South Africa Cricket captain Temba Bavuma praises Man Of The Match Sisanda Magala who gave some momentum as Proteas beat England by 27 runs in first ODI in Bloemfontein
“It did change quickly. I think the man of the match is where the game changed for us. Magala came on in the middle, got the ball to tail and got a couple of wickets.
“He made things difficult for them and got us some momentum. The guys after him really rode that momentum well.
“I thought it was a good wicket and was thinking in excess of 300. Rassie and David Miller summed it up a bit differently, the wicket got a bit slower, they bowled well and made it hard to get them away.
“We got 300 and still felt we were a little bit below par but, in the end, it was enough.
“You’ve got to keep staying in the game. The way their partnership started was similar to us, they played well and did it for a longer period that we did. But you’ve still got to have confidence in your bowlers.
“They haven’t really seen much of Sisanda Magala so he’s always going to be a threat. I always expected one of the bowlers to do something special for us.
“Everyone played some part in the game for us. Anrich showed his quality and his raw pace.
“We’re trying to shift our focus from just the result to how we go about our next game.
England captain Jos Buttler was amongst those to speak telling how is side played an excellent cricket though he feel disappointed to lose the game.
“Disappointed, I think we played some excellent cricket for the majority of that game. To be in the position we were after that opening stand, we should go on and win that game so we’re disappointed not to finish it off.
“We were pretty happy at halfway. The wicket didn’t play as well as we thought it would but it was still very good for batting. The first 10 overs of the South Africa batting innings, it looked a really good pitch so to come back from there and restrict them to 298, we were very happy.
“We should keep going after the good start with the bat, have conviction and commitment to our game. That is something that has served us well for a very long time.
“That doesn’t always mean trying to hit fours and sixes, it means imposing ourselves on the game, playing a very positive brand of cricket and we didn’t commit enough to that.
“Credit to South Africa, they came back really well and took wickets but I thought we could have taken it on a bit more and put pressure back on them.”
‘A really good win to pull off’
Man of the match Sisanda Magala for his 3-46: “I am very happy considering the situation we were in. They had a great start and the game was going in one direction so to pull that win off is really good for us.
“I understood he was trying to suss out the situation and where he could fit me in at the right time. That was communicated early on so I was happy. I was like the fifth change, it is what it is. That is what the game needed – I am chilled.
“I was just bowling as straight as possible, hitting a length and I just try and keep it as simple as possible to be honest. The guys were saying the bouncers were two-bounced so we tried that as much as possible.
“I am happy, but it is time for a rest now.”
The two sides meet in 2/3 of the ODI on Sunday morning. South Africa now lead 1-0 against England.
