NEWS
Follow UsHeinrich Klaasen finally had his World Cup moment when he brought up his century against England on Saturday (October 21) at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The Proteas rode on Klaasen's 67-ball 109 and a massive 151-run stand for the sixth wicket between him and Marco Jansen (75*) to post 399 for 7.
Speaking about that effort, Klaasen admitted that it was not easy with the heat and humidity, saying that it was like running in a sauna.
"It's like just breathing in hot air, and every time you try to run, it's just sapping more and more energy and then at the end of the day, your body just doesn't want to work with you anymore," Klaasen said at the post-match press conference.
"So, it's just like almost running in a sauna for the for the whole innings, which is what we obviously prep for, and we’re used to these conditions, but it still takes a lot out of the body."
Klaasen says that he is not surprised with the aggressive brand of cricket South Africa have played in the World Cup, given that they were playing some good cricket even in the lead-up to the mega event.
"Everyone obviously has got their tag over us, but we've played some good cricket in the World Cup," Klaasen said.
"We've been unlucky, and obviously, we didn't execute on certain games. But if you go look at the games that we've played, we've played some very, very good cricket in the World Cup. So, it's not a surprise that we're playing good cricket. We've been playing, especially this group has been playing good cricket for the last three years now. And we've been maturing nicely over the last three years.
"And it's our time to really try to make a big statement for the world that South Africans are very good under pressure. We've done it before, and it's unfortunate that there wasn't as much luck because you need some luck as well."
Despite going down to the Netherlands in the previous game, Klaasen says that the mood in the dressing room has been positive. "It was a big low for us, but it didn't mean that we're a bad team or after one bad performance that we're not playing good cricket," Klaasen said of the Netherlands game.
"We've been playing good cricket, like I said, for the last couple of years now and that's exactly the chats that's been around.
All the chats after the Netherlands game has been extremely positive. We had one or two hard conversations as a group, but our chats has been positive and keep reminding the boys to play aggressive and positive cricket. And it showed today that in a pressure and tough conditions, especially in the heat, that the boys are willing to take the game on."
Lamenting on England's biggest loss in a One-Day International (ODI), England skipper Jos Buttler says that it is his job as captain to ensure that his side plays the best brand of cricket moving forward.
"I think it's obvious that we're not performing to our best. It's my job as captain and along with the rest of the team to work out how we can get back to playing that brand of cricket and the style and not just only that, but sort of just playing to our potential and getting back to our best," Buttler said after ENgland's crushing 229-run loss.
"So, comes down to a lot of that. A few things here and there which we need to keep challenging ourselves on and working on and in this situation, that's all you can do. It certainly won't be anyone giving up or having those kind of thoughts. We'll just have to dust ourselves down and stick our chests out and go again."
Buttler, who also said that he may have opted to bat first if given a chance again, also dismissed any thoughts of travel taking a toll on the players.
"We knew that was going to be the case with our schedule. And lots of the guys have played IPL cricket and know what it's like to travel. And through it, we're all incredibly professional. So, we won't be using that as an excuse," he said.
South Africa's next game will be against Bangladesh, once again at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday (October 24), while England travel down south to Bengaluru, where they will take on Sri Lanka on Thursday (October 26).
