‘It sucks to lose’: Proteas fired up to hit back against Afghanistan

Admitting they were outplayed, all-rounder Wiaan Mulder said the Proteas would use their historic defeat to Afghanistan as motivation to fight back in their three-match ODI series.

In the opening fixture at a neutral venue in Sharjah on Wednesday, Afghanistan secured their first ever victory over South Africa, coasting to a six-wicket win with 24 overs to spare.

Mulder was the only SA player to put up any real resistance with the bat, contributing a half-century, as the Proteas were bundled out for 106 runs. And their bowlers were unable to defend the poor total.

Though he said the South Africans had struggled in “tricky” conditions, Mulder credited their opponents for a fine performance, with Afghanistan adding their latest triumph to limited overs victories over England, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand in the last year.

“They’ve got very high skills and they put us under pressure, and they’ve put so many teams under pressure over the last couple of years,” Mulder said.

“So they’re definitely a side to take seriously, and I think going forward they will just get stronger and stronger, and they will narrow the gap to the best in the world. They’re pretty close to that already.”

Bouncing back

Mulder said the Proteas were gutted by the defeat and they were fired up to hit back in the second of three ODI matches to be played in Sharjah on Friday (2pm SA time) as they aimed to level the series.

“It hurts a lot and doesn’t send a very good message to the people who are supporting us and have done a lot for us to be where we are,” he said.

“So it’s a terrible feeling, but it’s also something we can use as motivation for the next time we play, to really go out there and give it our all, no matter how hard the conditions, to try and find a way to win a game,

“That’s our mindset going into the next game and the next series, to try and learn from these matches… and that’s how we’re trying to get better consistently and make everyone proud. It sucks to lose, man, it sucks.”