Proteas captain Faf du Plessis admitted that it was a mistake to bowl first against Bangladesh at the Oval.

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The Proteas skipper took everyone by surprise when he opted to bowl first at the Oval after winning the toss. Especially after he sent England in to bat in the World Cup opener and struggled to chase down their 311 on the same wicket.

Once again, they crumbled during their chase, this time en route to Bangladesh’s 331-run target.

Du Plessis admitted that bowling first was an error on his part.

‘Today didn’t go according to plan. Wasn’t ideal with Lungi [Ngidi] getting injured, but 330 was out of par. Not a great performance from us,’ he said during his post-match interview.

‘Looking back, no. I wouldn’t have bowled first, but the thinking was, the surface was going to have more pace and bounce. If a subcontinent side get runs on the board, they could squeeze it later.

‘Even with Lungi’s injury – he’s our death bowler with KG – to go for 54 runs off the last four overs was damaging.

‘We came here with a fast bowling attack we wanted to have, not quite sure of Lungi’s hamstring injury, it can be a few days or a week off. Dale Steyn is bowling in the middle now, hopefully there’s some progress.’

The Proteas have a difficult task ahead of them with two losses under their belt, and with India, Australia, New Zealand and the West Indies still to play.

‘It won’t get easier from here, South Africa is a proud sporting nation. Skills weren’t there, but we’ll fight. We’re firing at 50-60%.’

The Proteas take on India on Wednesday for their third World Cup match in a week.

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