I have purposely said as little as possible during the Cricket WorldCup but now that we, South Africa, is finish I am going to say my bit. I know it is easy for us armchair cricketers to be critical but I believe that as a South African, and a proud one, I have the right to ask certain questions.
First about yesterdays game:
- Why does injured players go play in an important game like that? Does being the captain automatically imply that one play even if you have a injured knee? Is Andre Nel that much better than Ntini to play with an almost broken thumb – I think not.
- What were Smith and Kallis thinking by storming down the wicket and throwing their wicket away so early in the game? Cricket is suppose to be a thinking man’s game — there was absolutely no thinking.
- Why did Smith not take the 2nd and 3rd powerplay or for that matter be more attacking in the field — they needed wickets. There was no way they would have won by defending the runs.
Overall on the whole worldcup:
- Why did Petersen go with if he was not going to be used?
- Why was there no stability in the team? I got the feeling that no one was realy sure who should play when.
- Surely the team strategist, whomever he or she might have been, knew what type of wickets and condition was waiting on the team. Why was’nt a team picked that are suitable for that conditions. I am sure somebody like Paul Harris would have been much more valuable than say Kemp.
Yes I am disappointed as a South African that we are out of the WorldCup but given the above I sort of expected it, so it was not a real surprise. The surprise would have been if we actually went on to win the cup. The fact that we got to the semis is already more than I expected with the team they picked.
I am sure lot of you have a comment and opinion, whether you agree or not. At least we now have a Rugby WorldCup to look forward to. Lets go into it optimistically and I believe if we pick the right squad then we can win that Cup.
Technorati Tags: cricket, worldcup, south africa, rugby