Proteas’ pacer and Player of the Match in the first ODI against Australia Dale Steyn praised South Africa’s merciless bowling attack but concluded that the Aussies shouldn’t be ‘too embarrassed’ about their performance.

Steyn was on fire against the Aussies in a fantastic bowling spell at the top of the innings in the first ODI as his 2-18 in seven overs was instrumental in the home team’s catastrophic collapse to 152 all out in 38.1 overs at Perth Stadium.

‘I don’t think they need to be too embarrassed about it. The conditions were tough and if you throw another 30-40 runs, that would become quite a tricky chase,’ Steyn told press reporters on Sunday.

‘I think we out-bowled them. I don’t think they bowled as well as they potentially could’ve. That was the difference.

‘I think our bowlers were relentless with their lines and lengths and made it extremely difficult to score,’ he added.

‘When they tried to push and go, they lost a wicket so I’m going to put it down to our bowling and not their side. But we’ll see, there’s still two more games and we’ll see how those wickets go.’

The Proteas are 1-0 up in the three-match series and will look to add further misery to the home team in the second ODI at the Adelaide Oval on Friday as they look to extend the Australians’ dreadful run of results in recent months.

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