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Cricket Players‘Won’t try to forget. It'll hurt, it should hurt': South Africa captain Temba Bavuma in pain after Netherlands shock
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma made no attempts to hide his pain after their shock defeat to Netherlands in a World Cup 2023 match in Dharamsala.
Temba Bavuma's South Africa have been 'Dutched'... Twice... In the space of 11 months... In two different World Cups played in different formats. That is bound to hurt and "It should hurt," said Bavuma after Netherlands beat South Africa by 38 runs in a World Cup 2023 match at HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala. In November last year, Netherlands beat South Africa to knock them out of the T20 World Cup. Less than a year later, this defeat, is not as heavy in terms of South Africa's fate in the tournament but is meaty enough to remain as a lump in their throat for a long time.
Netherlands are an associate nation whose only victories at the ODI World Cup before this were against Scotland (in 2007) and Namibia (in 2003). South Africa were coming into this match as a blindfolded favourite with two of the most dominating wins by any side in this World Cup. South Africa's lowest total in the last five ODIs - four of them against Australia - was 311/7. They breached the 400-run mark twice during this period. But come Tuesday, they couldn't chase down 246 in a rain-curtailed 43-overs-a-side match.
South Africa's bowlers, who skittled out the mighty Australians for 177 barely a few nights ago allowed the Netherlands to score 245 despite getting them six down for 112.
It was a dreadful evening to be a South African fan. It brought out all the bitter memories of the past. The numerous heartbreaks suffered during every edition of the World Cup. But if you are Bavuma, the defeat will weigh heavier. He's the only captain to lose to Netherlands twice in World Cups.
Also Read | How Netherlands ended 16-year wait with South Africa encore in another WC upset
"You got to let the emotion kind of seep in," Bavuma said at the post-match presentation. "Don't think there is any point in trying to forget what's happened. It is going to hurt, it should hurt. But then you come back tomorrow, you wake up and we get back onto the journey. Our campaign is not over by any stretch of the imagination, but you got to feel the emotion of today and come back tomorrow with the head held up."
Bavuma is seeing light at the end of the tunnel but he is not ready to forget what transpired in Dharamsala. He was not at all happy with the number of extras his bowling gave or the lapses in the field.
Bavuma blames bowlers and fielders for shock defeat to Netherlands
"The extras that's something you can control. Getting 30 (32) extras, that is an extra five overs is always going to hurt you. That is a conversation for us to have - whether it is skill or a complacency thing - but at the end it did count for quite a thing. We were clinical against Australia, but the challenge was always to come back and replicate that performance. The fielding wasn't up to standard. Again if you look at the way we fielded against Australia compared to today, definitely not the same standard.
"Those are conversations we need to have. The guys need to answer the questions themselves where mentally they were. That's definitely not the standard we'd like to show from a fielding point of view. I think we got them to 112 for 6. From that point, you are probably not looking at anything more than 200. We definitely dropped the ball there letting them get to 240-plus," Bavuma said.
It was quite evident that Bavuma was more crossed with his bowlers but he did agree that despite all the lapses in the field, they should have chased down the 246-run target but were stunned by the Netherlands' tactics of using spinners in the powerplay. Left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Roelof van der Merwe and part-time off-spinner Colin Ackermann picked up three wickets in the powerplay.
"With the batting, we were still confident in chasing down that score but we didn't get any partnerships. Them with their double-spin in the powerplay, was something we did not adapt to. Kudos to them, the way they were able to exploit certain weaknesses within our game."
