Chokers? It’s so much more.

A symbol of mental weakness(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In an unexpected move, Gary Kirsten has admitted that South Africa choked against England in their ICC Champions Trophy semi-final a few days ago. Most would agree that it was right of the former Protea opener to accept the long-standing label. After all, the first step to overcoming a problem is admitting that you have it.

However, I disagree with Gazza. Usually I struggle to find fault in anything he says, but I disagree with his labeling of the horrible performance as a choke. Why? Let’s delve into what choking actually is.

Choking, as defined by the ever-reliable Wikipedia, is “the failure of an athlete or an athletic team to win a game or tournament when the player or team had been strongly favored to win or had squandered a large lead in the late stages of the event.” Now I think we can all accept that the famous failure of 99 was indeed a choke. With scores level, and two more balls to go, being run-out in the fashion Donald was can be described as nothing other than a choke.

Equally, the Boucher choke fufils the second definition of a choke – squandering a very winnable situation by a daft mathematical error.

However, choking is just a tiny part of our problem at ICC events. The choking tag is whipped out at any opportunity, but our problem is so much more than messing up in easy situations. The problem isn’t that we’re chokers; the problem is that we believe we’re chokers.

The power of the mind is incredible. I’ll not go into the details, but it is incredibly clear as humans that our attitude and self-belief hugely influences our performances in the various tasks we carry out. Quite simply, SA’s self-belief is non-existent once they reach the later stages of big tournaments. It’s become such a thing in the media, and indeed in cricket society in general, that the players always have choking in the back of their minds. Some will deny it, for indeed it may not be a conscious thought. However, it’s clear from the persistent weak mental performances by the Proteas, spread over a long string of ICC tournaments, that the players simply don’t believe in themselves.

Pre-tournament, I was hopeful that a largely new-generation team would be able to shake off the tag that has invariably been carried between tournaments by senior players. As good as Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis are, it was not necessarily a bad thing that their previous experience as chokers was not to form a part of the Protea’s Champions Trophy campaign. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a massive fan of both, but for the mental strength of the team, it may have been the best option.

However, it wasn’t enough. We still managed to display utterly shocking mental strength despite the lack of anything more than one or two players who had previously experienced such weakness. Sadly, for all of the positives Kirsten brought to the team, he couldn’t nail our biggest issue.

The issue of that tag.

Preview: SA vs India – Opening Match of the Champions Trophy

Dale Steyn looks unlikely to play tomorrow. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Champions Trophy kicks off tomorrow as South Africa take on India in a battle between two of the pre-tournament favourites. Whilst it’d appear to be a mouth-watering clash, in truth it seems destined to be far from juicy.

South Africa, already without star players Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis for the tournament, look set to be stuck without star pacer Dale Steyn. Steyn is reportedly likely to miss the match due to a side-strain. Worryingly too, for the Proteas, Quinton de Kock has been summoned to England. There could well be some underlying reason pertaining to AB de Villiers’ recurring back problem.

India, too, are without many of the stars that have made the team so formidable in the past. Virendher Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan are all non-present at the Champions Trophy, and suddenly the side looks more bark less bite.

Key Players:

Morne Morkel will be crucial to South Africa’s hopes of victory, particularly if Dale Steyn doesn’t play tomorrow. The lanky pacer has the ability to rip through any batting line-up on his day, and he’ll need to be in top form to do so tomorrow. Able support will be found in the likes of Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Ryan McLaren, but Morkel will need to finally make the step-up from being “the guy that partners Steyn.”

Virat Kohli is seen as the next big thing, and with figureheads like Tendulkar and Sehwag absent, he’ll need to take over the batting responsibility at the top of the order. His insane talent gives him ample resources to do so, but so many have wasted extreme talent in the face of huge pressure. He’ll be hoping not to form into a similar trap.