Proteas choking on stale air?

That didn’t last long did it? While South African cricket fans have become used to being underwhelmed by our national team, our recent exit from the World Twenty20 was even more whimpering than usual.

What we are used to is a barnstorming start, then the inevitable loss in the knock-outs. Maybe Corrie van Zyl and Graeme Smith decided that instead of show casing the same old script, a revised version of Disappointment and False Dawns: The South African Cricket Saga was required to keep cricket fans in the republic from saying the same old things and falling asleep before the final act.

We all know what I’m talking about. That word … the C-word: chokers. After 1999 and Headingly, the emotional equivalent of Hiroshima for South African cricket, I was of the opinion that what needed to happen was that a new generation of cricketers, unscarred by that fateful day, needed to be infused into the system to ensure the Proteas didn’t repeat the same nightmare four years later.

That is exactly what happened. New players were introduced, fresh optimism bounded across the country and then … Durban and a smudged piece of paper in the rain saw SA tie and lose again simultaneously, again in 2003. It was very much like the Godfather II, where Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone (read Smith) falls deeper into the mire and forgets who he was at the beginning of Godfather I.

2007 was no better, where my lasting memory of that odyssey is Jacques Kallis charging down the wicket to smack Glenn McGrath to the moon, missing the ball, and seeing his timber burnt down on the way to handing the Aussies the easiest semifinal victory ever.

The inaugural World Twenty20 in SA was predictably also a disaster, and when we went to England for the next one, we ‘played it again Sam’, losing to Pakistan in the semis. While I certainly didn’t hold my hopes high for this World Cup, I didn’t expect the Proteas to play so badly. Mentally, Smith’s troops have failed to cast off the baggage of the past by picking up some of their own on the way, with this tournament just being another sad episode in South Africa’s long journey of underachievement at ICC events. And blaming the travelling from the Indian Premier League or other places is redundant. All the other teams had the same problems.

While I have preached my displeasure about the way the T20 game is evolving and what it is doing to world cricket as a whole (I’m very pleased Lalit Modi is on the way out), I shall leave that aside. While the cricket is a bit different, the same scenario has played itself out again once more and whether it takes 120 or 300 deliveries for a game to be concluded, the message is the same: We have a problem, and boy has never an elephant in the room been so rambunctious and keen to bust the walls.

The Proteas mental disabilities when it comes to showing the confidence required to take a tournament by the scruff of the neck has become so non-existent to the point it has become debilitating towards the mindset of all South African international cricketers when it comes to the limited-over formats. Test cricket is feeling the trickle down pessimism, with the drawn series against the England the home loss to the Aussies the year before, after what should’ve been our greatest triumph Down under.

Graeme Smith, when chosen as captain after the 2003 debacle, offered a fresh approach and an untainted youth that promised much, but until now, has failed to deliver. As a player, he has few peers in the South African line-up but shares the common trend of being sucked in by our past performances. ‘Simply weren’t good enough’ as Smith has said of the team’s performance, is stating the obvious. So what now?

With a new selection committee ready to begin duties on June 1st, led by Andrew ‘Prince Charles’ Hudson (who has already called for a review of what happened in the Caribbean), decisive action needs to be taken to address the problem.

South Africa has become so used to choking that it does so off the stale air that geminates from a squad that is dire need of a blood transfusion. New players need to be brought in for both the ODI and T20 sides, so who should go?

As much as I hate to say so, now is the time to start preparing for the day Mark Boucher leaves the arena, which isn’t too far away. The likes of Heino Khun spring to mind among others. His batting form, while certainly good enough in the Test arena, has been sorely lacking in the T20 arena and now is the opportunity to groom his successor.

The same could be said for Herschelle Gibbs. While I love this maverick cricketer as much as the next guy (or not), clearly his time is up and persisting with him takes the opportunity away for other players to be drafted into the national set-up. Players such as Riley Rossouw are the next generation of batting talent in this country, so the time is now for them to be introduced to international cricket with the World Cup in Asia next year looming large over the horizon.

The question of what to do with Smith and Kallis is far more complicated. Smith is a very important player to this side, and while he hadn’t played cricket for sometime before this latest tournament, the worrying problem as mentioned earlier is that he now owns his very own epoch of disappointment, particular to his leadership. The problem though is that there isn’t anyone else it seems who could take the reins at T20 level, where Michael Clarke has replaced Ricky Ponting for Australia as an example.

Kallis is a world class all-rounder, and as such is an asset, but even so, perhaps now is the time to let this great player (most will only realise this when he is gone but I admit I’ve always been within that school of thought) focus on more pedestrian cricket, such as ODI and Test cricket. Kallis might disagree, but who said being a selector was easy? However, with JK being the vice-captain, his presence in the side is guaranteed.

Other cases in the team that also need solving:

JP Duminy — Hasn’t been in nick for sometime, and while he needs time away from the Test line-up, the ODI and T20 teams offer the perfect chance to stay involved while he gets his most vital asset, his confidence, back.

The spinners — Roelf van der Merwe and Johan Botha have been off form this tournament where they were expected to play a big role, so what now? SA’s spin cupboard is rather bare, so we might just have to stick with these twirlers and hope things turn around, unless the selectors are willing to bring in Paul Harris and sacrifice some batting? Considering SA only racked up two fifties (AB de Villiers and Kallis) in the tournament, that is unlikely.

After SA finish their tour of the West Indies where they will play two T20 matches, five ODIs, and three Tests, the new selectors will have to wait till October when SA meet Pakistan in Dubai (or somewhere else) before they can stamp their authority and let us know who they see as the next generation of South African cricketers. Let’s hope they don’t miss the opportunity.