South Africa will win an ICC event at some stage: Amla

Tired of explaining their long- standing jinx at ICC events, a desperate Hashim Amla on Sunday said South Africa will surely grab an ICC trophy soon and next year’s Champions Trophy could be that tournament.

Yet again South Africans have made an early exit from an ICC event, failing to qualify for the semifinals of the World Twenty20 after losing two of their three matches.

“We are asked this every ICC tournament. This team will win World Cup or an ICC tournament at some stage. We won in 1998 in England and it’s quite a while back,” Amla said when asked about their poor results in ICC events. “It has been disappointing. We had opportunities we have not backed up batting and bowling to be in semis,” he added. Amla said their batting and bowling never clicked in a game together and that hurt them badly.

“We have not played our best cricket throughout this tournament. We did not have a game where where our batting and bowling clicked at the same time. We were not consistent enough.” Asked about the team combination and using Dale Steyn sparingly in the tournament, Amla backed captain Faf du Plessis and coach Russell Domingo’s decisions.

“Before coming to this tournament, the captain and coach talked about picking the right team according to the venue. In India, pitches have been vastly different. In Mumbai, there was smaller field, so quick bowlers come into the picture that’s why Dale played the first one against England but after that Nagpur was a slow wicket and slow seemed to be more effective.