ICC World Cup 2019 | England outplayed us in every department, says Faf du Plessis

ICC World Cup 2019 | England outplayed us in every department, says Faf du Plessis

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Faf du Plessis has stated that England had outplayed South Africa in every department in the World Cup opener on Thursday at The Oval. The hosts had set a target of 312 for South Africa but the latter was wrapped up only for 207 runs in 39.5 overs with de Kock top scoring with 68 runs.

In the first match of the World Cup, England were looking all set to score in excess of 350 against South Africa but failed to capitalise in the death overs and only managed to score 311 runs in their 50 overs. Kudos to some fine display of fast bowling by Jofra Archer and excellent fielding by the hosts, the target proved to be too much for the Faf du Plessis-led team as they were wrapped up for 105 runs less than the target. Skipper Du Plessis felt that his side were completely outplayed by England.

“You know, you're going to play games. You're going to come up against quality opposition. Today England was better than us in all three facets of the game. They showed why they are such a good cricket team, and now we have to look at the league. It's a league competition," he said, reported Cricbuzz.

South Africa’s first blow came in the fourth over of the second innings when Archer’s 145 kmph bouncer hit Hashim Amla on the helmet grille and he was forced to walk off the field. Aiden Markram too lost his wicket in the eight over, followed by the Du Plessis’ wicket in the 10th. Archer had broken into the top order and the hosts failed to recover post that, as pointed out by the skipper.

"You need to make sure that you settle the batters in the dressing room with a good partnership, whether it's zero down or one down, but a good start is really important and obviously with him (Amla) coming off, and then a few of us later, Aiden got out and then I got out. When you go three down chasing a big score like that, you're making it really tough for our batting unit to perform. And then the score just looks big. It looks too difficult to get there,” asserted the 34-year-old.

Pacer Lungi Ngidi was smashed for 27 runs in his first four overs in the powerplay but made a fine comeback by dismissing Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes, who scored 89 runs, in the same spell at the back end of the innings. The skipper was all praise for the young pacer.

“Lungi, he's got a beautiful action. Today, just off with the start. He's normally a guy that is very, very balanced in the way that he bowls. He doesn't offer a lot of bad balls. Today, there were a few up front, but that's okay. That's going to happen. And then the way he came back was beautiful. You know, to get Jos Buttler out, he's probably one of the best strikers in the world,” expressed the Pretoria born player.

Du Plessis opened his bowling attack with leg-spinner Imran Tahir and they were immediately rewarded with Jonny Bairstow’s wicket in the first over of the World Cup opener. The skipper revealed that it was something the side had been planning for long.

"Not a surprise. It was a plan. It was something that we thought about a year ago already. I said when we played against England, there's a feeling that, you know, I want to go with Immy because it is something different,” explained the Titans player.

Archer wreaked havoc by ripping apart the Protea batting line-up and ended up with figures of 3/27 in seven overs. Du Plessis went on to say that the Barbados born pacer is an X-factor for the Englishmen.

"He's a little bit nippier when he hits the crease and that's why he is such an X-factor bowler. He broke through our opening three there, and that pretty much was always going to be a tough ask from there. He bowls slower ball, slower ball, 80-percent ball, 80 percent ball and then a quick bouncer. When he bowls that short one, it is a bit quicker than his other balls, and the guys will get to understand that action better,” the middle-order batsman explained.

“So when we get an opportunity to play against England again, we'll know his short ball is his wicket ball. He's not necessarily a guy that will swing, but his short ball will be his wicket-taking ball."

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