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Cape Town - Sport24 readers have largely agreed that Vernon Philander is a better bowler than Kyle Abbott, but the Cobra's bowler should have been left out against New Zealand as he wasn't fully-fit.
Read what Sport24 readers had to say as they wade in on the decision to pick Philander ahead of Abott:
Ryan Brewster: "So Domingo is willing to blame DL but not look at any of his, or the teams mistakes. Philander is way better than Abbott. The figures prove that. But to select a clearly unfit Philander over Abbott who was having a pretty good world cup is a really really bad judgement call. Made even more so that you, Domingo, are now looking to blame everyone and everything else, but appear completely oblivious to your own mistakes."
Johan van Rensburg: "I don't think Philander as such was the reason we lost. In all honesty, if we look at the figures of yesterday, Abbott should have been playing in place of Steyn. Steyn's figures were dismal.
Also, I do not buy into us being beaten by the better team on the day. Steyn was beaten by Elliot in the last over. We were on par with them on the day. It just came down to luck for the last over. It was a do-or-die penalty shoot-out. Steyn was the striker, Elliot the keeper. Steyn shot, Elliot held, NZ won. Simple as that.
Other than that, both teams dropped catches & missed run-outs. There was not much between the blitzes of Miller & McCullum. Their seam bowlers were better than ours on the day, therefore I feel our spinners were better.
It just came down to the last over, 2nd last ball. Elliot connected & the rest is history.
Having said that, perhaps AB should have given Tahir a ninth over to bowl the last over. Steyn's form during the game was poor and he was having issues with his hamstring.
But WTH, it is over. Hope the Kiwis win the tournament. Don't see them being a dominant ODI force for too long though..."
Tommy Tanker: "This needs to fall on Domingo and Donald can go too.
Philanders selection was not political, it was just stupidity by Domingo and the selectors. They brought him back for the sake of bringing him back and COMPLETELY IGNORED Abbotts great form in the Tournament.
Its also not Philanders fault, because they selected him - no one in their right mind is going to turn down a WC semi-final.
Pollock got sacked after the Duckworth lewis screw up. Domino should take this one too."
Send us your thoughts to mysport@sport24.co.za
