/ 28 November 2013

The dreaded c-word is back to haunt the Proteas

Hashim Amla scored a slow 98 runs in the defeat to Pakistan on Wednesday night as the Proteas stumbled in the run chase.
Hashim Amla scored a slow 98 runs in the defeat to Pakistan on Wednesday night as the Proteas stumbled in the run chase.

Choking is a word and emotion with which every sports­person or sports team that has ever played at a meaningful level will be familiar. Choking starts early in a sporting career when youngsters drop the ball in sight of the try line, slog wildly in the last over when just a few runs are required or find their arms don't work with the winning netball goal beckoning.

Wednesday's astonishing and dismal loss to Pakistan in the second one-day international (ODI) in Port Elizabeth would ordinarily count among the "dammit, that was horrible but we'll learn from it" category of defeats but, of course, it's different for the South African cricket team.

They may tell themselves it was a largely meaningless fixture and there is some truth in that, but they also know they blew it. They had the match as firmly in their grasp as any team could hope for, with half a dozen overs to go, and they … choked. Which would be fine for any other team, but this one has an unfortunate history with the problem.

Great care has been taken over the years to limit the personal recrimination and blame culture that follows such a horrible demise, but it's impossible. Hashim Amla took 131 balls to score his 98, an antiquated strike rate – an anchor that slowed the ship down rather than kept it steady in a storm. AB de Villiers played an innings of breathtaking power and skill, one none of his countrymen could imagine matching, yet was dismissed with his team in fragile distance of the finish line.

"We had the game in our hands, me and Hash, and we let it slip. It's not a very nice feeling at all, but that's part of cricket," he said afterwards.

The two highest-ranked ODI batsmen in the world, sharing a partnership of 110 that pleased the eye and soul of everyone who saw it – still to blame. Graeme Smith failed in this format, again – blame. JP Duminy, the calm finisher – blame. David Miller, two runs off four balls – blame.

But it doesn't stop with the batsmen. The bowlers are blamed, too. And the fielders. That's the nature of choking. It becomes invasive and all-consuming.

Captain De Villiers and coach Russell Domingo did their best to encourage and reassure everyone in the aftermath of the meltdown. Two balls after De Villiers was caught on the boundary, the Proteas still needed just 35 runs from 36 balls with six wickets in hand. Amla, and particularly Duminy, might point to particularly impressive boundary catches – others may ask why they were hitting the ball in the air with less than a run a ball required.

In truth, it was a good game to lose. On the basis that some games have to be lost because they can't all be won, the least important are the ones to mess up. Unfortunately, the Proteas' record suggests they also choke on the important matches.

This particular moment offers an important opportunity for Domingo and De Villiers to have a group hug and forge a bond of trust and belief that will carry the squad through to the World Cup in 15 months' time.

The dichotomy of the Test and ODI squads is most clearly represented by Smith, whose aura and reputation as captain of the Test team have already reached an all-time hall of fame status. But in the ODI set-up he is in danger of becoming a peripheral figure, and one who is hanging on to a place in the starting XI at the expense of progress.

Smith believes he can reinvent himself as an ODI player, and that his record can be improved now that he is fully fit and unencumbered by the captaincy. Like Jacques Kallis, the pain of the dismal exit from the last World Cup is still with him and both men feel the need to cleanse and heal the wound, for the good of the team as much as themselves.

Somebody, at some point, may have to make the hardest decision of their cricketing careers. At the moment, however, the knocking on the selection door from potential replacements is not loud enough.

Hope for BCCI
Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seems set to continue its snubbing of Cricket South Africa (CSA) during the imminent series between the countries.

Traditional etiquette demands that the host board extends invitations to the visiting president and chief executive, and as many board members as they see fit to bring along. So far, there has been no response.

Evidence is mounting that the tide of support is turning against the current BCCI president, N Srinivasan, the man who led the campaign to cut the tour of South Africa from its original length to the bare minimum required by the International Cricket Council's Future Tours programme. Politicking, backstabbing and backscratching are fundamental skills for an Indian cricket administrator, but ultimately everything comes down to money.

The BCCI's reputation in the business world in that country has taken a considerable hit with Srinivasan at the helm and one direct consequence has been the inability of the BCCI to sell the naming rights for the national team when the current contract with Sahara expires at the end of the calendar year.

The immediate future for CSA is bleak with R200-million in direct revenue having been lost this summer, but some economic scenario planners can see a time in the not-too-distant future when South Africa is warmly welcomed back from the cold by a new BCCI president keen to undo the resentment and hostility created by his predecessor.