South Africa aims to break knockout jinx vs Australia in WTC final

Post by : Bianca Suleiman

Photo: AFP

South Africa’s cricket captain, Temba Bavuma, believes his team can forget their bad luck in knockout games when they play Australia next week in the World Test Championship final.

South Africa has only won one major International Cricket Council (ICC) trophy before — the ICC Knockout, which was an early version of the Champions Trophy, back in 1998. Since then, they have often come close but missed winning.

Australia, on the other hand, is the top-ranked team and the defending champion. They beat India in the 2023 WTC final and have a great record in big tournaments. Australia has won the one-day World Cup six times, the Champions Trophy twice, and the T20 World Cup as well.

Bavuma said it is different for Australia because they have been successful many times and know what to do in big matches. But Bavuma, who is 35 years old, said South Africa will not be scared to face Pat Cummins’ Australian team.

He said, “We have to believe in ourselves. We earned the chance to be in the final by playing well. We respect Australia, but in our eyes, it’s a 50-50 game.”

South Africa has had a history of bad luck in world cricket events. This started in the 1992 World Cup when they returned to international cricket after being banned for 20 years because of apartheid. They reached the semi-finals but lost because of a strange rain rule that made them need 21 runs off just one ball against England.

This pattern of bad luck continued for the next three ODI World Cups. In 1996, they played well in the group stage but lost in the quarter-finals to West Indies. In 1999, a strange run-out when the scores were tied in the semi-final against Australia eliminated them. In 2003, playing at home, rain and a mistake with the run-rate caused them to exit early.

South Africa only made it to a big final again in last year’s T20 World Cup. They came very close to winning, led by Heinrich Klaasen, who helped them get close with many balls and wickets left. But Klaasen got out, Jasprit Bumrah bowled well, and David Miller was caught in the last over, so South Africa lost again.

When it comes to Test cricket, South Africa has been one of the best teams in the world. They were the number one team in 2009 under Graeme Smith’s leadership. They also held the ICC Test Mace, the prize for being the best Test team, from 2013 to 2015 before the World Test Championship started.

Bavuma is the only current player who was part of South Africa’s strong teams that had famous players like Smith, Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, and Vernon Philander.

Among today’s players, fast bowler Kagiso Rabada is one who might be chosen in South Africa’s all-time best team. Bavuma himself has a good record as captain, winning eight out of nine Tests and drawing one.

Bavuma praised coach Shukri Conrad for building a strong team spirit. He said, “We don’t have many legendary names now, so what we have achieved is thanks to him.”

Conrad has also worked closely with Rassie Erasmus, the coach of South Africa’s rugby team, to help the cricket team improve their winning attitude. Erasmus led the rugby team to win two Rugby World Cups in a row, showing great mental strength by winning three close knockout games by just one point in 2023.

Conrad said, “They (the rugby Springboks) are doing many things right. The big lesson I learned from Erasmus is that playing for your country, for the Springboks or Proteas, should be the most important thing for the players. That’s what we want to focus on.”