The Proteas lost the second T20 International against England by 146 runs in Manchester.
The national cricket team need to “be better” if they want to win the T20 International series against England, according to head coach Shukri Conrad, after they were demolished in a shock defeat in the second match in Manchester on Friday night.
Having won the first game of the series by 14 runs on the DLS method, the Proteas lost by 146 runs in the second fixture.
“Anything I say is going to be an excuse more than anything else. We need to be better than that on a good wicket,” Conrad said afterwards.
“I think with the new ball, when there’s an onslaught the way there was, we need to find different plans. I don’t think we bowled enough yorkers, maybe didn’t use the short ball enough, and we became one dimensional… it was an abject performance. Really not good enough.”
England run rampant
Led by opening batter Phil Salt, who made 141 not out off 60 balls, England compiled 304/2.
The hosts became only the third team to score more than 300 runs in T20 International cricket (after Zimbabwe and Nepal), and the first to do so against a nation with full ICC member status.
Five of South Africa’s six bowlers went for more than 13 runs an over. And Bjorn Fortuin, who took 2/52 after replacing Keshav Maharaj in the squad (Maharaj was sent home with a groin strain), was the only member of the Proteas attack to pick up any wickets.
With too much work to do in response, the SA team couldn’t put up a fight in their chase and were bowled out for 158 runs within 17 overs.
“At the end of the day, the players have got to take a good, long look at themselves, and look at their performance and execution when they’re under pressure,” Conrad said.
“When all (the people) around you are losing their heads you’ve got to make sure you keep yours, and we weren’t able to do that tonight.”
Chance to hit back
With the series level at 1-1, Conrad said the Proteas needed to shake off the crushing defeat in an attempt to bounce back in the third and final fixture in Nottingham on Sunday (3.30pm start).
They needed to learn from the loss, however, and perform better in the series decider.
“You’ve got to wipe the slate clean but you can’t ignore what’s gone wrong, and a lot has gone wrong tonight,” he said.
“We need to be better than that if we want to be a top side, which I believe we are. That wasn’t our best and we’ve got to be brutally honest about it and make sure we come back better on Sunday.”
