Whatever the result against the Netherlands in Dharamsala tomorrow, there is a possibility that South Africa could be making their first mistake of the tournament. Time will tell.
Head coach, Rob Walter, spoke at the weekend about not carrying any baggage from previous World Cups. It has been a theme of the campaign for some time, but he is not advocating ignoring the history completely.
“The past is the past, the only thing you can do about it is learn from it. From our point of view, we want to learn whatever lessons we can but focus on what is in front of us. If we carry the burdens (from the past) it just uses up energy, so we want to leave it in the past and focus all our energy on preparing properly for the next fixture,” Walter said.
One of the reasons the best team ever to represent South Africa at a World Cup failed to progress to the final in 1999 was a strict adherence to using the same players, whenever possible, in every fixture. Hansie Cronje had a 15-man squad at his disposal but three players never came close to seeing any action: “We were drinks-waiters from the moment we arrived,” remembers Dale Benkenstein of the role he played with Alan Dawson and Derek Crookes.
Nicky Boje played South Africa’s first match of the tournament but was then shelved for the next six games and didn’t play for almost a month, replaced by Steve Elworthy in an all-seam attack. The starting XI had six frontline bowlers, batted right down to number ten and was winning, albeit mostly on the back of Lance Klusener’s all-round heroics. Cronje was adamant that nothing should be changed.
The fourth match was against Kenya in Amsterdam. It was the perfect opportunity to give the substitutes a match. Cronje said he didn’t wish to ‘disrespect’ the opposition, gloriously unaware of how disrespected the unused cricketers in his own squad were made to feel. They were good enough to represent their country at a World Cup but not good enough, apparently, to help beat Kenya.
Then, before the crucial Super Six match against Australia, the great Jacques Kallis was injured. Dawson was the natural replacement as a swing-bowling all-rounder but, having been denied game time for so long, Cronje was reluctant to include him. Instead, he opted for ‘tried and trusted’ Boje on a green, seaming wicket at Headingly. The match will always be remembered for Herschelle Gibbs dropped catch off Steve Waugh rather than the adverse squad dynamic, but it played a role in the loss.
On Tuesday the Proteas have the chance to give Andile Phehlukwayo and Lizaad Williams a game, perhaps even Reeza Hendricks although the top-six is keen to keep playing and batters need less rest and rotation than fast bowlers. All of the players would like to keep playing. But you never know how important game time might be further into the tournament. So, will it happen?
“To be dead honest, that’s unlikely. The beauty about the start to our campaign is that we’ve had nice breaks between games and great opportunities to recover well,” Walter said. “So, it’s a case of playing whatever we feel is the strongest team on the day. If some injuries get thrown our way, or when we play three games in eight days later on, then we might have that conversation but for now it’s full steam ahead.”
It may not matter but history tells us that fast bowlers rarely get through ten matches in 40 days, if South Africa reach the semi-finals, without a niggle – or worse – somewhere along the way. History also tells us (as do coaches and players) that net practise is no substitute for the real thing. But Walter sounded relaxed and unfazed about the prospect of making forced changes to his preferred XI in the weeks to come.
“Everyone is training hard, from deep in the winter until now, so there is nobody in the squad who isn’t ready to compete if they get the tap on the shoulder for selection,” he said. They will be rusty, of course, and may have to play against India in front of 65,000 people at Eden Gardens which would be quite an introduction. But for now, so far, so good.
The sporting superstition – ‘don’t change a winning team’ – can upend even the best combinations. It may not matter. Probably won’t. But who knows.