Proteas face a real roasting

CRICKET South Africa’s Director of Cricket Enoch Nkwe will hold oneon-one discussions with members of the Proteas’ T20 World Cup squad as part of a comprehensive review into what went wrong at the tournament in Australia.

The Proteas were stunned by the Netherlands in Adelaide last Sunday, losing by 13 runs which resulting in them being eliminated from the tournament.

Had the South Africans won that match, they would have qualified for the semi-finals of the competition.

The review, which will be conducted by a panel, will take place over the next few weeks, and will be wide-ranging.

It is not known if the now-former coach Mark Boucher, who headed to the US with his family immediately after the tournament, will form part of the review.

“There will be a lot of detail shared as we try to understand how we take the next step forward collectively – from selection, to player management, medical and game strategy, we are going to dig deep,” said Nkwe.

Seated next to him moments after touching down from Dubai, Temba Bavuma, the Proteas’ limited overs captain, cut a disconsolate figure.

Speaking in hushed tones, Bavuma said that he was still trying to come to terms with what happened at the Adelaide Oval.

“I’m still trying to process how we find ourselves in this situation,” he said.

“The emotions and feelings are not as raw as they were after the game, I think in terms of the disappointment and disbelief that we are at this point, that is still there.

“It will take me a couple of days,” said Bavuma.

Bavuma acknowledged that he wasn’t happy with his own performances, but he was happy with the way that he led the team,

“When a team performs like that, people are going to come at the leaders and I think it is important that the leaders have the answers to whatever questions are thrown at them.”

Part of Nkwe’s review will include looking at selection, and the controversial non-selection of Reeza Hendricks, who was the form player coming into the tournament.

“We tried to select the team that spoke the conditions that we expected. In terms of form, at a World Cup you will always show confidence to guys you feel are in your best XI,” said Bavuma.

“There might have been players that weren’t in form, but you still have to show faith and confidence in those guys that they can still put in match-winning performances.”

Nkwe said he didn’t get involved in selection as the Director of Cricket and he trusted the selection panel, chaired by Victor Mpitsang to do their jobs.

“It would be wrong for me to interfere,” said Nkwe.