I think we choked again, admits Kirsten

At a loss for words to explain South Africa's dismal show in the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal against England, the team's outgoing coach Gary Kirsten conceded that the Proteas choked yet again and a "dark mist" hangs over it in knock-out events.
"I'm sure you can imagine the word choke is trending on Twitter. It didn't look like that to me, it looked like you were beaten by the better team. But how do you explain to South Africans that it hasn't happened again in this match?" said the disappointed former India coach after side's seven-wicket loss here yesterday.
South Africa were shot out for 175 in 38.4 overs by the English, who chased the target in 37.3 overs.

"I think it has happened again to be honest with ourselves. I think we did choke again. At the end of the day, it's a word that we've become comfortable with. It's an uncomfortable word, that we've become comfortable with, and you have to accept that that's what it is," said Kirsten.
"So it's a horrible word. It does get used. We've spoken about it; we've been up front about it as a team. We certainly let you are ourselves down today, no doubt," he added.
Kirsten said the players who tend to choke while turning up for the national side have produced exceptional performances with other teams.

"I don't think as individuals they get emotionally hijacked. It's rather, if they play for other teams, they play brilliant cricket. But then they come to South African cricket, there is this mist that hangs over the team and it's going to require really tough individuals to try to overcome that," he explained.
"It's definitely a dark mist that hangs over South African cricket in knock-out events. At some point we're going to have to try to cross the line. It's going to require some real charisma and some real batsmen to get over the line. It might not be pretty, but at some point we're going to have to do it to get rid of this mess.