The South Africa plan that lifted them from lows of 2019 to success in 2023 World Cup | Cricket-world-cup News

It was at their lowest ebb, when they were eliminated from the 2019 world cup, that South Africa started to focus on how to change things in the 2023 world cup in India.
“Post 2019 World Cup the only thing we spoke about is what do we do for 2023, where the conditions will be even more challenging because it will be held in India,” Prasanna Agoram, who was their team analyst then recalls to The Indian Express.
It is the blueprint with which South Africa turned their attention for the 2023 World Cup, just days after they returned home from England in 2019, with just three wins from nine games.
“The first and foremost thing we did was to figure out who will commit to playing the World Cup. If we had any doubts about anyone’s availability, irrespective of how big name he is, we were ready to move on. Stature, reputation didn’t matter because you needed to put a vision on board. So once we did it, we knew getting results would be difficult, but it was the only way to groom players for this World Cup,” Prasanna said.
Not since the 1992 edition, their first one after readmission has South Africa come into a World Cup where a majority of their squad has no previous experience of playing in the tournament. Apart from Quinton de Kock, David Miller (three World Cups), Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen, this World Cup is the first one for the rest, including their captain Temba Bavuma.
The road to India was not easy. Having lost few key talents to England and New Zealand, the collapse of Kolpak because of Brexit would come as a blessing in disguise. Although T20 franchises hovered over some, Cricket South Africa would go the extra mile to give improvised national contracts that opened the door for many to commit to the Proteas.
“To do well in India, you need to have a strong top 4, bowlers who can give wickets in the first powerplay and two good spinners. They have all these bases covered. In case, their pacers don’t get wickets in the first powerplay, then their spinners will struggle. And that to me is their lone weak link,” Prasanna says.
There were a few stumbles on the way to India. The need to start their own T20 league to keep pace with the rest of the world would even put their direct qualification for the World Cup in a jeopardy, but a timely series win over England allowed them to breathe easy before things went for the worse again. With Mark Boucher stepping aside as coach, just 10 months to go for the World Cup, South Africa would bring in a new head coach, Rob Walter, altering their focus to the 2027 edition that they are in line to host.
So when the World Cup began, they arrived on Indian shores with very little expectations. That the rug World Cup was on, took the limelight away from them. But with the ones originally handpicked for the 2023 project clicking together, South Africa are beginning to dream again. And sans expectations, South Africa have appeared liberated on the field with De Kock, Van Der Dussen, Markram, Heinrich Klaasen all batting with the sort of freedom that you saw mostly only in AB de Villiers. And with big totals on board, their pacers have found extra spring in their bowling.
Since their readmission, barring the 2003 and 2019 edition, South Africa have always dominated the group stages. It is the knockouts that has proved to be their biggest stumbling block, where despite being the topdogs they have been weighed down time and again the expectations. And at the ongoing World Cup as South Africa, considered rank outsiders to get past the group stages, are setting the tournament on fire literally with the bat and ball, there is one lingering question that is on everyone’s lips. Can this team, with not many big stars in the line-up, end up surprising themselves and the world.
Prasanna points to an important facet of this team that gives him hope. “Not many of these guys have gone through the disappointment of going to the knockouts and losing. They are not used to understanding what kills you when you lose in the semifinals. Smith had seen 2003, 2007 and in 2011 the memories of those were still fresh that when you enter knockouts you are invariably under pressure. Most Read
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“Same for the 2015 team, who played New Zealand in the semifinals, who eliminated them in 2011. I have been part of the dressing room, where there will be negative vibes and all of a sudden you are thinking about something other than the skillset that is going to pull you down. You could see it in the faces, pressure mounting on them. They wanted to prove people wrong and it was not allowing them to express themselves. But without any such baggage, this team is playing freely,” Prasanna says.
There is something else as well that is giving Prasanna all the hope – the venues. After playing Pakan in Chennai on Friday, they face New Zealand in Pune, India at Kolkata and Afghanan at Ahmedabad.

“Barring Kolkata and India, South Africa will feel confident about the rest because these conditions aid them. They should somehow finish at the top of table or second & third so that they can avoid playing India at Wankhede,” he adds. From then on, it will come down to the age-old question of South Africa and the knockouts. Can a team without baggage crack that code?