South Africa captain A.B. de Villiers promised they would “fight our way back” after England thrashed them by nine wickets in the first Twenty20 international in Southampton on Wednesday.
After the chastening defeat, which came after their first-round exit at the Champions Trophy, De Villiers said: “It’s not done and dusted.”
“We go to Taunton and like all South Africans, we always fight our way back, so I’m expecting a really good performance in the next one,” he said.
Photo: Reuters
South Africa found runs hard to come by against England, whose spinners Liam Dawson and Twenty20 debutant Mason Crane both bowled tightly on their Hampshire home ground.
Young leg-spinner Crane had a particularly encouraging debut with his four overs going for 24 runs. He bowled one bad delivery, his final one a full toss hit for four by De Villiers.
“We know he has the potential and skill level, he has proved that at county level,” England captain Eoin Morgan said of the 20-year-old. “It is about reigniting that form at international level. His skills are good, we know that, it is delivering them against [players like] De Villiers, who is one of the best of our generation. Delivering against him is a task, especially when he is coming after you.”
The Proteas were reduced to 7-2 after seven deliveries. That became 32-3 in the fifth over after they chose to bat first.
De Villiers (65 not out) and Farhaan Behardien (64 not out) repaired the damage with an unbroken stand of 110, but a total of 142-3 never looked like being enough.
England, led by Jonny Bairstow’s unbeaten 60, raced to victory with 33 deliveries to spare for the loss of one wicket.
“The result doesn’t look good for us,” De Villiers said. “We lost our way in the first six [overs], had to rebuild and that cost us a bit. From the 13th over I tried to have a go.”
“We were looking for those 10 runs an over and didn’t get a lot of them, unfortunately,” he said.
England, resting Joe Root and Ben Stokes, hardly had to break sweat.
“It is as close to a complete performance as you can ask for,” Morgan said.
“The bowlers did an unbelievable job even after taking early wickets,” he said.
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