Day 9: Relax, it’s too soon to panic
The best thing that could have happened was getting the loss out of the way.
TO think that South Africa would go through the Cricket World Cup without losing a game is laughable.
So, the planned and carefully executed loss to India by 130 runs at the MCG was exactly what the tacticians had strategised.
Lose the toss and be forced to bowl.
Bowl absolute rubbish.
Get India’s one totally out-of-form batsman, Shikar Dhawan, back into business.
The Proteas have a habit of doing this, why change now?
Get a key player to fake an injury. Big Vern needs to pace himself – after all it takes huge effort to get it up to 128km/h.
Then, ask Parney to bowl left-handed to give the opposition a chance of getting 100 off his 10 overs.
Oh no, wait, he is left-handed… and his captain mercifully bowled him for only nine overs.
The captain must set the example, so the two run outs from AB de Villiers made it appear that SA had not planned to lose.
No one is saying there was an element of match-fixing. More like match-pacing. In the same way a Comrades Marathon runner doesn’t sprint the first 10km.
The batting was typical of SA’s chase of a big score under pressure: rabbits in headlights again.
How else do you explain two run outs in the top six? Surely not India’s superbly athletic fielding?
And what about SA’s ‘Gecko Tail’. One snip and the whole thing comes apart.
So, now that SA is no longer a favourite, falling behind Australia, New Zealand and India, the team can play ‘no-expectations’ cricket.
And that’s when the Proteas are most dangerous.
Also, in 2011, the only match India lost was a Pool game against South Africa… so there’s method in this madness.
Hang in there, there’s a long way to go yet.
Scores: India 307/7 South Africa 177/10.
