‘Today was a bad day to have a bad day,’ says Proteas coach Walter

Though conditions played their part in the outcome, the Proteas will look back at their Champions Trophy semifinal against New Zealand knowing that once again in a knockout match they contributed to their own demise. 

Mitchell Santner’s side earned a significant advantage by being able to bat first at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. However, the South Africans didn’t execute well enough, missed a crucial catch and then let New Zealand get away from them in the last 10 overs, setting a total captain Temba Bavuma said was above par. 

With the bat, the Proteas got into a stable position thanks to the 105-run second wicket partnership between Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen. Then they caved as the Kiwis upped the ante with conditions again playing a part as Santner extracted more spin than Keshav Maharaj managed earlier in the match. 

Bavuma described his own dismissal as soft. The same could be said for Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram.

“At 125/1 we needed to be more decisive and not give the opposition a way to get back into the game,” the South African captain said.

It meant David Miller was left all by himself, and though he scored a hundred, the second half of it came with the match already lost.

“When you lose by 50, you know you are just one partnership away from doing something special,” said Proteas head coach Rob Walter.

Though Walter cited an improvement from the seamers in terms of the accuracy with which they bowled, it certainly wasn’t in evidence on Wednesday. New Zealand scored 110 runs in the last 10 overs, 66 of those coming in the last five. 

“We could have handled the last 10 overs better. That got away from us,” Walter said.

New Zealand were able to score so freely because of the 164-run second-wicket partnership between Williamson and Rachin Ravindra, who each scored centuries. The intent they showed, particularly against Keshav Maharaj, was a vital period in the innings, against a player Bavuma relies on to provide control.

“The way they pierced the offside and through the middle period they kept scoring boundaries. We pride ourselves on our ability to take wickets in the middle period, but we were unable to do that,” said the Proteas skipper.

Walter added: “Putting Kesh under pressure in the middle period, changed the flow of the game. The ball spun more for them.

“We tried to change the pace, the ball was gripping in the early phase. It wasn’t through a lack of effort. We can bemoan our execution, you can’t fault the effort.”

It’s the execution, however, in all three departments, that was absent again and that it happened in the most important match in the competition — just as was the case in the ODI World Cup semifinal in Kolkata in 2019 and the T20 World Cup final last year — suggests a problem that Walter and Bavuma seem incapable of resolving.

“Today was a bad day to have a bad day,” said Walter.

Miller said: “They [New Zealand] get paid to play well as well.” 

Which is true, but a pattern has emerged with South Africa in knockout matches. They also get paid well to play well, they just don’t when it matters and that is the biggest problem that needs solving if winning the World Cup on home soil in two-and-a-half years' time is to be achieved.