It was like deliberately spreading rotten cheese on top of mouldy bread while sipping on coffee that had sour milk. The Proteas combined a terrible bowling strategy in the final stages of the Netherlands’ innings, with even worse execution and then a tentative batting performance, leaving a wretched taste in the mouth.
Their World Cup prospects were left damaged by the 38-run defeat in Dharamsala, but thankfully not irreparably so. Such is the length of this tournament, with its nine-match round robin phase that second and even third chances to restore self-belief are on offer.
It is generally assumed that winning six matches is enough to earn a spot in the semifinals — in fact four years ago, New Zealand with five wins snuck in ahead of Pakistan and ended as runners-up.
For South Africa, however, it was the manner of defeat against a motivated Dutch team, which executed their strategies to perfection, that was so concerning. “It’s really what do you take from this game that makes you better next game? And that’s ultimately the question we ask ourselves after every game,” said Proteas coach Rob Walter.
There should be a whole lot more questions. The bowlers, so ruthless and dynamic against Australia, served up a buffet of delights that the Dutch lower order tucked into with relish on Tuesday evening.
The extras were one thing — actually 32 egregious things — but the decision to bowl so many slower balls, bouncers and then those wide of off stump deliveries trying to take the ball out of the batters’ hitting arc, was another.
As the Dutch showed later — and South Africa had actually done earlier — targeting the stumps was the best method to use to get wickets. It beggars belief that a team with bowlers of the calibre of Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi, failed to implement such a basic plan.
I don’t think there is any point in trying to forget what's happened. It is going to hurt, it should hurt.
— Temba Bavuma
Panic seemed to set in when Roelof van der Merwe, who arrived at the crease with the Dutch on 140/7, started swinging hard from the start. Van der Merwe’s intent was clear, not just from how violently he swung the bat, but also how hard he ran between the wickets.
The Proteas tried to be too clever for their own good, relinquishing control which they never got back.
Both Temba Bavuma and Walter felt a target of 246 was achievable and even the Dutch believed it just a par total, but South Africa were once again out-thought by the team that can pick from only 5,000 cricketers in their home country.
They struggled to get the Netherlands’ spinners, who started with the new ball, away and when they did try to revert pressure they got out, losing four wickets for eight runs in 21 balls. The much-vaunted top six, so celebrated after scoring 428 against Sri Lanka and 311 against Australia, were floored by nothing more than the Netherlands’ adherence to the basics.
“I think there was some good bowling skill and then potentially some mental errors along the way and that’s batting you know,” Walter said of the collapse. “Ultimately if you’re not sharp in that moment of time, you can get on the wrong side of it, so the fact that they happened all together obviously put us on the back foot.”
South Africa still has six matches remaining in the round-robin phase, with four more wins, the target to qualify for the semifinals. On Saturday they face an England side that has had a slower start to the tournament, and who suffered a defeat even more shocking than the Proteas’ one to the Dutch, when they went down by 69 runs against Afghanistan.
The defending champions will have the game’s ultimate match-winner, Ben Stokes, back in their starting team after injury. He reportedly gave his teammates a rousing speech in the aftermath of their loss in Delhi.
It will be the first genuinely high pressure match the Proteas will play at this year’s World Cup. Their future in the tournament won’t be decided by the result, but mentally they can ill-afford another loss where the fundamentals of the game are so glaringly absent.
Bavuma spoke afterwards of letting the emotions from Tuesday’s defeat “seep in”.
“I don't think there is any point in trying to forget what’s happened. It is going to hurt, it should hurt. But then you come back tomorrow, you wake up and we get back onto the journey. Our campaign is not over by any stretch of the imagination, but you’ve got to feel the emotion of today and come back tomorrow with your head held up,” said the South African captain.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.