Proteas’ highly successful tour
T20: SA’S BOWLING WAS PARTICULARLY IMPRESSIVE
Own correspondent
The Proteas concluded a short, highly successful tour of Australia with a 21-run victory in the one-off T20 in Carrara on the Gold Coast on Saturday. Rain had reduced this fairly meaningless outing to just 10 overs per side, but Faf du Plessis and his men will be chuffed with the intensity and professionalism they showed
Given the hit-and-giggle nature of these types of contests, the visitors’ bowling was particularly impressive. “The bowlers once again stepped up. Produced the goods. There’s a lot of slogging, so nice to pick up wickets. A good tour for us. We learned a few lessons from their bowling attack, made sure we got our field placings right,” the Proteas skipper said.
“Australia is a really tough place to come and play cricket. To get a series win is always a huge achievement so we’ll go back with our heads high.”
Armed with a substantial target of 109 to defend, Chris Morris delivered the star spell of the night with 2/12 in his two over quota.
Tabraiz Shamsi (1/12) also showcased his improved confidence with an economical spell of left-arm wrist spin, stifling the Aussies at a crucial stage and earning himself the Man-of-theMatch award. “Glad we got over the line. Always special playing against Australia. We weren’t going to take it easy before flying home tomorrow,” he said.
Earlier, the Proteas threatened to score a massive total.
Reeza Hendricks’ 8-ball 19 meant SA were up to 42 without loss by 2.4 overs, a platform exploited by Faf du Plessis (27 off 15), Quinton de Kock (22) and Heinrich Klaasen (12 off 6).
Aussie captain Aaron Finch remained positive despite his side winning only one game in the short limited overs tour. “They got off to a great start with the bat, maybe few too many runs. Chasing 110 everything has to go right. You need boundaries early and it just didn’t happen,” he said.
“Those first few overs we let them get away a touch. The boys are still positive. We are moving in the right direction, some great improvements at training. An exciting time for Australian cricket, keep the faith and we’ll turn it around quickly.”
The Aussies managed to regain some pride by just conceding 10 runs off the last two overs, but the damage had already been done.