T20 World Cup: Proteas Review and Talking Points

The Proteas #T20WorldCup campaign was a bittersweet journey filled with monumental achievements and some notable managerial shortcomings.

Bet Central brings you a review of the Proteas World Cup journey.

The Proteas World Cup campaign saw them win four out of five matches after losing the tournament opener to Australia.

Generally, that would be good enough for any team to progress to the next stage of the World Cup but in this case, the Proteas failed to progress because of the structure of the World Cup.

England topped our group while Australia beat us to the second spot of the semifinal only on Net Run Rate.

Ongama Gcwabe points out the positives and negatives in the Proteas T20 World Cup journey:

Poor Planning

The Proteas are out of the World Cup not on points, not on talent but on poor management and poor planning at crucial stages of the competition.

The match against Bangladesh in particular springs to mind. Apparently the Proteas batters were advised to chase down 84 runs in 15 overs which turned out to be a disastrous miscalculation from whoever came up with those numbers.

It is not a surprise, the Proteas went to the World Cup without a Performance Manager, who in most cases is the one who would be aware of how the players needed to play and what numbers needed to be produced to ensure that the team stayed in the competition.

India chased down 85 in six overs against Scotland, Australia chased 73 in six overs against Bangladesh and we chased 84 in 13.4 overs. This clearly shows that there was poor planning in this chase and it cost us the World Cup.

Temba Bavuma Captaincy

Struck by off-field dramas in relation to the Black Lives Matter movement, the Bavuma led team was under the pump from World media and the situation demanded an individual to stand up and take ownership and responsibility.

The man from Langa displayed leadership qualities of the highest standard, earning him respect as a leader from the rest of the teams in the tournament. His honest deliverance in tough engagements with the media, his calmness and awareness when leading the team on the field was second to none.

Also, Bavuma had notable contributions at this World Cup with the bat, often playing the role of an absorber in pressure situations and carrying the team through to safe waters throughout the World Cup.

It is clear, Temba Bavuma is the man for the job. He has the character needed and has age on his side to lead the Proteas team for years to come.

South African Fighting Spirit

The Proteas lost their first game of the World Cup to Australia and that start marked what many believed would be a disastrous World Cup in the absence of available T20 stars who were not picked in the team, namely Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Chris Morris.

The Proteas went on to win four games in a row, including a win against the strongest team in the tournament, England. Throughout the campaign, the Proteas team never ruled themselves out of the competition and it was easy to see that they had a burning desire inside of them to show the world that they’re a force to be reckoned with.

South Africa is known for having a never die attitude and a fighting spirit which filters through all our sporting codes, particularly the cricket team. In this World Cup, the Proteas embodied that spirit, thus making the country proud for showing our truest character as a nation in a big tournament like the World Cup.

All-round Team Improvement

Going into the World Cup, South Africa had a squad with potential and talent but inexperienced in playing in big ICC events. Almost half the team had never been to a World Cup before, I mean, Keshav Maharaj was playing his fourth T20I game when we played Australia in the Super 12 stage.

Nonetheless, there has been an immense amount of growth and maturity during this World Cup campaign and in the past few months from these guys. Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Reeza Hendricks and Dwaine Pretorius all showed signs of immense improvement.

Pretorius and Nortje finished with 9 wickets in the tournament, which makes them a part of the top 6 wicket takers (at the time of writing).

Rassie van der Dussen finished with 177 runs at an average of 59 with a top-score of 94*, while Markram starred with over 160 runs striking at 145 with a top-score of 51*.

Yes, the Proteas crashed out of the World Cup but there were a lot of learnings that came from the pressures of this World Cup. Given that the next T20 World Cup will be staged in 2022, the Proteas will come back stronger and will look to right their wrongs and do better next year.