World Cup 2019: 3 reasons for South Africa’s disastrous campaign so far
South Africa are on the brink of elimination in the group stages of the ICC World Cup 2019 after just one win from six matches so far. Their campaign has been so disastrous that their only win has come against minnows Afghanistan.
Unlike in most other ICC tournaments, the Proteas entered the 2019 World Cup as ‘not one of the favourites’ to go all the way. Many former cricketers felt that this would help Faf du Plessis’ men to fly under the radar and quietly perform well. However, that has not been the case as South Africa have looked a very jaded side without motivation right from the start of the tournament.
Usually South Africa pride themselves on being one of the best fielding sides in the world, but they have been disappointing in that aspect as well. And their lapses have come at very inopportune times in most of the matches, ensuring they end up on the wrong side of the result.
So what are the reasons for Proteas’ terrible World Cup campaign? Here are three of them:
#1 Lack of quality batsmen
Over the years, South Africa have produced great quality batsmen in the form of Greame Pollock, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers (to name a few). However, in the last couple of years, SA have been unable to rope in young talent and are finding it difficult to replace the earlier generation.
The fact that JP Duminy and David Miller are still getting picked and playing in the middle order despite so many failures highlights their problem of scarcity of quality in the first class circuit.
There is no doubt that the team is missing AB de Villiers, who announced his shock retirement last year. But one year is a long enough time for the management to have made a backup plan for the World Cup.