South African cricket (The Proteas) participation in the Cricket World Cup has been rather underwhelming if truth be told as they have found ways to knock themselves out without ever reaching a final, a fact which they are desperate to rectify. We take a look at their results in the Cricket World Cup since their readmission to international sport in 1991.
1992 – Australia and New Zealand
This was the Proteas first attempt at a Cricket World Cup and they sent an inexperienced team in terms of international cricket to this tournament, having made their international re-entry only a year before. They lost in the semi-final against England in rather unusual circumstances. They were still well in the game, needing 22 runs off 13 deliveries with two competent batsmen at the crease – David Richardson and Brian McMillan. Ten minutes of rain was enough to reduce what promised to be a tense finish to a rather tame result determined by a calculator. When play resumed the target remained at 22, but now off 7 balls. As Brian McMillan took guard the scoreboard updated to a target of 22, off one ball… The jury is out as to why this happened in the first place as a reserve day had been set aside in case of rain and there have been accusations that the broadcaster, Channel Nine, had insisted that the game ended that day to please the television audience. Pakistan went on to beat England by 22 runs in the final.
1996 – India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
This Cricket World Cup proved to be one of the most forgettable of South Africa’s participation. Although they topped their pool they were knocked out in their quarter final against the West Indies, a team that had lost by 73 runs to minnows Kenya. This team was not a weak one and included Hansie Cronje, Jonty Rhodes, Alan Donald, Jacques Kallis, Brian McMillan and Shaun Pollock. The 1996 version of the Cricket World Cup was the coming of age of Sri Lankan cricket when they beat Australia by seven wickets in Lahore, Pakistan.
1999 – England
If South Africa are honest with themselves, this is surely the one that got away. They had the Player of the Tournament, Lance Klusener, in their ranks, as well as the core of the team that played in the 1996 World Cup. They breezed through their pool and lost only one game in the Super Sixes, to Australia. They then faced Australia again in the semi-final, which is possibly the most tense play-off match ever played in a Cricket World Cup. The game ended in a tie and Australia advanced to the Final based on their superior run rate. This game will always be remembered for two incidents though. Herchelle Gibbs caught Steve Waugh on 56 but dropped the ball when he tried to throw it up in celebration. Waugh was reputed to have asked Gibbs: “How does if feel to drop the World Cup?”, but by Waugh’s own admission this never happened. The second incident was the one that ultimately cost South Africa the game. Lance Klusener was on strike during the final over and called Alan Donald through for what would have been the winning single. Donald was bewildered at first and turned his back on Klusener at first, before dropping his bat and then trying to run through for the winning run. He ended up short of his ground and the game was tied.
2003 – South Africa/Zimbabwe/Kenya
This was a home tournament for South Africa and they were rather embarrassingly dumped out of the tournament in the group stages after yet another tie in a Cricket World Cup game, this time against Sri Lanka. When the heavens opened over Durban (after continuous drizzle) South Africa were exactly on the Duckworth Lewis par score of 229, but coach Eric Simons forgot about the +1 part to actually win the game and the message was never delivered to Mark Boucher that they needed a single to win the game and he blocked what turned out to be the final ball of the game. This calamity ended up costing Shaun Pollock the South African captaincy and Eric Simons his coaching position. In the opening game of the tournament, South Africa lost to the West Indies by 3 runs after they were docked an over in their own run chase due to a slow over rate while they were in the field. The tournament was won by Australia, beating India at the Wanderers by 125 runs.
2007 – The West Indies
This edition of the Cricket World Cup certainly had a number of highlights and shocks. Herchelle Gibbs smacked Netherlands bowler Dan van Bunge for six consecutive sixes in the same over. This earned him $1million to be donated to a charity of his choice. Being a patriotic South African, he nominated a South African charity, only to be told the cash had to be donated to a local charity. Gibbs was offered nationality of St. Kitts and Nevis, an act which to this day has not been carried through. The tournament was also rocked by the death of former Protea and then Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer under strange circumstances in his hotel room. After some sensationalist reporting, no foul play was found. South Africa were knocked out at the semi-final stage by Australia. They had decided to attack the Australians from ball one and were in deep trouble at 28 for 4 and were eventually bowled out for 149. The Australians easily passed this, losing only 3 wickets in the process. They went on to beat Sri Lanka in the final by 53 using the Duckworth Lewis calculation after rain showers.
2011 – India/Sri Lanka/Bangladesh
South Africa were once again strong in the Group stages and won 5 out of their 6 games, losing only to England by 6 runs on a crumbling MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. They played New Zealand in the quarter final and we looking well set to overhaul the target of 221 which they had been set. It was at that point the Kyle Mills, 12th man on the day, was sent onto the field with a bottle of water for the bowler and created a scene on the pitch by shouting and swearing at the batsmen. Some would call it a stroke of brilliance, others would call it extremely unsporting. The fact is that a young Faf du Plessis was rattled and was out a few balls later. The South Africans collapsed after that and were bundled out for 172, a 49 run loss and their World Cup aspirations had been extinguished. In the final, India beat Sri Lanka by 6 wickets, to the delight of the entire Indian population.
The Proteas have certainly learned many hard lessons in their attempts to win a Cricket World Cup. Hopefully for them, this will be their year.
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