World Cricket Bullies

From my judgement, when it comes to us South Africans and our sports – we are bullies. We tend to bully around the regular underdog teams on the rugby and cricket field (won’t elaborate much about our soccer). Like typical bullies, when someone who matches us with size and strength confronts us, we will then retaliate in a way were we would then try to keep our dignity intact.

So here now lies the problem. Our major national sports winning teams aren't doing relatively well. Not initially by the standards we are capable of playing. Our gutsy Springboks are currently second on the Castle Rugby Championship log, while our mighty Proteas team can’t seem to win any rewarding silverware in limited over cricket. We got the players, the coaching staff and loyalty support from the faithful supporters. So what is it that seems to be lacking for both South Africa’s sports giants?

I’m not about to criticise, just trying to evaluate the situation just as a typical South African patriotic supporter. So as far as I can remember from my primary school days, from when I was relentlessly bullied, and my high school years, where I was the ‘man to look up to’ (I was never a bully), once the bully has been confronted and defeated, the bully then loses his authority as well as his/her dignity. They would then regain back this authority and start bullying once again, repeating the cycle of bullying. A little bit immature not so? Well that’s how we the South African supporters are witnessing the situation, particularly how the Proteas have been playing in ICC cup tournaments throughout the past decade.

The Proteas’ preparation leading up to the T20 World Cup was not initially a thriller of a performance. The Proteas went over to Zimbabwe in June were they displayed the most atrocious T20 cricket they've played in a very long time. To simplify the outcome, they truly undermined their opponents (Zimbabwe) which at the end didn't do any justice for them as they had done poorly in the ICC T20 World Cup 2012 in Sri Lanka. In that same triangular series tournament in Zimbabwe, 25 year old Lions all-rounder, Chris Morris, was given an opportunity to represent his country – and took it! He was absolutely fantastic with the ball. But he’s not featured in the World Cup T20 squad. I understand that he originally got his chance to play in Zimbabwe because some of the players were being rested for the Test matches in England that following month, but if a player is given a chance and does well; doesn't that at least grant him another chance to really prove his consistency in international cricket?

 After the dismal performance we displayed with the ball (particularly the seamers) against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup, I then thought I’d surely see Lonwabo Tsotsobe feature in the next match. But instead Parnell was selected over Tsotsobe. Not that Tsotsobe is a better bowler than Parnell, but Parnell is currently not consistent at the moment. You simply can’t win world cups with inconsistent performances. And after all, Tsotsobe is the world’s third best ranked ODI bowler. Why not give him a chance? He’s third in limited overs cricket for a reason! This then leads to two definite questions that could be answered instantly, if answered honestly. Did they not playing Tsotsobe because he’s not an all-rounder like Parnell? Or did they simply not playing him because his skills are consistently undermined. 

#Underdogs #T20 World Cup #Proteas #Triangular Series

-Mandilulame Manjezi 

@JizzyJakes