South Africans are highly temperamental supporters, which is the product of passion and expectation. 

There has been little for South Africans to hold on to in the last 15 years or so, especially in light of the country’s political downfalls, corruption, lack of service delivery and crime.

Citizens in the country have been betrayed and disappointed by the powers that be in more ways than a few, so when it comes to sport – and especially sports where they’re supposed to excel – they bring out their inner bestial blame game.

The Springboks have set a high standard with regards to sporting prowess, especially after they’d just put themselves in a good position to defend their Rugby World Cup crown. 

Cricket has been a lot more iffy and tumultuous. There is this high level of expectation, but the Proteas, more specifically, have been a fickle bunch over the last several years.

There have been off-field, administration issues that have time, and time again, interrupted the Proteas camp and their performances over the last few seasons. 

Regardless, they too had set high standards and provided much hope in the ongoing Cricket World Cup in India after racking up big wins against Sri Lanka and Australia. 

Then came their demise against the unfancied Netherlands, who are only an associate member of the ICC. The Proteas were upset significantly against the Dutch, losing by a comfortable 38 runs after being bowled out for a meager 207.

What makes the loss more disappointing is that this was the second time the Proteas were upset by Netherlands in an ICC event in as many years. Last season, it was essentially the Netherlands who’d knocked SA out the T20 World Cup in Australia when they beat them by 13 runs.

And even though it was collectively an all-round poor performance from SA this time round, it was skipper Temba Bavuma who copped virtually all the blame for the loss. 

Supporters far and wide in SA – on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or on any other forum – have made Bavuma the scapegoat, mostly irrationally arguing that he is a political selection, both as a player and leader.

There is no sensible reason to debate Bavuma’s selection when there were so many factors that contributed towards the Proteas’ awful loss to the Netherlands.

In fact, the 33-year-old boasts the second-highest average in the world as an opening batsman in ODIs, averaging 65.92 as from after the Dutch loss. 

He is narrowly behind the highest, India’s Shubman Gill, who averages 67.46 as an opener.

Not only that, but Bavuma’s all-time average is a stellar 50.9. Stats don’t lie and they’re definitely not subjective. He has performed, especially in ODIs, and he has warranted and proved his selection, both as a player and captain.

It is completely illogical to argue against his inclusion in the team, unless there is a shallow bias or discriminatory motive against him, which holds absolutely no water in any form of justification. 

Politicians and dishonest administrators within SA or Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Bavuma are not cut from the same cloth. Bavuma is a player who has proved his worth, and his numbers justify that. 

Regarding the loss to Netherlands, why weren’t our bowlers to blame? Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada and Gerald Coetzee were terrible with the ball and they failed to assess the conditions sufficiently.

SA had the Dutch on the ropes when they were 140-7 in the 34th over. Netherlands then smashed 105 runs off the last 9 overs in the form of Scott Edwards (78*) and tail-enders Roelof van der Merwe (29) and Aryan Dutt (23). That’s correct, even their number 10 and 11 batsmen were battering SA’s seamers around the park in the latter stages of the innings.

Bowling short and slower deliveries on a shorter boundary will always be punished. Those aforementioned three South African pacers had an economy rate of more than 6.00, but Coetzee was the worst among them (7.13). Coetzee had only just come into the side in place of plucky spinner Tabraiz Shamsi. Who was to blame for that? 

SA’s death bowling was extremely poor on the day.

Over and above that, who is to blame for the Proteas bowlers bowling a total of 32 extras throughout the innings? What about the three dropped catches and several instances of misfielding by the South Africans? Bavuma surely isn’t to blame for that either.

Then with regard to the batting, Bavuma and Quinton de Kock had set a decent foundation, which comprised a 36-run opening stand. De Kock went out first for 20. The rest of the top-6 collapse is by no means Bavuma’s fault. 

The skipper went out for 16 from a superb in-spin from Van der Merwe.

What had let the team down more was how the rest of the top order wasn’t able to consolidate after those two quick wickets. 

The on-form Aiden Markram got bowled for 1 and the ever-consistent Rassie van der Dussen played a daft sweep shot to be caught at short fine leg for only 4.

Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller tried to grit it out, but they never looked in control. They lacked confidence at the crease and scored at a snail’s pace. Their efforts were in vain as Klaasen (28) hit at a low trajectory to be caught on the boundary and Miller cracked under pressure to get bowled for 43.

All-rounder Marco Jansen looked like he’d never picked up a bat before getting picked off for 9. 

Keshav Maharaj’s efforts with the bat were probably the most admirable, but that was after the game was already lost. Who was to blame for all those shortcomings?

Bavuma might possibly be to blame for choosing to bowl first at the coin toss or maybe poor field management, but that’s not the reason why SA lost. They lost because they had no killer instinct, with both bat and ball, from all the players concerned.

It was a game where various players needed to knuckle down and show some character when the going got tough. That’s what good teams do, the Proteas – as a collective – weren’t good at all against the Netherlands. 

Their body language, desire to win, energy and overall attitude lacked that sharp edge that is needed to win games. 

This was very surprising considering their first two impressive wins. The team was supposed to be riding the wave of success, but instead they looked downtrodden and hopeless on the day. And only Bavuma seems to take much of the blame for it.

The team as a whole needs some deep introspection ahead of the rest of the World Cup, and they’ve certainly made their lives harder for themselves by losing like that to the lowest-ranked team in the tournament. 

Fortunately, there is a lot of time and opportunity to right these wrongs.

But, most of all, many supporters can’t always blame Bavuma when the Proteas experience trials and toils. 

That is a destructive approach to take when looking to make amends for a disastrous showing, especially because it quite simply doesn’t make sense to do so.