Major wake-up call for South Africa
MARKRAM: THERE’S NO EXCUSE, WE DIDN’T PLAY WELL
Wrist-spinners claim eight wickets in ODI humiliation.
Aiden Markram, to his credit, was uneconomical with the truth when he described his debut as Proteas captain as “an eye-opener” and a “baptism of fire”, but he did try and strike an optimistic note by expressing the hope that yesterday’s record-breaking defeat at the hands of India at Centurion would be just the kick up the backside they needed in the series.
South Africa’s batsmen threw their wickets away as they were bundled out for just 118, the lowest total they have ever made in a one-day international on home soil, and the bowling was similarly charitable as India raced to victory in just 20.3 overs.
With 177 balls remaining in the match, it left Markram with the unenviable record of having presided over the most one-sided home defeat in the Proteas’ history, and left his home crowd feeling short-changed as they were only given half-a-day’s entertainment on a lovely sunny day. The fact that a lunch break was called with India needing just two more runs merely added to their sense of humour failure.
“That was definitely an eye-opener, a baptism of fire, and it showed what is required at the top level. But it’s okay, it might just bring out the best in this team. There’s no excuse, we just did not play good cricket and the players are obviously very upset and disappointed in themselves.
“But hopefully this means they will come out firing for the last four games, hopefully being 2-0 down in the series brings out the best in them. All the plans are in place, we don’t need any drastic changes, but we just have to do those things better. It’s down to execution on the day,” Markram said after the nine-wicket defeat.
The Proteas once again failed to handle the twin threat of wrist-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal (8.2-1-22-5) and Kuldeep Yadav (60-20-3) in the middle overs, crashing from 51/1 to 118 all out. Quinton de Kock (20) and Markram (8) hit long-hops straight to fielders off successive deliveries to start the collapse.
“They’re obviously two quality bowlers but I don’t feel we played them particularly well and that was our downfall. I wouldn’t say we play spin incredibly well generally, but there was no massive danger out there today, the pitch was not too bad.
“There’s no lack of a game-plan, each individual had a clear plan. We have to give those spinners credit, but we can definitely execute better. We had a fairly good start, but each batsman must take responsibility himself. At the moment we’re obviously not scoring enough runs,” Markram said.