Can South Africa finally break its ICC curse in the WTC final? Conrad confident

LONDON (AP) — South Africa is at the business end of another world cricket championship and is haunted by the ghosts of losses past.

An infamous failure to win any cricket World Cup, often in heart-breaking fashion, weighs on the Proteas who are preparing for the World Test Championship final against titleholder Australia on Wednesday at Lord’s.

South Africa’s only global title was the Champions Trophy 27 years ago. It has never reached the ODI World Cup final, falling in the semifinals five times. When it got to the climax of the 2024 T20 World Cup in Bridgetown — its first world final since 1998 — it needed 30 runs off 30 balls with six wickets in hand against India. And lost by seven runs.

Five of that 11 are in the WTC squad.

“It doesn’t weigh heavy on us,” South Africa coach Shukri Conrad said on Monday before practice.

“It’s unfair to burden this group with anything that’s gone before. But you can’t wish things away. We want to and we need to win another ICC event. But whatever tags come along, we don’t wear that.

“It’s another occasion to set the record straight, to get that first title. And you can only win it if you play in finals, and the more finals you play in you obviously improve your chances of winning. So we’ve got another chance. We had a chance not so long ago in the West Indies, in the T20 World Cup. Hopefully, this time, we break that duck.”

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Conrad brought up the choker tag to the team last December in the dressing room at Centurion, where South Africa could clinch a spot in the WTC final with a win against Pakistan. In a chase of 148 to win, South Africa was 27-3 at stumps on day three.

“I thought it was the opportune time to lay down the challenge,” Conrad said. “If it didn’t go our way, we had another chance in Cape Town. It didn’t go down ... kindly, but at some stage that conversation needs to be had. It’s all about choosing when to have that. So we had it the evening before, and the result worked out okay.

“We touched on it briefly the other day. Around, what were the learnings from that? What sort of response we can expect, and we’re looking for.”

Proteas batters look overmatched

South Africa starts against Australia as the underdog. A lot is riding on seamers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen restricting the Australian batters. On the batting side, the entire Proteas squad has totaled 22 centuries. Australia star Steve Smith has 36.

Conrad was unfazed.

“There’s a quiet confidence amongst the batting group,” he said. “It comes with having gotten hundreds from different players at different stages. Whilst they might not have the superstar names amongst them, as a collective we are pretty confident.

“Guys really go out there and fight for every run, every little contribution. You look at a guy like Tristan Stubbs. He doesn’t bowl but you look at his celebrations when wickets get taken. That, for me, is the essence of what this team is about. But hopefully we’ll see a few more names on those honors boards around the world. And those batting averages start nudging toward 40 and above, where you know you’re on to something really good.”

Half of the Proteas squad has never played at Lord’s, but Conrad was enlightened and encouraged by advice from Stuart Broad, the England bowling great who retired less than two years ago. Broad was a former Nottinghamshire teammate of South Africa batting coach Ashwell Prince. The Proteas staff dined with him on Sunday night and he joined them for practice on Monday.

“If I didn’t call time at 10:50 (p.m.), I think he’d probably still be sitting there chatting to us,” Conrad said. “Everybody walked away, like, ‘Yeah, that was great.’ Broady included.”

Broad advised about the Lord’s slope, the Dukes ball, how to bowl to the Australians, and embracing the occasion.

“We get a chance to walk away as the world test champions. Playing Australia, doesn’t get any bigger than that,” Conrad said. “What’s gone before counts for absolutely nothing at the minute. We are quietly confident going into this game that we can pull one over them. We’re a confident bunch. We play well as a unit. If there’s any vulnerabilities amongst them, I’m sure we’d be able to exploit that.”

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