AB de Villiers says South Africa struggled to get momentum on their side as they went down by 32 runs against New Zealand in the second T20I in Centurion on Sunday.
The home side have only themselves to blame for the defeat as they drew the series 1-1; taking on a run-chase that was devoid of any patience and made the team look much more inexperienced then they are.
‘It was a poor day for us in all departments,’ De Villiers said. ‘We didn’t adapt well enough and struggled to get momentum on our side. They dominated for 40 overs which doesn’t happen a lot in T20 cricket.’
Even though the scoreboard said South Africa only lost by ‘a few runs’, De Villiers felt maybe with a partnership or two at the end they could have come close.
‘But I felt we were well below par with bat and ball in hand and that is pretty disappointing; especially at the start with the ball, I felt we were at 60 or 70% and once you start off like that it’s pretty difficult to pull it back.
‘It flowed into our batting as well and we had a lot of soft dismissals.’
De Villiers confirmed that Faf du Plessis, who missed the two T20 games due to a knee injury, was doubtful for the first ODI against the Black Caps on Wednesday.
‘We need to re-assess where we are at as an ODI team,’ De Villiers said. ‘No different mentality, we just want to find a brand we can take forward to the Champions Trophy in 2017 and the World Cup in 2019.
‘It’s just a couple of tweaks here and there because not all the senior players will be going to those tournaments. Our approach needs a bit of thinking.’
Kagiso Rabada, who took 3-30, said he was happy with his progression in the national setup.
‘It was a good series for myself, but it would have been better if we won both games,’ he said. ‘I’m feeling quite good since Bangladesh, but there are still a lot of things to work on.
‘There is very little margin for error, you have to be on top of things all the time, but that wasn’t the case in the second T20. I was a bit too straight; you need to be on your mark all the time, especially in T20 cricket. I would have liked to start better so I need to work on that.’
Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir and Vernon Philander have joined the ODI squad which will hold it’s first training session at the Wanderers Stadium on Monday morning.
