‘It is going to hurt..’ – Temba Bavuma reflects on heartbreaking defeat suffered by South Africa against the Netherlands

Against the odds, the Netherlands delivered a knockout blow to South Africa in the ODI World Cup 2023 on Tuesday in Dharamsala. The Dutch team, despite being 82/5 and 140/7 at one point, managed to reach 245/8 in a rain-curtailed 43-over per side contest.

In response, the Proteas fought hard but were eventually dismissed for 207, losing by 38 runs. Temba Bavuma, the captain of South Africa, who had led his team to two consecutive wins at the beginning of the tournament, admitted that this defeat would be painful. He emphasized the importance of not forgetting this loss.

“You got to let the emotion kind of seep in. Don’t think there is any point in trying to forget what’s happened. It is going to hurt, it should hurt. But then you come back tomorrow, you wake up and we get back onto the journey. Our campaign is not over by any stretch of the imagination, but you got to feel the emotion of today and come back tomorrow with the head held up,” Bavuma said at the post-match presentation.

Extra’s is something we can control: Bavuma

In a departure from their usual performance, the South African team conceded an unusually high number of extras, totalling 31, according to Bavuma. The South African skipper also emphasized the need to control such aspects in future matches of the ODI World Cup. Additionally, their fielding was subpar, a trait not commonly associated with them.

“The extras that’s something you can control. Getting 30 (31) extras, that is an extra five overs is always going to hurt you. That is a conversation for us to have – whether it is skill or a complacency thing – but in the end it did count for quite a thing. We were clinical against Australia, but the challenge was always to come back and replicate that performance. The fielding wasn’t up to standard. Again if you look at the way we fielded against Australia compared to today, definitely not the same standard. Those are conversations we need to have. The guys need to answer the questions themselves where mentally they were. That’s definitely not the standard we’d like to show from a fielding point of view,” the right-handed batter added.