Proteas caught in a ‘perfect storm’

Former England captain Mike Atherton, who knows a thing or two about the media baying at your door, on Thursday described the Proteas as being at the centre of a “perfect storm” as the World Cup reached the two-week mark and South Africa are languishing second-from-bottom on the log with just one point from four games.

Atherton is now arguably the most respected cricket writer in the world and is the Chief Cricket Correspondent for The Times, but he led an English team that was most notable for its inconsistency and was routinely given quite a battering by the infamous British media.

ALSO READ: Rassie: I’m not surprised AB wanted to make a comeback

So, as usual, he took a measured tone and had some sympathy for the Proteas in his lengthy piece for The Times on Thursday.

Talking about how South Africa are unlikely to get past the group stage, he said South Africa’s failure thus far at this World Cup has been different to all their other notable exits at the most prestigious tournament in cricket.

“Lacking the urgency and desperation of South Africa teams of the past, should confirmation of an early departure come before the knockout stages, the postmortem will be a very different one from normal. Usually, and unfairly to my mind, it is their nerve for the big occasion that has been questioned in the past. This time, and reasonably so, it will be the state of the game in South Africa and its future direction.

“If World Cups act as litmus tests of a country’s cricketing health … this one suggests that South Africa has real problems. … South Africa’s problems are cyclical (a declining team); specific (financial mismanagement and the hangover from a repressive Apartheid regime); and general, given the financial challenges that face all but the ‘big three’ of India, England and Australia. A perfect storm,” Atherton said.

While Atherton agreed that the availability of a player of AB de Villiers’ calibre should never be sneezed at, he felt the decision to reject his last-minute bid for inclusion in the World Cup squad was understandable.

“Great player that he is, his presence would have surely lifted South Africa, although it was impossible not to feel sympathy for the predicament Du Plessis and the selectors found themselves in, with the team already selected and De Villiers having officially retired exactly a year before. As Ottis Gibson, the South Africa coach, said: ‘If De Villiers had really wanted to be at the World Cup, he would have been.’ … Reasonably, the selectors decided he could not have his cake and eat it,” Atherton said.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.