AB de Villiers backs bowlers to get better – Cricket News Update
Following their insipid display in the opening Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Allan-Robert-Border-c43726 de Villiers, has backed his bowlers to get better when they take the field for second clash of the tour at Adelaide.
On an extremely unresponsive Gabba track, the much vaunted Proteas attack failed to emulate their old self and managed just 4 first innings Aussie scalps. They went the entire fourth day without claiming a wicket as the one that fell came courtesy run-out.
Despite the match ending in a draw, the home side would have been the happier of the two. They claimed 14 tourists’ wickets and further weathered out the threat of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Clarke-c1978.
"The bowlers can get better and they know they can," de Villiers said. "We had chances [at the Gabba] and we just didn't take them. There were a lot of edges and 50-50 chances didn't go our way."
As it turned out, their strategy of fielding a four-pronged pace attack completely back fired, especially in the wake of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/JP-Duminy-c1742’s absence, whose injury during a warm-up session deprived the side of a part-time spin option.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Imran-c64193 Tahir, had a nightmarish Test debut where he conceded 97 runs in his 21 overs. As it turned out, the Proteas used as many as eight bowlers but failed to control the Aussie onslaught and conceded at more than 4 runs per over.
Having rolled over their opponents with remarkable consistency in the past 12 months, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AB-de-Villiers-c887 further played down talks of his side getting complacent after putting the opposition in all sorts of trouble early on.
"When we had them 40 for 3 I thought there was an opportunity to run through them," de Villiers said. "It is a bit of a worry, but you're not always going to bowl out a team for 150 and 200. Sometimes you have to work hard for that."
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