Auckland, March 20 (IANS) After being outplayed by New Zealand through an eight-wicket defeat in third T20I, South Africa captain Keshav Maharaj admitted the side’s inexperience showed in the loss, but insisted it was no excuse.

Put in to batting first at Eden Park, South Africa struggled against disciplined bowling and slipped to 62/5 at the halfway mark, before ending up at 136/9. New Zealand’s chase was anchored by Tom Latham, who struck an unbeaten 63 after Devon Conway hit a brisk 39, as the hosts reached the target in 16.2 overs.

“We are very inexperienced so you can understand the inconsistencies, but it’s not an excuse. We’re all professional enough; we are representing our country, so we’ve just got to go look back at ourselves and find ways through it.

“We have to put away our egos when it comes to playing on these types of wickets, because it doesn’t allow you to play with the freedom that you want at times. I wouldn’t use it as an excuse, even though we have a very inexperienced squad. Guys are professional enough and mature enough to find ways to combat it,” said Maharaj in the post-match press conference.

What also stood out as a huge area of concern is South Africa’s batters being dismissed while trying to go for big shots. “It’s definitely something we discussed… They felt like the only way was to target the short boundary, but it was a bit disappointing to say the least.

“Conversations we had prior to coming into this game were about the short boundary. Our coaching staff mentioned that teams that look too much into the short boundary actually shoot themselves in the foot, and that’s exactly what happened with us today. We really need to find a sort of way to combat these bowlers and adapt to the conditions sooner rather than later,” added Maharaj.

The series now moves to Wellington for the fourth T20I on Sunday, with South Africa needing a sharper batting performance to stay alive in the series. “Hopefully we can see a little bit of positives from that, but I think it’s about focusing on ourselves and how we’re going to go about our games. As much as the opposition changes, we’re searching for the template as to how to go about our business,” concluded Maharaj.

–IANS

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