In Tweets: Is the #ProteaFire dimming before our eyes in the World Cup?
JOBURG – For the first time in their history the Proteas lost their first three games in a row during this World Cup. Can they pull off a comeback?
The Cricket World Cup kicked off on 30 May in England and leading up to the tournament, South Africa’s team the Proteas came with the underdog tag, with fans and media alike avoiding the word chokers as they have in the past come in as one of the favourites in the tournament.
The strategy was in the hopes that the removal of the favourite tag would help them in the competition as they have succumbed to the pressure. Well, that hasn’t worked so far, as we have seen in the first three games against England, Bangladesh and India where the Proteas dramatically lost all three games in a row for the first time ever.
Many South African cricket fans have been left bewildered and disappointed by the team’s performance. The blame has shifted to the bowlers, then the batsmen and then to coach Ottis Gibson’s team selection. No one seems to understand how we have some of the best bowlers such as Kagiso Radaba, Imran Tahir to the best batsmen Faf du Plessis and JP Duminy underperforming on the biggest stage.
The Proteas need to win at least five of their six remaining games to have any chance of qualifying in the semi-finals.
The loss of experienced bowler Dale Steyn through another injury is going to be telling in the next few games but it can also be said that the team has adjusted well through all his injuries in the past two years thanks to Radaba, Lungi Ngidi and Andile Phehlukwayo.
#ProteaFire has been trending since the start of the World Cup and fans have aired their thoughts and frustrations, even comparing the current team performance as one of Bafana Bafana’s:
https://twitter.com/Marcus_Sibiya_/status/1136538033002622977
https://twitter.com/sne_ndlovuSA/status/1136220596453482497
Zero #ProteaFire now, a generational player offers to come out of retirement and is told no because another guy made 3 scores of 50. Seriously, these guys don't deserve a world cup. At least JP Duminy gets to play 🤦♂️
— ChristoDuPlessis (@ChristoDuPless2) June 6, 2019
Fans have also questioned the continuous selection of underperforming players into the squad and despite the overall poor team display, there have been some outstanding players:
Dear God, please grant me the job security of JP Duminy #ProteaFire
— Billz 🇿🇦🇺🇸 (@billz_25) June 5, 2019
I've been watching the great game of cricket for 26 years and I don't think I've ever seen a #proteafire side with less heart. Simply appalled and disgusted with the performance of these men pretending to care
— Riaz 🇿🇦🇵🇸🔰 (@RiazHamed2) June 5, 2019
Rabada morris and phehlukwayo are expected to bat and bowl whilst our so called experienced batsmen give away wickets like theres no tommorrow sies #ProteaFire #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/NBnoeKZWKb
— Sibusiso (@sbukhumalo63) June 5, 2019
https://twitter.com/Kgokishe/status/1136503032382918657
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