Plenty of lessons for Proteas after ODI defeat

Though a second limited overs series defeat is a bitter pill to swallow, the Proteas will leave Pakistan with a clearer understanding of their depth and increased personnel options across the board.

The home team, on a used wicket, spun South Africa to shreds in the deciding ODI in Faisabalad on Saturday to claim a second white ball series triumph after also winning the T20Is 2-1 a week earlier.

The Proteas were left befuddled by Pakistan’s trio of tweakers led by wrist-spinner, Abra Ahmed who picked up 4/27, and were dismissed for just 143 in only 37.5 overs. That after an opening partnership of 72 between Quinton de Kock, named player of the series, and young Lhuan-dre Pretorius, provided a solid foundation.

“Batting conditions were more challenging than we expected,” assistant coach Wandile Gwavu said.

South Africa won the toss for the first time on tour and chose to bat on the same strip as the one used in the first match of the series.

However, while they expected the conditions to worsen, they didn’t do enough themselves with the bat, losing 10 wickets for 71 runs in 22.3 overs, with Pakistan earning a seven-wicket victory.

“We felt it would get more difficult, which did happen, but we didn’t have enough runs on the board. Pakistan’s bowlers were also more accurate than us, they were hitting the stumps more often,” Gwavu said.

He said the experience would hold South Africa in good stead. De Kock explained it would provide players with the chance to work on different aspects of their game.

“There will be a lot of take-aways for the young players. They learned a couple of things on how to play spin, reverse-swinging wickets and pitches that played low and slow.”

De Kock finished the series with 239 runs, making two half-centuries and an unbeaten 123 in the second match. He also became only the fifth South African player to pass 7000 ODI runs in Saturday’s clash, and his performance in the ODIs certainly showed that he has more to offer at international level.

Pretorius, one of four debutants for the Proteas in the series, should feel reasonably pleased with his start in the ODI format, finishing with an aggregate of 142 runs, which included one half-century. He and De Kock shared three 50-run partnerships.

For Matthew Breetzke, who stood in as captain, the experience he gained will be valuable as he looks to continue his amazing start at international level.

On the bowling front the return of Nandre Burger, who finished the series with five wickets, will widen the options available to the selectors as they look ahead to the India tour and next year’s T20 World Cup. Burger’s extra pace and different angle provides added variety to the attack.

Corbin Bosch again illustrated that his all-round talents add depth to any squad, although he’d have liked to do more with the bat.

Donovan Ferreira missed out across both white ball series’s, scoring just 10 runs in two ODI innings and 54 runs in the T20s, despite having a lot of time to bat in those matches. Already known for his wicketkeeping, his off-spin bowling, with which he claimed two wickets in the second ODI, shows an extra dimension.

The biggest disappointments were the left arm-spinners, George Linde and Bjorn Fortuin, who took only three wickets between them in helpful conditions, and didn’t do enough to press their claims in an increasingly packed competition among SA’s spinners.