The way Quinton de Kock played, put us in pressure: Jos Buttler after ENG's loss vs SA
The way Quinton de Kock played, put us in pressure: Jos Buttler after ENG's loss vs SA
England team captain Jos Buttler pointed out that Quniton de Kock's innings proved to be the point of difference in the game against South Africa. In a close finish, South Africa won the match by 7 runs against England in the Super 8s match at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in St Lucia. De Kock was adjudged as the Player of the Match for his quick-fire knock of 65 runs from 38 balls. It was a scratchy win for South Africa, but they continued to remain unbeaten in the T20 World Cup 2024.
England managed to restrict South Africa to 163 runs as, apart from de Kock and David Miller, none of the batters got going. De Kock played a fluent innings on a pitch where most of the batters struggled to get going at a fast rate. The pitch was of a two-faced nature and De Kock made full use of the powerplay by taking on the England bowlers. His onslaught included a 20-run over against Jofra Archer in his very first over.
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De Kock's game-changing knock
Buttler admitted that the England team could not match De Kock's blistering knock and that was the difference between the 2 sides.
"Yeah, exactly I think that was the difference in the game. I think the way Quinny played at the top sort of really put us under a lot of pressure and yeah played some great shots and we weren't able to match that," Buttler told the media in the post-match press-conference.
In contrast to South Africa's powerplay total of 63 runs, England managed to score just 41 runs in the first six overs despite losing just one wicket.
"Wicket was on slower side"
The England captain felt that the bowlers did a great job in restricting the batters to a par total.
"Yeah, we were, I think the wicket was probably a little bit slower than everyone expected. So, yeah, I think 160 was about a par score. I thought we bowled really well in the back 10-15 overs there to restrict them," Buttler added.
Despite Harry Brook's 53-run knock, England fell short of the target by 7 runs and lost the Super 8 fixture.
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