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Aussie hoodoo remains as era ends

HANSIE Cronje, a fine tennis player himself, kept saying before the World Cup that South Africa needed to play the big points well.

Sadly, they didn't and it will be the fate of the team assembled over the past four years to be remembered as the side that missed the crucial volleys.

To use Cronje's terminology, South Africa twice had Australia stranded at the equivalent of love-forty with the court wide open but then blasted the winning smash over the tramlines.

In both matches South Africa were in a winning position after the first innings, which they then strengthened in the early part of the second innings. Twice, though, Australia refused to accept defeat.

They were desperately close affairs which went down to the last three balls, the cricketing equivalent of a fifth-set tiebreaker. That Australia, who also showed their vulnerabilities and human frailties, held their nerve at the very end while SA lost theirs will forever haunt Cronje and his players.

Having been the most successful one-day side in the world over the past four years in terms of the percentage of matches won, all South Africa have to show from two World Cups is a quarterfinal place in 1996 and a semifinal in 1999. That is on a par with New Zealand, better than England and India but behind Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

At the same time, credit is due to the South African team for the way they played for much of the tournament and indeed for the way they played against Australia through most of the two crucial matches.

A loss off the third last ball and a tie are no disgrace against the toughest competitors in the world.

Steve Waugh, the Australian captain, was generous in victory saying of his vanquished opponents: ``Those guys can go away with their heads held high. They played great cricket. They gave one undred percent and that's all you can ask.''

All, of course, except put away the big points. It was almost as though they believed they could beat anyone else in a tight situation, as they had done so impressively against India and Pakistan, but were not sure they could outplay Australia. They hesitated and lost.

The tragedy for South Africa was that it was Lance Klusener, their seemingly nerveless super-hero, who had a moment of madness at Edgbaston which ultimately cost his team a place in the final.

Klusener had done the nearimpossible. With 16 needed off the last eight balls and only Allan Donald left to support him, Klusener clubbed Glenn McGrath for six, the ball bouncing off Paul Reiffel's hands at longon. He took a single, kept the strike and pounded Damien Fleming's first two balls for four through the covers. One run needed off four balls and Klusener on strike.

This was the time for a deep breath and clear thought as Waugh brought his field up close to save the singles. Four balls. Klusener could find the run off any one of them. It was almost time to relax and contemplate Lord's.

Fleming's third ball was hit to mid-on, Donald was too hasty and would have been run out if Lehmann's throw was on target. That surely was the signal to wait for the right opportunity to score the vital run but Klusener hit to mid-off and charged down the pitch. Donald waited to assess the danger and had no chance of beating a relay throw, from Bevan to Fleming to keeper Gilchrist.

Klusener's contribution was immense. He features on almost all individual achievement lists, from run-scoring (281), strike rate (122.17) and average (140.50) to sixes (ten) and wickets (17).

He is ranked as the tournament's leading allrounder. The fact was, though, that years of planning, team-building and much exhilarating cricket were undone in his last moment.

After 1996, South Africa played relentless, winning oneday cricket. They established supremacy over Sri Lanka, the world champions, and all opponents other than Australia, who too were beaten often enough in various tournaments. As Wayne Ferreira knows, beating Pete Sampras in a run-of-the-mill tour event is not the same as winning Wimbledon or, in cricket's case, the World Cup.

It is the end of an era. Allan Donald and Steve Elworthy will not play in another World Cup four years on, nor probably will Gary Kirsten, Daryll Cullinan or Jonty Rhodes. And if Cronje had to make a commitment today to the next World Cup in South Africa in 2003 he would probably decline.

There will be a new coach, with Graham Ford taking over from Bob Woolmer, and a new selection panel. The team that grew into such a formidable force will need to be analysed unsentimentally and the next selectors will have to start planning for 2003.

South Africa's strength has been the depth in allrounders. The enduring weakness has been the top-order batting, although there is hope because the two youngest men in the top six, Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis, were the best performers.

Gibbs had an excellent World Cup, although like Klusener he has to bear the burden of making a crucial error, when he fumbled after catching Steve Waugh halfway through the Australian captain's epic innings at Headingley. And the value of Kallis was starkly illustrated when he missed Headingley because of muscle injury, causing a critical alteration in the balance of the side.

The quest of the new selectors must be to find reliable young batsmen, who must be given a chance to establish themselves. Boeta Dippenaar and Martin van Jaarsveld have the right credentials, while Dale Benkenstein deserved better than to be a travelling reserve.

Having picked two spinners, the selectors quickly decided that neither was up to the mark. They must have wished that time had delayed by a few more months its effect on Pat Symcox, who would have given the side a better balance and Australian-style combativeness.

Most of the team will arrive in South Africa this morning after a long journey via Dubai. They are unlikely to spend their first day at home watching the World Cup final. For those who survive the disappointment of the World Cup, it will be an even longer journey back to the top of the international tree.

It cannot be completed until Australia are vanquished, with the next opportunity only in 2001/02, or the 2003 World Cup is won.

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