• AB: This is not a wake-up call

    Captain AB de Villiers rued an indisciplined display with the ball, as South Africa fell to a disappointing one-wicket defeat at the hands of the West Indies – in Sunday’s fourth ODI at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth.

    A host attack weakened by the absence of the rested Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn and Imran Tahir conceded 22 extras, including 14 wides, as the Windies surpassed a testing target of 263 with three deliveries to spare.

    New-ball pair Kyle Abbott and Morne Morkel proved the most expensive, costing 120 runs in a combined 18.3 overs. The recalled Aaron Phanigso and Wayne Parnell, meanwhile, were largely ineffective.

    ‘There were too many extras, which hurt me quite a bit. It was unfortunate that we leaked the extras – the no-balls and wides. If you are going to play close games of cricket it comes down to the little things like that – the one dropped catch by me, a couple of fumbles in the field. All in all it was a great fight by us and I’m proud of the way we stuck to our plans and fought back,’ said de Villiers.

    ‘It is certainly not a wake-up call. We were wide awake and there is no doubt about the fact that we weren’t complacent. We were on the money the whole time, we were fighting.

    ‘After every wicket we spoke about being humble and working hard. It came down to a bit of pressure towards the end and we lost. It is a painful affair, but we move on and we will try and finish on a high.’

    Opposition all-rounder Andre Russell was named Man of the Match ahead of batsman David Miller, who struck a maiden ODI century, which included 11 boundaries and three big sixes. Russell welcomed the key wicket of de Villiers – and later struck a quickfire half-century. The fifth and final ODI will be played at Centurion on Wednesday.

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    SA CRICKET