Seeing Graeme Smith’s mug on the front page of every major news rag about a week or so ago, I became enraged all over again. This muppet led the whole country down a garden path and when things went south, did not have the balls to face the public or the music. Nope, Graeme instead slipped away to Ireland to woo his future bride. Of all the lame things this tosser has done in the past, this surely takes the cake, but I thought about it some more and realized that this “poser” could unfortunately not take all the blame. He was merely another “choker” in an already unimaginably long line of non-performers.

It was then that I thought of looking in to this label of choking and my research took me to a wonderfully credible source – WIKIPEDIA. When browsing through Wikipedia that same day, I was intrigued to find the word/label “choker” not only listed, but explained by using the SA Cricket team as an example. Stats were flung around like sparks leaping off a metal rod going through a grinder. During my brief, yet emotional trip down an unpleasant memory lane, I found that I had almost forgotten how badly our boys have let us and themselves down through the years.

In 1992 the absence of a Duckworth-Lewis System drilled us, during the 1996 tournament we were the fancied team, but Sri Lanka made mice of our men. Steve Waugh was spared a life in 1999 and proceeded to nail our butts to the wall. Shortly after, came 2003 with Shaun Pollock, Eric Simons and the “misunderstanding of the Duckworth-Lewis System. The Caribbean was the abrupt stop for a short, yet painful few days in 2007, when Mattie Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee made sure we were spanked like naughty children. And finally 2011 came along and we demolished everyone in sight, only to lose a dramatic 8 wickets for 68 runs in double-quick time to bow out to the Kiwis in the quarters.

Great! Now I have a headache and my eyes are burning with tears, but are these tears of despair, resentment, frustration or sadness? All of the above really, because I don’t understand how it could have happened. How could things always progress so well before, between and after a major tournament, only to implode so spectacularly during it? Who do we blame for it and why can we not seem to fix it?

There’s no simple answer for it and waiting for Smith’s memoires to help figure it out, will drive even the Dalai Lama to violence. A certain school of thought maintains that a lack of BMT or Big Match Temperament can be credited with our woes. But sides who lack the ability to perform on a big stage certainly don’t win matches and series against Australia in Australia, which we’ve done. Another segment of the armchair enthusiasts out there believe that the wrong coaches are at the helm and as a direct result, the better/in form cricketers are often over looked come selection time.

This certainly seems a valid argument, but I would take it one step further and say that a “gravy train” scenario exists in SA Cricket. A train expertly operated by a handful of senior players, who enjoy the status quo and do everything in their power to undermine coaches and fellow players. This is done at the expense of victories and world rankings, just to ensure that certain players stay in the fold. We can only hope that Gary Kirsten will be the surgeon who cuts this cancer from the weakening body that is our national cricket team!

Nevertheless and moving swiftly along, us Saffas weren’t the only ones feverishly painted with the “choker” brush in the afore-mentioned Wikipedia literature. The All Black Rugby team were mentioned and ridiculed quite a tad as well, as was the English Football side, who last won a world cup in 1966 under Sir Bobby Charlton. These two entities have problems unique and of their own making, but it certainly does not involve selecting the wrong coaches and players. The McCaws, Carters, Rooneys and Gerrards of this world thoroughly deserve the praise heaped upon them and frequently do brilliant things, but none of these includes winning a world cup.

It would seem that not entirely unlike South Africa, few teams can even remotely hold a candle to the prowess, skill and supremacy exuded by the men in black, yet what have they got to show for it? There is an extremely, realistic chance that Richie McCaw could be edged into the annals of rugby history as the most successful captain NEVER to have won the William Webb-Ellis trophy. The Canterburian Crusader knows this full well and should be shaking in his Adidas boots. He, along with Graham Henry have been gifted a second chance to secure the elusive and prestigious rugby prize, but failure to do so will not sit well with an expecting public. To make matters worse, this time around there will be nowhere to hide, as the tournament will be decided in the land of the long, white cloud.

There was every indication during their first 2 games of the 2011 Tri-Nations that New Zealand has shrugged off the bogey that has hampered their lack of success at RWC during the last 24 years. They were marvellously positioned to take the title at a canter going into the “dead rubber” of a game versus the Boks in Port Elizabeth, but somehow our boys pulled a rabbit from the hat and emerged victorious. All the attention then shifted to Brisbane and still the All Blacks were extremely confident. The Aussies (as we know now) took that game away from the New Zealanders as early as the first 20 minutes of the game and eventually won rather comfortably. When an astonished Graham Henry (known for his utter directness) was asked whether he was surprised at the loss, his response was, “yes, definitely, we never thought we’d be going into the world cup with two losses from two starts.”

A. Waldeck

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