ICC T20 World Cup 2022: "Our Plans Were There But We Didn't Use Them Well Enough”- South Africa Coach Mark Boucher After Shock Loss To Netherlands

South Africa head coach Mark Boucher lamented the team not using their plans well after they were knocked out of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 as a result of an upset loss to the Netherlands who beat them by 13 runs in Adelaide on Sunday, November 6, 2022.

South Africa, who just needed to win the match to go through to the semi-finals, completely got outplayed by the Netherlands. Temba Bavuma had won the toss and chosen to bowl first in an early start at the Adelaide Oval.

Colin Ackermann’s 47 and Stephen Myburgh’s 37 formed the platform for the Netherlands’ total of 158/4 in 20 overs. Tom Cooper (35) and Max O’Dowd (29) also contributed to the total which in the end proved to be enough.

In reply, South Africa just couldn’t get any momentum going in their batting innings. Rilee Rossouw (25), Temba Bavuma (20), and Heinrich Klaasen (21) were the only batters to get over 20 runs. Brandon Glover picked 3/9 while Fred Klaassen and Bas de Leede took two wickets each as the Proteas could only make 145/8 in 20 overs.

The Netherlands not only won the match by 13 runs, knocking South Africa out of the tournament, but thanks to finishing 4^th in the Group, they directly qualified for the 2024 T20 World Cup as well.

Defeat To Netherlands One Of The Worst In South Africa’s World Cup History: Coach Mark Boucher

South Africa head coach Mark Boucher conceded that their decisive loss to the Netherlands in T20 World Cup 2022 Super 12 match is one of the worst in their World Cup history, if not the worst.

“As a coach yes. I think it’s quite frustrating because as a player, you can at least have a say in the game. But as a coach, you leave it up to other individuals to go and perform. So, certainly, as a coach, it’s up there (worst of all of them),” Mark Boucher told the press in Adelaide on Sunday.

Boucher, whose tenure as South Africa’s head coach came to an end, said the pressure of having done poorly at World Cups in the past does put pressure, but its not an interlinked phenomenon.

“Each one is an individual event. I know there is a lot of history with South Africa in World Cup events. But the last World Cup, I thought we played very good cricket. We lost one game and we were knocked out.

In this World Cup, we would have taken the scenario where we needed to beat the Netherlands to qualify at the start of the tournament. But yeah, these things happen. It’s not the only upset that has happened in this T20 World Cup. Some very good sides have been beaten by the lesser sides. It makes for exciting cricket,” Boucher said.

India and Pakistan qualified for the semi-finals from Group B and will face England and New Zealand respectively on November 10 in Adelaide and November 9 in Sydney respectively.

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