It is really sad to see South Africa falter in the penultimate round of every ICC tournament since their readmission. Over the years, they have had some fabulous cricketers who represented South Africa with distinction. The likes of Kallis, Smith, Amla, de Villiers, Steyn, Donald and a host of other distinguished cricketers paraded the talent the country possesses. Jacques Kallis alone can be counted among the greatest cricketers ever to have roamed the planet. His mastery with the ball, with the bat and on the field was astonishing. Not for nothing is de Villiers known as Mr. 360. He could send the ball to all parts of the ground. Yet, South Africa and ICC tournaments have been the antithesis of each other.
Despite the presence of such a glittery of stars, they are yet to win an ICC tournament except for probably one Champions Trophy and I am not even sure about that. Nevertheless, they have not won a single ODI World Cup or T20 World Cup. For every South African, the 1999 World Cup will remain a wound that will never ever heal. The defeats at the hands of Australia despite dominating the game for a large part will forever remain in their memory. A lot of exceptional South African cricketers, have never tasted the sweet success of a World Cup triumph despite multiple attempts.
There are far too many heartbreaks for South Africa. The 1999 loss was tough to take and so was the loss at Auckland in 2015 when they lost of the last delivery with one of the greatest bowler bowling it. Dale Steyn. 22 runs required of 1 ball in 1991, down from 22 required of 17 just before the rain. It is far too many to count.
South Africa’s recent record and Miller the sole warrior
The just concluded ODI World Cup was different in many ways though. For starters, South Africa was never considered among the favourites to reach the semi-final. Leave alone winning the trophy. Their recent past record in the subcontinent suggested a team that was not only short of confidence but a team that was unlikely to pose any threat to the tougher sides. On that aspect, they need not be disheartened.
However, after playing a brand of cricket that they are not known for, they suddenly transformed into a side that everyone else feared. It all started with Rohit Sharma’s assault on Jansen and the whole dynamics changed for South Africa. He seems to have lost his confidence from then on.
South Africa ran into their traditional nemesis in the semi-final, Australia. What happened once they were up against Australia is now known.
David Miller played an important innings but it wasn’t enough in the end.
“It’s a bit hollow,” he said afterwards, forcing a smile. “Like Quinny [Quinton de Kock] mentioned, with his four hundreds, he wouldn’t mind if he didn’t score any runs and we won the trophy. It’s the same kind of thing. We wanted to get to the final and have a crack at the trophy, but it wasn’t to be.”
After finding themselves on the mat at 24/4, South Africa needed someone to steer them to some sort of respectable total. Miller answered their prayers with his best innings of the tournament.
“It was enjoyable anchoring the innings,” he said. “I felt like I wanted to hit fours and sixes the whole way through. But I soaked up a lot of pressure. It was more about the partnership at that stage. Every run counts in a semi-final, so we tried to salvage some sort of total.”
The problem is the captain
Temba Bavuma, one cannot understand why is he in the squad. He is not at all an attacking batsman and at the top of the order, he ends up gobbling a lot of deliveries which places undue pressure on Quinton to score quickly. The only reason he is in the squad and a captain at that is because of his colour and the South African quota system. I do not see any other reason. In over 10 years, Bavuma hasn’t done anything exceptional or even decent to be taken note of. Opponents will be cheerful the moment they see Bavuma walk in. Ofcourse, now it is too late to cry over spilt milk. South Africa chose to go in with the wrong choice as captain and they paid the price for it.
Bavuma went with history and opted to bat after winning the toss. 13 out of the 20 games played at the Eden Gardens were won by the team batting first. However, Bavuma failed to see over his head at the sky. Under cloudy conditions, he could have chosen to bowl. Ofcourse there was that familiar South African flailing of floundering during chasing. Nevertheless, overhead conditions could have helped his fast bowlers.
Astoundingly, he didn’t seem to trust Markaram with the ball. It was Marakaram who provided the initial breakthrough. Looking at the way Maharaj and Shamsi were tying Australian batsmen in knots, a saner captain would have preferred for one more spinner if he had. Bavuma had that in Markram and surprisingly, he did not utilise his service properly.
Wrapping up South Africa and ICC tournaments
Despite that South Africa fought hard, tooth and nail as Rabadda himself said. They had to because they did not have a choice. This wasn’t a league game but a knockout. South Africa. There is no easy solution for South Africa’s fallibility during crucial games. It is probably in their mind. They must perhaps believe that they have the capacity to not only reach the final but to actually win it.
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