India on their way to another hollow victory

i must say im very disapointed by the mentality of our boys today.they had a massive chance to make history,but they were too scared of losing instead of being positive and going for the win.even if we did lose, it would not have made a difference to the test rankings.anyway a draw seemed difficult last night, so i guess they batted well on a difficult pitch so some kudos is in order.

Today was a very disappointing day for me.

I have loved,played,watched and supported cricket my whole life,but after today I have decided to switch off.

As much as the feat of achieving the draw was admirable from the position we stared at overnight,the lack of willingness to actually finish the game off when it was clearly there for the taking just shows an utter lack of killer instinct.

The inability of SA teams to make the right decisions in the moment has been going on for 2 decades now,and we as supporters deserve much better.

I was in a pub watching with what turned out to be a large crowd as the game drew to it's climax,and the general feeling afterwards was definitely that people were rather we had lost having gone for the victory than to have settled for the draw.

One could not call this a gutless performance,as SA had fought back gallantly from a perilous position,but the great teams in sport are always the ones who go for the jugular when the moment is right.

SA cricket has lost more than just a few fans after this game.

They came from as far back as Elusive Gold - he ran past the leaders to win, they shied away in the shadow of the post - not for the first time.

Definite chokers.

if sa was the bowling side and used the same tactics india used in the last three overs people would still moan and say why they never went for the kill.amazing how sa always critised

I would love to have seen them have a go and won as well but if they had had a go and lost another wicket and a hobbling Morkel came in and also went out then what. Tahir would not have lasted long and then we lost the game. The series is more important than 1 game.

Craig Eudey Wrote:

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> I would love to have seen them have a go and won
> as well but if they had had a go and lost another
> wicket and a hobbling Morkel came in and also went
> out then what. Tahir would not have lasted long
> and then we lost the game. The series is more
> important than 1 game.


craig....there comes a time...when u back yourselves.....theres comes a time...when u believe in the 9 ,10 and jack to last 18 balls..if u tell me the series was more important(and this was not even the series decider),,,over being 1 of the greatest wins in test history....then i dont know why i even watch sport for...granted we didnt have much to come....but it was not like it was the final wicket...u just had to give yourself a chance to see what happens..and close up shop like they did..if either STEYN /PHILANDER got out...to say go gently into the night...is the understatement of the year...i'm sorry...but south africa let themselves down regarding mentality....opportunities like this arises every 100 years...and if u not gonna be bold enough to take them ,then that signifies weakness in your character

RG I would LOVE to have seen them have a go. Just mentioning that in a 2 test(madness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)series, the last thing they want to do is go one down.

and the next Test is an away game : .....

In time,in fact in a very short time,people will forget whether SA even won or lost this series.

However,if SA had had the balls to win this game them chasing down 450+ they would have become immortalized in the cricketing annals.

On the 12 March 2006 SA chased down 434 in 49,5 overs to win a 50 over game in what has been acclaimed as the greatest ODI of all time.

They were on the precipice on achieving that same immortality(in cricketing terms),but chose not to 'jump'.

Graeme Smith said in the post match interview that he had left it up to the guys in the middle to take the decision as to how to play it.I don't buy it,neither Philander or Steyn have that cowering makeup in them.It was a cop out that stemmed from the changing room,emminating from management.

Achieving the draw deserves some accolades,it was done from a position that had made it seemed unlikely the day before.AB and Faf were awesome.

However,all in all I think yesterday was a very sad day for SA cricket.