The captain of the England Cricket team, Alistair Cook, has said that the wicket at Trent Bridge was a sporting track and the English batsmen should have scored more runs on that wicket. The England team lost the fifth one day match against South Africa by 7 wickets and lost the opportunity to win the series. The England team got all out on just 182 runs in that match and South Africa chased down the target quite comfortably.
In the post match presentation ceremony, Cook said that 182 was certainly not a par score. The batsmen should have waited for the loose deliveries to play aggressive shots. But, they chose the wrong deliveries to attack and they paid the price for that. It was a golden opportunity for the team to win the fourth consecutive ODI series, but, the team played poor cricket and South Africa deserved to win the match. On being asked about Hashim Amla who batted brilliantly throughout the series, Cook said that Amla is a brilliant stroke player. He is equally capable both off the front foot and the back foot. He is one of the best batsmen going around at the moment and if he continues playing like this, he can become one of the greats of the game.
The South African skipper, AB De Villiers, looked quite happy with the performance of his team. De Villiers said that the players performed a bit inconsistently in the series, but, today, it was a clinical effort by the guys. There are a few positives to take out from the series. Dean Elgar showed good temperament and he is a player for the future. Robin Peterson is going from strength to strength and he is a much improved spinner now. As per De Villiers, it was a decent series for the team. 2-2 is not a bad result if you are playing overseas.