No excuses: It hurts most when the Proteas are beaten fair and square

We have generally been able to find excuses for the national team’s failure to deliver at Cricket World Cup tournaments, with their demise often courtesy of poor luck and silly mishaps.

Perhaps what hurts the most about their latest defeat, however, is that we don’t really have any excuses. As good as the Proteas were throughout the tournament in India, the reality is that they were never the favourites.

South Africa had an incredible team, and they produced some record-breaking achievements during the group stage of the showpiece, but they lost to in-form India and were handed a shock defeat by the Netherlands.

And in their semi-final against Australia, they were unfortunate the opposition bowlers got so much out of the pitch in the early stages of their innings, but making the right decision after winning the toss is part of the game and the Proteas will have to admit they got it wrong.

Australia won fair and square. South Africa’s players didn’t drop their bats, rain didn’t force them to chase impossible targets, and there were no unfortunate miscalculations. Their opponents were simply better on the day.

If a World Cup campaign flops because of a single rare occurrence – as it so often has for the SA squad in the past – we can always convince ourselves that, if it had gone their way, the Proteas would have ended their lengthy title drought. At the very least, it tends to trigger discussions and draw speculation about what might have been.

Now, however, we don’t even have that. All we have is the struggle we now face to accept defeat.

Better teams

As good as the Proteas were through the tournament, Australia proved to be the better team when it counted the most, beating South Africa for the first time in their last five ODI matches.

And the scary thing is that India are even better, and every side in the tournament has known that if they want to lift the trophy, they’re going to have to beat the hosts at some point.

Even if they had progressed to the final, the Proteas would have faced an even fiercer battle in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

They could have won – as can Australia – but there is no doubt where the bookies will lean, with India showcasing spectacular form in front of their home crowd over the last six weeks.

The truth is that the hosts have been the best team of the tournament. Even better than the magnificent Proteas.

And that really hurts.