South African captain Faf du Plessis could not hide his frustration after his side’s fourth match of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup against West Indies was rained out at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, calling rain affected matches “the worst”.
“Rain affected matches are the worst, really. Both teams that are involved want a result, but you can’t control the weather,” said du Plessis in the post-match presentation ceremony. South Africa could only manage 29/2 in 7.2 overs before the covers came on, with Hashim Amla and Aiden Markram dismissed by Sheldon Cottrell.
“You ideally want to start, on a day like today without losing too many wickets,” du Plessis said about the small amount of action that was possible. “But they have a lot of strike bowlers up front and they managed to get two wickets.
“In a rain-affected match, it mostly suits the team batting second. Even then, if the game is 30-35 overs, you can defend a total. But we didn’t get anything today. Lungi (Ngidi) will be ready for our next match (against Afghanistan) and we are looking for a bowling attack that is as strong as possible.
“We have Afghanistan next, so we need to put in a solid performance and get some momentum there. We can only think about that match first.”
Meanwhile, West Indies captain Jason Holder too lamented about the rain, considering his side were in a strong position when the covers came on.
“We were in a good position today, but we can’t control the weather unfortunately. I guess we were hoping that we would get a full day today, but there is nothing we can do about this,” said Holder.
“It was a great start by our bowlers today, especially Sheldon (Cottrell). I know we have been giving away runs initially, but we don’t mind doing that as long as we get wickets.
“Now we have to move on from this and play well in the future matches. We are hoping that (Andre) Russell pulls up all right in the next few days and be ready for the game against England.”
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