Heinrich Klaasen plays a shot during South Africa's innings in the first T20 against Pakistan. Picture: Gallo Images
There were many blemishes in the Proteas finishing game with both bat and ball in the first T20 against Pakistan at the Wanderers on Saturday, with captain Heinrich Klaasen admitting one of the black marks goes against his name for getting out when he did when South Africa were batting.
Klaasen scored an explosive 50 off 28 balls, producing some great six-hitting, but he was caught at short fine leg trying to scoop Hasan Ali with the Proteas on 159 for three after 16.2 overs.
They ended on 188 for six, a decent total but well short of what looked likely when they already had 151 on the board after 15 overs.
ALSO READ: Rizwan stars as Pakistan down sloppy Proteas in opening T20
Pakistan won the match by four wickets with a ball to spare as South Africa again failed to execute their skills in the last five overs, conceding 60 runs as well as missing a couple of catches.
Opener Mohammad Rizwan steered the visitors home with his clinical 74 not out off 50 balls.
“We were in a very good position to take the game away from Pakistan, but unfortunately I got out at a bad time,” Klaasen said after the match.
“The job of the set batsman is to go deep but unfortunately I couldn’t do that. It was not all bad execution in the end stages, just one or two overs and we had a bit of bad luck too. But we still need to fine-tune that area of our game.
“We may be forced to experiment with players, but the game plan is set and we need to do that going forward to the World Cup. Now we just need to execute it and fine-tune it.
“Things like the angles we bowled to Rizwan, we need to stay out of his hitting zone, he scored a lot on the leg side. Sisanda Magala and Lizaad Williams are probably our two best yorker bowlers so we needed to stick to that plan.”
One positive from the match was Aiden Markram reaching a white-ball international half-century for the first time since March 2019.
The elegant opener top-scored for the Proteas with 51 and he did not eat up too many balls getting there either, needing only 32 deliveries.
“I’m really happy for Aiden. He’s fought hard to get back in the white-ball sides and today he really made a statement,” Klaasen said.
“He showed that he can play in this format. In the ODIs he just needs to not get out when he is set, but today’s knock was a big step in the right direction.” – Ken Borland
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