Proteas flop again on the big stage

Poor selection and strategy saw the Proteas lose all three their Super Eight matches.

Poor selection and strategy saw the Proteas lose all three their Super Eight matches.

Published Oct 3, 2012

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Another year, another ICC tournament, and still the same result. South Africa will not return with any silverware from Sri Lanka, in fact, they have failed to even reach the semifinals of the 2012 World Twenty20.

Only this time the Proteas’ exit was not pressure-induced, but in fact sealed even before their final Super Eight one-run defeat to India last night. The late match at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo was a game only of academic importance for AB de Villiers’ men after Pakistan had defeated Australia by 32 runs earlier.

SA have now failed to qualify for the knockout stages in three of the four World T20 jamborees held since the inaugural competition on home soil in 2007. It’s a dismal record, the worst of a top-tier ICC nation, and will certainly not improve when Bangladesh 2015 comes around if the Proteas do not have a complete overhaul in their approach and mindset to T20 cricket.

This campaign, much like the West Indies 2010, was muddled by poor selection, strategy and a severe lack of execution. It’s not like inexperience was a factor, as in the case of defending champions England, with nine of the starting XI against India all having Indian Premier League know-how. Their failure to close out the Pakistan game when they were 76/7 was inexcusable.

Of their five matches, South Africa won two, against Zimbabwe, and also a seven-over farce against hosts Sri Lanka. The common thread in those victories was that they were both played in Hambantota, where the surface had greater resemblance to Centurion than Colombo.

It had bounce, pace and there was even swing at night, which suited the Proteas speed merchants perfectly. The batsmen flourished too, including Richard Levi, due to the ball carrying through at a good height to the wicket-keeper.

But it was at the Premadasa where matters started unravelling like a piece of loose thread on a cotton shirt. From the moment Hashim Amla was caught playing five minutes before the time to a slower ball from Yasir Arafat in the Pakistan game, the rest of the batsmen saw potential demons where, in truth, there weren’t that many. It was as if the “Mighty Hash” could not prosper in these conditions, what chance did the rest have?

And that is where this campaign was doomed. SA had entered the competition with a heavy reliance on Levi, the only T20 specialist in the side, to attack the six powerplay overs, which would provide early momentum. But the Proteas’ top three comprising of Levi, along with Amla and Jacques Kallis, got themselves caught up in an ugly mess in each of the games, which meant the Proteas were always playing batting catch-up.

Despite Amla being a master in Test and one-day internationals, he simply does not play enough of the shortest form of the game domestically to be a force yet at international level. He seemed to be learning his trade still, and due to the helter-skelter nature of this tournament, only those wholly assured of their gameplans – like Australia’s Shane Watson – prosper.

And what of Kallis? The great all-rounder should be wrapped in cotton wool where his ageing back, which has given him problems of late, can remain intact for him to play a continued role in keeping SA at the summit of Test cricket. That is where he is needed most.

It’s often said that hindsight is the best vision, but there are times when the blinkers simply don’t want to be removed. It was only when it was already too late, when De Villiers was finally promoted to No 3, that SA showed some form of intent in the powerplay.

Regardless that the outcome was an absolute success against India, the skipper should have started the tournament there to maximise his influence on the game. His absence at the top of the order left SA bereft of a batsman who could find the boundary with a limited amount of risk – that was of course until Faf du Plessis’ refreshing 65 off 38 balls last night.

The Proteas’ other Achille’s heel at major tournaments – death bowling – reared its ugly head again, especially against Pakistan when Umar Gul single-handedly clubbed his team to victory. But overall, the bowlers fought tirelessly to keep their side in the competition, with arguably the SA Player of the Tournament Robin Peterson and Dale Steyn excelling throughout.

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