Centurion — The Proteas men’s side was left battered, bruised and bewildered by its stunning defeat to Bangladesh in the three match Betway One-Day series on Wednesday with head coach Mark Boucher questioning the players' self-belief and citing a fear of failure.
In addition, Boucher also said the alarm bells were ringing for his team with regards to automatic qualification for the 2023 World Cup, with the Proteas currently stuck in ninth place. They need to finish in the top eight in order to avoid falling into a pre-tournament qualifying competition.
While it was fast bowler Taskin Ahmed who took the most wickets — eight — and finished as the player of the series, Boucher was disappointed at the way South Africa played against Bangladesh’s spinners, who he felt exerted too much control. “We want them to be proactive and they didn’t do that today,” said Boucher. “We’ve been working on shots, shot selection and guys know they have the armoury, it’s one thing to understand that they’ve got it but it’s another to go out and execute."
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Mehidy Hassan, Shakib Al-Hasan, Afif Hossein and Mahmadullah, bowled 61.1 overs between them taking 11 wickets, with Mehidy's economy rate of six runs an over the highest. It was clearly an area the Proteas felt they needed to target Bangladesh.
"We are having a lot of chats and trying to get the guys to believe that this is the way to play spin, in conditions that are turning.
"There seems to be a little bit of a block and a bit of fear or getting out rather than understanding the game is about runs. The Bangladesh spinners bowled really slowly so it was hard to run down and hit the ball over the top. We have the skillset to do it. The belief set was not there in that it's the right way to play against that type of bowling. Maybe the fear of failure was thinking we are going to get out to it, when it is actually the right way to play," said Boucher.
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That lack of self-belief showed itself in different ways. In the case of Aiden Markram, dropped after the first match, it was because he’s out of form, while for players like Kyle Verreynne and Dwaine Pretorius who played his first match on Wednesday, it was concern about trying to prove themselves.
“Aiden is out of form, we were put under pressure at the Wanderers because we only played five bowlers. Aiden is an aggressive player, his form has been worrying. You get other guys to do a job, but then there are things in the back of their head that this ‘my opportunity to get runs and show I should be here,’ and that unfortunately brings a bit of fear into the equation.”
All of which has created enormous problems for South Africa in terms of automatic qualification for the World Cup. South Africa has lost series’s to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and now Bangladesh, while defeat in the second ODI to Ireland, has damaged their standing as well.
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From not having been too bothered by the Super League, suddenly South Africa is at risk of having to play in a pre-tournament qualifier to claim on of the eight spots in next year’s tournament that will be hosted in India.
“The alarm bells are there,” Boucher acknowledged. South Africa has to face England, India and Australia, while the two matches against the Netherleands also need to be completed. “The one positive is that I really do believe that if we rock up, we stick to our gameplans and arrive with confidence we can beat anyone in the world. We’ve shown that in the T20 World Cup. It’s basically the same personnel in our One-Day team as well. We have a lot to discuss. We must understand that we have the clientele in the changeroom to beat the best in the world. We have beaten them before and we will have to beat them again to qualify,” said Boucher.
“We are putting ourselves under pressure, but I suppose we’ve got to come to the party.”
IOL Sport