South Africa's Under-19 captain Bryce Parsons was rudely introduced to the uncompromising concept of singular responsibility in the face of his team's spectacularly abject surrender against Afghanistan here on Friday.
SA's Under-19's haven't been playing the best of cricket, but as a major Test-playing nation, they're expected to beat Afghanistan.
That wasn't the case in the opening ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup game where the well-drilled Afghans consummately manhandled the hosts.
They bowled them out for 129 in 29.1 overs before chasing down the meagre target with seven wickets and 150 balls to spare.
Parsons had done his bit by winning the toss and batting first. When they were 7/2 in the third over after Afghanistan's left-arm seamer Fazal Haque had removed dangerous openers Jonathan Bird and Andrew Louw, it was Parsons with Eastern Province's Luke Beaufort who stemmed the collapse with an enterprising 55-run, second wicket stand.
Parsons led the way as the top-scorer with his 42-ball 40, but his wicket was the first of eight to fall to spin on an easy paced surface.
Ironically, he was caught at first slip by Shafiqullah Ghafari, who's 6/15 in nine overs broke the back of SA's rather feeble middle-order batting.
It wouldn't make cricket common sense to blame Parsons for a team's fallibility against spin, but in a show of leadership, he was quick to admit the breaking of his partnership with Beaufort was the catalyst for the fateful 11-over period where the hosts slid from 62/2 to 90/8.
"It was disappointing, Luke and I should have kicked on. We started very well and at least, we should have had big hundreds or something close to that. We had starts in terms of scoring 40 and 25, but we had soft dismissals. We can't put the blame on the middle-order. We should have kicked on and scored the runs," Parsons said.
While SA's brand of cricket smacked of naivety and lack of research with regards to Afghanistan's strengths and weaknesses, Parsons had faith in his team's ability to defend their small total and took confidence from the fact that Afghanistan had been bowled out cheaply by tournament favourites India in a warm-up game.
That exuberance and optimism though wasn't tempered by the fact that there's a massive gulf in intensity between a warm-up and a World Cup game.
It showed in the confidence displayed by opener Ibrahim Zadran, who's a Test cricketer, and Imran Mir with their contrasting but controlled 50s that doused any hopes of a miraculous comeback. Parsons understood that his team's heart was in the right place, but they never had enough runs to defend.
Their focus has to shift quickly to Wednesday's group game against Canada in Potchefstroom.
"We were disappointed with 129, but we knew Afghanistan were bowled out for 44 in one of the warm-up games. If we took early wickets, we knew we'd have a chance, but their openers batted really well and from there, it was tough to break through on quite a flat wicket," Parsons said.
"We're not going to look too much into the result because we've got two big games coming up. They are two must-win games against Canada and the United Arab Emirates. We're looking forward because we have no time to dwell on what happened in this game. The result was disappointing, but we have to move on."
The result was a significant, but expected one for Afghanistan coach Rais Ahmadzai and his charges.
They were semifinalists in New Zealand two years ago and with Friday's showing, they're looking to build on that impressive performance.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.