Following a rough defeat in the second ODI, South African captain Temba Bavuma addressed the shortcomings that the team has to rectify going forward.
“Right, we were totally outplayed in all areas. We weren’t able to strike early in the innings and couldn’t create enough opportunities or exploit the conditions on offer.”
Looking at the bowling effort, South Africa did well to contain the flow of runs, but there weren’t too many occasions where they tried to produce a mistake from the Irish batsmen.
To compound the frustrating situation, shoddy fielding and death bowling resulted in the hosts putting together a total that was more than just competitive. Bavuma expressed his dissatisfaction with the performance in key moments, and it was aptly summed up.
Then again, he also acknowledged the positives from today’s game. He also explained the rationale behind picking the XI that played this game.
“We weren’t consistent at all in the field. [As far as the batting is concerned] Janneman scored well today, but he didn’t get enough solid support from the other end.”
“We never took Ireland lightly by any means. First of all, we are trying to manage Quinton’s workload and Janneman’s a guy who’s done a great job in the ODIs he’s played so far. Plus we’ve seen that in the recent games [against the West Indies], Lungi’s bowling speed was slower than usual, so we opted to rest him on this occasion.”
If we look at it from a statistical point of view, Ireland amassed 103 runs in their final 10 overs, and that’s posing serious question marks over the Proteas’ consistency with the ball at the back end of the innings. Bavuma hinted that they may experiment with the bowling lineup next game.
“When it comes to death bowling, these are the guys we trust, but of course, there are others on the sidelines that possess similar skills. [Looking at today’s result] there’s a strong case to give a few of the others a game next time.”
It’s been a tough day for the team, but if anything, this loss is just the incentive they need to recoil and play a more resolute style of cricket and hopefully square the ODI series. There are ODI Super League points up for grabs every game, so there’s virtually zero room for error.
Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
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