South African cricket begins the long process of pulling itself back together

South African cricket begins the long process of pulling itself back together

It didn't even take half an hour after South Africa lost the T20 World Cup final for the first genuinely funny inside joke to be made.

"Now we don't have a trophy or a cabinet," Mandy Wiener, one of the country's best-known news journalists, posted on X.

June 29 was exactly a month since South Africans went to the polls for the country's seventh democratic elections, and the first one in which the African National Congress did not win an outright majority. The make-up of the new government has captured national attention and continued to do so this weekend.

"It's a done deal," was the front-page headline on the Sunday Times and that wasn't someone prematurely going to press with the cricket result. It was about what the future parliament will look like.

Just underneath was a photograph from the Wanderers fan park, of a supporter on his knees, his national flag dragging behind him like a discarded cape, his head resting in his interlaced hands and a look of disbelief in his eyes. Around him, some of the 5,000 people that made their way to the country's premier cricket ground, were standing in beanies, down jackets and even sleeping bags. They braved the Highveld cold in the hope that they would witness history being made in Bridgetown. They did, just not the kind they will want to remember.

South Africa have still not won a cricket World Cup, despite an unbeaten run through the tournament and an almighty fight for most of the match that mattered most. Of course, there will be what-ifs that can be what-iffed over forever. Should Quinton de Kock have played the shot he did when a fielder was put at fine leg for exactly that? Should Heinrich Klaasen have used his feet when he reached for the wide delivery that he ended up nicking? Was the boundary rope where it should have been when Suryakumar Yadav took the wonder catch that ended David Miller's innings and South Africa's dream? And none of those things matter. It's over. No one can go back. Nothing can be undone or redone.

Once the whirlwind of emotions passes, the real question is how, not if, South Africa will move forward because they have no choice but to find a way. And in the immediate aftermath, minutes after the game, an emotionally exhausted but excellently articulated analysis by former coach Russell Domingo, former captain Hashim Amla and former allrounder Chris Morris signposted the way in three clear paths: sit with the sadness, deal with the dips and look for the light.

"It's going to take them a long time to get over this because it just takes so much out of you," Domingo, who was South Africa's coach during the 2015 World Cup semi-final (another nerve-wracking affair) and now coaches the Lions domestic team, said on SuperSport. "You've given everything for two or three years leading to this event and one or two things just don't fall into place, so to get back up and step into the arena again is going to be a challenge and there might be a little bit of a drop-off in terms of intensity. They'll get there eventually, but it might take a little bit of time."

Domingo knows what he is talking about because he lived it. South Africa did not play any cricket for 103 days between the semi-final in March 2015 and a July tour of Bangladesh. There, they won a T20I series 2-nil but lost the ODIs 2-1 before a washed-out Test series. The real downer came later that year when they toured India and lost a four-Test series 3-nil - their first away series defeat in nine years. It began a slump that saw them drop as low as seventh on the Test rankings and become the first team to bow out of the 2019 World Cup, which was their worst tournament showing in their history.

This time, they have less time but more resources. There are 39 days between the T20 World Cup final and the Test series in the West Indies, where they are under a different coach and have a significant proportion of different personnel. With the continued separation of red and white ball set-ups, they can treat that series as completely unrelated to this tournament, even though it's the same place. Their next limited-overs assignment is three T20Is in the West Indies followed by a white-ball series in Ireland, which starts in late September, and the focus will be on 50-over cricket, with the 2025 Champions Trophy in mind. While no substitute for a World Cup, the Champions Trophy can, at the least, be used as preparation for the home World Cup, in 2027, which is already being built up as "the one".

Although South Africans should probably have a conversation with themselves about creating cricketing expectations, Amla believes there's reasons to be hopeful for 2027 and beyond. "I feel quietly optimistic of what's to come, [with this team] having gone past the hurdle of a semi-final," he said. "Guys like [Tristan] Stubbs, [Aiden] Markram and the exposure they've had with IPLs, with our SA20, with our domestic system - we're seeing these youngsters come in and they're straight into the game, whereas maybe before it took a little bit longer to get into international cricket.They're getting into it very quickly and we're seeing the performances coming."

Amla assessed South Africa's pipeline as strong and producing players of quality who can stand up in high-pressure situations. This team has already proven him right, with wins in six out of seven close matches and a dominant showing in the semi-final, where they have historically stumbled. While there is space for the argument that South Africa should have won the final when they needed 26 runs from 24 balls with six wickets in hand and that not doing so was a choke, there should be equal room to recognise how outstandingly well Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh bowled at the end, and how spectacular Suryakumar's catch was. That's just sport.

While Rohit Sharma spoke of destiny, Amla has always taken the pragmatic approach to something as variable as luck. "Nobody deserves anything in this game. That's one of Hash's famous throwaway quotes," Domingo said. "And he's spot on. You've got to earn it. And you've got to make sure you do the right things."

But now, to the one player who may feel differently: David Miller.

Fourteen years ago, Miller made his debut in the West Indies and already had a reputation for big-hitting and natural flare. Until the 2023 ODI World Cup semi-final, where he scored a hundred in a losing cause, he was regarded as a player who had not quite lived up to his potential at international level. After that innings he said he felt "a bit hollow", and since then has taken it on himself to shoulder more responsibility. As South Africa's most-capped player at this World Cup, that makes sense. It was Miller who was caught on the boundary on the final over, aiming for the six that could have turned the tide. The expression on his face afterwards told a story of someone who felt they had let their team and themselves down, and who may not get another chance to put that right. Miller is 35 now and, though he has not indicated his career is over, another World Cup may be a bridge too far and he could join generations of others who were never able to win a World Cup.

"For a guy like Dave, that'll hurt," Morris said. "Dave's such a good dude. He's a team man. He's been a flipping stalwart for South African cricket. And as Russ [Domingo] said, you think someone from the top would look down and go, 'It's your turn to win something.'"

But none of Domingo, Amla, Morris and perhaps none of South Africa held on to that though for too long. This is a country with too many real problems to dwell on the disappointment of a World Cup defeat for too long. Instead, the television trio acknowledged the fitting end to Virat Kohli and Rohit's T20I careers, the immense comeback of Rishabh Pant from a near-death experience and the redemption of Hardik Pandya. "Everybody's got a backstory. All the heroes have got a backstory," Amla said. "We know what adversity they had to get over to achieve the success they have. And South Africa have a very big backstory. This is another blockbuster in the backstory. We've had to wait for the final and now we have to wait for a trophy. The final has come now; the trophy's coming next."

But the best news for South Africans, is that cabinet is expected to be finalised this week. And life goes on.