Proteas ‘determined’ to follow through with series victory, says Miller

One match away from a series victory, big-hitting batter David Miller says the Proteas are desperate to end their lengthy drought when they face Pakistan in the second of three T20 Internationals in Centurion on Friday night (6pm start).

Having won the opening match of the series by 11 runs in Durban on Tuesday, the SA team have an opportunity at SuperSport Park this evening to secure a series win with a match to spare.

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The Proteas have not won a T20 series since they beat Ireland 2-0 in Bristol in August 2022, and Miller said they were hungry to follow through in front of their home crowd after getting the campaign off to a positive start.

“We’re very determined. It’s been a while since we won a series,” said Miller, who hit 82 runs in the series opener at Kingsmead.

“It was great to start on the front foot by putting everything together in getting 183 (runs) and bowling really well.

“We spoke about starting well against Pakistan and not letting them in, and we did that so hopefully we can keep it going.”

Tough battle ahead

Though their win earlier in the week had given them a confidence boost, Miller insisted the Proteas were not getting ahead of themselves.

With Pakistan lying just one place below South Africa (who are sixth) in the T20 world rankings, Miller said the hosts were bracing for battle and would need to reset ahead of this evening’s fixture.

“With the nature of international cricket, you can score a hundred and score nought the next game, or you can score nought and score a hundred the next game. And that also goes for bowlers and the team’s results,” Miller said.

“So I think the main thing is to really park that win. We take all the positives we can from that game and we go into game two with a lot more confidence and momentum, but it’s a new game.

“We really need to make sure we start well again and the fundamental basics become really important. We must throw the first punch, have good energy and show our presence.

“With those kinds of things you have to start all over again in a new game, and hopefully guys put up their hands and put in good performances.”

Nortje ruled out

Meanwhile, it was confirmed on Thursday that Proteas fast bowler Anrich Nortje had been ruled out of the rest of the white-ball campaign against Pakistan, which also included three upcoming ODI matches.

Nortje, who did not play on Tuesday after picking up an injury ahead of the match, was not available for the rest of the series after scans had revealed a fracture in his toe.

Uncapped all-rounder Dayyaan Galiem was named as his replacement for the remaining two T20 Internationals this weekend.