Cricket is a funny game. Champions one day and losers the next. And South Africa, called chokers as they collapsed at tense moments in crunch games of big tournaments, arrived at England for ICC World Cup 2019 as ‘favourites’. It has been a dismal show by du Plessis and his boys as they were shown the door much early, following a string of losses. They have beaten only win-less Afghanistan in their opening seven games, meaning they cannot mathematically reach the last four.
Reports have emerged that coach Ottis Gibson will be in the firing line after the tournament, with Cricket South Africa (CSA) president Chris Nenzani promising that ‘heads will roll’. After Steyn and Rabada were out with an injury, their bowling looked clueless whole the batting was toothless with Hashim Amla and de Kock not firing at the top. Much was expected from Miller who had an average outing. Surprisingly, all-rounder Duminy, was not featured in the past four matches.
Skipper du Plessis has revealed that he and the team management had tried to stop ace fast baller agiso Rabada from playing this season of the IPL. This, he said, was strongly recommended in order to keep Rabada fresh for this World Cup. He said results have been the issue at the moment. “It is really, really tough, and it is becoming a bit embarrassing. We are trying but it is just not good enough. I am human as well, and it keeps chipping at me as well. We have to face challenges.”