By: Natasha Archary

Proteas Captain Temba Bavuma spent the day trending on social media, after memes of the sportsmen went viral following his team choking at the Cricket World Cup semi final on Thursday, 17 November.
The South African national cricket side lost by 3 wickets against Australia, who now move onto the final against India on Sunday, 19 November.
Bavuma has been heavily criticized following the Proteas’ dismal World Cup performance, with SA Cricket Mag’s Ryan Vrede saying the team made it to the semi finals despite the Captain, not because of him.
The injured skipper wasn’t 100% as he was struggling with his hamstring, and critics are lambasting him for not sitting out of the semi’s.
Instead, the 33-year old opening batsman went out for a duck, and showed no tactical or technical prowess by opting to bowl first.
This is the second World Cup that Bavuma has led the team into, and critics are calling for the Captain’s neck on the chopping block for his failure to bring home the title.
The Proteas found themselves in trouble early in the match when they were sitting on 24 runs with 4 wickets lost.
In his post-match interview, Temba Bavuma lauded his team for their efforts, and resilience but conceded that Australia were the better side.
“Looking at the results of the game, the way we started with the bat and the ball was probably the telling point, where we lost it quite badly there. We had to play catch up to get ourselves back into the game.
Our character came through in the second half, the resilience we always speak about, and the bit of dog fight showed.
I think the conditions combined with the quality of the attack played a hand at the start, they were ruthless, they exploited every bit of advantage that was presented to them with those conditions, and they really put us under pressure.”
Temba Bavuma on the Proteas choking at the semi finals
Bavuma’s poor performance in the semi finals did not overshadow David Miller’s stellar century while under heavy pressure.
Proteas head-coach, Rob Walter said while the loss was disappointing, he’s still very proud of the team.



