They were hard gerol by Netherlands in their last Cricket World Cup outing, but now it’s time for South Africa to dust themselves off and get back to winning ways when they face England on Saturday.
That’s the message from spinner Keshav Maharaj as the Proteas prepare to cross swords with England in Mumbai on Saturday at 10.30am.
Both teams have suffered surprising defeats so far in the tournament, with defending champions England going down to Afghanistan as well as New Zealand in their first three matches.
We are 🔟 days away from The Proteas first #CWC23 encounter against Sri Lanka 🇱![CDATA[]]>🇰 🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦![CDATA[]]>🏆
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) September 27, 2023
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South Africa, meanwhile, started on a high by beating Sri Lanka and Australia, but fell apart in their 38-run defeat to the Dutch earlier in the week.
But after getting a bloedbek, Maharaj says: “We have won five ODIs on the trot, considering the Australia series before the World Cup, and like any sport you are bound to have a bad game and I would like to think and hope that this was that bad game out of the way.”
He adds: “You’ve got strongest 10 teams in the world playing at this event. Can’t really deem a team a lower team. It does hurt, any loss at the World Cup does hurt. But that’s why we are professional athletes, to dust yourself off and realise the next day the sun is going to come up. We must stick to our processes and disciplines and be true to our team culture and make sure we turn the ship around after one loss and get back to winning ways.”