Despite South Africa’s crushing T20 World Cup loss to New Zealand, Minister of Sport Gayton McKenzie praised the Proteas for their efforts. Picture: Michael Sherman/IOL Despite South Africa’sembarrassing defeattoNew Zealandin theT20 World Cupon Wednesday, SA Minister of SportGayton McKenziewas careful not to criticise the Proteas. South Africastruggled throughout their innings batting first at Eden Gardens, first falling to 20/2 before being reduced to 77/5.
Despite a fighting knock of 55 unbeaten from top-scorer Marco Jansen, South Africa could only manage 169/8 in their 20 overs. At the innings break, it appeared South Africa were a few runs shy of a defendable total, but once New Zealand came into bat, they looked closer to 50 runs short of anything competitive. Ultimately, the Kiwis knocked off the runs in just 12.5 overs, with Finn Allen scoring an unbeaten 100 off just 33 balls.
It was a humiliating end to the Proteas campaign, which had grown stronger every match after they edged Afghanistan in a double Super Over thriller. Their domination included a one-sided seven-wicket victory over New Zealand in the group stage. McKenzie, though, struck a sycophantic tone in his post on X when he said: “You have played your hearts out, Gents, you have given us great moments of joy, you can always count on the love of South Africans, particularly when the chips are down like today.
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We know you Boys are gutted, don’t be, we will get them next time, Boyz.” McKenzie’s comments came a day after he confirmed the money has been paid to the SA Football Association (Safa) to begin using Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in local Premier Soccer League (PSL) matches. The cost of implementation is reported to be between R70 million and R80 million as a one-off expense and then approximately R70,000 per game thereafter.
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