IF there was an answer to South Africa’s horrible record in World Cups then I wouldn’t be writing about it, I would be helping to solve it.Actually, it wouldn’t be an issue because it would have been solved already.

But there is no easy way out. The weight of the reputation catches up with you.
You enter a World Cup with no baggage, nothing weighing you down, convinced that every game will feel the same as the last. And for a while, that’s exactly how it is.
The ‘reputation’ begins to catch up, however.
It has nothing to do with many of the current squad.
They arrived in Australia convinced that they were unscarred by what had happened before, only to discover that they are tarred with the same brush of failure that their predecessors felt.
There is no ‘right’ way to go about things. There is no ‘right’ way of making things better.
In five World Cup campaigns we spoke about playing games as though they were ‘normal matches’, and the first few always felt that way.
But the closer we got to the knockout games, the more different it felt.
The atmosphere in 1996 was positive – we absolutely believed we could win. I was a very junior player and said very little, but I shared in the air of confidence.
The semi-final tie against Australia four years later was a nightmare, and remains so. One run to win off the last four balls. We were the better side on the day but we lost out amidst a lottery of tangled nerves.
People love to say we ‘choked’, and I can’t be bothered to argue. But look at the highlights. It was a festival of choking on both sides.
Australia were all over the place. I’d say Lance Klusener looked the calmest man on the field until the fateful moment.
2003 was, perhaps, the worst of all.
Wonderful team, full of good players! And Mark Boucher did everything we had been accused of failing to do.
He smashed Murali for six on the penultimate ball of the over, ‘safe’ in the knowledge that the required score had been reached. And blocked the last ball.
We cried together after that.
It was also the night my father had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, which put a cricket match into context.
It was understandable that South Africa stumbled against India in the first run-chase of this tournament. They conceded too many runs and then messed up the run chase.
Massive totals of 400+ then followed in the next two games and you can’t help wondering if they contributed to a feeling of over-confidence against Pakistan when they only needed 230 to win.
When batsmen are caught on the boundary hooking, with around four runs per over required, you know there’s a problem of some sort.
It seemed like the obvious time to absorb some pressure from a rampant attack and try to draw their sting.
Sometimes, as batsmen, you need to recognise when the bowlers are at their best, running in with a force you’ve rarely seen before. Like when their whole World Cup is at stake.
The Proteas’ counter-attack, which was admirable, and would have earned much praise if it had worked, but instead it backfired and we lost.
Yes, it is absolutely possible that South Africa can win the World Cup. And it is equally possible that India can win it.
But Australia and New Zealand remain the favourites in my book.
Fortunately, as I know from experience, being favourites isn’t always the best place to be.