Smith: We were completely outplayed
Australia captain Steve Smith rued a tough and disappointing series against South Africa, but admitted his team were completely outplayed.
A century from Rilee Rossouw set up South Africa’s 327-8 in the fifth and final one-day international in Cape Town on Wednesday.
David Warner made a brilliant 173, but Australia suffered a 31-run loss and 5-0 series defeat.
“A disappointing series. We’ve been outplayed in all five games in every facet of the game. It’s been a tough series,” Smith said.
“Hopefully some guys can learn a bit about themselves and us as a team as well.
“It’s always tough, particularly bringing three debutant bowlers to South Africa, playing on these wickets, it’s never easy against quality players so hopefully those guys can learn a little bit out of this series.
“In regards to batting, I guess we just haven’t been able to put enough partnerships together.
“We’ve had guys that have had starts and not been able to go on with it, [but] having said that, Davey was magnificent today. To score 170 out of our 290 runs was remarkable, the rest of us weren’t good enough though.
“We needed someone to stay with him and get in a partnership and a couple of the guys who got starts weren’t able to carry that on.”
Australia’s bowling attacking was particularly inexperienced, with Joe Mennie and Chris Tremain handed debuts during the series.
Smith felt nothing was wrong with his team’s preparation, but rather their execution.
He said: “We’re always looking at ways we can improve. I thought our preparation and the way we’ve trained while we’ve been here has been very good.
“We just haven’t been able to go out there and do the business.
“We’ve had a pretty inexperienced side, to be fair. I think it’s been a good challenge for those guys to see what the step up to international cricket is and I’m sure those guys will be a lot better for the run.”
