When Lance Klusener is asked about the runout in 1999 that doomed South Africa’s best chance of winning a World Cup, he doesn’t talk about choking. Klusener instead talks about the fact that all the way through the tournament the tail had to save the top order who never performed. For all the talk of choking and rain rules, there is almost always a reason South Africa has not won a World Cup which usually comes from a weakness within the team.
But that isn’t the main narrative, it’s that South Africa’s team is haunted. Some might claim that when South Africa made Richie Benaud’s rain rule look silly so he put a curse on them. Since the 1992 World Cup drama, South Africa has shown the world that there are infinite ways to burgle yourself out of a World Cup title.
Coach Rob Walter’s strategy
According to South African coach Rob Walter, the role of the team is to provide inspiration and hope and to unify, and the only way to do that is by winning. It takes chutzpah to say something like that just before your team leaves for the ODI World Cup, especially if your team was knocked out of the last ICC event by the Netherlands.
2023 is the first time in six editions of the ODI World Cup that South Africa is not among the favourites. Generous oddsmakers have them at 10:1. Who can blame them? South Africa’s lineup does not contain the who’s who of international cricket. They do have Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock and David Miller, but that’s as far as their big names go. Seven players in their 15-member squad will be at the showcase for the first time, including their captain, Temba Bavuma.
Bowling and fielding concerns
Add to that a somewhat weaker bowling attack, by South African standards. Once upon a time, South Africa could post par or subpar totals because they had a bowling attack that could defend almost anything. Now, their bowling attack is no longer what it used to be. They leak runs and don’t take wickets in the powerplay and they lost Anrich Nortje to injury. Their fielding, another strong area for them back in the day, has also fallen away.
Walter is not blind to these realities, but he feels he has found a way around them.
A focus on positive batting
On the third of September, South Africa found themselves on 12/2 after 2.1 overs. The sensible thing to do, from a South African perspective, would have been for the batters to shelve their extravagant shots and adopt a more circumspect approach while rebuilding the innings. They also had the back-end of the innings to think about, so it wouldn’t work well if they lost more wickets in quick succession. This is how South African teams have always played. They have forever retreated into their shells after losing early wickets.
Walter, is baulking tradition. He describes his philosophy as one that encourages players to take the positive option in every situation. This is not the South African way. So now if a batter backs themselves to slap a bowler over mid-wicket for a boundary when the score is on 80/0, there is no reason why they should not do the same when the score is 12/2. It’s still the same ball they are attacking.
The emergence of a new South African team
As far as Walter is concerned, it’s much more difficult to win when you are busy trying not to lose, so he is asking his batters to go out onto the field with the intention to win with the bat. South Africa held various training camps this year as part of their World Cup preparation. At these camps, he emphasized getting into scoring positions against every delivery.
Look to score from the first ball you face, the players have been told. The players have received the message loud and clear. Between January 2020 and December 2022, South Africa scored 6,301 runs in 27 ODIs at a strike rate of 90.19. From the time Walter took over, South Africa has been going at a strike rate of 108.05. That means they are one of the few teams in history to score more than run a ball for more than a year in ODIs.
Breaking the curse: South Africa’s new path
They have struck 112 sixes in 12 ODIs since the start of the year, compared to 108 sixes in 27 ODIs between 2020 and 2022.
South Africa hasn’t just been wantonly attacking, they have been scoring more too. Their average is higher than in the past. If you divide this World Cup cycle into two phases, the pre-Walter era (2020 to 2022) and the Walter era (2023 to date), the difference is huge. Between 2020 and 2022, they had three totals of 300 or more runs, with a high score of 346. Since January 2023, they have had five 300-plus totals and a top score of 416.
This is a South African team we have never seen before.
Moving away from their conservative past has helped put South Africa among the top teams with the bat. The lack of many big-name stars has meant that all their batters have been match-winners at one time or another. This is a team whose sum is greater than the individual parts. Rob Walter realised this, and that’s why he ran three cohesion camps as part of South Africa’s World Cup preparation. They need to work as a cohesive unit in India to overcome the issues in their lineup and break Richie Benaud’s curse.
Read more from Jarrod Kimber:
Remember to gamble responsibly
A responsible gambler is someone who:
- Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
- Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
- Never chase their losses
- Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry, or depressed
Read our detailed guide on responsible gambling practices.
Commercial content notice: Taking one of the bookmaker offers featured in this article may result in a payment to Cricket Times. 18+. T&Cs apply.
