Finally out of their misery, the Proteas’ World Cup campaign was ended two games early after they continued their struggles at Lord’s. WADE PRETORIUS rates the efforts of the South Africans.
LEMKE’S VIEW: Proteas fast bowlers stuck in the slow lane
Quinton de Kock – 4
Bat through. Or try to. Another example of a complete lack of match awareness. For such a fine player, he’s had a dreadful World Cup and looked far, far, far from the player his world ranking suggests he is.
Hashim Amla – 2
Nobody wanted to see Amla go out this way. Not this dismissal but the tame ending to a brilliant career. If it was wrong to send an unfit Dale Steyn to England, how do we rate the decision to send an out of sorts Amla out to open in difficult batting conditions against teams hungry to expose the weak batting lineup assembled under Ottis Gibson?
Aiden Markram – 3
Will go on to a have a great career in Proteas colours but this World Cup will leave a stain. Increasingly has the tendency to misjudge the length offered, or not, by spinners. Bonus point for his bowling effort.
Faf du Plessis – 5
What has happened to Faf? Came into the tournament with a sly grin and quite keen to play as the dark horse. Seven games later and his captaincy of the side cannot be judged as anything but abysmal. Du Plessis will do well to quickly forget this month in England, for fans it will be a lot harder to do. Chasing over 300, he failed to get his strike rate up to run a ball and then lost his wicket with a wild heave. Says a lot about his form at the moment.
Rassie van der Dussen – 4
Difficult innings to watch. Met his end with a wild slog.
David Miller – 4
Played an agricultural innings that show just how far he’s fallen over the past few seasons. Couldn’t get anywhere close to run a ball before his slog completely missed the slower ball. Time to move on from the Miller myth.
Andile Phehlukwayo – 7
Most fans would’ve had their TVs off by the time he managed an unbeaten 46 off 32. Bowled well too. Has a bright future ahead of him.
Chris Morris – 4
Not a great day with ball or bat.
Kagiso Rabada – 1
Now hard to argue that he is not paying the price for mismanagement of his workload over the long term. One of the world’s premier fast bowlers reduced to a whimper really. Just 6 wickets all tournament at 50.83 … that tells a story.
Lungi Ngidi – 2
Wickets column (he took 3) overshadows his poor start where he offered up a delight for the Pakistan batsmen to feast on. Reduced to bowling cutters and slower balls and lucky not to concede more at the death.
Imran Tahir – 9
What on earth are the Proteas going to do without him? Shows passion and heart regardless of the ineptitude on display by his teammates around him. Took a screamer off his own bowling and denied a great take in the outfield too. He deserves more.
