Bangladesh loss the root of South Africa’s World Cup problems

Times Select

TELFORD VICE in Birmingham

WHAT went wrong for South Africa at this World Cup? Bangladesh. What could they have done better? Bangladesh. Was there a single, clanging reason they have failed to play to their potential? Yes: Bangladesh.

South Africa’s match against Bangladesh was the filling in a seven-day sandwich that also featured games against England and India — not for nothing the tournament’s two most favoured teams.

Being beaten by them was a fair reflection of South Africa’s current strengths, and would no doubt have been accepted as such by Faf du Plessis’ team.

But they could have beaten Bangladesh. They should have beaten Bangladesh. Of course, they did not beat Bangladesh.

Instead they bowled poorly to concede 330/6 — Bangladesh’s record one-day total — and didn’t bat well enough.

Bangladesh deserved their victory, which they have proved was no aberration by also beating West Indies.

But there would seem to be a mitigating factor in South Africa’s favour. Times Media has learnt that, as per the original fixtures, their match against the Bangladeshis was to have been played much later in the tournament.

India had been listed as Bangladesh’s first opponents, but the game was jammed into South Africa’s schedule in the opening week of the tournament because the Indians objected.

The judicial commission that makes important decisions about the game in that country because the Board of Control for Cricket in India is in perpetual chaos has instituted a rule that the country’s players must have 15 days off between engagements.

And 15 days wouldn’t have passed between the end of the Indian Premier League and India’s game against Bangladesh if the first draft of the World Cup fixtures had been followed.

You could argue that what happens in a domestic club tournament shouldn’t be world cricket’s problem, but in that case you probably also don’t understand how world cricket works.

India are the dog, the rest of the game’s countries — even the bigger entities like England and Australia — its tail.

So South Africa had to put up with a rushed first week, and they did so badly. That is their fault. But they also deserve some empathy — along with many more questions.

Should they have picked an injured Dale Steyn? Should they have gone to such lengths to ensure Hashim Amla’s inclusion? What, exactly, was the point of selecting JP Duminy?

There are arguments for and against all of the above, and they will be had.

But if you’re looking for a reason how and why it all went wrong in South Africa’s worst World Cup since 2003, it’s Bangladesh.