NZ thrash unconvincing SA

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Christchurch

IT doesn’t mean anything ... It doesn’t mean anything ... It doesn’t mean anything ... South Africans will want to internalise that mantra after their team’s mournful performance against New Zealand in a World Cup warm-up match at Hagley Park in Christchurch on Wednesday.

As if SA’s bowlers being hammered for 331 runs and claiming just eight wickets was not bad enough, they crashed to 62/6 on their way to being dismissed for 197 to seal defeat by 134 runs.

New Zealand are a significantly stronger team than Zimbabwe, who SA play in their first pool match of the tournament in Hamilton on Sunday. But the Kiwis are not as threatening as sides like India and, on their day, Pakistan - the second and fifth opponents SA will face in their six round-robin games.

If SA are not capable of making a fist of things against New Zealand, how much more are they going to struggle against bigger, better opposition?

And another thing, Zimbabwe chased down a target of 280 to beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets with 28 balls to spare in Lincoln on Wednesday.

The results of warm-up games are irrelevant, but SA will convince no-one that they would not have preferred to have had Zimbabwe’s day rather than their own.

Even if the point of a game like Wednesday’s is not winning as much as it is ensuring optimal readiness for the more important challenges ahead, on this evidence SA cannot say they are ready.

There were, however, mitigating factors. Chief among them was that Dale Steyn was rested and that Hashim Amla did not bat.

Morne Morkel, Kyle Abbott and JP Duminy escaped the mauling SA’s attack endured on Wednesday with less than a run-a-ball against their names. The other five all went for more than seven. They included Faf du Plessis, who last turned his arm over in a SA shirt in a test against India at Kingsmead in December, 2013.

Vernon Philander is the cause for most concern, having missed his length often enough to be hit for nine fours and a six in his eight overs.

AB de Villiers returned from missing Monday’s match against Sri Lanka with a hip problem to face 28 balls for his 24. And that was the best effort in SA’s top five, the rest of whom scraped together just 25 runs between them.

SA failed to come to terms with a New Zealand attack that bowled with fire and verve; an attack that looked suspiciously like they were taking the match seriously.

The exceptions among SA’s batsmen were JP Duminy and Philander, who shared 121 for the seventh wicket. Duminy delivered his most convincing innings since coming back from a knee injury. He scored a solid 80 that brimmed with confident strokeplay, even though he was dropped on 58.

Philander’s 57, too, was a quality innings. In a less imperfect world, Farhaan Behardien, who sat out the match with a stiff back, would be worried.