Cape Town – Kagiso Rabada had just decimated the West Indies top order with 3/10 in four overs. The score was 33/4, but what does Proteas captain AB de Villiers do? He takes off Rabada and brings on Morné Morkel…
And in that moment, South Africa took the heat off the rattled Windies. Rabada had been bowling with express pace of up to 149km/h, hit batsmen on the head and knocked over their stumps.
Rabada should’ve bowled another two or three overs to end the Windies’ challenge just there and then, as the formidable figures of Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Jason Holder and Carlos Brathwaite could still rescue the home team from a dire situation.
Instead, De Villiers turned to Morkel – who hadn’t featured in the Tri-Nation Series up to that point, with the last match rained out against Australia, which prevented Morkel from bowling for the first time in the tournament.
The big paceman conceded 33 runs in his four-over spell interrupted by a brief rain shower, and the Proteas had lost the momentum created by Rabada. But Morkel was also unlucky as Wayne Parnell dropped Bravo on 11 on the midwicket boundary as he got too close to the rope, and instead parried the ball over for a six.
By the time the SA spearhead Rabada returned to the attack, Bravo and Pollard had put on 99 runs in 14 overs, with Bravo on 55 and Pollard 38.
Their fifth-wicket partnership of 156 off 25 overs was ended when Pollard picked out Faf du Plessis on the boundary off Morkel, but the damage had been done… It provided the platform for the West Indies to swing freely in the last 20 overs and they scored another 108 with their last five wickets.
“You could argue that – KG is a fit man. One more over… I felt that we had four world-class seam bowlers in the attack and enough guys who could ask questions. Obviously you’ve got to give some credit to the two batters who played pretty well. A chance was created (Parnell dropping Bravo) and it wasn’t taken unfortunately, that happens sometimes,” De Villiers said afterwards.
“But after KG’s spell, I did try everything we had, with Immy (Tahir) and a few others, and we couldn’t get the breakthrough. But now that you mention it, maybe I could’ve bowled him for a few more overs, but you’ve also got to think about the rest of the game and not bowl your best bowler out in the first spell.”
You wouldn’t think someone as wonderfully creative a batsman as De Villiers could be accused of being a conservative captain, but that was the “safe option” he took to keep Rabada back. For what? Why not go in for the kill and give Rabada a few more overs?
Of course, the Proteas’ batting collapse was as “horrible” as De Villiers said it was, as Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla, Du Plessis, JP Duminy and the skipper himself were gone at 51/5 in the 15th over.
It was a typical Proteas disintegration. Are they ever going to beat this curse of wilting under pressure?
Now they miss out on a place in Sunday’s Tri-Nation Series final. At least it wasn’t a World Cup this time, but De Villiers was man enough to admit that the players were to blame and not coach Russell Domingo and his staff, although he went a bit over the top in his praise of the management.
“I felt that he’s done a fantastic job and it’s sad to see him under pressure. It’s definitely not the coaching staff – there is no doubt in my mind that they are the best in the world with what they do and what they bring to the table,” the skipper said.
“Unfortunately as players, we let them down in the series. We had ample opportunity in a few games to really knuckle it down – I can think of the very first game in the series that we should’ve walked. So it comes down to the players. The preparation was perfect and all the coaching staff did their jobs.
“It is sad to see Russell under pressure – it shouldn’t be that way. A few players should be under pressure.”
@IndyCapeSport