Lack of identity in South Africa’s cricket teams
FOR the first time, the West Indies will not feature in a Cricket World Cup, marking a new low in their consistently hard-to-watch downfall. Who would have thought? Probably no one.
From two-time World Champions, to not qualifying for this year’s World Cup after losses to Zimbabwe, the Netherlands and Scotland will leave a deep scar.
Last week, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowley, wrote on his social media account after a spectacular loss to the Dutch in a Super Over: “Today, I saw THE WORST CRICKET MATCH ever played by the West Indies.
Playing for the West Indies must be a treasured privilege available only to the best that are prepared to show character in defence to our legacy and our pride.”
The biggest aspect about Clive Loyd’s team, and even Viv Richard’s team, was that cricket was more than just a sport, and representing the West Indies meant a lot more.
In those days, the Windies were prepared to “die” out in the middle, and it showed every time they had bat or ball in hand.
Now, watching the Windies is like watching a team lacking an identity. Rarely does this team achieve anything of substance.
If you are South African, you would have heard of “identity” more than once from pundits and supporters as SA cricket’s biggest bugbear. There has been a lack of identity in the South African teams for a host of different reasons, some the same as that of the Windies.
Players of the past can’t get through to this new generation of SA cricketers because the landscape has changed immensely.
What was thought of as a strong team culture in the 90s and early 2000s in both teams has been found to be narcissistic and discriminative.
This could be the reason behind the Proteas almost not qualifying for this year’s World Cup as well.
When it comes to team identity, the leadership of Rob Walter and Temba Bavuma are literally pioneers of this new movement, a movement to bring about an identity that best represents the rainbow nation. As we have seen with West Indies Cricket.