Time for a little soul-searching
I T WAS not quite Dhaka of 18 months ago, when a crestfallen Graeme Smith gathered all his inner resolve to hold back the tears when he needed to explain why South Africa had delivered yet another World Cup choke. And AB de Villiers has certainly searched his own emotions after South Africa’s exit at the ICC World Twenty20.
De Villiers is unlike Smith in many ways, but being the Proteas captain comes with all the same pressures, especially at major ICC tournaments.
It has a strange effect on usually jovial characters, like De Villiers, and plays out into strange actions.
Smith despised the “choke” label, and reacted angrily to the mere mention of the word.
De Villiers has no issue with it, and even tosses it around without any provocation as he did at the beginning and close of this tournament. Instead, he gets riled by questions relating to strategy, especially in terms of where he is best utilised in the Proteas’ batting line-up.
Losing is also not something De Villiers is accustomed to. He is a natural-born winner, blessed with an unbelievable amount of skill at most things, not just cricket. So having been at the helm of a team that has just lost a hattrick of matches, culminating in the one-run defeat by India on Tuesday, has been a chastening experience for him.
“We tried hard but just never clicked in this tournament. We did all the preparation, fought really hard. It’s hard to put my finger on any one thing, we just played poor cricket throughout. It is very disappointing, especially with all the support we got,” a visibly shattered De Villiers said.
“I will have to get back home and clear my mind before I start taking any learning out of this tournament. My head is spinning a little bit, not really knowing where exactly we went wrong. It’s a very emotional tournament, especially when you don’t play well as a team.”
When all the reactions have been thoroughly processed, there’s no doubt a comprehensive dossier will be compiled by De Villiers and coach Gary Kirsten’s technical team to review yet another dismal performance by the Proteas at a World T20 series. South Africa have progressed just once to