Domingo hides his pain behind a smile

LONDON: Russell Domingo wears a smile on most days, which makes his mood considerably difficult to read.

So, as he gave his thoughts on his side’s elimination from the Champions Trophy, Domingo wore that smile through the pain.

Asked if he had considered his own position, and applied for the job again, the answer came with a smile. “No, not yet.” Probed further, on whether he could commit himself to getting to the 2019 World Cup, the smile persisted. “I can’t say.” It was a bat straighter than any that had been offered by his batsmen hours before, but it doesn’t advance the matter.

It’s a time for answers, and very few are forthcoming.

Domingo, pictured, did open up about some matters though.

“I wasn’t there in the 2011 World Cup, but there might have been players who were there going, ‘Here we go again’ type of thing,” he said of the AB de Villiers moment. “Look, he’s the best player in the world and the game was set up for him in that situation. There’s no doubt that does deflate the change room a little bit.”

Much like his captain, the national coach (for now, it seems) remains convinced that these men are not too far away from being the finished ICC tournament article.

“We’ve had two bad games here. We played averagely against Pakistan, really badly (against India), but it doesn’t make the side a bad side,” he reminded us, the smile now gone.

“There are always going to be questions asked until the side wins an event, and rightly so. But there’s no magic wand,” he shrugged.

“Guys just need to make the best decision on the day. We’ve played great cricket over the last year and this was probably our worst game. We didn’t do the basics right,” he bemoaned.

No one expects the highest ranked team in the world (for now, at least) to give up, because this is their job. It’s their job to strive to be the best, yet one can’t help but sense they keep driving up an autobahn in a tractor.

Domingo, one of that tractor’s drivers, has to take a share of the accountability. And yet, he wears the look (and smile) of a man who looks ready to walk away. A man tired of looking for answers to questions that will persist and persist. “I don’t know,” he smiled, when asked what has to be done.

It’s a common South African cricket phrase of late.

“Players need to go away and think about it. Its never good to make decisions when emotions are high, so once things have calmed down I suppose people need to sit down and think of a way forward,” he said of the future.

By people, he could have meant himself, others or anything else you can interpret from a man who gives little away.

“Now is not the time,” he said, then smiled and walked away.

At times like these, when no answers are being given to urgent questions, you have to wonder if he’s already walked away from it all.