The Proteas of 99: One of the greatest teams we chose to ignore

One of the greatest teams ever not to win a World Cup

Come the World Cup 2015 and the South African team will grace the field as one of the favorites to lift the coveted trophy.

The team certainly looks like the one to beat with a captain and an eqaully dangerous batsman in AB de Villers and world’s best bowler in Dale Steyn. There are various other talents and proven performers like Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, Vernon Philander, Hashim Amla and every cricket lover will somewhere agree that the current Proteas line up has a very realistic chance of lifting the trophy for the first time.

But is it the best ever South African team? Maybe yes? The views can certainly change for the positive if they win the World Cup, but if I have to give my opinion I would never take the current South African team as the best despite the presence of both Worlds’ best limited over batsman and bowler.

The 1999 Semi-final match between Australian and South Africa took me down to the memory lane which I recently watched again on television. I was still a toddler but with enough knowledge that I was watching a game which is considered a religion in our country.

I remember that India hadn’t done really well and there loss to Zimbabwe coupled with Sachin Tendulkar’s absence had hurt them so much that they were in no position to proceed any further than the super six even if they would have defeated New Zealand thanks to Pakistan beating Zimbabwe which virtually knocked out India out of the World Cup.

Australia defeated South Africa and Zimbabwe despite not winning a single match in the Super Six round had an outside chance to become one of the semi-finalists provided India defeated the Kiwis but the latter were in no mood for creating any miracles for the African team and instead proceeded to the next round when they quietly disposed the men in blue.

But there was another African team who had a realistic chance of winning the cup for the first time. The South African team of 1999 led by late Hansie Cronje had all the ingredients needed to become the champion of the world. 17th June 1999 broke many hearts and a team which deserved to win it the most felled couple of steps short.

Have a look at the team and you will agree that it was a team full of talents and match winners. Players every captain would love to have in his team, players which would make every captain envy Cronje. Hansie Cronje himself was a good middle order batsman and a handy bowler as well who could have achieved more before his career was cut short due to corrupt practices he later resorted to.

He enjoyed a demi-god status in his country and one can only imagine the heights he would have touched had he become the first South-African captain and probably the only one to win the championship especially made more special post-apartheid era for him after they were given the license to play cricket again in 1992.

Batting

The batting order also exuded flair and the ability to take on attacks both attacking and defensively. Gary Kirsten could go on with the typical flair of an opening batsman making sure that he hung around looking for those quick singles and finding the gaps while Herschelle Gibbs went on in his fiery mode.

Even if a quick wicket fell down, the able batsmen in Darryl Cullinan and Jacques Kallis would build up the innings followed by Cronje, Rhodes, Boucher while Klusener would come down to give the finishing touches.

In fact, so fine were Klusener’s finishing touches that he went on to win the player of the tournament award. He did that on several times one standing out definitely is his hurricane innings against Pakistan which shut them out of the match completely. He was on a repeat mode against the Oz in the Semi-finals, but he fell short.

Bowling

The bowling was not only good enough to concede the flow of runs but also take wickets. Led by the gutsy and according to me one of the greatest bowlers ever to come out of South Africa, Allan Donald the ‘white lightning’ was ably supported by Shaun Pollock, Steve Elworthy, Kallis and Klusener who could bowl equally well as they could bat and a lone spinner in Nicky Boje.

But what also made them even better as compared to other teams was certainly their fielding. They had Gibbs and the great Jonty Rhodes. Boucher though new was impressive behind the stumps. Kallis and Cullinan were able slip fielders.

The late Bob Woolmer was a shrewd strategist and a coach.

Somewhere we don’t seem to shower the team of 1999 with the kind of accolades they deserve. Take the West Indies of 1970s-80s and the Aussies of early Y2K era who after 1999 went on to win two more.

Probably the Asian teams are credited because of an influential captain who changed nobodys to somebody but the Proteas of 99 are not credited enough. Their only fault was that they fell short. They remind me a lot of the Netherland Football team of yesteryears especially of 1974 and 1990 which had names like Cryuff, Gullit, Rijkaard, Van Basten and despite having all the talent could never win a World Cup.

Thus, it is safe to say that the case of confirming a team as one of the greats can happen only when it wins a championship.

Whether it’s Football, Cricket or for that matter any team game. Unless you have the coveted trophy you cannot enter the list of greats. That is why it becomes difficult to take the name of Proteas 1999 in the same breath as Windies of 75 and 79 and Australia of 2003 and 2007.

But exceptions can be made and we can probably look back and see the kind of entertainment the 1999 South African team brought to us. The current team though has a bit of the traditional swagger the team of 99 possessed. They have proven performers and also some of the newbies who have it in them to making it big.

The Proteas would be desperate to shed their ‘chokers’ tag but irrespective of the result or the history they create I would personally seize to call the team of 1999 not only one of the greatest South African ODI team but also one of the best limited overs team only for one simple reason that they not only entertained but their departure from the tournament created a kind of heartbreak which could be felt all over the world.

Every cricket lover who had watched that match agreed that they were the better team. That match undoubtedly went on to become one of the greatest ODI matches in the history of limited overs cricket.

They had just left the show and when they did they still did in style.