Johannesburg - South Africa’s national sports teams are “woeful”. The legendary South African Test cricketer Ali Bacher has not been mincing his words about the dismal performances and failures of the country’s national sports teams this week.
South African fans are still reeling from the Proteas early exit from the ICC World Twenty20 and Bafana Bafana lacklustre draw in their home game against Cameroon. The draw has left Bafana’s hopes of qualifying for Afcon hanging by a thread. Bacher singled out soccer, cricket and rugby as the sporting codes that have most disappointed in the past year. He’s called it the worst year of sport for South Africa since democracy.
“We failed in India with the Proteas, Bafana Bafana are on the verge of elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), and the Springboks failed at the Rugby World Cup. It’s been a terrible sporting year for South Africans.
“We have the potential to be leaders in these sports codes, yet we are failing. It’s unacceptable,” he lamented.
In India, the Proteas recorded two victories and two losses in the tournament, winning a game against Afghanistan, and a dead-wood game against Sri Lanka on Monday. It signalled another failed campaign for the only top-eight side in the world not to have reached a World Cup or T20 final since 1992.
The former Cricket SA boss has called for an urgent meeting between the three sporting codes, to devise a strategy. “The reality is we just haven’t been good enough. We have the potential, so why aren’t we seeing the right results on the pitch?” asked Bacher.
“South African people are sports-mad, and what we are seeing is unacceptable. Something needs to change… and fast. We have to wake up to the realisation we are not good enough and must find ways to improve in these sports.”
Former Proteas batsman Herschelle Gibbs, who watched the World Cup T20 closely from home, has also slammed the Proteas. “My honest opinion is that some of the players… are a little bit out of their league in terms of international cricket,” he said.
“Some made the team because they did well in our domestic cricket league, but I feel our domestic cricket is the weakest it’s been in 20 years.” Aside from poor squad selection, Gibbs believes the South Africans were unable to deal with the pressure.
“It was a wide-open tournament,” he said. “With the amount of T20s played by teams nowadays, conditions were never going to be a factor. And as far as preparation was concerned, there were no excuses from the Proteas. “I think it was just a matter of dealing with the pressure. The execution of skill under pressure is where we came short,” he said.
“The signs of not dealing with pressure were there for everyone to see in (the Proteas’) second T20 against Australia at the Wanderers.” Gibbs said the Proteas should never have lost their opening game against England in the World Cup T20. The Proteas set a high tournament score of 229/4, but were unable to defend the mammoth total. “Lots of people don’t understand that 80 percent of the times the bowlers are the ones who change games. We didn’t have any game-changers.
Against England, there was a bit of dew, but that was no excuse. They were unable to bowl under pressure.”
Gibbs added that South Africa has been unable to produce “complete players” over the past few years, which he believes has contributed to the lack of silverware. “We have specialists in T20, in One Day Internationals and in Tests. However, we have very few players that are good enough to play in all three formats.
“Because T20 is so popular, and there is more money to be made in the format than in others, many cricketers just want to develop as T20 players.
“Just look at a player like David Miller - his career has stagnated hugely, because he is not playing more cricket in other formats of the game.”
The 42-year-old, who represented the Proteas at a number of World Cups, added: “No matter what game you play in, there is always pressure to win… I thrived on playing under pressure.
“I believe that AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli are the two best T20 batsmen in the world, without a shadow of a doubt. They are the two most complete players in world cricket. However, one is simply so much better chasing a game.”
Asked about his thoughts on Proteas’ coach Russell Domingo, Gibbs said he never “pointed fingers at any coach”.
“He’s quite a chilled coach and has been part of the set-up for quite some time now, so he knows the team very well.
“Whether he brings out the best in his players under pressure, that’s another story. I think he may be falling short there, but that has probably been the issue with past Proteas’ coaches too.”
Saturday Star