South Africa v Sri Lanka ODIs: Five reasons why South Africa failed

The battle-hardened men from South Africa had travelled to the beautiful and exotic island of Sri Lanka. This journey was made to not only stamp their authority as a leading force in ODI cricket, but also to tame the little Islanders who have had the better of them in the past.

South Africa landed on Lankan shores with a not too enviable record and of having only one win in 11 previous encounters. They had not won an ODI in Sri Lanka since 1993.

History teaches the best of men lessons that should be corrected in order to achieve better results. The smartest men they say look into the past to learn from their mistakes, ensuring a brighter future.

Unfortunately, AB de Villiers and his men will go down as non learners.

Here is a take on some of the reasons that may have contributed to the sinking of the South African ship in the Lankan seas.

5) Injuries and lack of experience

Dale Steyn- arguable the best bowler in all forms of cricket, Hashim Amla- probably the most consistent batsmen in world cricket, were both unavailable for this series.

Though Hashim Amla did play the final two games, most of the damage had already been inflicted on the South African psyche. With Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis also not figuring in the squad, things were looking uphill for the South Africans right from the start. Quality players of their stature are going to be hard to replace.

4) Inaccurate bowling and sub-standard fielding

If there is one thing that is synonymous with every South African side that has played since their readmission to international cricket, it has been their discipline.

Sadly, South African pace spearhead Morne Morkel sprayed the ball on both sides of the wicket and was followed in this regard by all his fellow bowlers.

South Africa ended up with close to 60 wides in the series as compared to only 15 from Sri Lanka, which in itself tells a story of lack of discipline.

Add to this, chances missed of Tharanga, Jayawardene, Sangakkara and Thirimanne and you have a deluge of missed opportunities. The fielding was also not up to the mark in most of the ODIs with throws being off target, no visible backing up and simple mistakes being committed on the field.

3) A lack of a settled opening combination

Four changes were made in the first four one-dayers. Alviro Petersen, Quinton de Kock, Colin Ingram, Robin Peterson and Amla were all played as openers within the space of five one-day games.

Apart from Hashim Amla, none of the others could even accumulate a half century to their name. The South Africans have to take a hard look at this aspect of their game as without a quality opening partnership, they are not going to be able to put up big scores on the sub-continent.

In countries like Sri Lanka, where pitches are bound to slow down, its important to score as many runs as possible at the top of the order.

2) Lack of quality spin bowlers

Aaron Phangiso, Robin Peterson and JP Duminy are not going to send shudders down anybody’s spine, let alone the Sri Lankans.

With batsmen like Dilshan, Sangakkara and Jayawardene who are accomplished players of slow bowling, the South Africans were surely shooting in the dark if they felt that these bowlers were going to trouble batsmen of this class. And this is with all respect to the three bowlers mentioned above.

These Sri Lankans are brought up on a diet of spin, and they were certainly not going to miss out on some easy bread and butter. Phangiso had three wickets to his name in the series, Duminy did one worse and picked up two, and Robin Peterson also managed two solitary wickets in the series.

1) Inadequate technique to play the spinners

“Watch the ball out of the bowlers hand, wait for the ball and play the ball late”-you would hear any subcontinent coach yell in the nets.

Simple as it may sound, playing spin is an art that comes with years of practice playing in the dustbowls of the sub-continent. The South Africans just don’t seem to have the technique to handle the spinners.

They committed some basic errors like jabbing hard at the ball with hard hands, playing far too early and even worse, were just not able to pick the spinners off the hand.

In Sri Lanka, you have got to expect at least thirty overs of spin being bowled at you. If you are not going to be able to pick them, unfortunately it’s lights out, game over.

Rangana Herath and Ajanta Mendis are surely not complaining.

South Africa had come to Sri Lanka, looking to find answers… They go back with more questions.