Proteas on cloud nine
REVENGE is sweet but success is sweeter. That is how the Proteas are feeling right now.
After having to take it on the chin so many times before, most notably after the shock World Cup quarter-final defeat by the very same New Zealand, SA restored some of their lost pride with a thrilling threerun victory at Eden Park yesterday.
A three-match Twenty20 series may not carry the kudos of knockout World Cup games, but it was the manner in which it was achieved that would give the Proteas the greatest satisfaction.
New Zealand had the seriesTwenty20 won for all money. SA were staring down the barrel, and big Jesse Ryder was delivering body blow after body blow.
Set 166 to win, the home side required just 16 to win from 23 balls. Only this time it was SA who stood up off the canvas, dusted themselves off, and hit back with some telling rearguard strikes.
In fact, SA claimed three wickets in seven balls – eight if Marchant de Lange’s last-ball no-ball is counted – which included Ryder’s scalp for a wellplayed 52. The Kiwis added only three runs to the scoreboard in this period. It was enough to take the Proteas across the line in a game they should never have won.
“We were put under some pressure towards the end – some of it by ourselves – and we didn’t respond well. It’s disappointing,” skipper Brendon Mccullum said.
“We’ve talked a lot about making sure when we get ourselves in situations like that where we can finish games off, that we do it clinically and we do it with the ruthlessness we showed throughout the Zimbabwe series. Tonight was bitterly disappointing, and we are going to have to pick ourselves up pretty quickly.”
Needless to say Proteas captain AB de Villiers was elated. It was his first Twenty20 series at the helm, but the skipper was not basking in personal glory. It was about the collective for De Villiers, and the “processes” being executed.
He even shied away from labelling the Kiwi meltdown a “choke”, despite it being naturally tempting considering the amount of criticism and abuse his team have endured after similar collapses.
“All I was doing was mak- ing sure we were focusing on the processes, and not the results, by keeping our standards high,” he said.
“We were 11 guys out there who played as a team. I believe in the boys and they really responded tonight. I wanted them to take risks at the back end, and they did, which worked in our favour. It shows that you can give the opposing team credit for doing well.
“It’s not necessarily that New Zealand choked. Sometimes the opposition can play well, and Marchant and Johan (Botha) bowled unbelievably well.”
Mccullum, though, was not ducking and diving. He knew his team had blown a major opportunity to secure a rare series victory over the Proteas. In fact, he was gutted at the after-match press conference and could not hide his feelings when the inevitable “choke” question was put to him.
“Don’t say that word,” he quipped. “I guess when you look at where we were in the game and where the game ended up, you’d say that we faulted. We came under pressure and we didn’t measure up to it. You can use whatever words you want, but we didn’t get the job done and that’s the cold hard fact of it.”
In every game there are heroes and villains on either side. Ryder played both roles for New Zealand. He was brilliant in his comeback game,
PICTURE: GETTY IMAGES especially early on against the Proteas’ pacemen, but really struggled in the latter part of his innings which set the demise in motion.
SA’S De Lange was not far off either. His first three overs leaked 33 runs, yet somehow De Villiers still trusted the 21year-old with just two T20 international caps to bowl the last over with only seven required. The fast bowler proved to be the joker in the Proteas’ deck, although for De Villiers it was never a gamble.
“I am the unfortunate guy who has to face him in the nets, so I know what he is capable of,” the skipper said.
“He is a big-match temperament kind of player, the kind of guy who sticks up his hand. I called him across before the over and I sensed he was quite calm. I know he has a very good yorker and a bouncer, and that is what we needed at that stage.”