South Africa have reached their first ever men’s World Cup final but they’re not ready to celebrate just yet.
Siddharth Monga
Moody: You haven’t seen the best of South Africa yet
Flower also said that if South Africa are at their best in the final, it will be to their advantage.
A big indicator of the hurt the South African men’s cricket team is carrying is that the former cricketers who narrowly missed out on their first World Cup final were more emotional than the players who made it. Perhaps it’s because the final is two days away. Or maybe it’s because the team is led by a fairly level-headed captain. Or maybe it’s because they’ve finally secured an easy win, which can sometimes rob them of the grandeur of the moment.
Either way, their media response after the semi-final did not give the impression of a team relieved to have overcome a hurdle they had fallen on seven previous times. Their mental fortitude has been questioned – the “chokers” label has been frequently tossed around – this was only their second World Cup knockout win – but they showed little emotion.
At least this time, winning a close game must have made a difference to the players. Right? “To be honest, I don’t really care about that,” Markram says. “It’s a cricket game. Someone has to win and someone has to lose in the end. That’s the name of the game. Take it in stride. But when you win a close game or have a chance of winning a game that you thought you couldn’t win, it gives you confidence. It has a big impact on the dressing room and the atmosphere in the dressing room. We’ll take a bit of confidence from that and see if we can carry it into the final.”
That Markram is more focused on cricket than signing autographs is evident from the fact that he didn’t even know he won every World Cup match as captain in the Under-19 World Cup as a boy and in ODIs and T20Is as a boy.
But Tabraiz Shamsi gave a bit more insight into what reaching the final means for the players. Dale Steyn, who was commentating at the stadium, tweeted how emotional he was. He also met Shamsi on the sidelines. “I actually spoke to him after the game,” Shamsi said. “He gave me a big hug and said exactly the same thing. Like I told you, this isn’t just about us, it’s also about the people back home and the players who played before us. They built the foundation for the team to go forward and it’s our duty to take it a step further.”
Are they deliberately downplaying it for fear of getting too emotional? “That hasn’t happened with this team all season,” Shamsi said. “We’re not even worried about the next game. We’re just thinking about the next game and the next game and the next game. So now that we’ve come to the final, we can stay calm, know who we’re playing and prepare like we’ve done against every team before.”
Their success in close matches is down to the depth of their team, not some intangible mental strength. When asked if it feels different this time around when they’re in close matches, Shamsi pointed to the absence of a saviour or weakness. “Everybody is really relaxed and in this team, nobody is really responsible for winning matches for the team,” he said. “If you look at other teams and past Proteas teams, there were certain batsmen who were relied on. There were certain bowlers who were relied on. Personally, I can’t pinpoint which bowlers led us to victory, which batsmen led us to victory.”
“And I think you’ve seen it throughout this campaign. Usually, in most teams, when you get one or two of your main batsmen out, the team panics. But in our team, who are those batsmen? No one. Everybody has a responsibility to play their part to help us win and that’s how we play. And as always, some players will have good games and some will have bad games but as a team, we have capable individuals who can win matches on their own. So, we are totally happy with that. If someone gets no runs or a bowler gets 40 or 50, it’s not the end of the world. Other bowlers will take their place and vice versa with the batsmen.”
Markram agrees that the team has diverse strengths. They have four fast bowlers with different styles, a finger spinner, a left-arm wrist spinner, an in-form opener and an explosive middle-order batsman. When asked if he feels they have most of the bases covered no matter what the situation or the opposition that comes their way, Markram said, “I definitely think so.” “Cricket is a funny sport, sometimes things go well, sometimes they don’t and you take it in stride. But we’re happy with the team we have here. It’s not just 11 guys playing. It’s a whole team effort. And you pick the 11 guys based on the situation. That’s what it’s all about. So once we get to Barbados and we know what the situation is going to be on the pitch, we’ll try to pick the best 11 guys. But we’re really happy with where we are as a white-ball team and we’re happy that we have options in terms of selection.”
But the biggest reason to keep emotions in check is summed up by Shamsi: “It’s a big achievement but when we went to the World Cup we didn’t come here to get to the final, we came here to win the final like every other team. But for us, there’s nothing too big.”
Siddharth Monga is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo.