SA20 has helped Proteas stars handle T20 World Cup pressure
Comment by Zaahier Adams
IT was only a few years ago that this Proteas squad was labelled a group of no-name brands.
They had the destructive force of Quinton de Kock at the top of the order and Kagiso Rabada’s fearsome pace, but to a large degree they were devoid of the ‘superstar’ factor that previous Proteas teams boasted, in the form of modern-day legends such as AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis and Dale Steyn.
That’s not even stretching further back to the previous golden era of Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and Shaun Pollock.
Yet there they are at the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean in another major ICC tournament semi-final, following last year’s 50-overs semi in Kolkata, in the space of just over six months.
The South Africans will face Afghanistan early on Thursday morning (2.30am SA time start) at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad and Tobago for a place in Saturday’s final, against either India or England, who square off later on Thursday (4.30pm SA time) in the second semi-final at the Guyana National Stadium.
It has been a dramatic turnaround in white-ball fortunes for the SA national team.
It is no coincidence that the birth of the SA20, and its subsequent two highly successful seasons, has coincided with it.
A stage was finally created for a greater number of South African cricketers to be exposed to high-pressure cricket, played in front of packed stadiums, on a regular basis.