(Image Source: Tauseef Mustafa)
[Saba Sports News] The Netherlands surprised everyone by defeating South Africa in the ODI World Cup 2023 on October 18 in Dharamsala. The Dutch team recovered from a difficult position, reaching 245/8 from 82/5 and 140/7 in a rain-curtailed 43-over match. In response, South Africa struggled to score and were eventually dismissed for 207, losing by 38 runs.
South Africa’s captain, Temba Bavuma, who had led his team to two consecutive wins at the start of the tournament, admitted that this loss would hurt and emphasized that the team should not forget it. Bavuma acknowledged that the team needs to control extras, as they conceded 31 extras in the match, which affected their performance.
“You got to let the emotion kind of seep in. Don’t think there is any point in trying to forget what’s happened. It is going to hurt, it should hurt. But then you come back tomorrow, you wake up and we get back onto the journey. Our campaign is not over by any stretch of the imagination, but you got to feel the emotion of today and come back tomorrow with the head held up,” Bavuma shared at the post-match presentation.
He also mentioned that the team’s fielding was below par compared to their previous performance against Australia, and they need to address these issues going forward in the tournament.
“The extras that’s something you can control. Getting 30 (31) extras, that is an extra five overs is always going to hurt you. That is a conversation for us to have – whether it is skill or a complacency thing – but at the end it did count for quite a thing. We were clinical against Australia, but the challenge was always to come back and replicate that performance. The fielding wasn’t up to standard. Again if you look at the way we fielded against Australia compared to today, definitely not the same standard. Those are conversations we need to have. The guys need to answer the questions themselves where mentally they were. That’s definitely not the standard we’d like to show from a fielding point of view,” he added.