The African challenge

The immensely talented South Africans have it in them to beat any team, provided they can conquer their own mental fallibilities, says Jaideep Ghosh

Beating South Africa is easy — if you are South Africa, that is. Few teams have played more famous, or shall we say notorious, matches in the World Cup. The immensely talented side has almost always fallen victim to one scourge — their own mental fallibility.

Almost every World Cup, since the time they came back into the cricketing fold in the post-Apartheid era, has one drama or two with the Proteas at the losing end.

It all began in 1992, when the South Africans, freshly back into the fray, decimated all comers and marched into the semi-finals. Here, too, they looked good enough to give England a fight before the heavens opened. A ridiculous rain rule left them with 21 runs off one ball to win. That was the end of their campaign.

In the 1996 edition, they destroyed all opposition in Rawalpindi before moving to Karachi for their knockout match, and managed to beat themselves, going down by 19 runs to the West Indies. Lance Klusener and Allan Donald would never be able to forget the time when they ran into disaster in 1999, handing the Australians a tie and a passport to the title.

The home side’s inability to interpret the Duckworth-Lewis calculations cost South Africa dear at Durban in 2003 when Mark Boucher, thanks to some ludicrous instructions from the dressing room, patted back the last delivery of another rain-shortened match, giving Sri Lanka a tie when the hosts actually needed one more run. The entire nation was stunned into silence by the disaster.

Shaun Tait and Glenn McGrath ended South Africa’s hopes in 2007, claiming seven wickets between them as the Australians sailed to another title.

Now we come to 2011. Again, the South Africans are technically well-equipped to win the crown, but the current series against India has once again brought their mental frailty to the fore as they struggle with their demons while handing out wins to the rivals.

South Africa, for the first time, are going in with a fair selection of spinners, as all sides are pretty convinced that it will be the slow bowlers who will make the difference. Pakistan-born leg-spinner Imran Tahir will be vying with Faf du Plessis for a slot, but the latter’s batting abilities may give him the edge. Also in the line-up is Johan Botha, who can be quite useful with his off-breaks, with support expected from part-timers JP Duminy and Robin Peterson.

But their strength lies in their pace attack, with Dale Steyn being a handful on any track. How the other seamers, Morne Morkel, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Wayne Parnell, shape up could be crucial for the South Africans.

The batting, again, (on paper at least) is formidable. Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, Duminy and Colin Ingram are as good as they get. But all of them have to click for South Africa to be a real threat.

The real threat to SA will be their own mental make-up. Granted, other sides have better slow bowlers, but this side can beat anyone. Provided, of course, that they can conquer their own fears.

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