Wellington – AB de Villiers has flown the full gamut of emotions as he’s guided his side through the opening phase of the World Cup. Calm, exultant, wanting to be left alone, angry and in some cases nonplussed, the South African captain hasn’t tried to maintain an even tone.
He’s been brutally honest in assessing his side’s defeats, going so far as to question whether they were good enough, to saying he still believes they are the best side here. In between, he’s also battled a bout of gastroenteritis.
He is the team’s best player, the most valuable and heaven forbid it should come to pass that the slow over-rate sanction hanging over him should have to be enforced. South Africa would be no-hopers.
It has been a mixed bag in the group stage. The Proteas looked under-cooked against Zimbabwe in the opening match in Hamilton, needing a 246-run fifth-wicket partnership between Dave Miller and JP Duminy to rescue them from a shaky position of 83/4.
Against India, they looked overwhelmed in front of nearly 90 000 mostly raucous Indian fans at the MCG. They bowled badly and weren’t good enough with the bat to overcome a well-drilled Indian seam attack.
They bounced back brilliantly against the West Indies led by the captain, who played what is still the most thrilling innings of the tournament. Against Ireland, they registered an easy win before coming unstuck against Pakistan in Auckland.
It is that result which will haunts them as they head into the knockout phase of the competition. While the outcome against India hurt, South Africa could live with it in that India played a lot better than them and they got the worst of the batting conditions. The defending champions won that match, more than South Africa lost it. That wasn’t the case against Pakistan.
Chasing 232, with the exception of De Villiers, the rest gave that match away. “I’ve got nothing good to say about the team at the moment,” a furious De Villiers commented in the immediate aftermath of that defeat. His team needed to take a serious look at themselves, perhaps they weren’t as good as they thought they were, he added.
Three days later, South Africa was “100%...the best team in the tournament”, according to the captain.
Looking ahead to the quarter-final however, the South African players appear to understand that now is when they need to find their best form. The outlook is positive, as it needs to be from the playing group and coaching staff.
“Everyone is amped and hungry to hit this quarter-final head on and take it into the semis and then the final,” said Rilee Rossouw, who has been one of the team’s top performers and is, as a result, one of the most confident.
“The form of the side has been a little bit up and down, but in the last couple of games everyone has performed somewhere, so everyone has got a good perception of what they need to do and what they haven’t done well so that they can learn from that come the quarter-final. I feel we are peaking at just the right time, especially after the UAE game [Thursday] night.”
Quinton de Kock isn’t peaking. His has been a struggle in this World Cup from the start. It’s not the stage on which he’d have wanted to experience the first slump of his career, and it’s left the side in an unfortunate position heading into the knock-outs.
While he is a long-term investment at international level, this World Cup now has just two weeks and a maximum for South Africa of three matches to run. Can they keep hoping that he magically finds his touch or go with a ready-made solution in giving De Villiers the keeping gloves?
De Villiers was very clear on Thursday night that he doesn’t want to be wicket-keeper because it inhibits his captaincy in the field. However De Kock’s brittle confidence is having an unfortunate affect on teammates – Hashim Amla was out playing a poor shot against the UAE, knowing he had to increase the scoring rate because his opening partner couldn’t, while Rossouw was nearly run out three times, due to De Kock’s ill-judgement.
If De Villiers’ argument holds sway during the selection meetings that will take place over the next few days, then De Kock will play in the quarter-final. That will mean a choice between Rossouw and probably Farhaan Behardien, who gave his self-belief a boost with a half-century scored at a strike rate of 206.45 against the UAE.
Behardien offers more with the ball and with Faf du Plessis likely to return after sitting out the UAE game, Rossouw may miss out on the quarter-final. Rossouw and Behardien could both be accommodated in the starting side if De Villiers were to play as wicketkeeper.
“My first choice obviously is to play, but if the selectors feel that Fudgie is better suited at No 7, then by all means, I will do what I can do to help the guys perform better on the field,” said Rossouw. - Saturday Star