Over-rate issue adds to SA’s woes

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Melbourne

JUST when SA thought it had stopped raining, it poured - a thunderstorm closed Melbourne airport on Monday and delayed many flights from the scene of what AB de Villiers termed his team’s “almost embarrassing” thrashing by India on Sunday.

And things could yet worsen, what with De Villiers himself in danger of being banned because of his attack’s slow over-rate.

The 130-run drubbing SA suffered at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was their worst at a World Cup, their only loss in the four matches they have played against India at the tournament, and the first time in 36 one-day internationals that they have been beaten by 100 or more runs. Shikhar Dhawan’s 137 is the highest score made against SA at a World Cup.

All of which means SA’s match against West Indies in Sydney on Friday suddenly carries extra weight. De Villiers’ men should have no trouble beating a team they blitzed four times in a series of five ODIs that ended less than a month ago.

But suddenly winning is more important than it was before Sunday’s defeat - and SA’s record in matches that matter at tournaments is not good.

On top of that, they were fined 10% of their match fee with De Villiers, as the captain, docked twice as much.

If that sounds harsh bearing in mind everything else that befell SA against India, consider that De Villiers and his attack overran the stipulated three-and-a-half hours by 27 minutes.

Somehow, match referee Jeff Crowe did SA the favour of whittled that down to a single over of tardiness after, as an International Cricket Council (ICC) statement said on Monday, “time allowances were taken into consideration”.

So, De Villiers, who pled guilty to the charge, gets away with a “minor offence”. However, another such infringement during the World Cup and he will be banned for one match in the tournament.

As Sunday’s infraction was De Villiers’ second in 12 months he would ordinarily already have been banned for one game. But erring captains have had all forgiven for the duration of the World Cup, which means even if he does not get it wrong again in the event he will still sit out SA’s first ODI after the tournament - against Bangladesh in Dhaka on July 10.

SA could get lessen the chances of De Villiers, the world’s top ranked batsman in the format, being removed from the equation by naming test captain Hashim Amla or T20 skipper Faf du Plessis to lead the team against the Windies.

That could further unsettle a team that seemed skittish in the lead-up to Sunday’s match, but not as much as having their best batsman taken out of the line-up.