Toss decision stings for De Villiers
VISITORS COLLAPSE AFTER PROMISING START Skipper De Villiers admits he made the wrong call at toss.
Proteas captain AB de Villiers was annoyed by the swarm of bees that interrupted the third ODI against Sri Lanka at the Wanderers at the weekend, but even more so by what he said was his wrong call at the toss.
De Villiers’ decision to send Sri Lanka in to bat was greeted by some sighs of disappointment from the crowd, who were no doubt eager to see South Africa bat the full 50 overs and pile up a score well over 300, as they have done in three of the previous four Pink ODIs at the Wanderers.
After an opening stand of 60 off 74 balls between Niroshan Dickwella and Upul Tharanga had promised much for the Sri Lankans, they had slid to 117/4 in 26.3 overs when a swarm of bees descended on the field and forced play to be halted for an hour, before a Good Samaritan beekeeper, Pierre Hefer, arrived from Emmarentia to help out.
The innings only lasted little more than an hour upon resumption, with Sri Lanka bowled out for a paltry 163, which South Africa chased down in just 32 overs, De Villiers scoring a run-a-ball 60 not out.
But South Africa’s captain said he was very glad to be chasing the small total.
“I would have batted first if I had the toss over again because it was quite tough batting in the evening and chasing 250 would have been really difficult. Unfortunately the game was not as entertaining as other Pink ODIs have been, but it was still a good win. It was still a great atmosphere and I’m sure a huge success for the Pink Drive. It was a bit annoying with the bees, harder for the batsmen to start again, but we were all very stiff in the field after the delay as well,” De Villiers said after the seven-wicket victory.
The captain said he was impressed by all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius’s bowling, the ODI rookie taking 3/19 in seven overs to win the Man-of-the-Match award in his fourth game for the Proteas.
“We’re trying to give the whole squad a chance and Wayne Parnell did fantastically well in the first two games, but this is Dwaine’s home town and we decided to give him a go, to see if he could get some confidence and it worked out really well.
“He’s pretty accurate and consistent in his areas and is happy to use the short ball. He has the knack of taking wickets at the right time,” De Villiers said.
The 27-year-old Pretorius said the buzz from the capacity crowd had given him the inspiration he needed.
“It’s the biggest crowd I’ve ever played in front of, it was amazing – it sounded like bees everywhere!
“I’ve always been wishing to play in the Pink ODI, it was a great game and I’m glad I could contribute to the team playing well again in pink. The Sri Lankan batsmen are really good when you give them a bit of width, so I just tried to keep it tight and hit the top of the stumps, which worked. And AB said I mustn’t forget about the short one, and I’m glad he did because that paid off too,” Pretorius said.