After being ‘caught off guard’, Proteas must pick themselves up for third ODI

The Proteas can only blame themselves for falling in a historic ODI series defeat to Afghanistan, according to batting coach JP Duminy.

After losing the first match by six wickets earlier in the week, the Proteas were thumped again, falling by 177 runs in the second fixture in Sharjah on Friday night, with Afghanistan winning the three-match series with a game to spare.

The Afghanistan team wrapped up their first ever series victory over South Africa.

Top-order batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit his seventh career ODI century (105 runs) – a record for Afghanistan – and spin bowler Rashid Khan took 5/19.

The Proteas had no real response with bat or ball, and while Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi shared 73 runs for the first wicket in their chase, the rest of the batting line-up collapsed as they were dismissed for 134.

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“When you’re indecisive in your movements, from time to time, you can be caught off guard,” Duminy said.

“Unfortunately that’s where we found ourselves, and there’s no running from a situation like this. We were well below par in both games, and now we need to turn the mirror on ourselves and ask ourselves the question: How are we going to get better?”

Looking ahead

Duminy said they needed to stay positive and find solutions ahead of the third and final ODI between SA and Afghanistan to be played in Sharjah on Sunday (2pm SA time).

Though it was a dead rubber clash, a win would offer some consolation for the second-string Proteas, and give them a boost in confidence ahead of their upcoming series against Ireland. 

“We have a short turnaround before we have to play again,” Duminy said.

“So it’s very much about a mental switch, and understanding how we’re going to commit to our options and our game plan, and take it from there.”