Ignominy & ecstasy

Another World Cup, another South African exit at the knockout stage. A score of 220 seemed too little for New Zealand in yesterday's quarterfinal against the Proteas at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, especially when Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers had taken the score to 108 for the loss of two wickets with more than half the overs left.
Then, the all-too-familiar happened, and whether it be called choking or not, the simple fact of the matter was that South Africa crumbled under the pressure New Zealand's disciplined bowling and spectacular fielding were exerting.
The pain of defeat showed on South Africa captain Graeme Smith's face as he took his seat at the post-match press conference, which is understandable because he had one of the most balanced teams at his disposal.
“It's a little hard to tell you why (it happened) so soon. We thought 220 was a decent total to chase,” said a bemused Smith. “We certainly bowled well enough to win today. I think the batting let us down in the middle period. New Zealand squeezed us, we knew it would get a bit difficult from the twenty over mark to the ball change in the 34th.. The ball would get soft, and the wicket would get slower and lower. We just had to keep our composure in that period, which we didn't.”
The captain stood by his team, saying that he could not fault their work ethic. When asked what message he would like to relay to all the fans back home who must be exasperated at yet another World Cup failure, he said, “There's nothing I can say that will make them feel better. It was just that we did not perform on the day. We've given our best, we've trained hard and committed to our skills. I cannot fault the way the team have prepared and trained. Today we let ourselves down and let the people back home down. We will get on the plane and when we get home the daggers will be out, and we've just got to take it on the chin.”
As he had earlier announced, Smith confirmed we would step down from the one-day captaincy. “I got the captaincy at a very young age, at 22, and after the pressures of the last eight years I am looking forward to contributing as a player and supporting the next guy who will be the captain. I am very proud of my record as a captain, and as a batsman over those years but now I am looking forward to the next phase of my career.”
Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori was in a wholly different mood to his counterpart, with the reaction being as much of relief as elation. “We're really happy, not just because we won a quarterfinal, but because we thought that 250 would have been a good score,” said the Kiwi skipper. “We knew that we had to get into the middle order, they have some very good top order players with excellent records.”
Vettori thought that the fact that they scored 220 helped matters because they had only one way to go, which was to attack. “It was always about getting past de Villiers. They have a longish tail, and we had the team to suit the conditions,” said Vettori whose side had toured Bangladesh only last October.
When reminded that his team were perennial semifinalists, Vettori said, “People often put a negative slant on it, but they have to remember that we are a country of only 4 million people and reaching the semifinals is a big achievement.”
He also credited Jesse Ryder with playing the definitive hand. “His score of 80-odd was the highest score by some distance, and the partnership he put together with Ross Taylor was, I think, the catalyst for the win.”
The man-of-the-match, however, was Jacob Oram who took a stunning catch on the boundary to get rid of Kallis, aside from taking four wickets to speed the Proteas' demise.