South Africa’s cricket DNA lacks the winning strand the rugby players have

SA Cricket Needs to Find Winning DNA

Nearly a decade ago, while responding to queries about a sluggish start to the season, Toni Kroos, their German midfield maestro, said: “We are Real Madrid and being successful is part of our DNA.” From someone else, it might have sounded like bombast, but Kroos surely had a point. Real have won 15 of their 18 European Cup/Champions League finals, including their last nine in a row since 1981.

South African cricket’s DNA appears to have a fatal flaw. They had lost five (50-over) World Cup semi-finals and two last-four clashes at the T20 World Cup before finally ending the jinx against Afghanistan last Wednesday night. But it was a familiar story in the final, with the Proteas having more than a hand on the trophy before Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh and the balletic feet of Suryakumar Yadav yanked it away.

The lazy will doubtless resort to cliché and say they choked. They didn’t. As much as South Africa struggled to get over the line, this was a match that India won through the sheer brilliance of their pace trio, who bowled impeccable lines and lengths when the going got tough. Had South Africa been chokers, they would have collapsed in a heap once Bumrah and Arshdeep made early incisions.

Instead, with Tristan Stubbs using his powerful frame to telling effect and Quinton de Kock finding gaps, a partnership of 58 from just 6.2 overs put the pressure right back on India. After that, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller added 45 in only 22 balls, with India’s feared spin trio copping a real hiding. Between them, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja were taken for 106 in nine overs, with the onus almost completely on the pacers to win the game.

You need luck too to win major finals. On another day, Suryakumar’s shoes might have touched the boundary cushion as he completed the game-turning catch of Miller. And if de Kock’s leg-side heave off Arshdeep had gone a couple of yards either side of the fielder just placed there to catch it, South Africa might have romped home. But ifs and buts and what-might-have-beens don’t win trophies, and South Africa’s cricketers could do worse than go back home and spend some time understanding the mindset of their Rugby Union counterparts.

The mighty Springboks have won each of their four Rugby World Cup finals. In 2023, they beat France, the hosts, England and the mighty New Zealand All Blacks in back-to-back games to win that unprecedented fourth title. Each of those three matches was decided by a single point. To call it mental toughness would be inaccurate. It was unreal.

That is the DNA strand that South Africa cricket needs to find. For now, they can take great pride in a campaign where they overcame several stiff challenges to reach the final. Their time will surely come, as India’s did after more than a decade of near misses.