South Africa’s Tabraiz Shamsi (L) celebrates after the dismissal of Afghanistan’s Karim Janat (out of frame) during the ICC men’s Twenty20 World Cup 2024 semi-final cricket match against Afghanistan at Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad and Tobago yesterday. | AFP
SOUTH Africa has sent much better teams, players, and coaches to World Cups. But somehow that was just not enough.
Time and again, the Proteas returned home with nothing but heavy hearts and distraught.
But that was not all for nothing.
Watching here at home was a less-talented group of kids, scattered all around the country, that looked upon the greats of the likes of Makhaya Ntini, Herschelle Gibbs and Lance Klusener, to name a few, and saw their heroes regardless of the disappointments on the world stage.
While Gibbs might have felt less of a great when he returned home, having not gone past the World Cup semi-finals, his grit and determination gave birth to a fire in the tummies of this group of kids.
That is what has always mattered because the fire has now fuelled that group of kids all the way to the T20 World Cup final in the Caribbean, having beaten Afghanistan by nine wickets in yesterday’s semi-final in Tarouba.
Now, that very same group dedicates their achievement – being the first Proteas team to make it to a World Cup final – to the Proteas of the past.
“It’s for the whole country and for the players who have played before us,” Tabraiz Shamsi told the media on Thursday.
“We’ve had great teams in the past, great players. They have laid the foundation for the team to progress and it’s just our duty to take it one step forward.”
While imperfect, filled with lower ranked players, at least as compared to the teams of the past that had the best players in the world from number one to 11, this new bunch has been able to find strength in their imperfections and use it to play in a way that almost completely contrasts the Proteas brand at World Cups.
In this new bunch, there is not a single player that the team exclusively look to to try and rescue the team from spots of bother.
They hunt as a pack, with different individuals stepping up to land the killer blow in each fixture.
Shamsi acknowledges this feat to be the strength of the current crop and perhaps what makes them different from Proteas teams of the past.
“In this team, no one is given the responsibility to win the game for the team,” he said
“If you see 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.
“And I’m sure you guys have seen that throughout the campaign as well. Normally, in most teams, if you get one or two of the main batters out, the team panics. Whereas with us, who’s that guy? Nobody.
“Everybody is responsible for doing their bit to make us win, and that’s just the way we’ve rolled.” he added.
The Proteas have one more assignment to fulfil, to win the final in Barbados tomorrow.
“When we arrived for the World Cup, we did not come here to get to the final,” said Shamsi.
“We came here to win the final.” he concluded.
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