Cricket World Cup: Deja Vu - Never For Some Fans

It's a rugby role reversal - the team that's always fancied, denied again...but in cricket it's the South African fans with yet another disppointment, and the New Zealand fans rejoicing. Perhaps those Kiwi fans, most of them avid rugby fans, do have a tinge of empathy for their beaten foes, even as they gloat and rejoice. South Africa have played their part in New Zealand's rugby world cup diappointments.

For much of the day, it seemed like a routine day for the South Africans against their seemingly outmatched opponents. Two early wickets had New Zealand on the back foot, and a century partnership from Ryder and Taylor came at a very slow rate. Eventually, more wickets fell, preventing the acceleration that might have followed the partnership, and New Zealand finished with only 221 off their 50 overs.

The chase started well enough for South Africa, despite the early loss of Amla. Smith departed as well, but at 2/108 after 24 overs, with Kallis and De Villiers looking set, there were few who would have predicted anything other than a comfortable win. Those few, were probably keen viewers of previous South African world cup disasters. Kallis hit the first ball of the 25 th over from Southee over the mid-wicket boundary. Well, it would have been over if the big figure of Jacob Oram hadn't intercepted it. Still, Duminy had been playing well, and surely that was a minor hiccup. But then the 28th over came, and the wheels really fell off.

First, Duminy was beaten by a Nathan McCullum delivery that knocked him over for 3, and then du Plessis called De Villiers through for a nervous single that wasn't quite there, and suddenly it was 5/121. Botha, Peterson and Steyn went fairly quickly as the runs dried up, and at 8/146 even the most doubting of Kiwi fans must have started to believe. Morkel provided du Plessis some support, just enough to get the Kiwis nervous, before the last two fell in quick succession. The South Africans had lost their last eight for 64 runs, as Oram was everywhere, taking four of those wickets, and catching two others.

Much will be written about the choke word...perhaps it was, but I suspect it was at least equal part overconfidence. South African eyes may well have been at least one game away, but it's hard to win the final if you neglect to win the game (or two) before hand. The South African teams of years gone by would be the first to know that.