Reifer rues missed chance to hurt struggling Proteas
West Indies Head Coach Floyd Reifer believes yesterday’s rain-abandoned encounter was a missed opportunity to take advantage of South Africa’s current poor run of form at the ICC World Cup.
The Proteas entered the contest on the back of three successive defeats and under heavy pressure of expectations to turn around their failing campaign.
And sent in at the Rose Bowl, they were tottering on 29 for two in the eighth over before rain intervened and eventually forced a no-result.
“We were looking forward to the game, especially the start that we had in the game,” Reifer said afterwards.
Not for the first time, West Indies were aggressive early on and were rewarded when left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell knocked over veteran Hashim Amla (6) and Aidy Markram (5) cheaply.
The Caribbean side has used their fast bowling attack to good effect in the tournament, blasting out Pakistan in their opening game in Nottingham before also having Australia on the run in their second game last Thursday at the same venue before tasting defeat.
And Reifer said with the current confidence in the camp, there was no opponent the Windies feared.
The washout saw each team take a point, leaving West Indies fifth in the standings on three points after three matches.
However, yesterday’s disappointments also brought sharply into focus the missed opportunity against Australia, when they failed to chase down a moderate 289 for victory.