CAN PROTEAS END WORLD CUP WOES?
SA need to fix batting weakness
Can South Africa win the World Cup in England this year‚ and so end the most puzzling omission from the only honours board that matters in one-day cricket?
Heading into the 2019 World Cup there are no straight answers‚ and not only because too many South Africans have been shot in this movie too, many times before.
They’ve seen the team they support go to seven World Cups‚ often as the favourites to win the damned thing.
And they’ve seen seven teams return empty-handed.
You have to wonder whether some of SA’s players have thought of packing a loser’s suitcase‚ as Floyd Patterson did the night before his first heavyweight world title fight against
Sonny Liston in Chicago in September 1962.
“And so‚ with losing on his mind‚ Floyd made arrangements‚” David Remnick wrote in King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero.
“He carefully stuffed his bag and an attache case with clothes‚ food‚ and a disguise – a custom-made beard and moustache. If he won‚ of course‚ he’d meet the press and head back to the hotel for a victory party.
“If not‚ he would leave Comiskey Park in his false whiskers and drive through the night to his training camp in upstate New York.”
We can all understand how South Africa’s World Cup teams have had much in common with Floyd Patterson.
What are their chances of escaping the analogy this time? If you have a look at their recent record‚ not great.
South Africa played 17 ODIs in 2018‚ winning nine and losing the rest. That sounds like a pass mark‚ if only just.
Closer to the truth is that three of those games were against Zimbabwe – and thus won – and should be removed from the equation in any cleareyed analysis.
That narrows the numbers to played 14‚ won six‚ lost eight: not quite so average anymore.
More happily‚ SA’s most recent foray in the format was in Australia in November‚ when they won the series 2-1.
In the first game‚ in Perth‚ Andile Phehlukwayo took three wickets and Dale Steyn‚ Lungi Ngidi and Imran Tahir two each to set up victory by six wickets.
Add Kagiso Rabada‚ who went wicketless that day‚ to the mix and you have as skilled and threatening an arsenal of bowlers as can be compiled anywhere in the game.
Australia won by seven runs in Adelaide‚ but David Miller’s 51‚ only his third half-century in 11 completed innings at that point‚ offered hope that one of the most devastating middle order players in cricket was getting back to his best.
So Miller proved in Hobart‚ where he hammered 139 off 108 balls to help SA win by 40 runs.
He and Faf du Plessis‚ who made 125‚ shared 252 for the fourth wicket in a stand that endured from the 16th over to the 49th. Batting frailty has been the story of most of SA’s failures and must be avoided if this World Cup is not to be added to the sad list of those that have gone before.
SA will need players like Du Plessis and Miller to do‚ with impressive frequency‚ something like what they did in Hobart.
SA have always had the players to win the World Cup. What they have lacked is the team.
Either you make room for a trophy in your suitcase or you pack a fake moustache.