Port Elizabeth - Faf du Plessis believes the return of Kyle Abbott to the Proteas attack in Saturday’s second ODI against England will be “a big boost”.
Abbott missed the Bloemfontein mauling on Wednesday when Jos Buttler and the rest of the England batting line-up put the Proteas bowling unit to the sword. Buttler’s 73-ball century propelled the visitors to their highest ODI total (399/9) away from home.
But now that the Dolphins seamer has recovered from his hamstring injury, Du Plessis claims the South African bowling division will have greater control at St George’s Park.
“The thing we’ve missing throughout this whole series has been experience. Although Kyle hasn’t played 100 ODIs, he has played more than the guys who have been getting chances. It’s a big boost,” Du Plessis told a group of reporters here on Friday.
“We’re just trying to get experience on the field. Obviously Dale (Steyn) is a big loss for us, and his boots are quite big to fill, so whoever comes in, it is going to be a big challenge.
“Kyle brings a bit of consistency, and has bowled really well with the white ball for us. With someone like that, you just know that when the pressure situation presents itself, he will be a bit better equipped than someone playing in their first two games.”
The pressure is certainly on the Proteas in the Windy City as they cannot afford to go 2-0 down on Saturday. After losing the Test series, as it would take a monumental effort to lift the team to chase victory in the remaining three matches if they were to lose in PE.
“I think it was important to start the one-day series well, considering how well England played against us in the Tests. If I could sum up the game from my personal point of view, we were pretty disappointed in how we bowled and fielded,” Du Plessis said of the Bloemfontein reversal.
“We haven’t been a side that has been on the receiving end of 400 too many times. But then somehow we managed to keep ourselves in the game, through our strong batting line-up, and possibly chase the score down.
“We take a lot of confidence from a batting point of view that we were with the rate all the time, but we’re pretty disappointed we went 1-0 down, and now it’s pressure on us to make a play. As you said, 2-0 down is a lot harder to come back from.”
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