South Africa’s head coach Shukri Conrad did not mince his words after his side’s crushing 342-run defeat against England in the third ODI, calling the performance “embarrassing.” Captain Temba Bavuma also admitted the display “doesn’t do us justice,” especially after recent series wins over both England and Australia.
The loss in Southampton came despite South Africa already having sealed the series 2-0 — their first in England since 1998. But the manner of the defeat has raised questions about their tendency to drop intensity once a series has been decided.
Conrad on the Team’s Struggles
Speaking after the game, Conrad acknowledged his team’s lack of focus when it mattered least:
“𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚. 𝑨𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒅. 𝑨 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂. 𝑰𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒓, 𝒘𝒆’𝒅 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏’𝒕 𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒄𝒉 — 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈.”
Both of South Africa’s heaviest ODI defeats — against Australia and now England — came when they bowled first, with wides and dropped chances proving costly.
Discipline and Fielding Concerns
South Africa bowled 19 wides in the match and missed two vital chances, including a drop off Jamie Smith when he was on 23. Conrad admitted that sloppy bowling spilled into other areas of their game:
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅… 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒔𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒕. 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆.”
Among the low points, debutant Codi Yusuf went for 80 runs, while Nandre Burger conceded 95 — the most expensive figures in South Africa’s ODI history.
Rabada Rested, Bavuma Injured
Kagiso Rabada sat out again as he recovers from ankle inflammation, with Conrad stressing the need to prioritize the T20Is and the upcoming Test series against Pakistan and India. Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen are also expected to return for the shorter format.
Bavuma, however, is a fresh concern after injuring his calf and being unable to bat in the chase. South Africa collapsed to 72 all out, their second-lowest total in ODIs, against a fiery spell from Jofra Archer, who finished with 4 for 18.
Conrad summed up the collapse bluntly:
“𝑨𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏 [𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒓𝒂𝒎] 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚. 𝑩𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕, 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏. 𝑨𝒅𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒓𝒖𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒂 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉.”
Bavuma Reflects on Positives
Despite the humiliating defeat, Bavuma reminded fans of South Africa’s recent achievements.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆. 𝑻𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒑𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆.”
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