London — It is part of the strangeness of sport that those who could explain what went wrong rarely turn up at media conferences. So it was that Lungi Ngidi and Heinrich Klaasen were trotted out in the wake of SA’s unconvincing display in the first one-day international against Zimbabwe in Kimberley on Sunday. Ngidi took 3/19 in 8.1 overs‚ the sharp edge of the axe that condemned Zimbabwe to a miserable total of 117. Klaasen’s 44 was the best effort in SA’s winning reply of 119/5 in 26.1 overs. What is there to explain? How a batting line-up far superior to Zimbabwe’s bowlers managed to lose five wickets in pursuit of so small a target. Maybe Aiden Markram should have been made available to talk about his thinking when‚ having been dropped four overs earlier‚ he was caught off a no-ball and heaved a catch to mid-off in the same over.
Or Dean Elgar might have discussed playing his first ODI in almost three years‚ and about steering a leading edge to third man after scoring two ...
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