It’s been 48 hours since the Proteas were, in captain Temba Bavuma’s words, “totally outplayed in every department” by Ireland and a few of my subscribers have suggested that my silence on the subject has been ‘deafening.’ What do I have to say on the subject?
We SAffers must remember that we are not the only sporting patriots in the world. We did unexpectedly well in the West Indies and felt good about it. So how must the Australian fans be feeling having been thoroughly outplayed and losing the rubber in 3 matches against that same cricketing nation? Right now I would rather be an SA supporter than an Aus supporter.
If it was guaranteed that we would win every time against every other international team, how boring would that be. We can be disappointed, peeved, sad about losing, but must never stop loving the game.
The loss to the Irish would be a bit easier to take if it wasn't for the Irish commentators (one of whom compared the Proteas to a Dublin under-eleven side). But, yes, the batting does look brittle without QdK. We put down at least 4 easy catches and Verrynne hashed a stumping chance. By my count Verrynne missed a further 2 catches by poor reactions, too. Had these chances been taken, it would probably have been a very different game.
In Verrynne's defence, this was only his sixth game, and he will improve.
Also, I notice that the Irish are ranked 3 places above us on the table!
Interesting article - thank you. I agree with you about our team being average - not sure how we are going to become great again as I believe our Provincial, Club and School game is not up to scratch and is steadily getting poorer. My son plays Premier League cricket in Durban, the same as I did in the 80/90's and I can clearly see how much poorer the standard is now. I also wonder how many more quality players we are going to loose to overseas. Will also be interesting to see who they select for today's game - a must win game. You have not mentioned David Miller who also seems to be in a slump at the moment. Resting Quinton de Kock! Why??? Win the toss and bowl???
We SAffers must remember that we are not the only sporting patriots in the world. We did unexpectedly well in the West Indies and felt good about it. So how must the Australian fans be feeling having been thoroughly outplayed and losing the rubber in 3 matches against that same cricketing nation? Right now I would rather be an SA supporter than an Aus supporter.
If it was guaranteed that we would win every time against every other international team, how boring would that be. We can be disappointed, peeved, sad about losing, but must never stop loving the game.
The loss to the Irish would be a bit easier to take if it wasn't for the Irish commentators (one of whom compared the Proteas to a Dublin under-eleven side). But, yes, the batting does look brittle without QdK. We put down at least 4 easy catches and Verrynne hashed a stumping chance. By my count Verrynne missed a further 2 catches by poor reactions, too. Had these chances been taken, it would probably have been a very different game.
In Verrynne's defence, this was only his sixth game, and he will improve.
Also, I notice that the Irish are ranked 3 places above us on the table!
Interesting article - thank you. I agree with you about our team being average - not sure how we are going to become great again as I believe our Provincial, Club and School game is not up to scratch and is steadily getting poorer. My son plays Premier League cricket in Durban, the same as I did in the 80/90's and I can clearly see how much poorer the standard is now. I also wonder how many more quality players we are going to loose to overseas. Will also be interesting to see who they select for today's game - a must win game. You have not mentioned David Miller who also seems to be in a slump at the moment. Resting Quinton de Kock! Why??? Win the toss and bowl???