That South African cricket has any fans left is a wonderful thing. And with the world cup now just around the corner I, and doubtless 10’s of others, are bracing themselves for yet another horrific ordeal of last minute collapses, D/L miscalculations and vacant-eyed running between the wickets.
“˜Chokers.’ That’s what we were called (and although you’ll never get me to admit it outside the rant-fest of a medium that is the personal blog) we probably deserved it. After the truly abysmal run chasing displays and panicky decision-making that defined SA cricket throughout the late 90’s and early 00’s (I still can’t get my head around calling them the “˜noughties’), it was only the most glazed-eyed of fans who could stare somewhere just above the left shoulder of their opposing Aussie number and keep a straight face while he or she rattled off some meaningless stat on how we’d just clobbered an under-strength and self-destructing Windies or, heaven forbid, just chased down 240 against England.
438 put paid to that in the most magnificent way possible. To this day, every time I’m feeling a little low I get out my bootlegged DVD of the full-length highlights package and watch the complete second innings. Yes, I am a cricket dork. But to my fellow dorks out there I urge you to try it. The transition from crowing Aussie commentary (“whatta performance! Even without Warney and McGraaaaa, we’re still the best team in the weld!”), to grudging respect for Gibbs’ terrific knock, then the slight concern, the downright disbelief and, eventually, the somewhat stunned congratulations. Although it didn’t hold onto the mantel for highest ODI score ever achieved for very long, it is still the highest run chase ever, and the highest against recognized, top-eight opposition”¦ the old enemy, Australia, no less.
And since then we’ve managed to shake that “˜chokers’ label rather nicely. Our ODI ranking has suffered a bit but now seems to have stabilised at a very respectable joint 3rd with Sri Lanka, both of us just 1 point behind 2nd place holders, India. We’ve just beaten a strong Indian side in the build up. We have two of the best fast bowlers in the world. Amla is firing, JP seems back in form, and the top order look stronger than they have for years. Kallis, too, should be fit for the start and can hopefully take some great form into the tournament. Smith may be a bit wobbly with the bat at the moment, but at least he has Botha and Peterson (and Tahir!) to bowl. Although they perhaps aren’t the best spinners in the world (my jury is still out on Tahir, though I wish him bags of wickets”¦ or at least a cap), it at least means he will be saved the dilemma of ever having to bowl himself. We hope.
So why do I feel this growing sense of unease as the World Cup 2011 approaches? Is this just the usual saffa cricket-fan angst? My own personal lack of gees? The inevitable pessimism built on the pain of consecutive big-stage disasters?
I’m not sure. What I do know is that as I screamed at the TV and fumed with frustration during last Saturday’s dreadful collapse, I felt that familiar demon, long-dead I had thought, awake in the shadowed recesses of my mind. And then when I sat at Newlands last Tuesday, soaking up the atmosphere, the beer, and the boerie, and watched SA slump to a 2-1 deficit, the gnawing grew more earnest and the familiar apprehension was well and truly back. Even yesterday’s win hasn’t displaced it. What with Pathan blasting that monster century at the death, it was all too easy to imagine a shock result – and all the easier after Morkel’s no-ball dismissal of Zaheer had come so close to wrapping it all up with room to spare.
I can understand when a team comes along and genuinely outplays us. It hurts and it can be humiliating, but so it goes sometimes. Sometimes the opposition is just better than you. It may well be that we hit a team on form in the World Cup and they have a top game, knock us out and go on to win. Aussie are thumping England (current international T20 champions!) at the moment and certainly have a lot to prove. Sri Lanka and India are very good teams and they’re hosting. Anything can happen.
Anything certinaly can happen, that, as we’re fond of saying, is cricket. But please, please, please South Africa don’t return to those bad old days of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The little voice in my head is well above a whisper now and I just don’t think I can take another D/L disaster, a wild swipe top-edged to point when we need 5 runs in 50 balls, batsmen stranded half way down the track while the fielder wonders if he can perhaps run both of them out, or a sudden inexplicable reintroduction of our most expensive bowler at the death.
We are good enough to win a World Cup. We have been for years. Here’s hoping that the selectors finally settle on a team for this one and we can get down to out-playing our opponents and move past this depressing legacy of first having to get past challenge of out-playing ourselves.
