South Africa coach Conrad says New Zealand defeat was a ‘walloping’ not a ‘choke’

KOLKATA: South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad denied they “choked” in their Twenty20 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, preferring to call their nine-wicket defeat a sound “walloping” at Eden Gardens ​on Wednesday.

The 2024 runners-up went into the match as the only unbeaten team in this ‌year’s tournament, whose seven wins in a row included a seven-wicket thrashing of New Zealand in a group match.

New Zealand, however, turned the tables in spectacular fashion with Finn Allen smashing an unbeaten 33-ball hundred to secure their nine-wicket romp ​with more than seven overs to spare.

South Africa have never advanced beyond the semi-finals in ​the 50-over World Cup and Conrad anticipated that the ‘choker’ label would resurface.

“Tonight was not ⁠a choke. I thought it was a bloody walloping,” Conrad told reporters managing to retain his sense ​of humour.

“In order for you to choke, you must have had a sniff in the game. We ​didn’t have a sniff.”

“Tonight we got a proper ‘snotklap’,” he said before explaining the meaning of the Afrikaans word - “a real hiding”.

“So I think there’ll be enough people that are going to be jumping on the bandwagon. But, yeah, we also did ​so many special things. I’m so proud of all these guys.

“I don’t think many people gave us ​much of a chance of even getting into a semi-final when we left the shores given our form before that ‌but ⁠that’s no consolation.”

Conrad felt New Zealand put themselves in the box seat when they restricted South Africa’s explosive batting lineup to a modest 169-8.

“They gave us absolutely nothing, and they really squeezed particularly well. Their spinners were exceptional in those conditions.”

“Obviously it would have been a nice toss to win, but that’s no ​excuse. We didn’t post ​anything close to what ⁠would have been competitive.”

Player-of-the-match Allen said New Zealand’s bowlers set up their win and heaped praise on his opening partner Tim Seifert, who combined with him in ​a decisive opening stand of 117.

“Timmy started off really strongly, and he ​looked to get ⁠on top of their bowlers early, which then made it easy for me to settle into my innings,” Allen said.

“For me, I just looked to play almost a support role to Tim. If it was in ⁠my area, ​I’d try and hit it for four or six, and ​if it wasn’t, just get a single and get him on strike.

“He just kept dealing in boundaries, which he’s been doing all ​tournament. He’s in incredible form, he’s an incredible player.”