Ken Borland

Proteas coach Mark Boucher was no doubt still feeling the sting of beating almighty England but still not advancing from their pool after just one defeat when he said “you can’t describe our campaign as successful” as they exited the T20 World Cup on Saturday.

South Africa beat previously unbeaten tournament favourites England by 10 runs in Sharjah, but failed to qualify for the semifinals because their nett run-rate – 0.739 – was lower than Australia’s (1.216), the only team to win against the Proteas. Having posted an impressive 189/2, South Africa needed to restrict England to less than 131 on Saturday night to make the final four.

“You can’t describe our campaign as successful because we were knocked out, but it’s a bitter pill to swallow because we beat the in-form side in white-ball cricket for the last few years, a very dangerous England side,” Boucher said.

“It’s a tough one. We were under pressure after we lost that first game to Australia and the equation today was very difficult for us to get through, even though we did the job today.

“That was a tight first game, but we just didn’t bat well enough. We lost the toss, it was the first game and we weren’t sure what would be a good total. We thought 160, but 130 would have done the job.

“Maybe we could have gone harder against Bangladesh, but the pitch was going all over the shop and we lost a couple of early wickets. It’s all ifs and buts and it’s no good starting with those now,” Boucher said.

But the Proteas, considering in what disarray they were in a year ago, have given plenty of reason to believe they are on the right track, especially with the next T20 World Cup coming up in less than a year’s time in Australia.

“The team knows they are on a journey, they are on an upward curve and this tournament will stand us in  good stead. We did really well in some highly pressurised games, we will take confidence from that and hopefully go from strength to strength.

“We are heading in the right direction and we have won a lot of games lately, even though we unfortunately did not pass the test at this World Cup. I’ve said all along that we are improving.

“It’s about results as well of course, but we have played some really good cricket for quite some time. The players have been upskilled and they are learning to play in different situations.

“We are not the finished product, but we are working hard to get back to where we should be in world cricket. It’s going to be an exciting next year and we just need to be patient and keep challenging the players,” Boucher said.

“You never really know how a pitch is going to play,” Kagiso Rabada said, “but we had an idea from the warm-up that it would favour the seamers and bowled accordingly.”

And brilliantly.

South Africa bundled Bangladesh out for just 84 in their T20 World Cup match in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, a total they then chased down with six wickets in hand and 39 balls to spare to significantly boost their nett run-rate.

Rabada led the way with an outstanding display that brought him career-best figures of 3/20. On a pitch that almost demanded Test-style bowling, he was bang on the mark with both his lengths and skills from the outset.

“There was a lot of grass on the pitch and a bit of zip, as well as being a bit two-paced. We learnt from the Australia game here and we also noticed a bit of swing in the warm-up,” Rabada said after the win.

“You never really know how a pitch is going to play, but we had an idea that it would favour the seamers and we bowled accordingly. In my three overs up front there was a bit of bounce, seam movement and swing.

“So conditions were in my favour and you just try to get the ball in the right places. Anrich Nortje [3.2-0-8-3] is also bowling pretty rapidly at the moment and every bowler that came on stuck to the game-plan and got us into an even stronger position,” Rabada said.

South Africa also know full well that their semi-finals qualification could come down to nett run-rate and they used the small target as an opportunity to boost that figure to more than one run per over better than rivals Australia: 0.742 to -0.627.

After a rocky start, they won in the 14^th over largely thanks to Temba Bavuma’s quickfire 31 not out off 28 balls. Rabada said criticism of the captain has been ill-informed.

“There’s nothing more to say about Temba, the results are there. You are always going to have critics and we make peace with that, we take the good with the bad.

“You can’t control what is said outside the game, but we probably put more pressure on ourselves than the public do.

“Obviously we chatted at halfway about nett run-rate and we wanted to try and finish the chase as early as possible. There was a clear instruction to finish before 15 overs, we did that and we are happy,” Rabada said.

We know what to expect from David Miller, but Kagiso Rabada has always trained hard and the considerable work he has been putting into his batting lately brought reward as the pair of left-handers steered South Africa to a thrilling four-wicket victory with just a ball to spare over Sri Lanka in their T20 World Cup match in Sharjah on Saturday.

Miller stole the limelight with successive sixes in the final over, but Rabada played a vital role with a four and a six in 13 not out off just seven balls.

Rabada’s four was down to the third man boundary and it brought the winning runs when the Proteas needed a single to win. But his six, a glorious drive over long-off, in the penultimate over was a vital and magnificent strike when South Africa were needing 22 off just nine deliveries.

“KG always wins the shot of the day competition,” bowling hero Tabraiz Shamsi said after the match in which the wrist-spinner took 3/17 in his four overs. “No matter the situation, he pulls off the shot of the day, he does it so often.

“But it was a really special six today and reward because he puts in a lot of hard work on his batting. It was one of those games where you can’t guess which way it’s going to go.

“I was really nervous, not 100% sure, but you’re confident the guys in the middle can pull it off. It was really nice to see David and KG finish it off.

“This is a new team and we’ve won those sort of moments more often than we’ve lost them,” Shamsi said.

Their opening loss to Australia put the Proteas on the back foot, never mind the drama of the last week surrounding BLM and Quinton de Kock, but Shamsi said the team are not afraid to dream they can still win the World Cup.

“We’re very comfortable with where we are sitting. We are all ready to win our remaining games, that’s all that matters to us, we are here to try and win the World Cup.

“There’s a World Cup to be won, so how would anyone not be passionate about that? We’re just trying to win every game and if we don’t believe we can win the World Cup then we should rather stay home and watch on TV.

“Every game someone different is doing a great job for the team and we are really happy with the way things went in our last two matches. Sure, we are up against some very strong teams, but so are we,” Shamsi said.

Quinton de Kock’s decision to withdraw from the Proteas team playing in a crucial T20 World Cup match in Dubai rather than obey a directive from the CSA Board that all players must take a knee in support of the BLM initiative had South African cricket in shock on Tuesday.

Fortunately the Proteas managed to regain their focus in time to beat the West Indies in impressive fashion on Tuesday and stay in contention for the semi-finals, but whether De Kock will play any further part in the tournament now depends on what the CSA Board make of whatever report is sent to them by team management.

While issuing an edict on the morning of a crucial match, when the topic of how the Proteas should show their support for BLM has been in the public discourse for more than a year now, was incredibly poor management by CSA, De Kock also left his team in the lurch by putting his own convictions, which have not been explained, above the needs of the team.

In the inflammatory environment of South African cricket, De Kock’s refusal to support BLM has caused outrage. But former Highveld Lions coach Geoff Toyana, who has a close bond with the 28-year-old, having mentored him in his formative years, said he is sure De Kock is not a racist.

“Quinny was brought up by Black coaches, there’s no way he is a racist. But to pull out of the team, at a world cup, I just don’t know what was in his mind … “ Toyana told The Citizen on Tuesday.

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma was also in a more forgiving mood after his team won, although he stressed De Kock will have to live with the consequences of his decision.

“The team heard about the directive in the morning when we were on the bus to Dubai,” Bavuma said. “It’s about a two-hour trip and I guess Quinny made his decision then, because I only found out he was not playing when we got in the changeroom.

“As a team we did not have a great deal of time to discuss things, we just had to digest what we were told. South Africa is governed by a constitution that allows guys to express their choices.

“But as much as there is freedom of choice, you can’t escape the consequences of those decisions. But he is still one of the boys and whatever shoulder or support he needs, we are there for him,” Bavuma said.

While the CSA Board directive came out of the blue given how long they have prevaricated over the BLM issue, Bavuma said the Proteas team has made peace with the fact that there are different views within the team.

“We live in a country with diverse views, the things we support are based on our own convictions and we live different lives. I’ve learnt to appreciate that a lot more.

“It has widened my perspective and I don’t expect people to see things the way I do. Which is why we have had the hard conversations, it’s through those that we learn to accept other people’s actions,” Bavuma said.