We can bounce back – Duminy
The win was a milestone for Bangladesh – their first ever series victory over South Africa in any format of the game.
Bangladesh have been improving in form steadily over the past few months recording wins over Pakistan, India, Zimbabwe and now the Proteas in their successive home series.
Their latest series win was mainly thanks to an impressive bowling performance by their seamers and spinners while their upper order batsmen, Soumya Sarkar in particular, backed up their impressive work with the ball.
Proteas batsman JP Duminy was the mouth-piece of his team in the aftermath of their 9 wicket loss to Bangladesh on Wednesday. Duminy did his best to anchor the South African innings, scoring 51 before he was dismissed.
Duminy was pensive – reflecting on his foreboding words a couple of weeks ago.
“I was the first guy to do a press conference here and I remember saying it was going to be a tough tour and a tough series. Yes we played well in the T20s and the first ODI but Bangladesh came back well. They outplayed us in every department in the last two games and our batting unfortunately wasn’t good enough in this ODI series – me included,” Duminy said.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do in these conditions, having game plans that are going to be successful in these conditions. We’ve got a big tour coming up in a few months in India so it’s important to go back to the drawing board and prepare accordingly to be successful in the subcontinent.”
In the 2nd and 3rd ODIs, the Proteas upper order just couldn’t fire which led to soft totals that were just too low to defend. It is a factor of their game that Duminy believes needs to be polished if they want to compete in the upcoming series against New Zealand and India.
Duminy believes the team selection was right – but the batting line up needs to sharpen up.
“I don’t think it would have made a difference. The selectors backed those seven batsmen to do the job. I’m certainly one that backs each and every batter in that line up to put in a big performance. Unfortunately we just weren’t good enough. We never built partnerships in the last two games and that has been our strength. Guys have scored 100s in ODI cricket and we just never produced in these last two games.”
Duminy couldn’t ignore Bangladesh’s far improved bowling attack.
“They’ve been pretty successful - their seamers. Their strength is their variations; they’ve been successful in the last couple of series against India and Pakistan. We always expected them to play at least two and obviously they played three in the last game. They’ve had success playing in that formula. They’ve got a good combination and line up in their bowling department and that’s been their strength over the last period of time. Their bowlers have done well and their opening pair have been formidable in the last two games which is exciting for them – there are some great cricketers coming through for Bangladesh.”
The Proteas now turn their attention to a two Test series against Bangladesh to finish off the tour. Duminy believes the Tests offer a chance at redemption.
“As I said from the start we knew it was going to be a tough tour. Bangladesh has gained a lot of confidence out of their victories over Pakistan and India. But the tour is not over yet, we’ve still got two Test matches and that’s going to be a big series for us and hopefully we can end the tour on a high.”
The first Test gets underway next Tuesday, July 21.
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