Proteas skipper AB de Villiers has blamed incompetence in the fielding department as the reason for the loss against England in the deciding T20I in Cardiff on Sunday night.
The visitors were asked to chase a challenging total of 182 by England. It was a sort of price which the Proteas were asked to pay for their sloppy fielding and dropped catches apart from the bashing they received at the hands of the debutant Dawid Malan who made 78 off just 44 balls.
“We let ourselves down in the field with a couple of fumbles and a few drop catches. We lost by 19 runs and I could think of 20 runs that we threw away with silly mistakes,” De Villiers told reporters in Cardiff.
“The guys executed pretty well. Yes, there were a few softballs but it’s the same with the opposition.”
The match had some positives as well as Young guns stood out with impressive performances. The most outstanding was the Cape Cobra bowler Dane Paterson who emerged as a worthy death bowling option after ending the game with impressive figures of 4/32. His spell was crucial in restricting England to a sub-200 score, as he triggered a lower failure in the batting order.
“Dane Paterson bowled exceptionally well by getting four wickets in his last two overs and he is a great prospect for the future. Reeza (Hendricks) didn’t score as much as he wanted to, but I’ve seen him in the nets and he is a bright star for the future.”
Proteas could not show any class during the chase and was struggling at 91/6. But, fortunately, the seventh-wicket partnership of 54 between Mangaliso Mosehle (36 from 22 balls) and Andile Phehlukwayo (27* from 20 balls) gave some hopes to the Proteas before eventually falling short of 19-runs.
“Some young guns showed that they can play the game, Manga (Mangaliso Mosehle) towards the end and Andile (Phehlukwayo) batted superbly well,” said De Villiers.
South Africa is now readying up for the Test leg of the tour. The side will see some changes, as limited overs skipper AB de Villiers leaves the team making way for Faf du Plessis to take over the charge of the side. De Villiers is currently on a break from the Test format but says he will be watching.
“I believe we have a good chance, it’s not going to be easy. England Test team is pretty settled, they play well in home conditions,” he said.
“We’ve won a few series in the past, some of our senior players will draw a lot from those experiences and help the youngsters out with handling those pressure situations. We’ve got some good young talented players who will make their debut, so I’m looking forward to watching them perform.”
CSA earlier on Monday announced the 16-member squad for the four-Test series against England which commences on July 6 at the mecca of cricket, the Lord’s.