It's time for the Proteas to take out their canes and start dishing out pak slae at this year’s World Cup.
If not, then they will be out of the competition sooner than expected.
Having suffered three defeats in their first three games, to England, Bangladesh and India, one more loss will basically bring and end to their chances of making it to the semifinal of the tournament.
With six round-robin matches left to play, every single one is basically a final for the Proteas.
England ❌
Bangladesh ❌
India ❌
South Africa lose three Men's World Cup games in a row for the first time. pic.twitter.com/Mo9pMZvzVq
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) June 5, 2019
And with the West Indies lying in wait in their next match on Monday, allrounder Chris Morris says: “It’s pretty simple, lose three in a row when you’re only playing nine games, you know what you need to do – you need to win every game from now on in.
“The guys are disappointed and a little bit angry… we have to win the next six and crack on.”
Morris, who came into the squad as late replacement for injured fast bowler Anrich Nortje, gave his best for the Proteas in the six-wicket defeat to India, scoring the most runs in the team (42) and taking 1/36 in 10 overs with the ball.
POSITIVE SPIN: South African bowler Tabraiz Shamsi. Photo: Backpagepix.
But he says individual performances don’t matter if the team doesn’t win.
And he adds to the fans back home: “All we can say is stay with us – stranger things have happened in World Cups before.
“Back us as much as we can and we’ll try and perform for you.”
Spinner Tabraiz Shamsi is also confident that coach Ottis Gibson’s team is still not out of the running in the tournament.
He says: “Results haven’t gone for us so far; one third of the games are gone.
“It looks bad and we would have liked a couple of victories. We’ve got six games to win.
“It’s nothing to be nervous about. We play cricket and that’s our job, that’s what we’ll focus on.”
South Africa are still fighting!
Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada have added 50 for the eighth wicket. #SAvIND #ProteaFire pic.twitter.com/52lL0ZIvmZ
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) June 5, 2019
Switching his attention to the Windies on Monday, Shamsi adds: “All the teams at the tournament have dangerous batsmen and they are a high risk team.
“On their day it can come off and another day it can go for the bowlers.”
World Cup weekend fixtures:
Friday
Pakistan v Sri Lanka (11.30am)
Saturday
England v Bangladesh (11.30am)
Afghanistan v New Zealand (2.30pm)
Sunday
Australia v India (11.30am)