All squad members stepped up in all 3 disciplines – delighted Miller 0
Stand-in Proteas T20 captain David Miller said coach Mark Boucher can be delighted not only with the team’s groundbreaking series win in England but also the way all members of the squad stepped up and ensured all three disciplines were firing in the last two games.
Having been well-beaten by 41 runs in the first match of the T20 series, South Africa clicked in batting, bowling and fielding as they won the last two games by 58 runs and 90 runs to win their first white-ball series in England since 1998.
“It’s a huge achievement, I hadn’t realised it had been as long as that,” Miller said after sealing the series in Southampton at the weekend. “It’s really tough to win here, they like to come hard at you and they’ve been really successful.
“So the guys are extremely happy and we’ll have a few drinks tonight and enjoy ourselves. The coach can be super-proud of all the performances. We stood up in all areas of the game.
“There were very good contributions all round. We spoke about the fielding after the first game and all the dropped catches. Our standards are very high and we took some seriously good catches after that.
“To show the bouncebackability we did makes us extremely proud, it showed the character of the team. We’ll take a lot of confidence from this and it’s a great space to be in,” Miller said.
The consistent finisher had special praise for his bowlers, especially wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, who took eight wickets in the last two games to prove he remains one of the top bowlers in the format.
“Shamo showed he is not ranked as one of the best bowlers in the world for nothing. He knows what he has to do, I might just mention one or two pointers to him about what he can do, just to build his confidence up a bit.
“But the first T20 in Bristol had a very small boundary, we had a game the next day and that’s not something I wanted to harp on too much.
“Given the batting England have, lots of credit should go to our bowlers, they did extremely well. The margin for error is so small in T20 and it’s a funny game.
“But we played a lot of good cricket at the big stages, you have to make sure you’re up for the battle whatever match you’re going into,” Miller said.