Will South Africa ever manage to win the cricket World Cup?

Will South Africa ever manage to win the cricket World Cup?

The word ‘chokers’ has rightly been associated with the South African cricket team due to their inability to win a major ICC tournament. The Proteas haven’t been able to win a cricket World Cup so far despite dominating the game for most part of recent years.

From 1975 to 1987, South Africa were not a full member of ICC and therefore were ineligible to participate in any World Cups held during that time. After returning to international cricket in 1991, the Proteas took part in their first ever cricket World
Cup in 1992 but were unfortunate to miss out on the final spot, having lost to England in the semi-final under bizarre circumstances.

Everything was going smoothly for Kepler Wessels’ team before the rain arrived in Sydney, shattering South African dreams. South Africa were needing 22 runs from 13 balls but their revised target after the rain became 22 from one ball. This was the most
unfortunate incident in South African cricket history as later on, Pakistan went on to win the championship.

During 1996, the Proteas were considered favourites of winning the title and qualified for the quarter-final stage, topping their group. South Africa were going strongly in their chase of 265 against the mighty West Indians before experiencing a collapse
that saw them all-out for 245, in the end, losing by 19 runs after coming so close.

At one stage, South Africa were 196/4 before getting all-out for 245. This was another unfortunate incident, happening, under the captaincy of late, Hansie Cronje.

In 1999, South African cricket witnessed another horrible moment when they faced Australia in the semi-final. Needing 213 runs to win, the Proteas made a turbulent start to their chase and were reduced to 61/4 before being rescued by Jacques Kallis and Jonty
Rhodes.

The duo took the score to 145 before Rhodes departure. As South Africa needed just one run to win of the final four deliveries, Lance Klusener ran Allan Donald out by attempting a suicidal single. The match was tied but Australia advanced through to the
final and later on went on to win the World Cup.

Leaving out 2003, where, South Africa were choked out in the group stages under Shaun Pollock, the Proteas once again managed to cement their place in the semi-final during 2007 World-Cup but lost to Australia after being dismissed cheaply for 149.

In the recent 2011 World Cup, held in India, South Africa were knocked out by the outsiders, New Zealand, who were tipped to leave the scene before the quarter-final but went on to play the semis.

This is the story of South African choking journey during major ICC tournaments which certainly leaves us wondering whether South Africa would ever manage to win cricket World Cup.

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Posted by Taha Habib on Nov 10 2011. Filed under Pakistan, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry