Proteas reflect on a non-starter performance

It’s over. After Sunday’s defeat to Pakistan, the South African 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup dream is officially dead, and no mathematical sleight of hand or flag-wavy optimism is going to drag our boys into the knock-out phase. But while the Proteas’ previous ICC Cricket World Cups tended to end with a bang (Rained out! Run out! Washed out! Knocked out!), this year’s campaign was disappointingly different.

Like opening Parliament or closing a Facebook account, tournament sport is a complex thing. Plenty can – and does – go wrong. So there could be any number of reasons or explanations (not excuses; never excuses) for South Africa’s early exit. Inexperience, injuries, AB de Villiers… take your pick. But the truth is, the #ProteaFire simply failed to spark.

The story of South Africa’s 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup is mirrored in its top-order batting performances. They didn’t ever get going.

In 50-over cricket you need a solid, confident start. Balance, of course, is essential. Your openers can’t go wildly hitting the new ball for fours and sixes (unless they’re Matthew Hayden and the year is 2007), but they also can’t block every ball, like Sunil Gavaskar did to hilarious effect in the first-ever ICC Cricket World Cup match in 1975.

(Actually, that’s a story worth retelling: In the 1975 ICC Cricket World Cup opening match, hosts England posted 334 for four off their 60 – yes, 60 – allotted overs. Indian opener and comedy genius Gavaskar decided that total was unbeatable, so didn’t bother trying, carrying his bat for a colossal 36 not out off 174 mind-numbing deliveries. With his team mates going apoplectic in the dressing room, Gavaskar prodded ones and twos – and a solitary four – at a glacial strike rate of 20.68. Those were different times.)

South Africa’s 2019 top-order batsmen were never that negative. Instead, they lost early wickets, failed to create any real platforms for the middle order to build on, and didn’t ever get out of the starting blocks.

Look at the numbers: in their first seven innings, only five of South Africa’s top four batsmen squeaked past 50. Quinton de Kock scored 68 against England and 68 against Bangladesh; Hashim Amla got 55 against New Zealand; and Faf du Plessis hit 62 against Bangladesh and 63 against Pakistan. All were in losing causes.

None were match-winning knocks in the style of, say, Kane Williamson’s 148 against the West Indies or his 106* against South Africa; or David Warner’s 166 against Bangladesh or 107 against Pakistan; or Rohit Sharma’s 122* against South Africa; or Shikhar Dhawan’s 117 against Australia; or Aaron Finch’s 153 against Sri Lanka. Confident, finish-what-you-started individual innings like those are why New Zealand, Australia and India are nailing down their semifinal places, while South Africa are checking their boarding passes for the next flight home.

Collectively, South Africa’s totals after 10 or 15 overs make similarly dispiriting reading. They’re a tale of slow run rates and early wickets lost. Chasing 312 against England, the Proteas were two wickets down for 44 after 10 overs. Against India, they were 34 for two after 10. Even in the mercifully rained-out match against the West Indies, South Africa were already two down for 29 after 7.3 overs when the covers came on and the match called off. And so it went…

Looking back on South Africa’s 2019 Cricket World Cup – even now, with two dead-rubber matches still to play – it’s not so much a matter of wondering why or how the Protea’s interest in the tournament ended.

It’s more a matter of wondering if it ever really started. DM