Despite series loss, Ottis Gibson decides to focus on the positives

02/25/2018

After losing the T20I series 1-2 to India yesterday, South African coach Ottis Gibson believes that there are enough positives to take away from the series. Gibson has also added that Chris Morris is a match-winner in his own right, but needs to introspect in order to perform better.

Despite Christiaan Jonker taking South Africa within sniffing distance of a series win, the hosts fell short by seven runs and eventually conceded the T20I series 2-1 to India after having lost the ODI series 1-5. The result could be attributed to the absence of many senior players, but the young players like Heinrich Klassen and Junior Dala showed flashes of brilliance and Gibson believes that was the most positive take away that they would take from the series loss.

"We have seen exciting new players in the one-day series. Lungi made a debut, Heinrich Klaasen made his debut and he has been excellent. Junior Dala in this T20 series was also very good, and we saw a little bit of Christiaan Jonker. He was very good. Losing is not always very easy, but when you are missing so many of your seniors, and then some new people coming and putting their names forward, the results are too hard to take. You obviously look at future and the future is some of the youngsters seem... like it is going to be bright," Gibson said post the final game of India's tour on Saturday, reported Cricbuzz.

While he might be right in saying that the future is bright for the team, there was a staggering difference between the two sides and that was South Africa's shambolic fielding display and the series loss could have been credited to dropped catches and the number of fumbles. Apart from that, the team lacked the experience they needed which resulted in India always stepping up to the plate to take the honours.

"Experience again, experience. India have got Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, two very experienced players. We've got Morris and Junior Dala making his debut. The experience they have of playing not just for India but also playing 3 or 4 years of IPL cricket has shown in the end. Junior held his own very well. Chris Morris has got a lot of work to do," he added.

"I would imagine, Morris would go back to play some domestic cricket. IPL, whenever it starts, I am not sure when it starts. But before that he has got some domestic cricket to go and get some consistency in his bowling, especially. He is a match-winner. He is short of that. We had a conversation, myself and him. I am not telling you anything that I haven't told him. So he just needs to find what type of bowler he wants to become and put practice in that and work in to become that person. Because he is a match-winner.

"Seniors in any team makes it stronger. Especially, the seniors we have coming back in the team, have been a massive loss without them being there. We all thought that AB's body is better than what it was in ODIs. I hope he is somewhere near 100 percent and he can take his place in the team. Even Dale Steyn is not far away again. So, we missed the seniors in this series. No doubt about that. So having them back and having them will give everybody a lift.”

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Despite series loss, Ottis Gibson decides to focus on the positives

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