The more some things change, the more others remain the same It did not take long. The shortest format of the game, supposedly the most unpredictable of all the versions of cricket being played around the world, showed that the more some things change, the more others remain the same. If it’s a World Cup of any shape, India must beat Pakistan, even on a Friday, with three spinners being in harness. If England lose to New Zealand, it must the the rain’s fault, or the umpires’ or even Duckworth-Lewis, at least that’s what Stuart Broad will have us believe. If Sri Lanka show up, some kid who used to bat right handed as a teenager will tonk the best bowlers around batting left-handed, as Kusal Perera did and, of course, Lasith Malinga will bowl impossible-to-hit yorkers. And, inevitably, if South Africa lose, reporters and commentators shake their heads in familiar dismay, asking each other, did they just do it again? The it, of course, refers to the most familiar and irritating word used to describe South Africa’s troubles in global tournaments: the choke. In these days of sensitivity and political correctness, the tag is slower to be applied, but the manner in which the Proteas lost a game they should have taken by the scruff of the neck and won, suggested that a change of venue, batting order and approach had not made a significant enough difference to the team’s fortunes. South Africa came into this ICC World Twenty20 with less pressure than any ICC tournament in recent memory. To use a phrase that’s much in vogue, South Africa flew in under the radar, and had the opportunity to settle into a quiet rhythm. With no more than one broadcaster and two reporters from South Africa in balmy Chittagong, the team was largely left to its own devices, and each time a player wandered out of his room to the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel it was not as though there was a mob of reporters trying to get a piece of him. While one group of the tournament, stacked as it is with India, Pakistan, West Indies, Australia and Bangladesh, of which only two teams can advance, was the group of death, the other was anything but. The pitch at Chittagong, which has played true and has more live grass on it than most meadows in this part of the world, meant that Sri Lanka’s obvious spin strength had been all but negated, leaving South Africa with a good chance of emerging as a frontrunner to qualify. They won’t admit it, but England are still wondering how best to approach Twenty20 cricket at this level, missing their best batsman but unable to say so, and New Zealand will get branded underdogs despite the remarkable strides they have made in the recent past. If South Africa were to have safe passage to the final four in any global tournament, this was the one, despite the injury cloud hanging over Faf du Plessis and Dale Steyn. Theres nothing magical that you can do to win a World Cup,” Du Plessis said, soon after the team set foot in Sri Lanka. The latest in a long line of captains who have had to attempt to explain the choking phenomenon, Du Plessis was different from his predecessors in that he did not go the Graeme Smith way, which was to take great umbrage if the word was used, or the De Villiers way, which was to pre-empt the question and put the word out there before anyone else could. “When it comes to choking, for me its simple. You need to make sure you give yourself the best opportunity to do well and if you dont and you get beaten on the day, as long as the other team played better cricket, I can accept that.” Did Sri Lanka actually play better cricket on the day? With all of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene failing, and mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis getting taken for 44 from his four overs, Sri Lanka will be thinking they did the least they could, and still came out on top. It’s early days in the tournament yet to be calling anyone chokers, but, as England found out, the format is such a tight one, that one loss could make an early flight out a most frightening prospect. On Saturday, 22 years to the day when Brian McMillan and David Richardson were left to make 22 runs from 1 ball at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the semifinal of the 1992 World Cup, the rain waited politely for South Africa to finish their game before drenching the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. The rain did not cause a problem, the pitch was as friendly as possible and the opposition could not have been less scary. And yet, South Africa finished second best. Can Du Plessis accept that? Print mail
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 09:59:25 +0000
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