Harsh words for Black Caps
Captain Kane Williamson backed his under-pressure opener Tom Latham but admitted some tough selection discussions will follow New Zealand’s horror show in Wellington last night.
‘‘Not very good at all, really,’’ was Williamson’s first reaction to his side’s 159-run hammering by South Africa in the third ODI, after they were shot out for 112 in 32.2 overs. In terms of runs it was a record defeat to South Africa in ODIs.
After two tight finishes in Hamilton and Christchurch to leave the one-dayers poised at 1-1, New Zealand have to somehow pick themselves off the dressing room floor to front up in Hamilton on Wednesday to keep the five-match series alive.
Martin Guptill’s return will help, with Williamson confirming the prolific opener will make his muchawaited return from a hamstring injury at Seddon Park. That doesn’t ease the headaches around the other opening slot where wicketkeeper Latham’s sequence of ODI innings stretched out to 4,7, 0, 0, 2 and 0 with his seven-ball duck.
‘‘It is unfortunate with some of the scores and you always want more runs. Tom works very hard like all of us and has perhaps been a little unlucky with some of his dismissals and found some fielders,’’ Williamson said.
‘‘That’s the nature of the game, and against a very good attack. He wants more runs like the rest of us and is working hard to do so and they will come soon.’’
Coach and chief selector Mike Hesson will name the squad for games four and five this morning.
Latham is one of the first picked in the test side but there must be a temptation to put him on ice for the final two ODIs before the first test on March 8, or risk his confidence suffering further dents. Luke Ronchi can take over the gloves which would require a middle order reshuffle, and potentially prolong Dean Brownlie’s stint as ODI opener.
‘‘There’s a number of [selection] discussions to have with a quick turnaround. There’s a number of one-dayers building up to the Champions Trophy [in June]. In saying that we want to be far better, day in and day out, and today wasn’t good enough. We want to be better in Hamilton,’’ Williamson said.
Granted, the drop-in pitch was trickier than expected and seam movement continued throughout, but it was hardly prodigious and the same for both sides.
After winning the toss, South Africa managed 271-8 with another batting masterclass from captain AB de Villiers (85 off 80 balls), who took it till the last over before he was caught on the boundary.
‘‘The way their bowlers were able to exploit the conditions better than us and make life difficult showed it was a very tough score to chase. In saying that, as a batting unit we want to be much better in terms of sucking up that pressure,’’ Williamson said.
‘‘If we were smarter with the bat and tried to soak it up for a period of time then cash in at the back end we would have been far better off. It is a disappointing performance but we do need to move on quickly because we’ve got another game in a few days.’’
Williamson and Ross Taylor joined up at 11-2 and batted for 12 overs but got bogged down against a persistent South African pace attack led by Kagiso Rabada who set the tone, before Dwaine Pretorius removed Taylor and tore through the middle order. Such is the reliance on the Big Two to lead the way, it all folded like a pack of cards.
Still, Williamson insisted the wounds wouldn’t linger. ‘‘It’s never nice losing and one-day cricket can be fickle in nature and sometimes that can happen. That’s not an excuse, we do need to be better when presented with slightly different conditions.’’
Williamson simply had to tip his hat to his opposite number de Villiers who was again without peer with the bat. ‘‘He’s a terrific cricketer, extremely skilful and the way he plays his cricket is something you admire.’’
South Africa’s captain hailed ‘‘great team performance’’. Match report — pB3 a