Another international tournament, another premature exit from the South Africans in farcical circumstances.
As a patriot and cricket lover, it doesn't even hurt anymore and there was a distinct lack of disappointment or anger after the latest loss to England. The usual choking jibes are no longer funny, as it happens far too often.
From running into a Brian Lara-inspired Windies team to miscalculating Duckworth-Lewis targets and losing out on run-rates, we've seen it all before. Nowadays there is just a shrug of a shoulder and on we move. Even the media don't lambaste the team as much as they used to.
However, while many accept the team's fate, it doesn't mean fingers should not be pointed at Cricket South Africa for making their bed before the tournament.
Their spat with the Gauteng Cricket Board earlier this year has really come back to haunt the team. For it was their quarrel over trivial issues, and it was rather petty, that really shot the Proteas in the foot as they didn't play a single game at the seamer-friendly Wanderers.
The schoolyard-esque dispute started over a couple of alleged insults. The Gauteng board wrote to CSA's audit and risk committee over concerns they had about the running of the Indian Premier League. This did not go down well with the CSA bosses and they accused the GCB of insulting CEO Gerald Majola and being "arrogant".
This resulted in CSA President Dr Mtutuzeli Nyoka withdrawing the Wanderers' rights to host matches during England's tour. CSA also decided to hand Centurion all the Proteas' games in the Champions Trophy.
A few weeks later they all kissed and made up following a meeting with Minister of Sport Makhenkesi Stofile. That's the nut shell, really.
"Neither CSA nor GCB are the winners in this settlement - South Africa is the winner," Stofile said after the meeting. But South Africa were not really the winners, were they? In fact they were the big losers.
Watching Shane Bond get one to nip back from a couple of feet outside the off-stump and thus get rid of Joe Denly must really irk Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell. While these two took a bit of a beating at Centurion, Kemar Roach and James Anderson were making hay in Johannesburg.
Majola - who was at the centre of the tussle - was quick to question the team's body language after they were dumped out of the tournament.
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Why play right into Ajantha Mendis' hands at Centurion
because you have had a slight disagreement? |
"We definitely want answers," Majola told the media. "The team's performance in this tournament was just not good enough. I don't want to pick out individuals, but there were problems with the bowling and the batting, and the team's body language was not that of the world's best team."
Well, how about giving your team the best possible chance to win the tournament by letting them play in conditions that favour the players? Why play right into Ajantha Mendis' hands at Centurion because you have had a slight disagreement?
Also, why send an undercooked team into the tournament? The preparations - or lack there of - more about that by my colleague Julia Harris - are just plain stupid. Why did CSA not organise a second-rate tournament against Bangladesh or the Windies (the only other two teams that weren't playing
competitive cricket before the tournament)? It's not the first time that South Africa have struggled to get going again after a long lay-off.
Of course, the players and coaching staff can't get away scot-free. Their inability to stay ahead of the game or try something out of the ordinary is cringe-worthy.
After getting a thorough beating against Sri Lanka and finishing with a poor run-rate, the immediate thought was that the semi-final spots could be decided on net run-rate.
Yet, they still ended up being way too cautious with the bat against New Zealand. They restricted the Kiwis to 214 and then found themselves in a pretty comfortable position after 35 overs. Yet they still waited and waited to use their batting Powerplay. Only once the game was 100 percent safe, they decided to cut lose.
The same thing happened against England. Chasing a massive target, they used the 'let's stick to the norm until we are either safe or completely out of the game' method. No shuffle in the order, no unorthodox batting.
I once again have to refer to the Kiwis to prove a point. They restricted England to 146 and even though mere victory would take them into the next round, they attacked right from the word go and won with 20-plus overs to spare.
Case in point number three: England opted not to take their bowling Powerplay after 10 overs as the Kiwis were on the attack. What did the Kiwis do? Wait around until the game was safe? No, they took the batting Powerplay as they wanted to finish it off, make a statement, and qualify top of the log.
Ultimately South Africa's tournament run-rate proved to be inconsequential regardless as New Zealand thumped England.
So on the Proteas move and start building for the 2010 World Twenty20 in the Caribbean, where they will inevitably exit another tourney in ridiculous fashion, again.
Cricket365
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