AB: We were soft with the bat

Dwaine Pretorius guides the ball to the boundary during today’s one-day international against New Zealand at Hagley Oval in Christchurch. Picture: Associated Press

Dwaine Pretorius guides the ball to the boundary during today’s one-day international against New Zealand at Hagley Oval in Christchurch. Picture: Associated Press

Published Feb 22, 2017

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AB de Villiers has bemoaned South Africa’s “soft dismissals” which brought an end to the Proteas’ unbeaten run of ODI victories in Christchurch on Wednesday.

The Proteas went down by six runs as they failed to chase down New Zealand’s 289/4 in the second ODI at Hagley Park. A victory would have placed South Africa second on the list of all-time consecutive victories behind Australia who stand alone on 21 wins.

South Africa failed to string any significant partnerships together with the highest being 68 for the fifth wicket between De Villiers (45) and David Miller (28). The next best was a swashbuckling 61 off only 7.2 overs between Dwaine Pretorius (50) and Andile Phelukwayo (29 not out) as the two all-rounders tried to rescue the game at the back end of the innings for the Proteas.

However, it was the senior batsmen who all got going without producing anything substantial that need to claim responsibility for the defeat, and De Villiers concurred at the post-match press conference.

“I thought it was a great game of cricket, but credit to New Zealand they posted a good score. I thought we did fairly well in the first half, but a little bit soft with the bat in hand today unfortunately so we have a few things to work on,” the skipper said post-match.

“There were quite a few soft dismissals. There were not enough partnerships. The ones we did actually get going we didn’t extend. It is crucial to do that if you want to win games of cricket.”

In contrast, the Kiwis posted a partnership of 103 between captain Kane Williamson (69) and centurion Ross Taylor (102 not out) for the third wicket. They then bettered this with Taylor and Jimmy Neesham (71*) adding a further unbroken 123 runs for the fifth wicket.

Neesham and Taylor were particularly vigilant during the last five overs with 51 runs being added during this period, but De Villiers was content that his bowling unit had done their job despite the leaking tap at the backend of the innings.

“I thought it wasn’t too bad, Ross was a set player at the crease. It’s always difficult when there is a set player at the crease in the last 10. It’s difficult to find the right field placings here at the Hagley Oval. It’s a big field. I wasn’t too unhappy with the bowlers,” he said.

Meanwhile, Black Caps skipper Williamson was ecstatic with levelling the series heading into the third ODI in Wellington on Friday.

“Wins against the best team in the world aren’t going to come easy. I thought particularly with the bat, in the way we assessed the conditions, on the back of Ross’s brilliant hundred, to get to that total was a brilliant effort,” Williamson said.

“From that point we were able to put them under pressure for a long period of time, but saying that they do bat very deep with AB in the middle there somewhere, and if you don’t dismiss him, he’s going to chase down almost anything. I thought our death bowling was superb.”

Independent Media

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