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Cook: "Can't put my finger on performance"

Wednesday, January 27 2016 by SNTV
  • Reaction after South Africa beat England by 280 runs to win the fourth Test at Centurion but England won the series 2-1

    SOUNDBITE (English) AB de Villiers, South Africa captain:

    "We were completely out played in the first two Test matches, there's no doubt about that. I think they are the team to beat in the next year or so. They've got a lot of good leaders out there, lot of match winners and I think the future is looking bright for them. Some of the guys that I mentioned before, I might have been miss quoted a bit, are getting a bit older, but that does not mean that they don't have the skill to bowl out teams and still score the runs that they need too. So under Cookie's captaincy who is very a stable captain. I think they have a really good two years to come. They are going to be the force to deal with."

    SOUNDBITE (English) Kagiso Rabada, South Africa:

    "It is something great, you're not going to do this every day. I mean the first Test match… I only got three wickets and got smashed everywhere. So you have to enjoy these moments. But when you look back on it, it doesn't always have to be in the moment. When you look back on it you can really be proud on what you have achieved."

    SOUNDBITE (English) Alistair Cook, England captain:

    "Not the way we wanted to end the tour and this whole five days we haven't quit been.... we haven't been as good as we have been in the other three games. I can't quite put my finger on it. We spoke a lot about how we wanted to finish the tour. Go unbeaten in like the Test pit of the tour including the warm-up games. But we just haven't been good enough in this game. It was an important toss to win, that hasn't kind of… we just weren't quit at it."

    SOUNDBITE (English) Alistair Cook, England captain:

    "In tough conditions certainly the new ball, but as a batting unit we have relied heavily on Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow.... scored many of our runs, but it was still a very… not everyone is going to be on form, that is the nature of the beast in international cricket and certainly batting. But we scored enough runs when it's mattered, but absolutely we've got room for improvement. And we have just spoken as a group and as I said there is still very hungry people in that changing room to improve. So it is very disappointing that we have ended the tour like we have done and there is no excuses for that."

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