The Aussies needed 11 runs in the last over to pass SA’s total of 204/7. They scored them with the help of two wides by Kagiso Rabada and three errors in the field.
“If you want to win a World Cup you need to be able to defend 200,” bowling coach Langeveldt said.
“We need to win games like that. If you want to become a championship team you need to adapt.”
Disappointed though the Proteas were with the result and the way they faltered under pressure, Sunday’s loss set up a decider at Newlands tomorrow.
Not that Aaron Phangiso will be thinking of how he might help SA win it.
Instead, the leftarm spinner will be on tenterhooks to discover whether the second round of testing he completed after being reported for a suspect action delivers a different result than the first – that his deliveries are illegal.
All will be revealed tomorrow. Should there be no change to the original results Phangiso will not be on the plane on Thursday when SA leave for the World T20 in India.
The Australian series is being played in the looming shadow of the WT20.
Winning the rubber matters, but so does ensuring players are properly primed for the subcontinental playing environment.
“A series win is important for us, especially against a team like Australia,” Langeveldt said.
“But we’re also trying to execute our skills in [Asian] conditions.
“So maybe bowl a wide yorker or a wide slower ball. You don’t want to go into the hitting zones in India, where the straight boundaries are a lot shorter.”
Which could explain why Rabada looked at Faf du Plessis as if he had ordered him to set his hair on fire when the two talked tactics after the fast bowler had shattered David Warner’s stumps with the first delivery of that fateful final over on Sunday.
