T20 World Cup 2021, South Africa vs West Indies Live Score Updates: South Africa win by 8 wickets against West Indies
What would the South African captain and team management, and by extension its fans, be thinking when Heinrich Klaasen dropped a relatively straightforward chance offered by Lendl Simmons off Anrich Nortje’s bowling?
It came at a good pace, the ball seemed to just wobble a bit before it reached the wicketkeeper and Klaasen also seemed to lose it on the way. Skipper Temba Bavuma was wearing shades, but it wouldn’t have been difficult to figure out that he must have been seething inside at a time when West Indies were threatening to break loose. One may have even felt a touch of sympathy for Klaasen as he wouldn’t have been prepared to don the big gloves till quite late in the piece when regular ’keeper Quinton de Kock opted out of the game citing ‘personal reasons’.
Controversy around race is never far from South African cricket and de Kock pulled out soon after Cricket South Africa made it mandatory for the team to take a knee before matches at the ongoing T20 World Cup to support the Black Lives Matter movement. Being a Black himself and a new captain as well, it was something Bavuma could have done without going into a must-win game after losing their opening match.
A subsequent CSA statement noted de Kock’s ‘personal decision’ not to take the knee, which meant he couldn’t play.
De Kock has history in this regard. In the past, when the South African team had had the option of taking the knee, raising a fist or standing at attention, he had not done any of the three.
As far as the cricketing impact of the drop goes, Klaasen can cheekily claim that he did it on purpose. Simmons was struggling to hit the ball off the square and had 4 off 13 balls then. He eventually got out for 16 from 35 deliveries, after putting a lot of pressure on his mates at the other end.
