World Cup 2019 | Lungi Ngidi will play against Afghanistan, reveals Faf du Plessis after Southampton washout
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Faf du Plessis has announced that Lungi Ngidi will be back in action for South Africa's next game, against Afghanistan, after their match against Windies was washed out in Southampton. Jason Holder, on the other hand, said that his team were hoping for Andre Russell's return before the next game.
With three losses on the trot, South Africa were already in a heap of trouble coming into their game against Windies in Southampton. And things did not go their way again as after losing the toss, the Proteas found themselves in a precarious position with just 29 runs on the board and two batsmen back in the dugout. However, that is when the fabled English rain arrived and not a single ball was bowled post that. While South African fans would have been left disappointed with the result since a point did not help their chances of qualification, there was some good news in store for them.Â
"Lungi will be ready for the next match. will be good to have him back. We didn't play our best cricket so far. We've got to beat Afghanistan [next game]," du Plessis revealed after the game was called off, reported Cricinfo.Â
"These are the worst. Both teams wanted to play and get results but you can't control the weather. For us it was important on a day like this to start not losing may wickets. It's like Test cricket. But they did well to get two wickets. favours the team that bats second. But even saying that if you get 30-35 overs, on a big ground you can defend."Â
While South Africa were left ruing their luck as qualification now looks to be out of their grasp, Jason Holder and co were not too pleased with the result either. After a good start to the game, Windies would have fancied their chances of leapfrogging Australia, India, and England into second place thanks to their superior run rate. Holder admitted that the turn in weather was unfortunate but admitted that he would have taken the same set of results before the tournament started.
"Yeah, really good start again by the bowlers. It's unfortunate the weather came. So far we've been getting new ball wickets. It's just a matter for our bowlers to hit the straps and continue doing what we're doing. We don't mind giving away runs. We're hoping Russell pulls up before the next game. [Three in three] would have probably been happy with that at the start of the tournament," Holder said.
