South Africa desperately missing the ‘360-effect’

Three defeats in a row mean that South Africa’s chances of getting a place in the semi-final at the 2019 ICC World Cup now looks bleaker than ever. After being undone in their tournament opener against England, the Proteas were overpowered by Bangladesh’s all-round performance and a similar fate followed against Virat Kohli’s team India in Southampton on Wednesday.

Throughout their tenure, one entity has been an abiding factor in their fallout; a lack of substance in the middle order. Regardless of how Quinton de Kock has performed thus far, those coming down the order have failed to provide the team with any kind of optimistic juncture. Take the England game for instance; only two players (de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen) from their top seven managed to get past the 15-run mark.

Read | World Cup talking points: India v South Africa

They have been a victim of poor shot selections on a number of occasions and the tailenders have usually carried the burden of taking the team to a respectable total. This South African batting order, as it seems, is missing is an experienced head in the midst; someone who can take a guard when others have gone down swinging.

On paper, the likes of David Miller, Rassie van der Dussen and JP Duminy may seem like a fiery contingent, but in an empirical scenario, only van der Dussen has proved his accountability thus far. Take Duminy for instance, he has had a difficult time facing the Indians spinners of late and same was the case in Southampton. His record after today’s dismissal off Kuldeep Yadav’s delivery now reads:

Chahal - 27 balls, 16 runs, Two dismissals

Kuldeep - 33 balls, 13 runs, Three dismissals

Highest win percentage in Cricket World Cup matches this decade:

83.33 INDIA
80.00 Australia
77.77 New Zealand
64.70 Pakistan
64.70 Sri Lanka
55.55 South Africa
53.84 Bangladesh
46.66 West Indies
41.66 Ireland
40.00 England #CWC19

— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) June 5, 2019

And this particular gremlin has been troubling the Proteas since AB de Villiers announced his retirement. In fact, post-May 2018, the South African middle order (from three to seven) has scored 3041 runs in 24 matches, which is actually lesser than Bangladesh (3303 in 24 games) and Pakistan (3869 in 30 games). As far as top teams are concerned, the English middle order sits at the pinnacle of the chart.

The onus of scoring runs has rather been humped on the shoulders of those who come after the actual batsmen. Rabada, especially, has been increasingly astounding with the bat at the World Cup and has played some crucial knocks at times. While the likes of Chris Morris and Andile Phehlukwayo have been dazzling as well. Even against India, Rabada shouldered two responsibilities, as he came down to bat at a time when his team needed to post a defendable total.

Read | Decoding South Africa’s dismal start to the 2019 World Cup

And however positive that might sound, it represents how abysmally the other batsmen have shouldered their responsibilities of late. “The change-room is hurting; the guys are a little down. But we are still fighting. We are making mistakes all the time - today the mistake was one guy not batting through the innings. That's what you need in England. You have to set a good total for your bowlers to defend and to have so many 30s and 40s is not acceptable at a World Cup,” Captain Faf du Plessis said about his team in the post-match presentation.

As of now, this South African team has every reason to find themselves in the midst of frenzy as another loss would slash their World Cup hopes wide open.