Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara plays a shot during their first ODI against South Africa in Colombo July 20, 2013. Photo: Dinuka Liyanawatte / Reuters
The Castle Lager Proteas can look forward to what remains of the ODI series against Sri Lanka with the consolation that their performances can only improve, after their 180-run thrashing in the first match on Saturday in Colombo.
The Proteas were outplayed in all disciplines, and will look to regroup ahead of the second match on Tuesday.
“I’m not going to panic,” captain, AB de Villiers said after the disappointing performance. “I still believe that the series is wide open, I know how dangerous my team can be if we play well and do the basics well. I’m disappointed with the way we played but I truly believe that we are going to bounce back in the next game.”
The bowlers gave away 137 runs in the last 11 overs, with Kumar Sangakkara taking full advantage to post his highest ODI score of 169. Morne Morkel marked his return from injury with a solid performance of two for 34 in 10 overs, and was the highlight of a bowling performance that lacked accurate execution at the death.
In response, the run chase was off to the worst possible start with the wicket of Colin Ingram off the first ball of the innings. The absence of Hashim Amla may have weakened the top order, however de Villiers insists greater responsibility was needed from the batsmen.
“We lost wickets early on which was a problem,” he said. “We had too many big shots going for boundaries instead of working the ball around. We never had a pace and a pattern of play with the bat in hand which was a big problem, there were no partnerships and we kept losing wickets at the wrong time.
I can talk about all of the things that went wrong for hours, but I would like for us to put that aside and try to learn from it what we can, but more importantly try and make it one all in the next game.”
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