South Africa coach Shukri Conrad was making no excuses as his side crashed out of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup with a nine-wicket loss to New Zealand in Kolkata on Wednesday night.
The Proteas entered the knockout semifinal at Eden Gardens on a seven-match unbeaten streak at the tournament, but the Black Caps received a record-breaking century from opener Finn Allen to book their place in the title decider and send Conrad’s side packing.
Record century by opener Allen powers Kiwis to 9-wicket win over Proteas, storm into final
Conrad was asked after the match whether the Proteas had choked at the semifinal stage, with the experienced coach not mincing his words and instead suggesting his team was simply outclassed by New Zealand in all facets of the game during the semifinal.
“I don’t know if tonight was a choke. I thought it was a bloody walloping. We got our arses kicked,” an honest Conrad admitted. “I think in order for you to choke, you must have had a sniff in the game. We didn’t have a sniff. In South Africa, we say we’d get moered.
“Tonight, we got a proper snot klaaped, also a South African word meaning a real hiding.”
Plenty of positives, says South Africa coach Conrad
Despite the loss, Conrad believes there were still plenty of positives for his side to take out of the tournament that the nay-sayers will fail to mention.
Skipper Aiden Markram hit 286 runs to continue his excellent recent run, while pacers Lungi Ngidi (12 wickets), Corbin Bosch and Marco Jansen (11 wickets each) all featured among the leading wicket-takers at the tournament.
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“I think there’ll be enough people that are going to be jumping on the bandwagon,” Conrad said in relation to the predicted fallout from South Africa’s loss. “But yeah, we did so many special things. I’m so proud of these guys.
“I don’t think many people gave us much of a chance of even getting into a semifinal when we left the shores, given our form before that.
“But that’s no consolation or anything like that. Look, I mean, I think it’s cue the abuse now. There’ll be enough of it,” he added.
