Mike Horn hints that there was political interference in the South African team selection

South Africa lost to New Zealand in the semifinals of the World Cup

South Africa’s high-performance coach during the World Cup, Mike Horn has once again re-ignited the controversy surrounding Vernon Philander’s selection for the World Cup semifinal match against New Zealand ahead of the in-form Kyle Abbott. Horn has hinted that the team was changed at the last minute after their quarterfinal win over Sri Lanka and that had a negative impact on the players.

"What actually happened was the (semi-final) team was the team that played against Sri Lanka. We're not going into any politics, but it had a role to play," Horn told Eyewitness News.

"I had to do a little bit of talk to the guys after the team was selected and a little bit of energy was taken away from the quarter-finals where the right team played. It is what it is, I take it as it is. It doesn't matter how politics or the quota influenced the players,” he said.

"I think I failed a bit in my job as motivator or as high-performance coach in the way that I believed the Proteas could win the World Cup. My job was to basically say that: Listen guys now we have to give a little bit more than we gave before. We have to fill gaps and now we have to make the difference with less but give more, in a way."

We now have to wait and watch how the South African Cricket board react to this since they had earlier denied the whole thing.