All the thrills and spills
SOUTH Africa’s cricket team are clinging to the belief that they are good enough to win the World Cup this year.
Their captain’s anger at their 29-run defeat (via Duckworth/Lewis) to Pakistan in Auckland on Saturday, has manifested in hurt for the rest of the squad.
They’re hurting because they let him, themselves and what they stand for down.
A new day dawned yesterday, a new city beckoned, but the same old problems remain.
The Proteas boast some of cricket’s most talented players and yet under pressure – most often when batting second – they fold like a cheap suit.
It happened again in Auckland on Saturday, just as it had in three of the previous four World Cup matches in which South Africa batted second.
They bowled well, with plenty of aggression, and though the fifth bowler’s ration of nine overs – shared between A B de Villiers and J P Duminy – went for 77 runs, they dismissed Pakistan for 222 in an excellent effort.
Morne Morkel continued his superb form in the tournament by picking up two wickets and is South Africa’s leading wicket-taker with 11.
Dale Steyn seems like he is back to his best form, claiming 3/30 at Eden Park, while Kyle Abbott, despite taking some tap, picked up Ahmed Shehzad and Shoaib Maqsood to underline his value.
It’s the batting that frustrates.
A team that had scored 819 runs in their two previous innings, were rolled for barely 200 last Saturday – admittedly against the best attack they’d faced in the tournament – highlighting their capacity to set a total and their inability to chase one.
From 67/2 in the 10th over, they collapsed to 102/6 in the 20th.
All that talk about the importance of seven batsmen in the starting team amounts to nothing when those batsmen play in as irresponsible a manner as many of the South African players did at the weekend.
“It (requires) a mental shift,” J P Duminy, one of those who succumbed to a dreadful shot on Saturday, admitted.
“In a few words: We haven’t been good enough.
“In the last couple of meetings we’ve had regarding chasing, we’ve hit the nail on the head about where we’ve gone wrong.
“We’ve got good KPIs (Key Performance Index) and strategies in place for when we bat first; we set up the game for the back end, keep wickets in hand, have guys scoring hundreds… and I don’t think we need to veer too much from those plans.
“But every time we bat second we’ve not stuck to it. Guys aren’t scoring hundreds, there’ve been no partnerships, wickets have not been kept in hand for us to explode at the back end.
“So the strategies haven’t worked. It’s been the signature for us batting first and scoring 350 plus, and if we are going to be successful in chasing then we need to stick to those strategies.”
Duminy admitted that “scoreboard pressure” and the World Cup stage played a part too, but neither of those things are going anywhere. It’s the players who have to adapt.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, those pressures are there,” Duminy said.
“A mental shift is needed. We have time to accept that, take it all in, we need to accept the fact we haven’t been good enough and that could be the way forward for us.
“Look, it’s going to come down to the quarter-final and what are we going to produce if we find ourselves batting second?
“A B showed major fight in the way he played and batted, and that’s what we’ve asked for of ourselves. It’s also what he and the coach have asked for – to show that fight, grit and that never back down attitude.
“We were below par in terms of that mindset. Bar A B, we didn’t show any fight.”
South Africa will do a lot of talking over the coming days, over a round or two of golf today, or while casting a line somewhere hoping to catch a bite.
Following that, their grim reality will confront them once more.
The United Arab Emirates won’t test them at the WestPac Stadium on Thursday.
But that quarter-final match, most likely against Sri Lanka in Sydney next Wednesday, will.
“When you find yourself in that pressure situation – and I have found this – the last thing you think about is the team’s game plan because (the situation) gets too big for you,” said Duminy.
“We are chosen to represent the country to play on this big stage, this is what international cricket is about, playing and performing in those pressure moments and that’s what makes you good or great.
“Look at A B: under pressure he performs consistently, and that is something we have to get right as a unit.
“There are one or two guys getting it right, but we are not getting it right as a team.”