Never mind the sceptics, 2024 is the year the Proteas should win the World Cup

Scepticism and hope have been the pervading feelings for followers of the Proteas when every ICC event crops up on the calendar. 

They hope the SA cricket side can win one of these tournaments, then at the first sign of vulnerability, they sink into scepticism. 

Never mind mental scarring for the players, it’s those watching them who are in need of treatment.

And here we are, another World Cup just days away and again SA go into it feeling, well, hopeful and sceptical.

But there is reason for greater optimism this time, reasons that hope should be clung to more fervently.

The Proteas squad is an excellent one. There is no reliance on individuals like in the past — AB or Hash don’t have to be at their best for three weeks nor does KG have to take the bulk of the wickets for the Proteas to win.

What has been different about the group Rob Walter named to challenge for the T20 World Cup, is that there were few arguments that it was the best group of players in that format who were picked. Additionally, this is very much a team in the truest sense, hence Walter doesn’t have to bother too much about having them together in a training camp, or polish egos or build self-esteem for individuals.

There was an assuredness about selection, clarity in explaining why the team didn’t meet the racial targets Cricket SA sets for itself and honesty that maybe the three decades of development initiatives and the provincial target system hasn’t worked to the benefit of the Proteas. 

That provided liberty for the squad and the team’s management. 

There will be pressure, it's a World Cup after all, but what is apparent from this side is that in terms of personnel, skill, form and personality it can succeed where previous groups haven’t.

“It’s really the first time in a long while that there seems to be a good idea about what the best 11 is ... In the past we haven’t known our best 11, and as a result players weren’t sure about their roles,” said Dave Nosworthy, a former provincial coach, who has been director of cricket at Somerset in England and Canterbury in New Zealand. 

There are no heated debates about players who should be in the squad. Rassie van der Dussen, given his record this year, is very unlucky, but of the players picked in his position who doesn’t deserve to be there? Quinton de Kock? Reeza Hendricks? Ryan Rickelton? 

Our success in T20s has been based on knocking out the top four batters — that is our competitive advantage.

—  Rob Walter, Proteas coach

Rather the chatter around this team is how best to use its weapons — the most potent of which is the middle order of David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen and Tristan Stubbs — along with the balance of any starting team; do they pick three frontline spinners, with three quicks, or two and four or one and five? 

The one area of concern is the bowling unit, but that is less to do with their skill and form and more with the nature of the T20 game in light of the explosive batting seen in the league phase of the IPL. “If there is an ‘in-batter’ at the death it is very difficult to control, so taking wickets is of the utmost importance. Our success in T20s has been based on knocking out the top four batters — that is our competitive advantage,” said Walter. 

South Africa’s bowlers are an attacking group — with high pace from Anrich Nortjé and Gerald Coetzee, craft from Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen’s bounce, swing and the angle of delivery. 

Last year’s ODI World Cup showed there was a willingness to use the squad, which given the unknown conditions in New York, where SA will play three games and then the variety of grounds in the Caribbean where the Super Eight phase will be played, is a policy that should be repeated. 

Of the three formats T20 is the most volatile — matches can change in the matter of a few balls or through single individual performances. But for all the unexpected routes the tournament may take, with SA’s tricky group being one of those, this is a journey the Proteas are well equipped to manage. 

Given the Proteas’ history, a sceptical outlook is understandable, but hope too should spring eternal in 2024.