England Vs South Africa 2017: Just Did Our Basics Better – Faf Du Plessis
Jul 18, 2017 at 11:43 AM
South sprung life into what seemed a one sided Test series with a colossal win at Nottingham. Winning the game comprehensively by 340 runs, England’s otherwise happy hunting ground of Trent Bridge witnessed a complete massacre of the hosts. Despite not having their ace pacer Kagiso Rabada, out serving a match ban, the Proteas looked utterly dominant and bossed the England to wrap up the game within four days itself.
A big factor behind the series levelling win though was the return of skipper Faf du Plessis. Faf completed the missing aspects within the Proteas lineup as his astute captaincy did the job for his side, as done previously in Australia and New Zealand. Hashim Amla’s return to form with twin half centuries was another positive news.
Post the win, Faf admitted that he just focused on the basics to improve.
“I just thought we did our basics better,” du Plessis said. “We put England under pressure for a longer period of time. We let England dominate in the last game. In this Test, it was important for us to get into a position of strength and keep that for long. We did brilliantly and never lost the momentum. Hashim’s partnership with Kuhn was important in the first session. It did not matter how many runs they were scoring.”
“It was about absorbing the pressure. The way Morkel bowled, that’s the best I have seen him bowl in recent times. He did not take many wickets but maintained the pressure, and Maharaj as well. Ideally, as soon as the next Test comes, that would be better but at the same time it also gives some time for us to get away from games and relax and make sure we get back with same intensity,” Du Plessis added.
Man of the Match Vernon Philander admitted that he was delighted to find his groove back.
“We were all disappointed after the Lord’s Test match and needed to do something better here. Going into that Test I was a bit cold with the ankle injury that I sustained playing for Sussex. Over here, I got my groove back. Once you get the rhythm going, you need to make the most of it,” Philander said.
England skipper Joe Root was disappointed but mentioned the need to learn from their mistakes to improve in the near future.
“Contrasting emotions in the last couple of weeks. I suppose it’s all about how we respond from here. It is important that we stay tight. We don’t have to dwell too much on this. There are areas we have to improve and take positives from here. It’s difficult, South Africa reacted to conditions better than we did. We are going to learn from that. It is obviously disappointing, credit to them for playing the way they did.”