Still no rainbow

It was interesting to note the desperation in the words of AB de Villiers after South Africa lost their semifinal match against New Zealand by such a small margin yesterday. "We left it all out there..... worst of all is we don't play for ourselves. The bigger picture is for the people back home. We play for them. I hope they can still be proud of us," is what the 31-year-old skipper said at the post-match press conference, as if pleading his countrymen to realise that he and his side did not choke; that their best efforts on the day were just not good enough.

Did South Africa really choke yesterday? Or were they desperately unlucky? Or did they just come up against a team who were playing their best cricket of all time? This is a topic which will be trending for a long time – from social media to cricket conversations and perhaps more importantly, on the minds of the South Africa players themselves.

One thing South Africans could feel is that they were dealt a cruel hand by the rain gods yet again. De Villiers himself hinted as much during his post-match reaction. At 216 for 3 at the end of the 38th over and having just stepped up the gear in the previous few overs, the South Africans would have felt it was all going according to plan like it did in the previous matches. In the four previous occasions that South Africa batted first in this World Cup – twice they scored 200 or more runs in the last fifteen overs and their minimum score in this period was 143.

But that is when the rain came, and by the time the rain relented, there were no more Powerplay overs, and all that the South Africans could was to try and accumulate as many runs as possible in the five remaining overs. They did well to smash 65 whilst losing only a couple of wickets.

Now here is where a lot of debate might ensue regarding the rain and the wisdom of batting first. We all know that matches which are interrupted mid-way through by rain most often offer an advantage to teams batting second. Despite this knowledge, de Villiers' choice of electing to bat first is understandable, given South Africa's poor record while chasing during this World Cup. But where he could have been smarter was if he took the Batting Powerplay much earlier, not when it was a forced case.

However, South Africa did have their chances to close in on the game while defending 298. Thanks to their outstanding ground fielding, the South Africans created two run-out chances at crucial times, but failed to capitalise – de Villiers, of all people, being involved in one of those two incidents -- and then two fielders colliding to waste a catching opportunity. And finally there was Dale Steyn who failed to stand up to be counted when his team needed him the most. Thus 23 years after South Africa's first World Cup campaign was ended by the cruel intervention of rain, there is no rainbow yet on the horizon.

But as de Villiers mentioned, New Zealand were the better side on the day and have been duly rewarded for their daredevil approach backed up by quality all through the ranks. However, having played all their matches in home conditions, one reckons they might find things hard in the final at the MCG on March 29th, whether it is against hosts Australia or the defending champions India.