Proteas captain asks for improved display in next World Cup match

SA captain Temba Bavuma has said a lot must improve after their disappointing display with the bat in their five-wicket loss to Australia in the opening match of the ICC T20 World Cup on Saturday.

The Proteas were put in to bat by Aussie captain Aaron Finch after he won the toss and the top order collapsed spectacularly with the exception of Aiden Markram, who scored a fighting 40 off 36 balls as they reached an above average total of 118.

In reply, the Aussies reached 121/5 with two balls to spare to get their campaign off to a winning start, while the Proteas are already under pressure as they have to beat the West Indies on Tuesday.

The match against the West Indies has taken a different dimension as they will be looking to bounce back from their awful batting performance when they were skittled out for just 55 runs by England, who beat them by six wickets.

“From a batting point of view, it was not according to plan and we have got a lot there that we need to improve on,” said Bavuma. “And 118 runs is nothing much to take home. From a bowling perspective, I think the bowlers did well but towards the end it did get a little frantic and that’s a talking point for us as a team.

“The fielding was good, barring one or two incidents, and going into the next game against the West Indies we are obviously looking to improve and add a couple of percentages in our batting, bowling and fielding.”

To put SA’s poor performance into perspective: Markram and Rabada top-scored with respective hits of 40 and 19 and the rest of the batting line-up combined for 53 runs.