Cricket South Africa says it is “saddened” and shares in the disappointment of South Africans on the loss of the Proteas to the Netherlands at the Adelaide Oval, in Australia on Sunday, which eliminated them from the ICC T20 World Cup tournament.
Chasing 159 to win, the Proteas fell to 145/8, a demise which means they will miss the semi-finals.
The Proteas started their T20 World Cup campaign on a solid footing, which boosted the Team’s confidence. However, despite the Proteas’ efforts on the pitch with the Netherlands, the latter went away with the stakes.
Speaking on the team’s early exit from the tournament, CSA Director of Cricket, Enoch Nkwe said:
“The reality is that the Team did not perform to expectations, which occasioned this disappointing outcome. It is our duty to regroup and rebuild based on our glaring shortcomings at the T20 World Cup.”
CSA Chief Executive Officer, Pholetsi Moseki added:
“The Proteas went to the ICC T20 World Cup with high hopes that they would make it to the final. CSA supported the team on their campaign and held high hopes that they will carry through. It is unfortunate that they did not make it as we had all hoped. However, it is incumbent to support them into the future.
“It is evidently hard for all of us to be faced with this disappointment. However, our focus should be rebuilding the team for future success. Lessons learnt from this experience will be inculcated into strategies to redeem from the weaknesses and build a formidable attack in future.”
The embarrassing 13-run defeat to the Netherlands is the biggest shock of the World Cup.
It was a forgettable performance for Temba Bavuma and his side in a match that was described as a quarter-final 24 hours earlier by all-rounder Wayne Parnell.
That meant there was no room for error as the South Africans knew that only victory will secure them a ticket into the last four of the competition.
Bavuma and Quinton de Kock were slow out of the blocks returning run-a-ball efforts of 20 and 13 respectively as the South Africans stumbled to 39 for two at the end of the powerplay. Rilee Rossouw (25) was more attacking alongside Markram (17), but both departed before the 100 was raised, adding pressure on the middle and lower order.
Possibly the turning point if the match was early in the 16th over when Roelof van der Merwe claimed a stunning catch to dismiss David Miller for 17.
The former Protea, who played for South Africa at the T20 World Cups in 2009 and 2010, sprinted back from short fine leg to square leg all the time looking upwards at the ball before throwing himself low to take the catch centimeters above the ground.
At that stage 47 were required off 29 balls but that strike proved key for the Dutch. The chase then faded badly from there as scoreboard pressure told and South Africa limped to a forgettable 145 for eight in what was Mark Boucher’s final match as coach.
