“We Were Under Pressure After De Kock-Rassie Partnership”: Tom Latham

Pune (Maharashtra): After suffering a thumping 190-run defeat against South Africa, New Zealand captain Tom Latham admitted that Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen’s 200-run partnership pushed his team under pressure and said they should have restricted Proteas under 330-340.

Belligerent performances from Keshav Maharaj and Marco Jansen dominated play against New Zealand to hand South Africa a mammoth 190-run victory.

South Africa openers De Kock and Van der Dussen breathed fire in Pune as the duo torched Kiwi bowlers, stitching a 200-run second-wicket stand.

“Not our best performance. We were under pressure after that partnership (between de Kock and Rassie). It was a big score. From the batting point of view, we had to have those partnerships, but we had our backs against the wall. Those two played fantastically well,” Latham said during a post-match presentation.

He also added that they simply failed to score runs with the bat and neither did they restrict the opposition under 330 or 340.

“Should have restricted them to 330-odd, that would have been better. It was a small ground and a good surface, but we couldn’t do much in those first 10 overs. I think they put themselves in a great position; we were not able to build partnerships, and that was disappointing,” he added.

Kiwis started their campaign with four consecutive wins; however, they suffered three back-to-back losses. Latham also hoped that Kiwi would make a swift comeback in the tournament when they face Pakistan in Bengaluru.

“We have faced adversities with injuries. We will reflect on to this one quickly and move to the next one to be played in Bengaluru (vs Pakistan). We don’t become a bad team overnight,” the New Zealand captain said.

South Africa was bolstered by Marco Jansen’s twin wicket in the opening powerplay and Kagiso Rabada and Gerald Coetzee then claimed wickets of their own. Keshav Maharaj struck in his opening over and removed the reliable Daryl Mitchell, finishing with a figure of 4-46, ensuring the spinners had their say.

South Africa moved to the top of the World Cup 2023 points table with a thumping 190-run victory in Pune. Meanwhile, New Zealand’s NRR took a big hit as they slid below Australia into fourth.