Proteas captain Temba Bavuma put on a brave face in front of the media accounting for his team's shambolic exit from the ICC T20 World Cup at the hands of the Netherlands on Sunday and admitted he was not happy with his personal performances.
Bavuma, who addressed the media with Cricket South Africa (CSA) director of coaching Enoch Nkwe, said he understands that disappointed people will point fingers at leaders of the team.
“When the team doesn’t reach expectations, questions are going to be asked and people are going to come at leaders,” he said during the team’s arrival press conference at OR Tambo International Airport, where coach Mark Boucher was conspicuous by his absence.
Boucher has stepped down after the World Cup and is joining the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.
“I am the captain of the team, so it is expected that people will ask questions about me. They’ll take a deep look at me and what I have contributed to the team’s performance.
“It has obviously been a challenging time for me, but I felt as a team we have done a good job in terms of supporting each other and giving each other the necessary confidence.
“Could I say I am happy with my personal performances? The answer is no, because I am not happy with that. Am I happy with the way led the team? Yes, I am happy with that. But when the team performs like that people are going to come at the leaders.
“It is important that the leaders do have answers to whatever questions are thrown at them.”
The Proteas think-tank stuck at the World Cup largely with the same team even though some of the players were not performing consistently.
“In terms of strategy, those conversations happen pretty much every game. I think as you would have seen, we select the team based on conditions.
“In terms of form, it is the World Cup and you are always going to show confidence to guys who you feel are your best 11, and that’s exactly what we did.
“There might have been players who weren’t on form but you still have to show faith and confidence in those guys that they can still put in match-winning performances.
“The last thing you want at a World Cup is giving someone [a place] who doesn’t have the type of experience or someone who hasn’t come across the emotions of the World Cup and expect him to do the business for the team.
“Those conversations did happen — I am not going to go into specific names as to which players were spoken about during conversations but those conversations do happen as in any series.”
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