It's time for another major limited-overs tournament. The perennial underachievers on the big stage, South Africa, are currently ranked #1 in the ODI format. Will they turn it around this time and shed the unwanted tag of being 'mentally weak' and 'chokers'?

By Abdul Haseeb (26th May, 2017)

It all started when South Africa tied against Australia in the semi-final of 1999 Cricket World Cup. Afterwards, they were labelled as ‘chokers’ and they’ve had to live with that tag; time and time again, the South Africans fall short at tournament during the knockout stages. Will a star-studded lineup finally rid the Saffers of distressing tag? This exact question arises whenever they enter any major tournament. As a matter of fact, South Africa have won only one major tournament in their entire cricketing history, which coincidentally happens to be ICC Champions Trophy (in 1998).

Since the 2015 Cricket World Cup, they've a very good record in ODI cricket. They've played 39 games and won 25 out of those. Faf du Plessis has been the most prolific run scorer having scored 1667 runs in 33 innings at an average of 61.74. He will be vital to South Africa's chances in the upcoming tournament.

AB de Villiers is bound and determined to win at least one trophy for his nation before he fades off into the sunset. It was a rather unpleasant sight to see him in tears after South Africa’s exit from 2015 Cricket World Cup after their loss against New Zealand. Many of his critics say that his nerves get the better of him in crunch situations but this is his chance and he’ll be itching to prove them wrong. Although it’s time he moves up the order for betterment of his team.

They’ve got a lot of quality cricketers in their side who can keep the things steady when required and they can also bully the bowlers in the last few overs. AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, and Quinton de Kock are the prime examples of this. 

If you like watching batsmen, Quinton de Kock will be your main man who’s rated by a lot of experts. He is the next Proteas superstar who is blessed with the natural ability to play shots all around the field. He started off his career batting down the order at #7 but was eventually promoted and he’ll be taking up the opening duties along with Hashim Amla which speaks the volume of his ability. He tends to rely on hand eye coordination and is a smart cricketer. Ranked at #6 in ODI rankings, he is not behind many.

On to bowlers, it’s going to be exciting to see how Kagiso Rabada performs against the best in business. This’ll be the first chance for Rabada to shine with the whole world watching as this will be his first global tournament after having debuted in July 2015. He’s a complete bowler who can swing the ball as well as generate awkward bounce. His pace is just the icing on the cake. The top-ranked ODI bowler in the world, Imran Tahir, operates brilliantly in the middle overs and almost always finds a way to get amongst the wickets; his performances will be key to the Proteas' ambitions in the tournament.

At the bottom, they have an insanely good hitter in form of David Miller who can take on the bowlers and put South Africa in a good position to win the game. They're pretty much covered up in all aspects of the sport as their fielding is also top notch. Faf du Plessis is probably the best in the world when it comes to taking excellent catches.

The Saffers don't have a lot of weaknesses other than being mentally weak. As we've seen in the past, their cricketers usually bottle it when the going gets tough. Their lack of quality all rounders may also hurt them as there's no name which really stands out in particular.

Strengths

The dynamism in the lineup

Weaknesses

Mentally weak

Verdict

Likely to be semi finalists

South Africa Squad

AB de Villiers (C), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, David Miller, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Farhaan Behardien, Morne Morkel

Discuss!