Captain Faf du Plessis says the Proteas’ nine-wicket victory over Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street was a welcome break from the pain of the World Cup, but still feels hollow. DANIEL GALLAN reports.
After Dwaine Pretorius starred with the ball and bagged 3-25 from his 10 overs to help bowl Sri Lanka out for 203, Du Plessis knocked off an unbeaten 96 alongside Hashim Amla’s 80 not-out to win with 76 balls to spare. However, the result had no impact on the side’s chances of reaching the semi-finals.
‘It’s obviously great winning today, but it is bitter-sweet you know,’ Du Plessis said. ‘It still feels hollow. We’ve let a lot people down and that was never the plan. So, we will enjoy the win in the changing room. We will get together and enjoy the performance. But I think when you go back, there will still be that hollow feeling of stuff that could have been in this tournament.’
When asked why it took the elimination from the competition to galvanise the team to produce a complete performance, Du Plessis was at a loss.
‘I can’t give you the answer why it hasn’t happened before,’ he said. ‘It’s probably doing the basics better today than we’ve done in the tournament.’
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Du Plessis praised Pretorius, who has not played since the opening game against England in May, and referenced his disciplined lines and lengths as a key factor in this encounter.
‘In English conditions he works really well. The slower the bowler the harder it is to face.’
On his batting, and the batting of his teammates, Du Plessis was adamant that knocks like today were always just around the corner.
‘I’ve been saying it a lot, the guys have been batting well but only for short periods. And the basics of batting once again; if you get in, someone has to bat through the innings, then it becomes easier.
‘If there was one or two more innings like today we would have sit in a different position. One or two more scores where I batted through. If the big scores had been there, we would have done well as a team. We’ve played good cricket.’
