Chester-le-Street: South Africa captain Faf du Plessis said that their win against Sri Lanka came a little too late for their liking in the ongoing World Cup and it doesn’t mean much to them.
Already out of the contention of making it to the semifinals, the Proteas on Friday registered clinical nine-wicket consolation win over Sri Lanka at the Riverside Ground Stadium.
Put in to bat, Sri Lanka managed a modest 203, a target which the Proteas overhauled with 76 balls to spare.
“Long time coming, yeah. It was a good game, we did ourselves justice with the talent we have in that dressing room. Set up by a good bowling performance.
“Dwaine (Pretorius) was exceptional. We’ve been trying to get him into the XI, but it’s a balance thing. The nature of the wicket told me it needed to be straight lines with the ball, and that’s why I brought Dwaine and Andile on early,” du Plessis said in a post-match interview.
“Line and length was harder to face than pace on that wicket. (This win) feels bittersweet. It doesn’t feel like it means that much. It’s a little bit too late,” he added.
Happy with the batsmen who finally came to perform after seven games in the competition, the Proteas skipper said: “But the basics of batting were shown today. We haven’t had guys batting through, and big partnerships, but that was not the case today. One big partnership, and suddenly everything seems so much easier.”
Faf du Plessis also admitted the fact that the defeat to Bangladesh early in the tournament affected their confidence and they could not get over it. IANS