Following his side's loss to New Zealand in the T20 World Cup semifinal, South Africa coach Shukri Conrad termed the defeat as "bloody walloping", while Blackcaps' centurion Finn Allen expressed readiness for whoever meets them at the final on Sunday, be it India or England.
A record-breaking century by Allen in just 33 balls, the fastest across T20 and 50-over World Cups, sunk Proteas to a crushing nine-wicket loss in the semifinal at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday, despite a fight back sixth wicket stand between Tristan Stubbs (29) and Marco Jansen (55*), which took SA from 77/5 to 169/8. While SA suffered their first defeat to NZ in the T20 WCs after five matches, it was their fourth loss in as many games to the Kiwis in ICC events knockouts after the 2011 WC quarterfinal, the 2015 WC semifinal and the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy semifinal.
Speaking after the match in a presser, Proteas' coach Shukri Conrad said that his side did not get as much as a "sniff" in the game and it was not a "choke", rather a "bloody walloping". "I do not know if tonight was a choke. I thought it was a bloody walloping. I think in order for you to choke, you must have had a sniff in the game. We did not have a sniff. Tonight, we got a proper 'snot klaaped', also a South African word meaning a real hiding. So I think there will be enough people that are going to be jumping on the bandwagon," he said.
Nonetheless, the coach was proud of the team for doing "so many special things". "I do not 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 is no consolation or anything like that. Look, I mean, I think it is cue the abuse now. There will be enough of it," he added.
Conrad said that his side was just not good enough despite the recovery made by Stubbs and Jansen, and termed NZ as "excellent" in making use of the conditions at Kolkata. "Exploited conditions really well with their spinners up front, and we just never got out of the blocks. So yeah, full marks to them. They were a hell of a lot better than us tonight," he added.
Conrad spoke on team playing the catch-up right from the moment they lost early wickets or so, calling it the nature of T20 cricket, where "you get on a little bit of a downward spiral, and it doesn't go your way, and then you've got to try and claw it back." "And then, yeah, Stubbs is probably getting out at the wrong time, just when we sort of built some momentum and then that last over, I thought we were particularly poor in the way we managed that last over, where Marco was flaying it from one side, stood there watching other guys get out. So all in all, not very good," he continued.
Conrad said that the combination of fine Kiwi bowling, particularly spinners and the wicket made things tough. "I really feel that New Zealand was really, really good tonight. And yes, maybe we could have... But again, you needed to take a chance. Brevis going nicely and then chips one to cover so little stop start so another couple of overs of him and who knows but was not to be so yeah I do not think it was any different I just felt the calibre of bowling they gave us absolutely nothing and they and they really squeezed particularly well but their spinners were exceptional in those conditions," he added.
On the other hand, New Zealand's Allen, who etched his name in history, credited the bowlers for setting the tone and highlighted the importance of five T20Is against India in Indian conditions before the competition. "I think, an extremely impressive start from our bowlers. They set the game up for us for sure. Yeah look I think it shows the importance of that India series that the boys played before the World Cup - five games on all black soil I think and I think it just shows that us as a team we get up for the fight those important fixtures we really get up for, and as a team we are prepared to fight to the end, and I think the boys with the ball especially did that today," he added.
Allen expressed hope that his parents are "proud" of his knock. He also said that his opening partner, Tim Seifert, starting off well and looking to take the bowlers head on, made things easy for him.
"For me, I just looked to play almost a support role to Tim. If it was in my area I would try and hit it for four or six and if it was not just get a single and get him on strike and he just kept dealing in boundaries which he has been doing that all tournament, he is an incredible form he is an incredible player and I think he is just showing the world what he can do and I think that makes it easy for me to sit back and have the best seat in the house. So, yeah, it's good fun batting with Timmy," he added.
On which team out of India or England they want for the final at Ahmedabad, Allen said: "We can beat anybody." "We have got a lot of momentum going into the weekend. I think if we play our best cricket, we can beat anybody. So we will be watching tomorrow night. But yeah, I think either way, I think hopefully we get up for Sunday, be a spectacle," he concluded. (ANI)
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