Boucher admits Proteas ‘not up to standard’ after another World Cup choke

After choking against minnows the Netherlands and forced to exit the ICC T20 World Cup with a whimper, outgoing Proteas coach Mark Boucher made the sobering admission that they were not up to the required standard.

The Netherlands won by 13 runs to send the Proteas crashing out of another tournament and Boucher was forthright in his assessment of the damage, saying South Africa were not good enough on the day as they failed to chase down the target of 159 set at the Adelaide Oval.

“We got here [to Adelaide ] yesterday [Saturday] and it was wet, it was a bit tacky this morning [Sunday] too, but it dried out a lot quicker than we expected,” said Boucher, who has overseen his last match for the Proteas as he departs to take over as coach of the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“We can look at a lot of things like playing four seamers or maybe we should have played the extra spinner. We can talk about batting first, but the bottom line is we were just not up to the standard today as a team.

“We were not good enough and we didn’t come out to perform as a unit. There were certain individuals who really stood out but as a team we didn’t rock up today.”

Boucher was bitterly disappointed the team once again failed to qualify for the semifinal stage of the T20 World Cup.

“I am gutted because this squad deserves to give themselves a better chance and unfortunately it didn’t happen for us, which is very disappointing for me and certainly to every guy in the dressing room.”

Asked if this result is among the worst of his tenure in charge of South Africa, Boucher responded: “Probably as a coach, yes.

“It is frustrating because as a player you can still have a say in the game but as a coach you are left to give it up to other individuals to go out there and try to perform. Certainly as a coach it's up there.

“If you look at the way we started the game, our energies were low and I don’t know if it was because it was a 10.30am game, because [starting] times have been difficult. I don’t know, I have not really put my finger on it, having not had a chance to speak to the guys about it and find out where they feel it went wrong.

“I think our plans were there but we didn’t use them well enough. If you look at the game as a whole Netherlands out-bowled us.

“They bowled with good plans, they bowled to the longer side of the field and they were able to create pressure on us than we were able to put pressure on them.”

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.