South Africa are they still wearing the chocker tag?

[Prince EWS]

Really worthy of six s? No.


It is all relative. I laugh long and loud most times. In this case the choker tag on RSA was so obvious if you look back in recent history. IMO worth 6- 8 laughs (at least).

[SJS]

South Africa are they still wearing the chocker tag?

NO. They dont wear it any more.

Its been branded on their torsoes.

[Athlai]

Who needs the choker tag, when you've got the choker tattoo and all kinds of choker accesories.

[pasag]

This is the most boring subject ever. No matter in what thread the words South Africa comes up in, there will also be a few pages of posts with the word chokers in it. Same old, same old. Makes one lose interest in any discussion of the team immediately. And you all wonder why you have so few Saffies on this forum.

Yeah, but you make it sound like it's some sort of Cricket Web thing when in fact its a term used in relation to South Africa all the time in the media and other places however rightly or wrongly. There are certainly merits to say South Africa's batting line up choked last night although as has been said, they weren't favourites going in so they could hardly choke by losing, although the magnitude of the loss could certainly be termed a choke.

Still, I'd agree the constant tagging and stereotyping of South Africans as chokers would be annoying.

[Matt79]

But merited, itbt.

That performance last night represented a huge failure to play to their potential, and it was an inability to keep their heads and play sensibly in the conditions, against the opposition, that did them in - not any abnormally special effort by the Australians. That's the definition of a choke to me. And given the track record, it seems a fair call to me.

[NUFAN]

Smith - rubbish shot, didn't perform anywhere close to a "captains innings"

Kallis - The best thing about Kallis was he knew how to handle the situation, last night he did a terrible shot, so unlike him.

Prince - Picked in the side mainly to make runs in difficult situations, Worst shot of the day.

These 3 guys choked. Such a terrible semi final, they made 149 which was about 149 to few..

[jot1]

Yeah, but you make it sound like it's some sort of Cricket Web thing when in fact its a term used in relation to South Africa all the time in the media and other places however rightly or wrongly.

Which is why it makes it so boring to read it, ad nauseum, in here, too. Many of the posts are not even a constructive discussion of who, when or how the team choked. It's one liners and 3 word sentences. Surely Cricket Web members are original and intelligent enough not to have to resort to copycatting the media who are all just copying each other. Someone coins a phrase and they all jump on the bandwagon.

[Langeveldt]

Boring?? Quite the opposite really. I just had a quick look at the on-line news reports out of South Africa, and this match and the "choke" is somewhat breaking news and front page news. It appears to be of interest to the nation.

Yeah, unfortunatly there's some warped theory going on in the country that we are actually able to take Australia on at their own game and therefore win a world cup against them.. I'm sorry, but it doesnt work like that, and we'll just go the same way that every other nation will until Australia start a real downturn.. I'm glad we played aggresive cricket, which meant guys would get out to stupid shots. I'm glad we aimed to get 300 and failed rather than pussyfooted our way to 235..

I was quietly optimistic that we'd do well, given our record, but the kind of slamming and ridiculing that has gone on since yesterday just makes us look a bit like India or Pakistan.. I wish okes would keep some perspective

Majola's come out all guns blazing saying we lack the mental capacity.. I'm fed up of the over analysing, nothing wrong with being beaten by a superior team trying to play their own game.. I've been absolutely smashed today for daring to say that Australia might be better and it was no shame to lose to them properly in a semi final...

The attitude of SA fans seems to be the total opposite to England fans.. Dire optimism as opposed to dire pessimism..

[frey]

Yeah, unfortunatly there's some warped theory going on in the country that we are actually able to take Australia on at their own game and therefore win a world cup against them.. I'm sorry, but it doesnt work like that, and we'll just go the same way that every other nation will until Australia start a real downturn.. I'm glad we played aggresive cricket, which meant guys would get out to stupid shots. I'm glad we aimed to get 300 and failed rather than pussyfooted our way to 235..

I was quietly optimistic that we'd do well, given our record, but the kind of slamming and ridiculing that has gone on since yesterday just makes us look a bit like India or Pakistan.. I wish okes would keep some perspective

Majola's come out all guns blazing saying we lack the mental capacity.. I'm fed up of the over analysing, nothing wrong with being beaten by a superior team trying to play their own game.. I've been absolutely smashed today for daring to say that Australia might be better and it was no shame to lose to them properly in a semi final...

The attitude of SA fans seems to be the total opposite to England fans.. Dire optimism as opposed to dire pessimism..

I really appreciate your frank and considered thoughts on the overall situation. As an Aussie cricket fan looking from the outside at the South African situation, I can now see the point you are making. I too had been caught up in the media hype.

[Salamuddin]

But merited, itbt.

That performance last night represented a huge failure to play to their potential, and it was an inability to keep their heads and play sensibly in the conditions, against the opposition, that did them in - not any abnormally special effort by the Australians. That's the definition of a choke to me. And given the track record, it seems a fair call to me.

I think their potential was overrated in the first place.

[Matt79]

I think their potential was overrated in the first place.

Possibly, but that's largely irrelevant to what I was saying. Regardless of how good their potential is, what they produced was clearly nowhere near it.

Kallis has shown that he could, playing his normal game, be relied upon to make a worthwhile score, even if his strike rate is only around 70. That potential isn't over-rated, what people dispute is whether that's a good enough effort from a player of his calibre. He manifestly didn't meet that potential.

Prince played an awful shot that he would have been disappointed by. He's shown in the past he can at least play with some application. Didn't meet his potential.

Gibbs has the potential to play great innings but frequently gets himself out seemingly relaxing after he's done the hard work. Didn't meet his potential.

Kemp was in a hard spot, and couldn't read Hogg at all, so you could say that he did the best he could in the circumstances. Boucher got a great first delivery and was gone before he knew it, so its hard to criticise him for not meeting his potential.

[Prince EWS]

I think their potential was overrated in the first place.

Everything you say about South Africa can be taken with a grain of salt though, really.

Plus, as Matt said, that's entirely irrelevant to his point. If you're going to suggest that their potential consisted of what they displayed in the semi-final, then that really just sums up how seriously your opinion of them can be taken.

[Salamuddin]

Everything you say about South Africa can be taken with a grain of salt though, really.

Plus, as Matt said, that's entirely irrelevant to his point. If you're going to suggest that their potential consisted of what they displayed in the semi-final, then that really just sums up how seriously your opinion of them can be taken.

Again another case where you completely misunderstood what I said.
No, I'm saying that that all this talk prior to teh tournament about how good South Africa really were was a bit misplaced....all I ever said about RSA was that their no.1 ranking was not really reflective of how good a team they were and I think my stand has been vindicated now that that the World Cup is nearly over.

South Africa looked a great team at home but when they were taken out of their comfort zone, they looked far from being a world no.1 oufit.
Hence it is no great surprise that they were well beaten by AUstralia.

[Matt79]

Again another case where you completely misunderstood what I said.
No, I'm saying that that all this talk prior to teh tournament about how good South Africa really were was a bit misplaced....all I ever said about RSA was that their no.1 ranking was not really reflective of how good a team they were and I think my stand has been vindicated now that that the World Cup is nearly over.

South Africa looked a great team at home but when they were taken out of their comfort zone, they looked far from being a world no.1 oufit.
Hence it is no great surprise that they were well beaten by AUstralia.

Fair enough - except I'd say it was a surprise they were utterly humiliated rather than just "well beaten".