McLaren refuses credit for SA win

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

Ryan McLaren deserved much of the credit for SA’s victory over Sri Lanka in the first one-day international in Colombo on Sunday, but good luck trying to get him to take it.

McLaren’s 22 not out boosted SA to a total of 304/5, and he claimed the key wicket of Kumar Sangakkara as Sri Lanka were dismissed for 229 to clinch a 75-run win.

But it was all almost all about the team for McLaren yesterday. “We set it up well with the bat with the massive partnership (of 151) between AB (de Villiers) and Hashim (Amla),” he said.

“As bowlers, we fought hard. They came at us hard in the beginning and we showed a lot of character and finished the game clinically.”

That C-word mattered more than any other for the South Africans, McLaren said.

“That’s the most pleasing aspect - we’re starting to show some character when it starts getting tough, and it doesn’t get much tougher than playing in Sri Lankan conditions.”

That said, McLaren warned that Sunday’s result was “one of the building blocks to the World Cup next year, and every game in that process is important”.

SA will play more than 20 one-day internationals before they start their World Cup campaign against Zimbabwe in Hamilton on March 15.

However, there was no taking the shine off the fact that the win was only SA’s third in 17 ODIs against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka.

“We’ve struggled in the past here in Sri Lanka, so to have won the first match in this series is very important,” McLaren said.

Only after he had gotten all that off his chest did McLaren spend some words on himself, and even then conditionally.

“The advantage for allrounders is that you are always going to have the opportunity to contribute,” he said. “There are going to be times when you don’t do well in one discipline, but then you can contribute in the other.

“It doesn’t usually happen that you make a contribution with the bat and the ball, so I was happy with that performance.”

He should be.