Du Plessis praises ´perfect´ Proteas
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis believes his side delivered the “perfect performance” to down Australia by 142 runs at the Wanderers on Sunday.
Du Plessis led from the front with a 93-ball 111 to anchor South Africa’s effort of 361-6, to which Australia could only respond with 219 all out to hand the hosts a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five ODI series.
JP Duminy put the hammer down alongside his captain to register 82 runs from 58 balls, while Wayne Parnell (3-40), Kagiso Rabada (2-31) and Andile Phehlukwayo (2-59) gave Du Plessis much to work with in the field.
“I’d go almost as far as saying that was the perfect batting and bowling performance,” Du Plessis said.
“We put big runs up and our bowlers were exceptional. Our quicks bowled exceptionally, they have two cracking openers and we didn’t give them anything.”
Of his century, Du Plessis added: “The guys took the pressure off, the scoring rate was good and set up my innings nicely.
“Great to get a hundred, that’s my job, so it’s always nice to carry it through.
“I think there was something in it for the bowlers but our shot selection was really good today. I’ll keep doing my best and hopefully the runs will continue.”
The South Africa skipper also highlighted Australia’s weakness, namely the injury-enforced absence of strike bowler Mitchell Starc.
“You throw Starc back into that team, it’s completely different,” Du Plessis said.
“He’s proven many times he gets wickets … he’s got that extra pace. He’s extremely good to the tail-enders. He gets the ball to reverse.
“In the West Indies he did that to us twice, came in and just rolled over the tail.
“Extra pace in all formats is a weapon that a captain wants to have in his side.”
Steve Smith hopes that his side will react positively, requiring victory in the remaining three matches to grab a series win.
He said: “We thought it was a bit over par but there have been some pretty high chases here. But when you’re chasing 360 you need things to go pretty well from the start.
“We pulled it back nicely in their innings. Those middle overs we weren’t able to contain Faf, JP played nicely as well.
“It didn’t go according to plan, you need things to go right, now we’re 2-0 down and need to win everything from here. Back against the wall, hopefully the characters will stand out and put in a performance.”
