Good stats not enough for Proteas
by Telford Vice
2016-06-28 06:40:43.0
BY ALMOST every measure, SA and not West Indies should have been Australia’s opponents in the triseries final on Sunday.
But the men in maroon made it to their own party at Kensington Oval, leaving SA to wonder where it had all gone wrong.
"It’s going to be a good game," De Villiers had told reporters in Bridgetown on Friday. "So it would be nice to maybe just sit back and watch a game of cricket."
Not for the first time on Sunday, De Villiers would have sat back and watched Australia play the way many of his compatriots would like his team to play more often. Not for the first time, he would have seen the home side make beatable opponents, this time by 58 runs.
And that after SA faced the identical Windies XI at the same venue on Friday and bellyflopped out of the running for a place in the final with what their captain called "a horrible performance".
Well might South Africans wonder why they weren’t slumped on the couch at 3am on Monday willing their team towards the trophy. As a batting team, SA had the second-highest run rate in the tournament and their bowlers took wickets at the second-lowest average. Australia led both of those lists with the Windies last. SA’s bowlers were the most economical.
"We still managed to win some games, which is a positive, De Villiers said. "Unfortunately, when it mattered most, we couldn’t pull through. That’s very disappointing." Disappointed De Villiers surely was. Enough to use the word "unfortunately" 10 times in an audio clip of not quite five-and-a-half minutes.
He should be unhappy. It means nothing that his team were ahead of the West Indians in almost every stat because they were behind in the only stat that matters — they didn’t win as many games.
It was indeed unfortunate and disappointing that SA performed like a team smaller than the sum of its parts. Unfortunately, until they fix that problem, this won’t be the last time they disappoint themselves and their supporters.
Kagiso Rabada of the Proteas, left, celebrates the wicket of Johnson Charles of the West Indies with his team at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Friday. Picture: GALLO IMAGES/LEE WARREN
BY ALMOST every measure, SA and not West Indies should have been Australia’s opponents in the triseries final on Sunday.
But the men in maroon made it to their own party at Kensington Oval, leaving SA to wonder where it had all gone wrong.
"It’s going to be a good game," De Villiers had told reporters in Bridgetown on Friday. "So it would be nice to maybe just sit back and watch a game of cricket."
Not for the first time on Sunday, De Villiers would have sat back and watched Australia play the way many of his compatriots would like his team to play more often. Not for the first time, he would have seen the home side make beatable opponents, this time by 58 runs.
And that after SA faced the identical Windies XI at the same venue on Friday and bellyflopped out of the running for a place in the final with what their captain called "a horrible performance".
Well might South Africans wonder why they weren’t slumped on the couch at 3am on Monday willing their team towards the trophy. As a batting team, SA had the second-highest run rate in the tournament and their bowlers took wickets at the second-lowest average. Australia led both of those lists with the Windies last. SA’s bowlers were the most economical.
"We still managed to win some games, which is a positive, De Villiers said. "Unfortunately, when it mattered most, we couldn’t pull through. That’s very disappointing." Disappointed De Villiers surely was. Enough to use the word "unfortunately" 10 times in an audio clip of not quite five-and-a-half minutes.
He should be unhappy. It means nothing that his team were ahead of the West Indians in almost every stat because they were behind in the only stat that matters — they didn’t win as many games.
It was indeed unfortunate and disappointing that SA performed like a team smaller than the sum of its parts. Unfortunately, until they fix that problem, this won’t be the last time they disappoint themselves and their supporters.
