‘We need to play with intensity’, says Proteas captain Bavuma

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma criticised the number of soft dismissals his batting line-up suffered and their lack of intent in their humiliating nine-wicket defeat in the third ODI against Bangladesh, who won their first series in any format in South Africa.

Having won the toss, elected to bat first and reached 46 without loss inside seven overs in Centurion on Wednesday, the Proteas folded meekly to be bowled out for just 154 runs in 37 overs.

“There were a lot of soft dismissals and too many in the top-order,” Bavuma said.

“Intent is the big word. We need to play with intensity and clarity, we need to back our plans 100%.

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“But that wasn’t there in the third ODI and we did not execute at 100% either. From a confidence point of view, there was a lot of belief coming out of the India series win, but we did not respect our processes at Centurion. Maybe we just expected things to go our way.

“We know Bangladesh have the tag of not being one of the bigger teams, but they showed skill and execution at a high level. They really put us under pressure with the ball and bat in how they executed their game-plan and the basics in these conditions.”

Having whitewashed India 3-0 in January with the same team, but bolstered by the inclusion of ace fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, being beaten by Bangladesh on the Highveld (even though the tourists have improved impressively) rates as one of the most embarrassing defeats the Proteas have ever suffered.

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A nonplussed Bavuma regarded his team’s inconsistency as being his biggest concern.

“Not so long ago we were victorious against India and now we were completely outplayed in all three departments by Bangladesh,” the skipper said.

“The inconsistency in the way we perform as a unit is the worry.”