Cricket
Exclusive: “With All Due Respect to Ireland, They Are Not One of the Bigger Teams,” says Reeza Hendricks
Proteas batter Reeza Hendricks reflects on South Africa’s mixed results against Afghanistan and Ireland in the UAE. Despite struggling against Afghanistan’s spin attack, Hendricks bounced back with half-centuries against Ireland, yet was disappointed by the team's inability to clinch the T20I series
Image Credits: Michael Chisholm/Getty Images
Following a limited-overs series’ against Afghanistan & Ireland in the UAE, Proteas batter Reeza Hendricks has his disappointments.
THE AFGHANISTAN SERIES
South Africa have just concluded their trip to the desert plains of the United Arab Emirates where they faced off against Afghanistan in a three-match One Day International (ODI) series before playing Ireland in a two-match T20I series and a three-match ODI series.
They got blown away by Afghanistan in what was the very first bilateral series between the two nations as spinners Rashid Khan and 18-year-old spin prodigy Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar ripped through the Proteas batting unit.
They lost that series 2-1 after being bowled out for 106 and 134 in the first two ODIs before recovering beautifully in the third and final match to record a consolation victory.
Like all the other Proteas batters, Reeza Hendricks struggled against the Afghanistan bowling attack as he could only manage scores of 9, 17 and 18 in the series.
In an exclusive interview with SportsBoom.com, the 35-year-old emphasised that spinners Khan and Ghazanfar were tricky to deal with.
"They've got world-class spinners. Rashid Khan did unbelievably well in the one game picking up five wickets and then the mystery spinner (Ghazanfar) that's new on the scene kind of shocked the world," said Hendricks.
Look, it was tricky, it's guys we don't face often enough, and it was in their conditions where the ball was assisting them and was turning. So, I think they put us under pressure, and we couldn't step up in those conditions. Against Afghanistan, we struggled a bit. We lost the series there so in that sense it was disappointing.
Reeza Hendricks
FINDING FORM AGAINST IRELAND
Going into the Ireland-leg of their trip of the UAE, Hendricks would find form following the conclusion of the Afghanistan series. The stylish batter would go on to score back-to-back half-centuries in the two-match T20 series.
Hendricks told SportsBoom that it was important for him to take the learnings from the Afghanistan series, go back in the nets and rectify his mistakes, and it was that approach that saw the right-handed batter return to good form.
"It's important not to think too far ahead of things when you're off-form. Yes, the Afghanistan series did not go according to plan or as well as I wanted to but going into the Ireland series, it's a new series so there were lessons I could take from the Afghanistan series," he said.
"That's all you can do, to learn from your mistakes in the past and that's where training comes in, working hard in the nets trying to rectify your mistakes.
Fortunately for me against Ireland, it came off again. That's the nature of cricket, you have good runs, and you have bad runs. You must just try to be level-headed in both those situations.
Reeza Hendricks
MISSING OUT ON A T20I SERIES VICTORY OVER IRELAND
Though Hendricks was able to turn his form around, he was unable to turn the team's fortunes around as they drew the T20I series one-all after taking a 1-0 lead with a resounding victory in the opening match.
The 35-year-old highlighted how disappointed they were as the team that they lost to Ireland, a team that is not necessarily a big team.
"The T20Is against Ireland as well, we allowed them to level the series, which again was disappointing according to our standards," he said.
"With all due respect to Ireland they are not one of the bigger teams, so to level a series against them was disappointing. We would've loved to do better."
The Proteas would go on to play a three-match ODI series against Ireland in Dubai and won it 2-1.
Ongama Gcwabe is an experienced Sports Journalist based in South Africa. In his career, Ongama’s work has been published in the country’s biggest newspapers company, Independe Newspapers, and some of the leading news and sports websites including IOL Sport.