South Africa captain Graeme Smith has conceded that inconsistent bowling was the main reason for yet another failure in a big tournament.
South Africa captain Graeme Smith has conceded that inconsistent bowling was the main reason for yet another failure in a big tournament. The hosts bowed out of the Champions Trophy here on Sunday following a 22-run defeat against England in a tall-scoring match, their second loss in three games.
South Africa required 313 to stay ahead of Sri Lanka on net run-rate and avoid elimination, but could manage only 301-9 in reply to England’s 323-8. “I think the wicket played really well, and you needed to be really consistent. There wasn’t a lot of spin on offer, so our seamers needed to come to the party,” said Smith.
“We conceded over 300 in two of the three games, which is disappointing. If wickets play that well, we need to look at certain aspects of our attack and going forward to the England series, there are some decisions for us to make. There really are no excuses to be made anymore. It’s the responsibility of the group of players that sit in that room now to go and perform better in these tournaments,” said Smith. “We’ve been hugely consistent with the results that we’ve turned out, so this is a very disappointing moment.”
Smith, who alone sustained his team’s hopes of achieving a stiff 324-run target in the day-night match with a career-best 141, said it was disappointing to lose. “I was batting and also on the field all day. Obviously, words like disappointment come to mind,” he said.
“It’ll need a day or two to consider what happened. It’s disappointing when you’ve played a knock like that not to get over the line.”
Meanwhile, Mickey Arthur blamed the infighting in Cricket South Africa for the early exit. The South Africa coach said he would have preferred to play against Sri Lanka at the Wanderers rather than at Centurion. Wanderers was denied key matches of the tournament because of an IPL-related dispute between the CSA and the Gauteng Cricket Board.
“Generally, one of our strengths has been our attack. When I saw a couple of those Wanderers strips at the start of the tournament, I’d certainly have preferred to play Sri Lanka there than at Centurion where the wicket was tailor-made for the subcontinent,” Arthur was quoted by a website.
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