OPINION: Blooding new players is not a good excuse for losing

There will always be reasons that teams are defeated, but there is one particular excuse that has become too easy for our national cricket teams to lean on when they lose.

As well as they have played in recent years, the Proteas are still inconsistent, and whenever they fall short, they like to blame the make-up of the squads.

It’s not the only reason they will offer following a defeat, but more often than not, it will be raised after the game: There were too many rookies in the team.

Nothing new

And it’s not that it’s false. Having new players in a squad does create challenges, but it’s nothing new. And it’s certainly not unique to South Africa’s cricket teams.

Just about every national team in the world has new players who are trying to find their feet. If any squad relied purely on experience, it would be detrimental in terms of the evolution from one generation to the next.

As some players start approaching retirement, others are introduced, and when you have to deal with injuries and player management, having new players being blooded is always crucial.

For some reason, however, the SA cricket teams seem to think they’re alone. They’re obviously not.

Every time they play a match, the Proteas men and women are facing opposition with rookie players who are being introduced to the international game.

Despite this, however, we have started to hear in every second press conference that one of the reasons they’re inconsistent is that they have younger players in their squads.

Poor excuse

But we only ever hear this excuse when they lose. We heard it from the Proteas women’s side this week after they lost their T20 International series against England, but we did not hear it from the Proteas men during their dominant performance in the opening Test against Sri Lanka.

Rewind a little to their most recent defeats, however, and you would have heard the Proteas men also blaming inexperience in their squad.

We’ve spoken plenty in recent months about the challenge faced by Proteas coaches in trying to give opportunities to younger players and still win games. But this is an age-old challenge faced by any coach at international level, and it’s a weak excuse.

Yes, it takes time for some players to find their feet at the highest level, but when the Proteas’ opponents are dealing with the same issue, it seems cheap to blame that aspect on some shockingly poor performances.

All teams have new players. Ours need to stop using that as an excuse when they don’t perform.