Johannesburg — “We have to win all our games now.”
That was the simple and straightforward message Proteas coach Mark Boucher issued after his team’s T20 World Cup opener was abandoned due to rain in Hobart on Monday.
The tournament may still be in its embryonic stages, but such is its cut-throat nature that any points dropped puts a team at a major disadvantage of progressing to the knockout stages.
Parnell gets the Zimbabwe skipper!
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) October 24, 2022
We can now reveal that this is one of the moments that could feature in your @0xFanCraze Crictos of the Game packs from the #SAvZIM match.
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The Proteas, of course, have first-hand experience of this after failing to progress to last year’s semi-finals due to an inferior net run-rate despite losing just one of their five group matches in the United Arab Emirates.
In a group that consists of subcontinental powerhouses India and Pakistan, the southern African derby against neighbours Zimbabwe would have been targeted for a full house of points, and also an opportunity to post a healthy positive run-rate early on, but instead the notoriously fickle Tasmanian weather forced a share of the spoils.
The umpires certainly did their best to get the players out on the park, which they did for nine overs initially, that allowed Zimbabwe to post 79/5.
Quinton de Kock lit up South Africa’s chase with 23 runs off Tendai Chatara’s first over, before the heavens opened up again and forced everyone back into the dugout.
A brief intermission allowed De Kock (47 not out off 18 balls) to continue his assault on the Zimbabwean bowlers, but even though the target was reduced to 64 runs from seven overs, SA could only get to 51/0 before the match was ended after three overs.
“We haven't had the best history in World Cups in terms of rain. But I would much rather have this happen to us in the first game now, when we are still in control of what we can actually do,” Boucher said.
“It’s a tough group and there is probably one game that we’re probably going to have to win. But we’ll see, it's still very early in the tournament.
“Our intensity was very good, and Quinny played a few special cricket shots that also sends a bit of an advantage. The positive thing is that it's not a do-or-die game for us. We are still in control of what happens in this World Cup. We have to win all our games now.”
Zimbabwe coach Dave Houghton, meanwhile, was visibly perturbed that the match had actually lasted 12 overs in total, especially after his premier new-ball bowler Richard Ngarava injured himself during his follow through on the wet outfield and was forced off.
“We are not too happy that he’s (Ngavara) not in a great space in terms of his bowling. He is lying in the change-room with ice strapped to his ankle,” Houghton said.
“I understand the need to get the games going for the public and the people watching on TV, and I understand the need to play in slightly inclement weather to try and get a result, but I thought we overstepped the mark and should have come off four or five overs before.
“I don’t think we should have even bowled a ball to be fair. I know the umpires are the one’s making those decisions in the middle, but I disagree with it.”
Boucher disagreed with his Zimbabwean counterpart and felt that both teams were equally disadvantaged, and that his team were merely following the officials’ guidelines.
“I thought it was tough conditions,” Boucher said. “We are here to play a World Cup. We obviously wanted to play. It seemed that both captains wanted to play at the start. Looking at the game before, the field was wet before. The players don’t make those decisions, the officials do.
“When we bowled with a ball that was quite wet as well. We were in a very good position. If Zimbabwe were in our position, they would have wanted to play on. We are not there to make the calls, and the officials do, and we have to live with their decisions.”
The Proteas depart Hobart on Tuesday to travel to Sydney where they are set to face Bangladesh in their second encounter at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Bangladesh defeated Netherlands in their previous game to get their campaign up and running.
IOL Sport