It is not just in SA where the Cricket World Cup has yet to ignite the public imagination. Even here in India, the one-sided nature of the first 25 games and the dominant form of the host nation has led to a view that the tournament will come down to three knockout matches to decide the champion.
The fact that the top four teams have pulled significantly clear of the other six has enhanced that perception, but … an awful lot can still change. SA have been just as dominant as India, for example, but their solitary loss — to the Netherlands — is proof that any team really can beat any other on a given day.
The Proteas face New Zealand and India in their next two games and if they lose both they are likely to have to beat Afghanistan in their final match to finish in the top four. So, when captain Temba Bavuma and head coach Rob Walter insist they are not looking further ahead than the next game, it is with good reason.
A win on Wednesday in Pune against the Black Caps will go a long way to confirm a semifinal place but, for now, the cricketers are still happy for the public’s attention to remain focused on the Springboks in the afterglow of their fourth World Cup triumph.
“There isn’t much more we can say about the Boks. They’ve been successful for a long time and an inspiration to everyone. The desire for us to win a Cricket World Cup hasn’t changed because of the Boks winning; it’s always been there. But the way they won is something we have spoken about as a team, from a pressure point of view,” Walter said in Pune on Monday.
“Maybe the media spotlight will shift a bit to us now, but they’ve doubled up with World Cup wins and we are still trying to get over the line. Hopefully their win will be a catalyst for us,” Walter said.
Springbok critics (and their vanquished opponents) say their winning style is dull, repetitive and lacking in entertainment. That cannot be said of the way the cricketers have been winning in India, except perhaps for the final few overs in the last game against Pakistan, when Keshav Maharaj bravely opted for a block-and-nudge in the company of veritable nonbatters Lungi Ngidi and Tabraiz Shamsi, with 20 runs required from a full five overs.
“Winning ‘ugly’ is a thing, right? Maybe we’ve been guilty of losing those games we should have won. The tail-enders could have thrown caution to the wind and nobody would really have questioned them if we had lost, but they showed the responsibility and thinking to get us over the line,” Walter said.
Panic has been a familiar companion to Proteas teams, but rarely has it been followed by a redeeming calm. Is it a sign that this team has a better relationship with sporting pressure than its predecessors?
“Hard question to answer,” said Walter. “We’ll get more insight into that as the tournament progresses, but the way the guys bounced back after the Dutch game was impressive. The language and preparation were positive, the attitude was outstanding.
“They will come under pressure again in however many games we have left in the tournament and if we can show a similar approach, then perhaps we will show that we are getting better and better at winning big moments in pressurised games,” Walter said.
The game against New Zealand has a quixotic element to it, with Walter having coached in that country for seven years before his appointment to the SA position, culminating in taking the New Zealand A team on tour to India in 2022. He knows the opposition well and admits to having “a little bit of inside knowledge”.
His priority focus, of course, is on his own team rather than the opposition, though as a self-proclaimed “cricket nuffy”, he admits to watching more of the other games “than I had intended to”. There isn’t a label — yet — on the style of cricket his Proteas are playing but there is more than enough to understand the philosophy.
“You can’t celebrate the team scoring 400 and then bemoan the fact that guys make a mistake in trying to maintain the way we play the game. That said, there isn’t one batter who hasn’t analysed his performance or dismissal in an effort to be better.
“Very seldom does a batter walk off thinking, ‘that was bowler’s skill’ — maybe that’s batters’ ego — but if we’re going to climb into Heinrich Klaasen for playing a certain shot then we can’t celebrate him scoring 170 off 80 balls. We’re not robots,” Walter said.
One thing is certain, for good or bad. The other teams are no longer looking over their shoulders at SA. They are more concerned about running into them headlong at full speed. Because they all know, even India, that will be fatal.
There is neither the depth nor variety of talent to adapt should the blueprint go wrong, but if they reach the semifinals and the plan works for two games, the Proteas will finally join the Springboks. Plenty of ifs.
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