South Africa coach Rob Walter attributed his team's 38-run upset defeat against Netherlands in the ICC World Cup to their lackluster performance in death bowling and a shaky start with the bat.
In a rain-affected match on Tuesday, the Netherlands rallied from a precarious 140 for 7 to reach a total of 245 for eight. They then dismissed South Africa for 207 in 42.5 overs, marking the second significant upset of the tournament.
The first surprise came on Sunday when Afghanistan defeated defending champions England by 69 runs in Delhi.
Notably, this 38-run victory was Netherlands' first triumph against a Test-playing nation in their ODI World Cup history.
Coach Walter expressed his disappointment, leaving no room for ambiguity when he stated that his team's performance fell below the expected standard against the Dutch.
"At 140 for 7, you're in control of the game really. So, to not be able to close it out at the death is disappointing, of course, and certainly the momentum shifted in the game then," Walter said at the post-match press conference..
"But at the end of the day, we back ourselves still to be able to chase 240 but then we got off to a very poor start and they put us on the back foot," he added.
He said strategically also South Africa committed mistakes.
"Maybe I've got our ratios a little bit wrong in terms of the slow balls versus hard length and on pace deliveries. From extras point of view, there's definitely more extras than we would want to bowl."
South Africa arrived at the match with an undefeated record and exuded confidence, courtesy of their commanding victories over Sri Lanka (by 102 runs) and Australia (by 134 runs).
Walter emphasized that the two upsets witnessed in the tournament underscored the importance of not underestimating any team in an event of this scale.
"Four days ago, we played outstandingly well, and then today, not well. Just ultimately, we weren't good enough, specifically at the back end of the innings and then at the start with the bat.
"As I said before the World Cup started, I don't think there're any weak teams in this tournament. And if you're not switched on and you don't win the key moments in the game, you find yourself on the wrong side of the result. We learned that today," he said.
1/10:World Cup: Netherlands stun South Africa
ANI
2/10:Netherlands beat South Africa
<p>Netherlands defeated mighty South Africa by 38 runs at the Cricket World Cup on Tuesday as the European outsiders stunned the Proteas for the second time in a year. </p>Getty Images
3/10:Scott Edwards
<p>South Africa were chasing 246 to win from a rain-reduced 43 overs after Dutch captain Scott Edwards made a crucial 78 not out. </p>AFP
4/10:207 all out
<p>South Africa, one of the tournament favourites, were bowled out for 207 in Dharamsala. </p>Getty Images
5/10:Dutch vs Proteas
<p>In November last year, the Dutch sent South Africa crashing of the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia. </p>AFP
6/10:Second upset
<p>The victory was the World Cup's second major shock in three days after Afghanistan defeated defending champions England on Sunday. </p>AFP
7/10:Batting collapse
<p>South Africa eased comfortably to 36-0 in their pursuit but four wickets then fell for the addition of just eight runs. </p>Getty Images
8/10:Quinton de Kock
<p>On 20, Quinton de Kock was caught behind off Colin Ackermann, one of three South African-born players in the Dutch starting line-up. </p>AP
9/10:Temba Bavuma
<p>South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma (16) was clean bowled by Roelof van der Merwe who played 13 ODIs for South Africa before moving to the Netherlands. </p>Getty Images
10/10:Aiden Markram
<p>Paul van Meekeren dismissed Aiden Markram (1) before Van der Merwe tempted Rassie van der Dussen into a rash reverse sweep with the catch taken by Aryan Dutt. </p>AFPWalter reminded that cricket is a team game and his side failed to click in unison on Tuesday.
"...it takes everyone to win the game and to win a competition, so you can't rely on any one suite of your makeup. You've got to do it all and you've got to do it consistently well," he said.
"So we were inconsistent from last game to this game and we got a couple of things wrong that we normally would get right. So, you've got to keep your consistency up.
"As I said, we can't put our eggs in one basket. It takes batting, bowling and fielding to win games, not just one pot."
He, however, begged to differ on the perception that bowling was a cause of concern for the Proteas.
"...I think our bowling won us the game against Australia. The guys were excellent. So I won't look too deeply into it and start saying there's any concern in one area. As I said, we got some things fundamentally wrong today," Walter said.
Chasing the modest target, South Africa slipped to 44 for 4 by the 11th over, and Walter said there were plenty of learnings from the match.
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"...obviously we'll sit and do a proper dissection of the game. Win or lose, what are the lessons that we take and how do we use those to be better next time round. There's a lot to learn, both good and bad," he said.
"Our tail showed us some resilience with a bat, which is great, that we can lean on that at some point in time. We obviously need to brush up on our death (bowling). So the learnings are there and it's just about us being open enough to be able to take them on board and move forward."
