Wonkie is quite surprised that South Africa’s loss against New Zealand is being described as the great upset of the 2011 Cricket World Cup. While it may be unfair to label the Proteas as chokers, it is hard to label them as much else when they so consistently underperform when it counts the most.
This year’s South African defeat on the subcontinent, brings to the total five consecutive defeats in the knock-out stage of world cricket tournaments. The last was as recent as the semi-finals of the 2010 Twenty20 tournament when the promising SA cricket team choked.
As with dropped catches by a single fielder, each failure adds even more pressure to perform. This pressure, in turn, leads to an even greater likelihood of future failure. South Africans and other countries branding the Proteas as chokers will certainly not help their cause.
Perhaps the South African team needs more than just a cricket coach going forward. They need some serious life coaching to keep their confidence in check. Sarcasm aside, coping with big match pressure and performing optimally in stressful situations is what it takes for world class sporting professionals to succeed. Talent alone is simply not enough.
While it is not squarely Graeme Smith’s fault as captain, Wonkie is glad that he is stepping down. The Proteas need a fresh start and having a new coach and captain will certainly help in that regard. Hopefully the incoming coach replacing Corrie van Zyl, who is also stepping down after CWC2011, will address the psychological life coaching required to build a strong big-match mentality in each of the players.
In the meantime, Wonkie sympathises with South Africans who will now also have to survive the irritating torture of international commentators continuing to brand their national cricket team as chokers. The new coach and captain have their work cut out for them.
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Huge Disapoinment
Lets get rid of the grandaddy of chokers Kallis and then we can start anew.
at least proteas were beaten in da quater finals unlike bafana
Inexpierienced players at this level are a problem. When we started re-entry after isolation, we just lost due to Clive Rice being dropped due to his comments about cricket management. We would have had his talent, expierience and morale building to take us through. What about Mark Boucher? He is our best wicket keeper, morale booster and fast run scorer under pressure. The World Cup is not the place to launch inexpierienced players, despite their formidible potential.
The only bright light was what the New Zealand public could draw from this win during their sad times…
I think somewhere, somebody is working some “Voodoo”-spell on the poor boys…. LOL. It really seemed that for about 30 minutes everything just suddenly went haywire. Maybe it is time to sit back and think about what Bill also mentioned: Getting advice from some quality advisors, such as Clive Rice, Pat Symcox, Ray Jennings and Barry Richards.
For sure,changing a captain and coach can work,but public nd government support need not wait only for big events.
The Proteas are not chokers anymore but jokers!
South African team need to change their approach when chasing a score (low score). They have a VERY BAD tendency of when chasing a low score their approach (run rate) is also low, ending up having to chase 6 an over!! Same thing happened with England
We need to find/start a way forward, wont help with the critics forever. They are ‘chokers’, they deserve that name. But we still have a very good side, just needing touch ups there and there like Wonkie said…
Plus, we’ve always had someone who we call a pinch hitter at the depth, why approach this WC without such? Hope they have learnt their lesson coz we really needed AMorkel there, but ya
Somebody help me with this one, why was Tsotsobe not played? Came from a man of the series perfomance with India, given a chance and picked up 3 quick/valuable wickets (obviously the man is on fire), why not play him
enough said…
It was a good lesson,i hope they will do better next time,they need our support.
The best thing for SA Cricket is that Smith will no longer be captain !!! and will hopefully not be included in the SA team at all !!!
I think the selectors had a lot to do with it. Where was AB Morkel and Mark Boucher? And why was granpa Kallis in the team? Playing his usual slow game all for himself and putting more pressure on the middle order, who for most of the matches played better than expected! He messed up in the West Indies big time. All the same, I fell sorry for the Proteas. They did their best and we should continue to support them . You could see that they were absolutely devastated and now is the time that the fans should reach out and support them and please do not call them chokers, unless you have been there on the field yourself, having to cope with all that tension. The incident with Faf and the Kiwis was just the pits. The Kiwis should have lost points in the game and not just merely been fined.
Well said Bisisiwe. Has anyone ever called Bafana chockers?
@tanni- you confuse me!!!! Atleast I had something to celebrate this weekend after my cricket boys went down, Bafana bit the African giants and you sound like you not proud at all about them, makes me wonder…
The problem with these perpetual chokers,is that they will blast these minnows to thy kingdom come & think they are destroyers of nations,with the “big boys” this is what i have come to expect – LOSE! i am very very disappointed…
I still find it incomprehensible that our players are not able to display BMT (big match temperament), preparing physically is only half the solution to performing consistently well at any level. The sports psychologists attached to the team should play a major role in advising on team selection.
Ag no Akay, of course I am proud of Bafana. But the issue here was calling the cricket boys chokers for going down in the quarter finals. Why should they be singled out and not any other sporting team? That was my point and sorry you misunderstood, I agree that Tsotsobe should have played more often. Maybe someone should develop a computer program that selectes the players based on overall performance, especially when it comes to crunch time.
@ol’kid – maybe they are being snared by the words or your mouth!
understood tanni
But honestly guyz, we really need to win a major now, we are one of the best in the world (top 3 to be exact) and have been for years, and we’ve got nothing to say for that except the rankings. I’m really hungry for a major cup, even if its a champions trophy, its not on!!
And they really need to shuffle around between players for tests, ODI’s and T20’s, not play the same for all formats…(I mean some not all)
Bill you hit the nail on the head & who the hell is Amla is he there for the Muslim support?
Amla is your new captain ( still donno him?)
watch this space…
He deserves it if you ask me
Atleast we’re not going to blame Bafana for not perfoming. Proteas lost and have been doing so forever. Bafana won in the same weekend and we have this strange sympathy when it comes to Proteas and Springboks but be brutal when it comes to Bafana, I do not care if the proteas lose or win. That sport is monopolised by the white community.
Please Mzu my man, we dont want to go that route, lets all be be behind our national teams, together, through good and bad
Please let us not descriminate, especially when it comes to sport, we should be one without second thoughts
Please my man
It shoulld start by supporting all the teams and not particular race supporting particular sport.
The Proteas are still a great team to be reckon with. New Zealand has the best rugby players in the world and never wins the world cup. If the Proteas batted first the score would have been a lot different.
Any body gave it a thought – was money perhaps involved?
We always come up with excuses for the Proteas. They are a good side but have no cup pedigree. Le’s focus on Bafana Bafana for now…….. They are doing SA proud.
The TV picture showed them all in a row looking so sad and solemn you would have thought someone had died. As it turned out, only a cricket match has been lost. But the match in question was that case of asphyxiation in Mirpur on Friday, so i quess it was a kind of death. Now someone had to please explain.
The person who should have been doing the explanation was not there. Graeme had bolted and a member of a glum panel made a useless excuse for his absence. “Personal business in India” or something like that. Smith’s absence was a chicken-out. Hansie did the same thing after the 1999 Cricket World Cup debacle, sparking jokes about him hiding under his bed. Poor Corrie Van Zyl had to face the assembled inquisitors. It was hard not to feel sorry for Corrie. Smith should have been there. His snub was a big fat middle finger to the Protea’s supporters. It might even be best if he withdraws entirely from the one day team with immediate effect.
The Proteas worry too much when it comes to big matches and do not play a natural game.They need to look at Sri lanka who do not care what the opposition score, they just go out and score more, they also need to look up Pakistan who drop catches, smoke pot, lose to minnows and know how to win the big ones. As for those critics who say the Proteas are not integrated enough, i believe we need more muslims in the side so that we will also not care and win tournaments. England choked even worse that the Proteas, could this be because they have too many South Africans in their team?
On the day when we lost to New Zealand my heart was sore but I accepted the defeat after hours. I succumb to the statement of Wonkie that we need to start afresh on everything but emphasises should be on psychological part of the players to withstand pressure imposed by the stage of the games.
Wasn’t it great when sport was just a game?
we need to accept the fact that our boys have done us proud, we played a great series at home and away with india, south african cricket politics aside is great to watch especially with all the new exciting talents coming through the tsosobes, ingrams and du plessis’s what ever happened as madoba said when cricket was just a game? when it was time with friends and family, look at pakistan the most unpredicatable and inconsistent team in the world, there nation is behind them win or lose, methinks the sa supporters should do the same, yes it would be great to win a major trophy again but until then they still remain our team i think we owe them much as they spend time away from their families to bring us closer to our nation and family, sorry boys but you still remain my team
The players were unlucky! Hashim Amla had the weirdest dismissal! And AB was run out – one of the fastest runners. He should have stayed in his crease and let du Plessis run himself out. It is always easy to be wise after the event. If games were a foregone conclusion, who would be watching? I enjoy the fluctuations of fortunes and shall be supporting our team, no matter what. It is the least we can do!
It is imperative that we support all our teams now matter what, just look at some of top athletes specially Castor Semenya she is doing great after all that she has gone through and kept her dignity, I admire her.
Cticket SA should swallow their pride and ask Gary Kirsten and Allan Donald to lead the team. We are losing a lot of quality sportsmen because of salaries. If other countries can pay them, why can’t we?
I also think it is time for Graeme Smith and Jaques Kallis to call it a day and make way for youth. Our SA A team that played Bangladesh performed very well. Those palyers should have been part of the world cup squad. But they still remain our team, no matter the untimely exit from the world cup. On alighter note, well done to Bafana Bafana on their great effort in beating The Pharaos Africa’s No1 ranked team
I agree with Akay. 🙂