Abbott’s fairytale ends unhappily

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Wellington

KYLE Abbott was supposed to spend SA’s World Cup match against Pakistan at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday wearing a substitute’s bib and running errands for the chosen XI. Instead, he shared the new ball and played a significant innings.

Abbott was to have been replaced by Vernon Philander, who had been declared fit after missing SA’s games against West Indies and Ireland with a hamstring injury.

But Philander appeared to pull up with an injury during SA’s warm-up for Saturday’s match, and Abbott - who had used his chance well in Philander’s absence, taking 6/58 in the two matches - was summoned from the sidelines.

“It was a bit of a curveball just before the game,” AB de Villiers said after the match despite SA team officials having denied that Philander had failed a fitness test.

“Vernon’s a good allrounder and hopefully he’ll be ready for the next game. But there is nothing else I can say about the fact that he’s just not fit at the moment.”

However, Abbott’s fairytale ends there, because he became one of what Fikile Mbalula might call a bunch of losers.

SA dismissed Pakistan for 222 two balls short of the 47 overs both innings were reduced to by rain. That set AB de Villiers’ team target of 232.

Considering the quality of their batting line-up and the ground’s short straight boundaries, SA should have cruised to victory. However, they lurched to 202 all out thanks to Pakistan’s defiant bowling bowling and their own indifferent batting.

“At the start of the game, we were wanting to bowl first and looking to restrict them to under 300,” Abbott said. “We probably had a par score of 270 in mind, so we were happy to end up chasing 232.

“Unfortunately our innings never really picked up. We lost a few wickets at crucial stages, but we were never really out of it with AB at the crease.

“AB played out of his boots, and another partnership here or there and it would have been a different game.”

Abbott himself scored 12 in a stand of 34 for the eighth wicket with De Villiers, who was ninth out for a scintillating 77.

Despite their defeat, SA will qualify for the quarter-finals. For Abbott, that was all that mattered.

“Every game in the World Cup is a pressure game,” he said. “It’s not like a series where you are 2-0 up and you have won the series and you are playing dead rubbers. Every game is important and it’s pretty awesome to be put under pressure.

“But at the end of the day no-one is going to remember the group stage. We need to win three (knockout) games in a row and that’s the bottom line, and there’s no doubt we will bounce back.”

Bounce back SA will have to, and smartly. Their next game is against the United Arab Emirates in Wellington on Thursday. But that is the last chance they have to disregard the result.

After Thursday they will be in the knockout rounds, where winning is all that matters.