Ken Borland

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma did not explicitly say it was another case of South Africa choking at a cricket world cup after their shock loss to the Netherlands saw them eliminated from the T20 showpiece on Sunday, but he did admit that notorious tag would now be hung around their necks, like so many of their predecessors.

Needing to just beat qualifiers the Netherlands to make the semi-finals, the Proteas instead came out flat and uninspired, allowing the Dutch to post a challenging 158/4, and then batting limply to only manage 145/8 in reply.

“That tag will always be there until we get to a final and come out on the right side of it,” Bavuma said in the aftermath. “We have nothing else to blame, everything was in our own hands.

“We had the confidence, the belief and the form behind us, but when it mattered we just couldn’t do the business. There needs to be an element of learning to make sure young guys like Tristan Stubbs and Marco Jansen don’t make the same mistakes in future.

“But we are still going to carry that monkey on our backs, that tag. We knew we had to win the game, but I didn’t feel any different type of pressure personally.

“It’s very hard to say it was different because we knew we had to beat India and we won that game. We had the opportunity to make the semi-finals and we just did not take it,” Bavuma said.

Of his own future in the shortest format, Bavuma said he will park any decision on the captaincy until a new fulltime coach is appointed. The skipper admitted that all the speculation over his own poor batting form had also been unsettling.

“It’s been a tricky time and to consider the captaincy now, a lot of my thinking would be emotional. I probably will think about it and speak to the relevant people.

“We have to see who comes in as coach, generally the new person coming in might want a different leader to execute their vision. But I think I carried myself with dignity through the good and bad times.

“Mentally all the talk does affect you. You try to manage your mental space as much as you can, unfortunately social media and whatever is said about you, always seems to get to you no matter how you try to control it.

“I’ve tried to keep a level head through the good and bad times and stay as close to myself as possible. Not just for myself but for the group, who will now take a lot of flak, and rightfully so,” Bavuma said.

The scent of mourning hung around South African cricket on Tuesday with the news that their much-loved, and longest-serving manager, Goolam Rajah, had passed away, another victim of Covid-19.

The 74-year-old Rajah had been on a ventilator for the last couple of months in a Johannesburg hospital.

In many ways, Rajah was the glue as the Proteas made their way back into international cricket in 1991 and went through tumultuous times such as the 1999 World Cup semi-final tie, the fall of Hansie Cronje, and further World Cup disappointments in 2003, 2007 and 2011 (the year he retired); as well as the highs of becoming the No.1 side in Test cricket through numerous memorable wins on tour.

Apart from being the most meticulous man, his logistical and man-management skills were phenomenal, Rajah was the epitome of a gentleman. Softly-spoken, but with a warm smile, any time spent in his company would leave one feeling better for the experience.

A qualified pharmacist, Rajah was the perfect manager. Extremely organised, with a high sense of integrity, he was also a great servant of the game.

Former Proteas captain and coach Gary Kirsten summed up Rajah perfectly in his autobiography:

“Goolam was probably the most unsung hero I have ever encountered. I can categorically state that I never met a more selfless person in the entire decade we were together. Goolam’s approach to his job was to add as much value and make life as pleasant and as trouble-free as possible for the people around him. His own goals and ambitions were never apparent.

“The solitary target he set himself on tour was to allow his team to focus all their mental and physical energy on cricket. If they were worried or distracted by anything else, Goolam treated it as a personal failure on his part. He allowed no detail to escape his attention and he was a shrewd deal-maker too. He was generous to a fault and there were times I wished Goolam would just take half-an-hour for himself,” Kirsten said.