Proteas aim to step further than ever before against Afghanistan at T20 World Cup

The Proteas’ task is simple: beat Afghanistan in the semifinal of the T20 World Cup tomorrow and become the first-ever senior South African men’s side to make the final of a Cricket World Cup.

But for South Africa, in the three decades of international cricket since being reinstated to the global tournament, that task has never been easy.

The Proteas have made the semifinals of the 1992, 1999, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2015 and 2023 white-ball World Cups, yet have never reached a final.

This team, however, having gone unbeaten in seven matches at the ongoing tournament in the US and the Caribbean, have something different about them.

“We have been together now for quite some time,” Proteas T20 skipper Aiden Markram said to the media yesterday.

“The experience and type of environment you’re able to create in the change room and off the field plays a big role in how things look off the field.

“Us being together for many years is a difference, guys have a lot of trust in each other and are willing to put everything on the line for each other.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Proteas claimed victory in tight T20 World Cup games thanks to collective performance, superb leadership

“Once you’ve established that in a team it goes a long way in what you see on the field from an actions point of view, from an effort point of view.

“Those two things have landed us in a really nice position at the moment.”

Keeping faith

There has been no one standout for the Proteas at the tournament. Despite making it to the final four, no South African is in the top-five run-scorers or top-five wicket-takers at the T20 World Cup.

Instead, it has been a team effort where every player has chipped in when needed.

Heading into the tournament, there were question marks regarding the form of Anrich Nortje — who had come off an eight-month injury lay-off — but head coach Rob Walter trusted the man who had performed at a world-class level for South Africa before to do it again.

Nortje returned the favour by being the standout performer for the side in the initial stages of the tournament, collecting two Player of the Match awards.

At the same stage of the tournament, stalwart Kagiso Rabada looked slightly off-colour, but again, faith was shown in the kingpin to deliver and he has put in two match-winning performances since.

Reeza Hendricks and the skipper himself have struggled to get going with the bat in the tournament, yet faith is being shown in them to get it right when it matters — because they have proven their capabilities before.

The ever-impressive Ottneil Baartman — on two occasions — and a red-hot Ryan Rickelton have been unfortunate victims of a system that has worked up to this point.

So far, that has been the Proteas’ greatest strength, showing faith in the stalwarts.

Nonetheless, Markram — whose leadership has been astute but has only scored 96 runs at an average of 13.71 — is looking to make a big play with the willow for the country tomorrow.

“I certainly hope so,” he said about wanting to score some runs in the semifinal.

“As any player would want to do, you want to do well in the big games and make a big impact on the game in semifinals and in knockout cricket.

“I’m definitely fizzed up about that and wanting to put in a performance, that extra little bit, compared to previous games.

“Fingers crossed it works out but we all know how this game can unfold.

“As a team, we’re pretty excited about the opportunity as well. It’s not just about me.

“We’ve been playing good cricket. We’re on the right route to hopefully lifting a trophy one day.

“Whenever that might be, you have to look at the journey and how you get there.

“The journey that we’re on as a team is looking really good and hopefully it is a matter of a few days a way that we can do something special.”

Afghan challenge

While Afghanistan have been rising stars in world cricket over the past 10 years and their growth to reaching a first semi-final is commendable, the Proteas undoubtedly have the easier semifinal opposition while India and England slug it out later in the day on Thursday.

For the Proteas, the semifinal is about putting together a complete team performance for the first time at the T20 World Cup.

“Our bowlers have been very good for us in this competition,” Markram said. “From a batting point of view, we’ve shown good signs here and there but probably not been at our best.

“Sometimes due to conditions being quite tough and other times maybe giving it away.

“The approach and the opportunity lies in the fact that we haven’t put a complete game of cricket together yet and we have trust in the fact that if we are able to do so, that hopefully will put us in a really good position at the end of the game.

“We’ve been tracking really well as a white-ball team as a whole over the past 12-18 months so this is an opportunity to go one step further and get into a final.” DM

The first ball of the semifinal between South Africa and Afghanistan will be bowled at 2:30am on Thursday morning.