Proteas look to sign off in style
South Africa’s rollercoaster tour of Sri Lanka comes to an end today as they play a one-off T20 international under the captaincy of JP Duminy and the Proteas will obviously want to conclude their trip on a winning note after losing the last two ODIs.
The ODI defeats of the last week have taken maybe a little shine off the considerable achievement of winning the series, but whatever happens in the T20 match, 50over stand-in captain Quinton de Kock was eager to ensure the Proteas’ efforts in winning the first three matches won’t be forgotten.
“It’s difficult winning a series in Sri Lanka, as we saw in the Tests, so it was really pleasing for us to come from the down of the Tests and win the ODI series. The first three games were especially pleasing for the team, that was a big plus for us because it wasn’t easy to do. Now we’ll just learn from our mistakes in the last two games and use that going forward,” De Kock said.
The temporary replacement for the injured Faf du Plessis said one of the main reasons South Africa lost the last two ODIs was because Sri Lanka managed to post far larger totals than they had in the first three games. But Kagiso Rabada, who conceded just 4.85 runs-per-over in the series, and Lungi Ngidi, their leading wicket-taker, did not play together in the last two matches. That could change for today’s T20, with South Africa able to field five specialist bowlers, with another strike pair in Tabraiz Shamsi and Junior Dala, and Andile Phehlukwayo bringing the variation with his clever cutters and slower balls.
“KG and Lungi are high-class bowlers, they’ve been around a while now and they’re always looking to strike up front. They naturally take wickets in all formats and youngsters like Junior now have the chance to learn how to take wickets as well.
“In the first two games we won, we didn’t have to chase the biggest targets, but in the last two ODIs, the Sri Lanka batting line-up were able to play with a lot of freedom and set us big, challenging totals. I thought we batted really well though in the fourth match, but we didn’t finish,” De Kock said.