Burden of the tag

It was the same story for South Africa in yet another mega-event

The date was March 22. The day was Sunday. The country was Australia and the city was Sydney.

The two teams battling it out to qualify for the final of the first-ever white-ball mega-event — ICC World Cup — were England and South Africa at the famous Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

The match was reduced to 45-overs-a-side because of rain earlier in the morning and it was Proteas captain Kepler Wessels who won the toss and opted to bowl first.

Graham Gooch’s men posted an impressive total of 252-6 in their allotted overs, courtesy of Graeme Hick’s brilliant 83 off just 90 balls.

In reply, South Africa, who were playing their first-ever mega-event after being reinstated following the homegrown battle against racism, were in the game throughout and needed 22 off 13 balls when the rain halted the play another time.

Once the game resumed after a meagre break of 10 minutes, using the lowest-scoring-over rain rules, Proteas were given an impossible task of scoring 22 runs off just one ball and they fell short by 19 runs.

That day started a never-ending cycle of South Africa’s hate affair with the knockout contests.

Year after year and tournament after tournament, the Green and Gold continued to fail despite having all the talent at their disposal.

Those results gave them the tag of ‘Chockers’, as many call it a ‘C’ tag, and they hardly did themselves any favours by continuing to produce worst performances when it mattered the most.

November 06, 2022, was one of those days again. The country was once again Australia and this time the city was Adelaide.

On a day of a triple-header, two teams had their journey in their own hands, South Africa and India. If both win, they go to the next stage regardless of the result in other matches.

Waiting in the wings were Pakistan and Bangladesh, hoping for a miracle from Netherlands or Zimbabwe to give them a sniff to stay alive in the competition.

For Proteas, on paper at least, they had the easiest of the opponents in the Dutch side who barely made it through to the Super 12s, courtesy of Namibia’s shocking defeat against the United Arab Emirates.

Their job was a simple one. Win and book your flight to Sydney to face New Zealand in the last-four contest.

Temba Bavuma, who was already under pressure with a string of poor performances with the bat in hand, started the day on a perfect note by winning the toss but that was probably the only thing that went right for the team from Africa that day.

The top-order batter decided to bowl first and surprisingly, South Africa’s mighty bowling conceded 48 runs in the powerplay, sending some alarm bells in the dressing room.

From there on, Proteas did manage to restrict the Dutch side to just 127-4 in 18 overs and in all fairness, they were looking to chase the target of 140 or slightly above.

But then came a real shock as Colin Ackermann and Scott Edwards smashed Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell for 31 runs in the last two overs and helped the side in posting a more than competitive total of 158-4 in their allotted 20 overs.

It was the second-highest total registered against South Africa in the competition, something which was unexpected for many, perhaps including the players and the management.

What happened afterwards was even more astonishing for any and everyone following the game itself.

South African players looked rattled for some odd reason and no one was willing to grind it out. They were not ready to read the writing on the wall that it was never going to be an easy win as many predicted before the day started in Adelaide.

Before they realised, it was too little, too late as the Netherlands, on a slightly slowish pitch, defeated the mighty Proteas by a handsome margin of 13 runs.

The primary difference on the day was the fact that Netherlands, against South Africa’s lethal bowling, scored 90 runs in boundaries and conceded just 54 in return, something extraordinary to even comprehend let alone be a part of.

The result was shocking to a point that even Pakistan players, who arrived at the stadium following the game, was seen clapping in utter disbelief that they, out of all the teams, now had a chance to book their place in the semi-finals and that’s what they did.

Coming back to South Africa, it was just the same story all over again. Since the 1992 World Cup, they have played 16 knockout matches in mega-events in different formats, ended up losing 10, one was tied (which can be considered a defeat as they eventually missed out on a place in the final of the 1999 ICC World Cup) and secured five wins.

Burden of the tag

Out of those victories, four of them came in the ICC Knockout competition (the tournament which later turned into ICC Champions Trophy) in 1998 and 2000.

Only one of them came in a proper ICC event, during the 2015 World Cup, where they defeated Sri Lanka in Sydney in the quarterfinals.

Those numbers themselves tell a story but behind those numbers, there is another tale to discover. There is a story of burden. There is a story of disbelief and a story of what-ifs.

It was not the first time South Africa players had a chance to put that C tag behind them and go into the semis as arguably one of the favourites to lift the title but just like in 1996, 2007 and other times, they faltered.

They might face the same Netherlands 100 times in the next 10 years and thrash their bowling to 120 runs in boundaries and might never concede more than 50 in return but on the day when it all mattered, they just failed to grab the opportunity with both hands.

The result this time must’ve hurt the nation. This time, the pain would’ve been far greater. Unlike some times in the recent past, their team had the personnel to do it. They had players who could achieve bigger things but they fell well short.

This time, the pain would’ve been greater because they did not lose against Pakistan, Australia, India or England, this time they came well short of a side who are not even a full member.

The pictures of South African players sitting in disbelief after the result will haunt them for years to come but whether that will be enough to reset everything in in South African cricket remain to be seen.

The players are back home, perhaps wondering what differently they could’ve done a week earlier. The irony is they are not the first generation of South African cricketers who would’ve gone through a similar phase and just like the ex-players, they too have very few answers to any questions.