Proteas wilt and flop

EISH, Proteas. Where do we begin? Crashing out of another ICC event despite being ranked as the best ODI team in the world.

I cannot understand how people defend them and say it wasn’t a joke.

They have only lost one ODI series in the past couple of years, but as soon as you insert the letters “ICC” on an event, they forget the basics of cricket. So let’s start at the top. In all three matches, the openers were too slow to get going. Naturally, Amla takes his time to get going.

But De Kock, who naturally strikes at about 90-100, seemed to be lacking confidence.

This after winning so many awards for the Proteas just over a month ago.

Right, the middle order. After Faf ’s match-saving innings in a test match against Australia, I thought there was nothing he could do wrong. But, being a Protea’s batsman in an ICC event, he had the perfect opportunity to prove me wrong. He was responsible for more wickets than any of the Indian bowlers in South Africa’s must-win match. Says it all.

AB, the world’s number-one-ranked batsman, only managed 20 runs in the tournament, along with some very ordinary tactics as captain.

As for JP, well he never really does anything does he?

All the bowlers were well below par, with Morkel possibly the only player to be happy with his performance from the tournament. Parnell, Morris, Phehlukwayo and Pretorius all seem to be inconsistent performers and will most likely come off one in every seven or eight games.

Can they be labelled as proper allrounders when they are performing with bat or ball in every seven or eight games? I don’t think so. It’s time to develop a proper, consistent all-rounder.

The only thing the team can take away from this tournament is to stop believing in their own hype.

We head into every tournament as favourites or the number-one ranked team and we always fall short. Other than that, the batting and bowling was mediocre at best.

This was despite having four of the top 10 batsmen in the world, and the top two ranked bowlers in the world.

The fielding unit was also unusually sloppy. These rankings count for nothing when it comes to knock-out tournaments. Change is needed at the top. One player shouldn’t be allowed to dictate when he wants and doesn’t want to play. Where is the pride of playing for your country?

Come on Proteas, you can take a leaf out of the Bokke and Bafana who were fantastic over the weekend.