When a captain blasts his players for lack of energy and not giving hundred percent on the field for losing a match, then something is wrong among them. After the 29 run defeat against Pakistan, South African skipper Ab de Villiers is very upset and is disappointed with his team-mates. In the PRess Conference, he didn’t hold himself back.
They were geared up and really wanted to win the game. You could see that from a mile away. I tried to get the boys going before the game. Didn’t feel like we had enough energy in the warm-up time, and I guess that showed with the batting and just not prepared to find it out. And it’s very disappointing. I hate losing. I really do. So I have nothing good to say about the team at the moment. I’m very disappointed. Even though I scored some runs, I’m disappointed in my own performance. I should have finished it off. I’d like to think that as a captain who has played for quite a bit that no one should have an issue representing your country, AB de Villiers said.
He is also expecting his team to be in full flow against UAE. He said I’m not blaming anyone. I’m not saying anyone didn’t have the energy. I didn’t feel any electric vibe at the warm-up. That is normally a bit of alarm bell going off for me. And secondly, it is my responsibility to try to get the guys going, which I couldn’t, so maybe I should take responsibility for that. I just could feel that nothing was really happening at a hundred percent. It was almost like a car that’s stuck in second or third gear, and that’s not going to win you cricket games, especially not under pressure and in big tournaments like this. So we need to have a chat about what maybe went wrong tonight and try to get to fifth gear again against the UAE.