June 20 - Rassie van der Dussen provided a silver lining for South Africa in their defeat to New Zealand and insists the experience was a brilliant learning curve for him.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Van Der Dussen scored his second half-century of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 that helped the Proteas post a competitive target of 241\/6 on a tricky Edgbaston pitch.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The talented 30-year-old scored an unbeaten 67 off 64 balls, although South Africa were unable to defend their score, as New Zealand dramatically edged home by four wickets with three balls remaining. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Edgbaston surface was slower than expected and Van Der Dussen believes South Africa’s total could have been enough to seal a narrow win had a little bit of luck gone their way. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
“We knew 240 was a good score,” he said. “It’s tough when you play well and you leave it all out there and it doesn’t go your way. That’s what we did.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
“Every game, I go out there and I try and perform, learn and adapt. Every game is an experience, especially here.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
“A lot of the guys have never played on these fields and for me, I’ve never played against a lot of these guys so coming up against them and doing okay, I will definitely draw on that going forward.” <\/p>\r\n\r\n
New Zealand’s final-over victory leaves South Africa with only one win from six matches at the tournament, as their semi-final hopes hang by a thread.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Still, in Van Der Dussen they have found their biggest positive. He is their second highest run-scorer behind Quinton de Kock and has shown a hunger to contribute in tough situations – prompting skipper Faf Du Plessis to extol his leadership capabilities.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
He only made his one-day debut for South Africa in January this year and had only played nine ODIs before being included in their World Cup squad.<\/p>\r\n\r\n