• Analysing a familiar problem

    After another disappointing ICC tournament, it remains a mystery why South Africa keep falling short in big tournaments.

    Their bowling in general wasn’t good enough while their batting approach in the game against West Indies, on a slow wicket, was also wrong. Winning two out of four games is not good enough. There is a lot of talent in that squad, but there seems to be no clear reason why they keep underperforming in big tournaments like this.

    Their biggest issue was against England where they failed to defend a score of 229. It was very disappointing. They also can’t keep on messing with the batting order. Shifting AB de Villiers the whole time doesn’t help the player and affects those around him.

    History shows South Africa struggle when under pressure in must-win situations. They appear to be found wanting when the pressure is on.

    Faf du Plessis said before the tournament that this was the best squad ever assembled for a T20 World Cup, which is a big statement to make, but in the end only results tell the world how good the squad really was.

    I think the Proteas live in a constant state of fear. A fear of failure because the public and the media give them a roasting every time things don’t go well and that scares them all the time.

    There tends to be unrealistic expectations on the team all the time from the public and the media, but no one can win every game and win every tournament they play in.

    We need to back them more because they do try their best and sometimes things just don’t work out.

    We shouldn’t want them to be scared of criticism.

    Post by

    Graeme Pollock