“We just weren’t good enough.”
That’s the blunt assessment of Joburg Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming after he watched his team exit the SA20 playoffs for a third season in succession at Centurion on Wednesday night.
The Super Kings fell 32 runs short in their Eliminator against double defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
The Joburg outfit were decimated by injuries throughout the competition, with five seam bowlers being ruled out.
Crucially, they also lost all-rounders David Wiese and Donovan Ferreira ahead of the playoffs.
Ferreira’s loss was particularly crucial as the big-hitter had just started to find form with the willow, and had been a crucial element of the Super Kings’ bowling attack.
But instead of looking for excuses, Fleming felt his team were not up to the mark when it mattered most.
“I think we were hanging on a bit, in terms of our entire season... holding it together with a bit of glue. Each game, we weren’t as accurate as we needed to be,” the Kiwi mentor said.
“We had a chance, but we just sloppy again with the bat. We needed the bigger boys to stand up and get the 75-plus, but we just gave wickets away too easily and too often.
“It’s a pretty simple formula for losing. We were a bit frantic with the bat, and we’ve been looking for calmness... and we were anything but.”
The New Zealander was also quick to defend fast bowler Lutho Sipamla after the 26-year-old conceded the second-worst figures of 0/72 in SA20 history at Centurion.
Sipamla’s final over was particularly critical in the context of the game as he conceded 29 runs in the Sunrisers’ penultimate over of the innings, which changed the entire momentum of the Eliminator.
Fleming, though, stressed that Sipamla had been consistent throughout the competition after coming in as replacement midway through, and backed captain Faf du Plessis’ decision to bowl him at the death.
“It’s a real shame because Sipamla has been outstanding for us, and just had a tough day at the office,” Fleming said.
“He has come in and held us together. I was really disappointed for him, because he’s been really good.
“Lutho had done a great job, and I back Faf’s decision to bowl him. He had been outstanding at the death. You have to back your form horse, and he had been that.
“They just played him really well. He could have tried a few more things, and he will reflect on that, but the rise he’s had in this tournament, I only have compliments for him.”
While disappointed that another SA20 season has ended in a playoff exit, Fleming feels the character his team showed in adversity at times will stand them in good stead in forthcoming seasons as they still seek a first-ever finals appearance.
“I am satisfied with how we hung together in a pretty tough season,” he said.
“You don’t envisage the amount of change that we’ve had. Guys have come in and given us an opportunity, but the result is probably a fair reflection of where this team is at, and the other three teams are at and why they are still in the finals.
“We haven’t quite got it right. We’ve come close, but close is not good enough for this franchise.
“So, there is pressure going forward to make sure that in the next rotation that will see a change that we get it right.”