Hoping for sunshine
The series is over after South Africa made it 2-0 and now both teams hoped that they will get better weather in the day-night third game which will take place at the Buffalo Park, very near to the Indian Ocean.
The last three matches including the Twenty20 International was played under cloudy and chilly conditions and it seemed that they are going to face the same fate in the third and final game as there was no sunshine yesterday and there is rain forecast for today.
“It would be fantastic if we can play the match under sunshine and in better weather because we played all the matches in bad conditions,” said Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful.
Jacques Kallis, who attended the pre-match press conference after practicing at the ground yesterday, also said that they were looking forward for some good weather for the final one-dayer against the Tigers to ensure the clean sweep.
“There are nice practice facilities here and the ground is also nice. Now hope that the weather doesn't play with the match,” said the prolific allrounder.
Besides the weather there were however another new factor for the Bangladesh skipper to be worried about which is the proper handling of the bowlers during the batsmen-controlled Powerplay as South Africa made maximum use of it in the first two games.
"Our bowlers did an excellent job in the last few series but they struggled in the (batting) Powerplay and we have to find a way to stop the runs.
“For us there is hardly any scope to think about the series outcome rather every match is important to show our improvement. We didn't play well in the second match and now we want to get back the confidence before the Test series," said Ashraful.
Kallis however expressed his disappointment like his captain (Graeme Smith) over the approach of the Bangladesh team in the series.
“The performance of Bangladesh team is really disappointing as they just blocked in their chase and didn't do their business which, I once again say, is disappointing,' Kallis echoed with Smith, who also blasted the Tigers for trying to play out the 50 overs.
Kallis also said that this series is a learning curve for a couple of young players in their team and they are satisfied the way they responded so far ahead of the next assignment against Australia.
“This is a learning curve for couple of our younger players and the series is refreshing after the disappointing England tour.
"We are not focusing on the Bangladesh team rather we are looking forward to the future. It takes a little bit time for the young players but the guys are coming and have shown their potential and learnt about things they need to win the match,” he said.
Kallis made it clear that the series against teams like Kenya and Bangladesh just give them an opportunity to prepare for the upcoming tough task.
“We hope it would be a also good Test series for us against Bangladesh which will help us in the coming series against Australia,” he hoped.
TEAMS
BANGLADESH (from): Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Zunaed Siddiqui, Shakib Al Hasan, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nayeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Syed Rasel, Shahadat Hossain, Mehrab Hossain, Nazmul Hossain and Mahbubul Alam.
SOUTH AFRICA (from): Graeme Smith (Captain), Johan Botha, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher, JP Duminy, Johann Louw, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Justin Ontong, Dale Steyn and Monde Zondeki.
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