Newly-appointed skipper Quinton de Kock on Friday (February 28) said if South Africa are to get the better of Australia in the three-match ODI series then they “can’t give them a sniff”.
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De Kock’s remarks came in the wake of Proteas’ 2-1 T20I series defeat at the hands of Australia in home conditions. Australia annihilated South Africa by 107 runs and 97 runs in the first and third T20I respectively, while the hosts managed to pull off a 12-run win in the second game.
“It wasn’t good enough doing it twice in one series but we’ve got to have a good look at ourselves and ask some honest questions,” De Kock quoted as saying by IOL on the eve of the ODI series opener at Boland Park. “In this series we played one decent game and then obviously the other two are just a disappointment. It’s not really the way we want to go about things.
“When we chatted we had an honest conversation about fighting back. We know they are a really strong team. When they are on top, they are hard to stop. We spoke about not giving them a sniff. They got a sniff and rode the wave.”
De Kock, who recently took over the captaincy from Faf du Plessis, also admitted that he is still learning the job.
“I’m still taking it in my stride. I’m still learning,” he said. “There’s a lot of things that I didn’t see when I was just a normal player. Now I am seeing things and learning about the game and the thinking behind decisions. I am asking a lot of advice from Faf. I hope I can get better and put the results on the board.”
In the T20I series, most of the South African batsmen struggled against spin. For Australia, left-arm spinner ended up with 8 wickets while leggie Adam Zampa claimed 5 wickets in the series.
“I don’t think it’s a technical thing. It can boil down to situations in the game. Or it could also be a confidence thing, I am not sure,” De Kock said. “I am not in the other batsmen’s minds. We’ve got some really good players of spin.
