Cricket: Boks to the Wall

Never mind the Duckworth-Lewis miscalculation, South Africans generally agree that the writing was on the wall for their national side weeks ago - had anyone bothered to read it.

The biggest post-mortem examination in South African cricket since, well, the last World Cup, continued unabated yesterday as the sports-mad nation tried to come to terms with the fact that their much-loved team had been eliminated.

From coaching to Duckworth-Lewis printouts; from over-the-hill fast bowlers to non-performing all-rounders; from weak provinces to a leader in denial - every facet of South Africa's scratchy performance was under the microscope this week.

Former South African paceman Fanie de Villiers, who had been criticising the performance of the side throughout the first round, said an inquiry was needed if South Africa wanted to properly learn from the setback and progress.

De Villiers, who refused to accept the weather or the rain miscalculation as the main reasons for the disappointment, said the bowling attack was completely out of form, the fielding was un-South African and it appeared that some players were being selected despite injuries.

"Are we now going to sit back again and wait for the tour of England or are we going to have an inquest into the state of South African cricket?" he said.

"South African cricket lovers are extremely disappointed with the performance of their team. We need answers and the United Cricket Board needs to start supplying them".

The Johannesburg Star's cricket correspondent suggested that the South Africans had been badly affected by the pressure of being the host nation and had shrunk under the glare of the spotlight and the massive weight of public expectation.

Jermaine Craig said the South Africans stumbled from one major blunder to another, starting with their average bowling performance against the West Indies, continuing with some lacklustre bowling and fielding against New Zealand and then foolishly invoking the memory of the late captain Hansie Cronje.

In the middle of the carnage their talisman, Jonty Rhodes, was ruled out with a hand injury, meaning the Proteas had not only lost a wealth of experience, but a proven run-scorer and the standard by which they measured their fielding.

As Mark Smit wrote in the Business Day, the team made light of Rhodes' departure, saying they would be fine without him. But in fact his absence cut them to the quick.

"One could not help thinking that, had he been there on Monday night, the score would have been hurrying along well ahead of the required rate."

Then there was Jacques Kallis, widely regarded as one of the best all-rounders in world cricket, who finished this tournament with a batting average of 15.75 after six games, and a bowling average (after taking three wickets) of 64.33.

Allan Donald also found himself at the centre of the storm after turning in a lame performance, playing just three games and taking as many wickets at an average of 133.00.

On top of that, Shaun Pollock's team became increasingly off-side with the local media as the group stage progressed, with wicketkeeper Mark Boucher snapping at reporters over his form behind the stumps and the captain asking assembled press before the big game at Durban, "have you guys written any true stories for tomorrow?"

Former South African batsman Darryl Cullinan was dismayed that the warning signs had not been appreciated much earlier, as he believed the national side had been deteriorating long before the World Cup, without anyone in authority taking notice.

"We have been on the slippery slope for a while now," said Cullinan. "Warning calls were not heeded and we have taken too long to face certain truths, choosing instead to deceive ourselves. For too long South African cricket has lived a lie, and now it's finally caught up with us.

"The team never looked comfortable at any stage. It is not the side that I once knew. It lacks the maturity and leadership worthy of champions."

As for the mistake over the Duckworth-Lewis calculation, Northern Titans coach Dave Nosworthy gave some idea of the size of the blunder when he revealed that his provincial team were better prepared to deal with a rain situation than the South African team were.

"Even in the brightest of summer days I have a print-out of what we would need to do if it rained at any one time. I know what we need to do or where we need to be at the end of every over."

Former South African paceman Craig Matthews blamed the disappointment, not on the weather or Duckworth-Lewis, but on the lack of strength in domestic provincial cricket, and the reluctance of officials to recognise the problem.

"There are two issues for me," he said.

"One is that we've got to go back to a strength-versus-strength provincial set-up, because it's too easy to be a provincial cricketer in South Africa these days, which means we get average cricket.

"No 2 is that we keep hearing that there is all this talent out there, Well, why isn't that talent coming through? Is there a blockage, or is there indeed this wealth of talent?"

World Cup schedule

Points table