Shaun
South Africa’s crowning glory at the home of cricket at Lord’s, where they won the World Test Championship title, defeating Australia, tells the world they can step up to pressure. And it will also help them to address, and to calm, the roiling within.
A lovely post-win moment from the South African dressing room has gone viral. Ashwell Prince, the batting coach, led a celebratory song about Black captain Temba Bavuma, with everyone in the room mouthing the lyrics. So disgusted was Prince with the treatment he received during his playing days by his own teammates that years later, he found the words to articulate his anger: “When things went wrong it was the quota players’ fault (South Africa’s policy to have non-White cricketers in the squad).
When things went right, the others were the heroes. As long as I played for the national team, that was not a team. We were never one.” Makhaya Ntini, South Africa’s legendary pacer, would run behind the team bus from hotel to ground as he never felt welcomed by his teammates, who wouldn’t even sit with him during breakfast or include him in their dinner plans. It’s this context that shouldn’t be forgotten. And that’s why Aiden Markram, who played a phenomenal knock in the final, raved about his captain’s strength of spirit.
It’s not surprising that only when they conquered their inner ghosts, the team could stub out the nasty opposition voices about how they handle pressure. Bavuma spoke about how some Australian players brought up the choking tag as a form of sledging during the game. It would be a fool who would now voice that sentiment in the near future. First they set their house in order, then they countered outsiders’ perceptions. That is this South African team’s great achievement.
