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NDTV
14-06-2025
- Sport
- NDTV
South Africa End 27 Years Of Hurt: A Look Back At Why They Were Given 'Chokers' Tag
On a clement London Saturday, South Africa atoned for years of hurt, dejection and near-misses, lifting the World Test Championship title, beating Australia by five wickets at the Lord's. South Africa clinched their first major ICC trophy in 27 years, having last won the ICC KnockOut Cup in 1998. South Africa's victory comes less than a year since they suffered heartbreak in the T20 World Cup 2024 final to India. And as the Rainbow Nation celebrates, we take a walk down the memory lane to revisit all those times when the Proteas ended up so near yet so far before finally breaking the jinx. 1. 1992 WC, Semifinal vs England: It had more to do with weather than nerves. But SA's fate to be the bridesmaid at major moments began at Sydney. SA needed 22 runs off 7 balls with Brian McMillan and David Richardson at crease. Skies opened up at juncture and the equation became 22 runs off 1 ball, thanks to a miscommunication on their revised target. 2. 1999 WC, Semifinal vs Australia: The most disastrous day in SA cricket history. They needed just 9 off the final over bowled by Aussie pacer Damien Fleming. Lance Klusener smashed the first two balls to bring the equation down to 1 run off four balls. But after a couple of dot balls, a scamper for a single ended in the run out of last batter Allan Donald. The match was tied and the Aussies entered the final against Pakistan by virtue of their earlier win over the Proteas in the Super Six. 3. 2003 WC — The Boucher Blunder: Co-host SA needed a win over Sri Lanka at Durban to enter the second phase of Super 6s. SA were 229 for six when the rain stopped the play, the par score under D/L method. But before umpire S Venkataraghavan called the teams inside, SA wicket keeper batter Mark Boucher blocked the last ball of the 45th over bowled by Muttiah Muralitharan. At that point the match was tied, and the game never resumed, signalling the end of the road for SA at their home event. 4. 2015 WC semifinal vs New Zealand: SA posted a healthy 281 in a rain-curtailed 43-over-a-side last four clash against the Kiwis, who needed 30 runs off the last three overs. So, SA finally winning? But Grant Elliot had other ideas as he smashed a last-ball six off Dale Steyn to crush SA dreams. 5. 2022 T20 WC Super 12 vs Netherlands South Africa needed just one win to enter the semifinals. They had a rather easy opponent in the inexperienced Netherlands at Adelaide. But SA choked while chasing a gettable 159. A spirited Netherlands bundled out SA for 145 to celebrate a 13-run win that ended the former's journey at the ICC showpiece. 6. 2024, T20 WC vs India South Africa: was coasting at 151 for four in 16.1 overs chasing 177 against India at Bridgetown. Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller were well set with SA needing 26 runs off 29 balls with six wickets in hand. But Hardik Pandya got rid of Klaasen to spark a familiar SA collapse and they ended up at 169 for eight, losing by just 7 runs. 7. 1st Test vs Sri Lanka, Durban, 2019: Skipper Faf du Plessis (90) and Quinton de Kock (55) ensured that SA reached 259 in their second innings, setting the tourists a stiff 304-run target. SA bowlers led by left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj inflicted regular blows as SL slipped 226 for 9. Easy win then? But the proteas failed to dismiss Kusal Perera (153 not out), who in the company of Vishwa Fernando (6 not out), knocked off the remaining 78 runs for the final wicket. Daryl Cullinan vs Shane Warne This is one of the most famous personal rivalries in cricket. The magician from Down Under held a psychological edge over Cullinan, a languid SA batter with oodles of talent. But Warne just bullied him so much that he could amass only 157 runs across seven Tests against the Aussie at an average of 12 while getting dismissed four times. 'Hello Daryl! What colour is the couch?' Warne's sledge to Cullinan, reminding him of his session with a psychologist to counter the leg-spinner is still being talked about. But otherwise, the SA batter retired with 4554 runs from 70 Tests at 44.21 with 14 hundreds. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Heartache turns to hope as South Africa seek to shake ‘chokers' tag in WTC final
A South African cricket fan's standout World Cup catastrophe will depend on when they were born. Baby boomers cite the time, back in 1992, when Brian McMillan was left needing 22 runs off one ball after rain in Sydney washed away any hope of a chase. Millennials are forever haunted by Alan Donald's dropped bat in that tied semi-final in 1999. Gen Zs must still be wondering how Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller failed to get over the line with 30 needed off as many balls in last year's T20 final. The Proteas choking when it matters most is a tale as old as the country itself. Longer, in fact, if you consider that Nelson Mandela was elected president two years after this story began. And throughout it all, one antagonist has loomed largest. Advertisement Related: The Spin | Why neutrals should back South Africa against Australia in WTC final Australia have swung the axe on multiple occasions, as they did in 1999, 2007 and 2023. More often they were merely winning, providing a stark contrast to the misery felt across the Indian Ocean. There have been some moments to savour as a South African, like the famous '438-game' at the Wanderers in 2006. And three consecutive Test series wins down under between 2009 and 2017, as well as the home victory during the 'sandpapergate' series in 2018, banished lingering insecurities in whites. But there's an itch that's yet to be scratched. Every other major cricket nation has claimed a world title. Graeme Smith spearheaded a dynastic Test team that included Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn, AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla. This group, perhaps the third greatest of all time behind the all-conquering West Indians and Australians before them, claimed two Test maces. Had there been a World Test Championship 15 years ago this column wouldn't exist. As it stands, a proper trophy lift followed by a ticker-tape parade has remained elusive. This is why this one-off Test against Australia means so much to South Africa supporters. Forget the broader narratives around 'big-three' takeovers, ICC ineptitude or the fungal encroachment of white-ball franchise leagues. We just want to feel what everyone else has felt. This nation has given so much to the game. There's a good chance your national or domestic team benefits from South African-made muscle. Don't we deserve even a morsel from the feast? Advertisement 'We want it a lot,' Proteas skipper, Temba Bavuma, told Guardian Australia recently. 'For the team, for myself, for the coach, for the country, that is something we really want. Maybe there is desperation around it. We don't need to squirt around that. But it's from a healthy point of view. It's not do or die.' Thank goodness for that, otherwise South African lawyers would be inundated with requests to write up last wills and testaments. Because no matter how much they want it, and how much we need it, the inarguable truth is that South Africa start this match as outsiders. Their coach, Shukri Conrad, dismissed that suggestion when he said, 'South Africans should never be considered underdogs'. But they are. Even a tight win for Australia would exceed most realistic expectations. Could this work in South Africa's favour? The mental skills coach and former England spinner, Jeremy Snape, defines choking as, 'losing from a winning position, or losing a game you should win, as a result of psychological pressures and the weight of expectation'. Well, that's great news. Maybe now they can go out there and throw a few punches. Kagiso Rabada has an average of 23 with the ball against Australia. Aiden Markram averages 60 with the bat. It only takes a handful of players to win a Test. What if, unburdened by presumption, South Africa rise to the occasion and pull off something miraculous? Related: 'I was locked in the bathroom sulking': Temba Bavuma on his path from township to WTC final Advertisement Oh god, I'm doing it, aren't I? I'm starting to hope. I'm starting to wonder how I might walk as a South African without King Kong sitting on my back, how I might breathe without the 'chokers' tag constricting my air-flow. I'm starting to look back at all those heartaches and gaffs and tears in the rain and wonder if this was all part of some cosmic plan. If the lemons I've been forced to suck were palate cleansers for what's to come. I asked Bavuma if his team could do for the country what the Springboks rugby side have done by winning four World Cups. If lifting that mace would bring him his 'Siya Kolisi moment', where a Black man representing a fractured country could provide even the suggestion of unity through sporting triumph. Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't. My concerns are far more parochial now. Because speaking as a long-suffering South African, one with traumatic memories that stretch across generations, I simply want this for me. I know I'm not the only one.
