A few weeks back, one of India’s cricket commentators said South Africa is such a passionate country.
Kyk hier, never have such kind words hit me in the gut like that before.
Of course, our Proteas were on the losing end against his country and, true to form, we fought with that never-say-die attitude. Jy ken hom mos.
But when I think of “passionate” sports countries, I immediately see France or Argentina rugby players crying while singing the national anthem.
It wasn’t the passion statement that bothered me, it was what he didn’t say. Passionate teams are never really those favoured to win.
Passionate teams gooi their everything at you… but somehow, in the end, passion is just never enough to bring you glory.
It got me thinking that maybe our cricket team isn’t as good as we like to believe. That’s when I realised that we are the Pumas of world cricket – always there and thereabout, but never the bride.
After years of what we call choking – I now see it as the cricketing world simply seeing us as decent competition and almost causing an upset, I decided not to have any expectation of our boys in Australia at the T20 World Cup.
Entering the tournament, we are ranked fourth in the world and have never won a World Cup. Taking the field with a captain who is out of form, not many people will give the Proteas a chance of success.
But that’s exactly what makes coach Mark Boucher’s side dangerous in this tournament – not much is expected of them, meaning the weight of expectation can’t be too great on skipper Temba Bavuma and company.
In fact, they have nothing to lose and with a vrag gamebreakers in their team could beat anyone on their day.
Add to this that they will be playing for their coach, who will leave the team for a job at Mumbai Indians after the tournament and that they will undoubtedly span saam with Bavuma during his current struggles, I reckon that “passion” could well turn out to be their biggest weapon this time around.
In Quinton de Kock and David Miller, South Africa have two of the grootse gevare in the shortest format of the game.
Add two of the best fast bowlers in the world, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, to the equation, coupled with two spinners who can turn the game on its head – Keshav Maharaj with his superb tactics and wily cricket brain and Tabraiz Shamsi, who is rated as one of the best bowlers in this format – and all of a sudden you have a spine that can break any team.
Hang on, there’s no reason why we can’t beat the likes of Australia, New Zealand, India, England and whoever.
Finger snap! And just like that expectation was born. You better not choke manne.See you in the finals on November 13.