Gerald Majola, Cricket South Africa's CEO, has criticised the team's mental strength and inability to build on recent successes following their seven-wicket thrashing by Australia in the World Cup semi-final. A statement issued by him less than 24 hours after South Africa exited the tournament pulled few punches, saying the board was "deeply disappointed in the performance in the semi-final and at the World Cup in general."
South Africa, he pointed out, had failed to reach the final despite being offered assistance of every conceivable kind. “No stone was left unturned over the past two years in preparing them for this World Cup. In addition, they were given a professional support staff of 12 for the World Cup. So against this preparation and support background, we have to find out why they were so inconsistent and put remedial measures in place.”
Majola outlined where he felt the team fell down. “Other general weaknesses facing South African cricket lie with mental strength, swing and spin bowling,” he said. “We must remember that this is virtually the same squad that won 13 matches on the trot and established themselves as the world’s best ODI exponents over the last two years. We have to find a way of taking this consistency into tournaments because this World Cup has shown an alarming inconsistency in the performances.”
Plans are already in place, he said, to try and solve the problems. "We are dealing with these issues at the High Performance Centre. In addition, CSA and the boards of Pakistan and India have agreed to an academy exchange programme.
“This will enable us to send a squad of spinners to the subcontinent for specialist coaching and for selected batsmen to learn to play spin in those conditions. Pakistan and India will then be able to use their bowlers and batsmen to train in our quicker conditions.”
Re: Majola hits out at South Africa's 'mental strength'
Smart people talk with conviction and clear direction. Good statements and good decisions.
Majola is one of the problems in SA cricket. The last proper person that ran the system was Ali Bacher. Majola is a clown.
South Africa had a very good coach who took NO nonsense, not even from the overblown egomaniac Smith. His name is Ray Jennings and he was thrown out by Majola and his ilk after a very good stretch as coach because some of the senior players could not take his strict no nonsense approach. Players Ray coached are Andre Nel and Hall - the fighters in the present squad.
Throw out the present selectors (last good one was Peter Pollock), and put in Kepler Wessels, Pat Symcox ( no nonsense hard liner guys).
Chuck away the quota system and select the best. Cricket has been totally normal for more than 20 years by now. Without quotas, South Africa would have a proper spinner at the World Cup, a proper spare batsman not Loots, a proper spare fast bowler not Telemachus, and Kevin Peterson at number 5 instead of Prins.
Re: Majola hits out at South Africa's 'mental strength'
Just heard the most startling and ilogical news: Majola decided India and Pakistan will in future train the SA cricketers. Now the Proteas will join these two teams as the three "super minnows".
Re: Majola hits out at South Africa's 'mental strength'
i heard about the quota system from a friend recently and couldnt believe it
its the most ridiculous thing ive heard
Its like fighting for the World Cup with one hand tied down. One of the reasons the South African cricket administrators climbed and defiled Hansie Cronje is because he refused to budge on the quota system.
Re: Majola hits out at South Africa's 'mental strength'
Majola is one of the problems in SA cricket. The last proper person that ran the system was Ali Bacher. Majola is a clown.
South Africa had a very good coach who took NO nonsense, not even from the overblown egomaniac Smith. His name is Ray Jennings and he was thrown out by Majola and his ilk after a very good stretch as coach because some of the senior players could not take his strict no nonsense approach. Players Ray coached are Andre Nel and Hall - the fighters in the present squad.
Throw out the present selectors (last good one was Peter Pollock), and put in Kepler Wessels, Pat Symcox ( no nonsense hard liner guys).
Chuck away the quota system and select the best. Cricket has been totally normal for more than 20 years by now. Without quotas, South Africa would have a proper spinner at the World Cup, a proper spare batsman not Loots, a proper spare fast bowler not Telemachus, and Kevin Peterson at number 5 instead of Prins.
Since you are our resident expert on CSA, I have edited my comment.
If what you say is true, then the statement from Majola is the same from Naseem Ashraf of PCB.
Re: Majola hits out at South Africa's 'mental strength'
Quota or no quota, you had a team that was capable of beating the Aussies. But as I said prior to the start of the world cup, a choke in the semis (or the finals had you been lucky) was inevitable :o .
Re: Majola hits out at South Africa's 'mental strength'
Everyone knows they're chokers so the loss was no surprise. Another expected thing to arise from the loss was the predictable South African whining that usually follows their defeat...ie...Mickey Arthur whining about the world cup schedule having contributed to their loss..typical!
Re: Majola hits out at South Africa's 'mental strength'
Apparently there were agreements signed between South Africa and Pakistan/India for their players to play in South Africa's faster/bouncier wickets and South African players to face spin bowling and do spiin bowling in India /Pakistan.
I think a better agreement would have been with Sri Lanka.
Wonder how they will decide who will visit the other country and, I suppose, play for some time at a provincial/club team. If you choose test players, what about their test commitments? Who and how many of the developing players can one send? Would they not in time "unlearn" what they had in their own countries?