of the Cricket World Cup along with fellow quick Sisanda Magala due to respective lower back and knee injuries. The news, which came on Wednesday after the two had fitness tests to determine their availability, emerged just three days before the team left for India, with the tournament starting in two weeks.

"Losing someone like Anas is a blow," Simons said. "His experience, his natural ability to bowl at the pace that he does, the intimidation factor that he brings to the opposition, the calmness that he brings and the leadership that he carries within the bowling unit is a huge loss. He is a key member of our attack and it comes as a blow, but also for him personally because there's a lot of frustrations about missing the World Cup, having put in as much effort as he has over the last while to get fit and to be ready.

"The other thing about him is he's in the opposition's head and the more the opposition talk about our attack and members of our attack and planning how to deal with that ... he bowls at the pace that he does and has the ability to take the pace off with a similar arm action, which is a huge asset to us. It's obviously a huge blow for the team, but obviously, him as well as an individual. I feel a lot for him because there are only so many World Cups you can play and to miss one is never great, particularly when you're in the prime of your career.

Having also missed the 2019 World Cup