What makes death bowling so tough

Eight runs are all you have left in the bank. The batsmen are well set. You stand at the top of your run, ball in hand, about to deliver the last over. What do you do?

The grim reapers who bowl at the death do not ask themselves that question.

"It's about your perception of it," one of the best of them, Rusty Theron, said. "If you see it as something that's going to get you, it will.

"You have to want to be put in that position. The guy who thinks he is going to win more often than not will win, and whether he's got the tools for it doesn't really matter.

"If I have to defend eight off the last over the odds are not in my favour. But if I pull it off I've made the difference."

The end of the decisive innings in a close game is alive with glaring realities: the equation is set in light on the scoreboard, the protagonists are identified, and winning or losing - or even tying - are the only options.

There is nowhere to hide and the only place to run is the other end of the pitch. If you are the batsman, that is. If you are the bowler your escape is not as easily achieved. For bowlers, surviving at the death is centered on the softer, more slippery truth of inner certainty.

"You've got to put all doubt out of your mind," Theron said. "It's human nature to have doubt, but once you are given the ball you've got to be at your most confident."

And another thing: don't ponder too long and hard lest you think yourself out of the contest.

"If there's anything that kills you at the death it's hesitation," Theron said. "If you're not 100% committed to the ball that you're about to bowl, you're on a hiding. I might not take the best option, but in my mind I'm 100% sure what's going to happen. I'll back myself and I'll get it right.

"You're never guaranteed to get the result, but as long as you believe the situation favours you, you will come out on top more often than not."

Theron is not going to next month's World Cup. Who should SA turn to when knuckles whiten there, as they must?

"Kyle Abbott says he wants to do the job," Theron said. "That's already a winning position to be in."