Proteas can’t afford more errors in crucial England clash

The Proteas will be looking to correct the “mistakes” from the previous match in the second ODI against England in Southampton on Saturday.

South Africa face a must-win situation following the 72-run loss on Wednesday, which Faf du Plessis has described as disappointing and below par for a team with high standards and expectations.

Du Plessis says the opening match was an opportunity to dust off any early-season cobwebs and expects an improved performance in the bid to keep the series alive.

“We made quite a lot of mistakes in the first match,” Du Plessis admitted on Friday.

“The positive to take from that is that we played at 50-percent and we still got ourselves into a position where we could have won the game. Hashim Amla and I had a nice partnership and the pleasing thing is that there is room for improvement.

“Tactically we made a few mistakes,” he added.

“We gave a few soft runs to England’s batsmen and when we had them under pressure they just got away from us. With the bat, we had a good start, normally from there, with a long batting line-up, we are a team that drives for longer, we didn’t do that.

“There are both sides to look at,” he said of the benefits of the series. “If you are playing well and winning, there is the momentum you take into the tournament. If you are not playing the best cricket that you would like to play, there is room for peaking at the right time. At the moment, we haven’t played our best cricket yet and we are looking to gear that up.”

The Proteas have a good record at the Southampton ground.

They are unbeaten at the venue with two wins from two matches – a seven-wicket win against Zimbabwe in the tri-series in 2003 and an 80-run win against the hosts in 2012.

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