SOUTH Africa will attempt to defend a proud record over Pakistan when the teams clash in the second one-day cricket international at St George’s in Port Elizabeth today.
Amazingly, the Proteas have never lost a bilateral series against Pakistan, either at home or away.
There have been seven series in total between the sides since 1992. Three have been played in South Africa, two in the United Arab Emirates and two in Pakistan and South Africa have won them all.
Proteas captain AB de Villiers mentioned the word pressure five times and panic twice in yesterday’s pre-match press conference, which perhaps is indicative of how the squad feels going into today’s crunch encounter.
At 1-0 down in the three-match series, it is a must-win encounter and De Villiers is aware of the task his team faces on a pitch that is likely to favour Pakistan’s spin trio.
“We are under a bit of pressure. I don’t think Pakistan have won a series here in South Africa so there’s a lot to play for us as a team. Obviously we didn’t play well in the previous game and we’d like to fix that as well,” De Villiers said.
The Proteas, De Villiers says, are not surprised that Pakistan has come good in South Africa after they had been dominated in the United Arab Emirates.
“When you lose a lot of games I think you get to the stage where you become a bit desperate and you really start pushing harder. The hunger is high enough and you seem to find a way to make it work. So credit to them for that.
“I still believe we have the better team and we going to try and show that tomorrow and going to Centurion, more of that.”
De Villiers said playing on a slower surface would not be as foreign to them as some would think.
“We’ve just come from the UAE where the wickets are low and slow. We are used to that now. We had a very good ODI series there winning it 4-1. I think it’s going to be similar to that tomorrow. I hope there is not too much advantage taken out of the toss tomorrow. We’d like an even game throughout the 100 overs.”
De Villiers said team management was still deciding if making a change to their line-up would be necessary.
“There might be one change, we still deciding. It’s difficult to make changes because I don’t think there was anything wrong with the team selection in the previous game. It was definitely a good enough team to beat Pakistan. We just didn’t play well as a side together. We are still speaking about making maybe one or two changes. There is no need for panic. We are still a good side and we will go out there to win tomorrow.”
The Proteas could decide to go with Ryan McLaren ahead of Vernon Philander for this match. McLaren has been a consistent performer for South Africa in recent times and the selectors might be feeling pressurised to bring him back after Sunday’s loss.
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said today’s match could obviously be ground-breaking for them.
“Any series is important but we haven’t won a bilateral series against South Africa before. So it’s very important to keep in mind that this game is more important for us.”
Pakistan full of hope to secure series win
Amazingly, the Proteas have never lost a bilateral series against Pakistan, either at home or away.
There have been seven series in total between the sides since 1992. Three have been played in South Africa, two in the United Arab Emirates and two in Pakistan and South Africa have won them all.
Proteas captain AB de Villiers mentioned the word pressure five times and panic twice in yesterday’s pre-match press conference, which perhaps is indicative of how the squad feels going into today’s crunch encounter.
At 1-0 down in the three-match series, it is a must-win encounter and De Villiers is aware of the task his team faces on a pitch that is likely to favour Pakistan’s spin trio.
“We are under a bit of pressure. I don’t think Pakistan have won a series here in South Africa so there’s a lot to play for us as a team. Obviously we didn’t play well in the previous game and we’d like to fix that as well,” De Villiers said.
The Proteas, De Villiers says, are not surprised that Pakistan has come good in South Africa after they had been dominated in the United Arab Emirates.
“When you lose a lot of games I think you get to the stage where you become a bit desperate and you really start pushing harder. The hunger is high enough and you seem to find a way to make it work. So credit to them for that.
“I still believe we have the better team and we going to try and show that tomorrow and going to Centurion, more of that.”
De Villiers said playing on a slower surface would not be as foreign to them as some would think.
“We’ve just come from the UAE where the wickets are low and slow. We are used to that now. We had a very good ODI series there winning it 4-1. I think it’s going to be similar to that tomorrow. I hope there is not too much advantage taken out of the toss tomorrow. We’d like an even game throughout the 100 overs.”
De Villiers said team management was still deciding if making a change to their line-up would be necessary.
“There might be one change, we still deciding. It’s difficult to make changes because I don’t think there was anything wrong with the team selection in the previous game. It was definitely a good enough team to beat Pakistan. We just didn’t play well as a side together. We are still speaking about making maybe one or two changes. There is no need for panic. We are still a good side and we will go out there to win tomorrow.”
The Proteas could decide to go with Ryan McLaren ahead of Vernon Philander for this match. McLaren has been a consistent performer for South Africa in recent times and the selectors might be feeling pressurised to bring him back after Sunday’s loss.
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said today’s match could obviously be ground-breaking for them.
“Any series is important but we haven’t won a bilateral series against South Africa before. So it’s very important to keep in mind that this game is more important for us.”
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