Once again another ICC tournament has ended in heartache for the Proteas. Aside from the personal disappointment for the side and its supporters, there has been yet again another financial disappointment for a cricketing showpiece in South Africa.
It’s the third time a major ICC tournament has been hosted in South Africa (along with the 2003 World Cup, the 2007 World Twenty20) and the hosts have failed to progress past the first round. It’s a woeful record for a proud sporting nation, especially in their own backyard.
CSA chief executive Gerald Majola said “There are some hard questions to be answered. At no stage did the team look anything like a team that is the world No 1 in both Tests and one-day internationals. They certainly were way off where they should be at this stage, and I will be speaking to Mickey and the team management to find out what went wrong.”
Majola also said there were no plans at this stage to fire either the captain or the coach. “That’s not going to happen, but we definitely want answers. 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.”
Will there be any repercussions for this side, or will Graeme Smith and Mickey Arthur continue to run the side as they like? The Proteas record needs addressing. For a side that consistently produces results outside of ICC tournaments, it’s record in the important games can no longer be tolerated.
We’ve now failed to make the semi-finals at the majority of ICC tournaments since 1999 (we did make the semis in the 2007 World Cup and the 2009 Twenty20) which is not a record deserving of a top 3 side.
Mickey Arthur had this to say after the latest disappointment “The wicket in Centurion was tailor-made for the sub-continent, and we’ve seen what happened to Sri Lanka at the Wanderers, with balls that have bounced above stump height. If I could have picked, I would have preferred to play them at the Wanderers, but it was not to be.”
I’d suggest Arthur is looking in the wrong places. Rather than blame external factors, they must look within. The Proteas have shown they are good enough outside of ICC Tournaments. Why do we struggle under pressure. It has to be mental. A mindset issue.
My feeling is that the Proteas are too conservative. You can’t go into knockout tournaments and try not to lose. You’ve got to go out and play to win. Be aggressive, take chances, and back yourself.
Our mindset when chasing totals show, we try to keep up with the run-rate (as opposed to getting ahead of) and launch an attack at the end. On a good day it can work, but it’s a highly risky strategy.
Graeme Smith said there would be some soul-searching after yet another early departure from a major tournament. “We’ve got the World Twenty20 in the West Indies in 2010 and the World Cup in the sub-continent in 2011, and that’s got to be our goal – to play better and perform better in these tournaments.
Only time will tell how much things change, but I have the feeling we may have to get used to losing in the big moments if something drastically doesn’t change.
