Coaches from four of Joburg’s cricket clubs have chipped in on why they think the Proteas have performed so poorly at the ICC Cricket World Cup.
A common thread in their belief is that the South African cricket team underprepared and their bowling was far below par.
The Proteas lost their fourth game out of six matches in the world cup, in an agonisingly close encounter with New Zealand on 19 June. This saw them fall so far behind other teams on points that it is almost impossible for them to qualify for the knockout stage, even if they win their last three matches.
“Our top four fast bowlers in the squad were selected although injured or recovering from injury,” said Wanderers Cricket Club coach, Jeff Levin.
“The team only got together a few days before departure for the world cup because the captain and a few others chose to rather stay at the Indian Premier League (IPL) until the end, while England and Australia withdrew their players from the IPL early to play in a warm-up series together. Because of this there was uncertainty as to the best 11 [for the Proteas].”
Randburg Cricket Club captain, Harry Lediga agreed that “preparations going into the tournament were not good enough”.
“Our bowling plans were also pretty poor, why we bowl short balls on flat pitches to opposition who can play the short ball well, that’s been my biggest upset in this tournament,” he lamented.
Alexandra Cricket Club chairperson, Matsitso Mabhena said the problem with their performances merely lay in the Proteas not being able to bat second often enough, as their strength is in chasing scores.
Doug Neilson, chairperson of cricket at Old Parktonian Sports Club said the problem ran much deeper.
“It’s the whole cricket system in SA and Cricket South Africa (CSA) should take most of the blame,” he said.
“Now CSA want 12 franchise teams instead of the current six, to give weaker players a chance. Are all our international cricketers going to improve their cricket playing Boland, South Western Districts and all the other new franchise teams? It’s all good and well giving all these new franchise players exposure but it is weakening the whole cricket structure. At the moment, some of the current fringe players playing in the current franchise structures are extremely weak and poor.”
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