Although the Proteas comfortably secured their spot in the semifinals of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup in India, their title credentials are still in question after some unconvincing performances against stronger teams, particularly when asked to chase a total.
Temba Bavuma’s side have been impressive when they have been asked to bat first, consistently setting some challenge totals for their opponents to chase with the bowlers often doing enough to defend the runs.
However, their weaknesses have been exposed from time to time with both bat and ball when chasing, as was the case against the Netherlands and India, two of the games they lost in their group stages.
The Proteas have also struggled to finish off-sides with the ball – with the bowlers lacking the killer instinct to wrap up the tail without much damage, allowing the lower order to contribute some runs.
This weakness was once again exposed in their most recent game against Afghanistan, where they struggled to clean up the tail by allowing the Afghans to set a decent total of 244 having had them on the ropes at some point. Nevertheless, they did manage to win the game with five wickets.
They now look ahead to their semifinal encounter against Australia in Kolkata on Thursday, with the hope to take another step towards the final, where they could once again cross paths with India, who are expected to get past New Zealand.
“The failure to close out games has been disappointing of course,” admitted Proteas coach Rob Walter. “This game is a funny game; you get surprised and get taught something new every single day. It wouldn’t surprise me if the tables turned the next time around when we face India [in the final].
“We are looking forward to the next game. The guys have worked incredibly hard to get here. We have invested a huge amount of time into our preparation.”
