Cricket South Africa has hailed the Standard Bank Proteas on completing back-to-back five-match series clean sweeps and in the process gaining the No. 1 position on the ICC ODI rankings table.
“This has been a year without parallel in the history of our ODI cricket,” said CSA Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat.
“It is almost exactly a year to the day (February 9, 2016) when the team started their current run of success that has seen them win a record 14 ODIs in a row on home soil. This impressive run shows the sustained excellence they have brought to their game with many individual and team highlights.
“Winning clean sweep series is a relatively rare occurrence and to do it twice in a row against the likes of Australia and Sri Lanka, both former World Cup champions, is a fantastic achievement.
“It augurs well for our forthcoming tours to New Zealand and England, and of course the ICC Champions Trophy.
“Many congratulations are due to captain AB de Villiers, stand-in captain Faf du Plessis, head coach Russell Domingo and all the players and management. Du Plessis achieved the outstanding feat of becoming the second Protea after Hashim Amla to score 400 runs in a five-match ODI Series and he deserves congratulations for that too.
“We wish the Proteas bon voyage as they leave for New Zealand tomorrow,” concluded Mr. Lorgat.
(Statement and Image: CSA)
