Jamaica [Kingston], May 27 (ANI): Following his side’s clean sweep defeat to West Indies in the T20I series, South African stand-in captain Rassie van der Dussen said that his team could have been much braver while batting and they should not make the same mistakes again and again.
A half-century from Johnson Charles and a fine effort by bowlers helped West Indies continue their streak of series wins in T20Is, beating South Africa by eight wickets to secure the series 3-0 on Sunday.
Following the win, Dussen, whose side suffered a second successive series loss to West Indies in T20Is and their fourth loss in all of the series played under the white-ball coach in T20I format, said during the post-match press conference, “From a batting front, we can maybe be just a bit braver. We saw the way that the West Indies play, especially in the powerplay. They take it on. When the ball is new, it is easier to score. It gets tough towards the back end when the ball gets soft.”
Batting first, West Indies put on scores of 64 and 51 in the first six overs during the powerplay and lost just one wicket each in the first two matches. In the final game, they raced to 83/0 while chasing 164 runs. Both Reeza Hendricks and Quinton de Kock have enjoyed some individual success, but their opening partnership only did well in one game and the number three batter Ryan Rickelton could not touch the 20-run mark across any game.
Speaking on his team’s performance, Dussen said that they failed to adapt quickly enough to the playing conditions.
“We just could not adapt early enough. We had a long week in terms of layovers in Miami and so forth. We saw that in the first match, but you cannot keep making the same mistakes,” he added.
The middle-order, an inexperienced line-up consisting of Matthew Breetzke and Wiaan Mulder, failed to deliver a consistent performance as a unit, with the skipper Dussen being the only batter from number four to seven get two scores in double figures. But during the T20 World Cup, they will be replaced by a much more power-packed and experienced line-up of Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller and Tristan Stubbs, who are all extremely capable power-hitters as well.
The middle order didn’t fare much better – van der Dussen was the only batter of those carded No. 4 to 7 to get two scores in double-figures – but they will be entirely replaced by Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller and Tristan Stubbs, which should boost South Africa’s power-hitting. Except for Miller and Markram, who had an average IPL 2024 season with just 210 runs in nine matches and 220 runs in 11 matches, Klaasen (479 runs in 15 matches) and Stubbs (378 runs in 14 matches) had a fine run with the bat, although with some low scores in between.
The skipper was hopeful that the return of these aforementioned players would boost the consistency and scoring rate of the middle order.
“The guys are very experienced. Many of them have played CPL (Caribbean Premier League) a few times. We do not know what conditions we are going to get in the USA but the middle order is made up of very experienced, world-class players,” he concluded.
Coming to the final match, South Africa opted to bat first. Knocks from Dussen (51 in 31 balls) and Wiaan Mulder (36 in 28 balls) guided Proteas to 163/7 in their 20 overs. Obed McCoy (3/39) was the pick of the bowlers for WI.
In the run-chase, Johnson Charles (69 in 26 balls, with nine fours and five sixes) and skipper Brandon King (44 in 28 balls) and Kyle Mayers (36 in 23 balls) pulled off the chase with eight wickets and 37 balls in hand. (ANI)
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