South Africa let standards slip & pay the price

Dharamsala, October 18

There will be honest conversations in the South Africa camp after a stunning 38-run defeat by the Netherlands on Tuesday put the brakes on their impressive World Cup campaign, captain Temba Bavuma said.

South Africa were clinical in victories over Sri Lanka and Australia in their first two games, but sloppy and careless in what proved a well-deserved victory for the Dutch.

“We need to have some conversations with the boys,” Bavuma said after a defeat in which his bowlers conceded 32 extras, the second highest ‘scorer’ in the Netherlands innings. “The extras, that’s something you can control,” Bavuma said. “Getting 30 (32) extras, that is an extra five overs and is always going to hurt you. That is a conversation for us to have – whether it is skill or a complacency thing – but at the end it did count for quite a lot.”

South Africa had Netherlands reeling at 112/6 after sending them in to bat, but bowled far too short and allowed the Dutch to reach 245 in their 43 overs in a game shortened due to rain.

“We dropped the ball there letting them get to 240-plus,” Bavuma said. “With the batting, we were still confident in chasing down that score but we didn’t get any partnerships. Their double-spin in the powerplay was something we did not adapt to.”

They next meet England on Saturday. — Reuters