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The fact that more previous cricket players who experienced all those near-misses than current players expressed their emotions upon reaching their first World Cup final served as a telling sign of the wounds that South Africa’s men’s cricket teams bear. Maybe that is because they have a final in two days. Maybe it’s because their skipper is a rather level-headed person. Maybe it’s because they finally secured an easy victory, which occasionally saps the significance of the occasion.
Whatever the case, their post-semi-final media commitments did not convey a squad that was relieved to have cleared an obstacle that they had failed to clear seven times before. It has been questioned whether they are mentally strong. The term “choker” has been applied indiscriminately. They have only triumphed twice in a World Cup knockout game. And yet they barely showed emotion.
At least winning close games this time must make them feel something is different, right? “I don’t really look too much into things like that, to be honest,” Markram said. “It’s a game of cricket. Someone has to win, and someone has to lose ultimately. That’s the name of the game. You take it in your stride. You do get belief, though, from winning close games and potentially winning games that you thought you weren’t going to win. It does a lot for your changing room and the vibe in the changing room. We’ll take a little bit of confidence from that and see if we can put it to any use in the final.”
However, Tabraiz Shamsi provided a marginally more insightful explanation of what it may entail for some of them to get to the final. One of the ground reporters, Dale Steyn, tweeted on how moved he was. He also had a sideways meeting with Shamsi.
“I actually did speak to him after the game,” Shamsi said. “He gave me a massive hug and said the exact same thing that, like I said to you, this is not just for us, it’s for the people back home and the players that have played before us. They have laid the foundation for the team to progress and it’s just our duty to take it one step forward.”
It is most likely due to their squad’s depth rather than some ethereal mental toughness that they have been winning close games. Shamsi mentioned the absence of messiahs and weak links in response to the question of if it felt different to be in close circumstances this tournament than in the past.
“Everybody’s really relaxed, and in this team no one is given the responsibility to win the game for the team,” he said. “If you see maybe other teams or the Proteas teams of the past, there was a specific batter that was relied upon. There was a specific bowler that was relied upon. I personally cannot pinpoint which bowler is responsible for making us win or which batter is responsible for making us win.
The biggest reason to keep emotions in check, though, is summed up by Shamsi: “It’s a huge achievement, but when we arrived for the World Cup, we didn’t come here to get to the final, we came here to win the final as did all the other teams. But for us, there’s nothing over the top.”