Proteas aim to banish World Cup heartbreak in the shadows of Springbok glory

Siya Kolisi’s Springboks inspired the nation with their back-to-back World Cup rugby triumphs in Japan and France. Can the national cricket team follow in their footsteps in India?

Against Australia in the second semifinal today, the Proteas aim to go where no other South African men’s cricket team has gone before – qualifying for a World Cup final.

SA have come desperately close to going all the way in the past, only to fall at the second last hurdle. In nine attempts they’ve reached the semifinals five times and the quarterfinals twice.

But they’ve never won a World Cup knockout match, earning them the dreaded chokers tag after not being able to close the deal.

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Perhaps it’s fitting they play Australia today, as South Africa’s biggest heartbreak at a World Cup came when they were knocked out by the Aussies at the same stage in Edgbaston in 1999.

The match ended in an agonising tie, following the cruellest of endings when Allan Donald was run out after a horrible mix-up with Lance Klusener.

It’s the match everyone remembers for the wrong reasons… and the one that has stalked them since.

However, the ghosts of past World Cup failures shouldn’t haunt the Proteas class of 2023. Fast bowler Gerald Coetzee – with 18 wickets his team’s top wicket-taker at this year’s World Cup – wasn’t even born. Quinton de Kock, his team’s leading run-scorer at the event with 591 runs, was just six years old.

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Australia may be formidable foes, but South Africa enters the knockout match in fine touch, having thumped them by 134 runs in the round-robin match.

They’ve also beaten Australia in the last four oneday internationals. But Australia have gone on a seven-match winning spree since losing to South Africa.

With the exception of the odd wobble, the Proteas have played really good cricket in India. MaybeTemba Bavuma’s squad can tap into the Springbok magic and reach the final.

That would be a massive achievement.

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