Proteas bowlers have to be more ruthless at the World Cup

The Proteas bowling department has to become more ruthless and learn how to bowl out the tail quicker at the Cricket World Cup or possibly have it come back to bite them when it counts most.

Despite a brilliant start to the competition that sees the Proteas currently second on the log thanks to a massive Net Run Rate (NRR), they could, and probably should, be on top of the log with an even better NRR.

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The Proteas have picked up big wins over Sri Lanka, Australia, England and Bangladesh, but were shocked by the Netherlands for their only pool loss so far.

Although all of their wins have been by massive margins, they should have all been bigger, with the Proteas struggling to remove the tail in almost every game.

Only in their opener against Sri Lanka did the Proteas arguably not falter against the tail, although even on that occasion they would have expected a bigger win.

In that game the Proteas scored a monstrous 428/5 batting first, and although they had Sri Lanka in deep trouble on 150/5, their middle and lower order rallied to get them to 326 all out.

Against Australia the Proteas managed a solid 311/7 batting first, and although they had the Australians in massive strife on 70/6, they allowed the last four wickets to add 107-runs to the total.

England match

In their match against England, having posted 399/7, the Proteas bowlers then blew away their top order having them on 68/6 and 100/8 at stages, before allowing a 70-run last wicket stand, after Reece Topley was unable to bat.

Their win over Bangladesh on Tuesday was more of the same as the Proteas hammered 382/5 batting first and then had Bangladesh in all sorts of trouble on 81/6, only to allow the tail to wag once again as they battled to 233 all out.

Despite it not having cost the Proteas largely in the tournament so far, it did cost them in their only loss against the Netherlands, which also is the only game they have chased so far which could also be a slight worry.

In the match the Proteas were on target to bowl the Netherlands out cheaply, with them in big trouble on 112/6, only for them to fight back to 245/8 at the end of their 50 overs, which was too much for the Proteas batters as they failed for the only time so far scoring 207 all out.

One of the big problems seems to be that none of the Proteas fast bowlers can bowl consistent Yorkers at tail-enders, choosing to go with the short ball which doesn’t always work.

Though they are currently sitting pretty on the log and on track for the semifinals, if they don’t sort their inability to remove the tail cheaply, it could end up costing them dearly.