POTCHEFSTROOM (South Africa), Feb 10: South African talisman Jonty Rhodes said the World Cup hosts were frustrated rather than depressed after losing their opening Group ‘B’ game to West Indies.

Carl Hooper’s team caused a major upset at Newlands on Sunday when they edged South Africa by three runs in a thrilling contest that was in doubt well into the final over.

But Rhodes said it was the team’s failure to play as well as they know they can that bothered the players most.

“We weren’t really low,” Rhodes said during a break from practice at the North West Cricket Stadium on Monday. “I would say we were frustrated more than anything. If we had played our best cricket and lost then perhaps we would have been low, but we didn’t play our best and still came close.

“It’s possibly the best the West Indies are going to play and we still could have won it.”

Rhodes did not deny that defeat was a major blow to South Africa’s World Cup chances but said the team had been greatly helped by some comments made to them before the tournament by Francois Pienaar, South Africa’s 1995 rugby World Cup-winning captain.

“Francois told us that if we didn’t win our first game it wasn’t the end of the world,” said Rhodes. “This is my fourth World Cup and it’s the first time we’ve lost our opening game. Maybe it’s an omen that this time things will get better in the latter stages of the tournament.”

Much as they may try and put the defeat by West Indies behind them, it was clear that South Africa and Rhodes, in particular, were still unhappy at the manner in which they were docked an over for a slow over rate.

“The irritating thing is that if we were dragging our heels, I could understand. But the umpires gave us no indication we were lagging behind. We kept asking them towards the end how we were doing and by all accounts we were going to be okay.

“Maybe the referee had to set an example as it was the first game, but generally Madugalle has had a pretty good feel for the game and has been really fair. For us to criticise him now might be considered sour grapes on our part,” he said.—Reuters