While the statistics of their consistency is different in terms of the numbers, it is a well known fact around the Cricketing and cricket lovers’ world that South African team is not able to deliver the knockout punch in the critical do-or-die games. It is not just with the earlier ODI World Cups, but also with the various other major tournaments, where people have consistently observed that the South Africans tend to buckle up under pressure and get to lose the matches. They tend to rock and dominate in the round robin phase of the tournament and tend to be on top of the groups in a consistent manner, which is not so promising once they enter into the super-six, super-eights, quarterfinals or semifinals phases of the tournaments, where the teams that lose have to go out of the challenge. There have been so many great all rounders in the side for so many years and they have pulled the team out of the dire straits to award them with the wins in a consistent basis, but the results show them otherwise.
However, it would be rude to call them chokers as their performances have been consistent and there were lots of conditions that were against them in the past tournaments. Despite all the facts and figures showing them that these are not the choking team and there are so many great players, who would match up or even beat the mighty Australian side at any given match day, the results are not so bright. Every South African fan and those who admire this team is willing to see that they are able to pull out the dramatic performance in the current version of the World Cup, which is in 2015 and is happening in the shores of Australia and New Zealand, which is also in the Southern Hemisphere as in the case of these great African nation. They are currently pooled in Pool B being the top of the pool with second rank after England. They are placed alongside the Asian giants of India and Pakistan, the surprise pulling West Indies, their African counterpart Zimbabwe and the Associates, Ireland and United Arab Emirates.
With the able leadership of AB de Villiers, who is also able to pull out the best of the performances consistently with the bat and the ever consistent Hashim Amla along with the bumbling wicketkeeper batsman in Quinton Do Kock or threatening blaster Faf du Plessis wielding their bats, it is easy to post huge targets. These targets can be defended by threatening pace bowling attack led by Dale Steyn, who is the best bowler in the current cricketing era, who is aptly backed with Morne Morkel’s pace and timely wickets by Jean-Paul Duminy, SA is expected to pull out lots of wins. Moreover, with the arrival of Imran Tahir and his spin into the international arena, as well as the conditions that are favoring the SA bowling attack, one can expect them to win the tournament if they are consistent enough.
September 8, 2024
September 8, 2024
September 8, 2024
September 8, 2024
September 7, 2024