LEADER | Time for Proteas to add victorious golden star to badge

There has never been a better time for the Proteas to add a missing victorious golden star to their badge and end a frustrating litany of World Cup failures on cricket’s biggest stage. Considering the Springboks have won four Rugby World Cup titles, the Proteas’ failure to land cricket’s biggest prize has left a gaping hole on the nation’s list of sporting achievements. SA skipper Aiden Markram and his talented squad have the batting skills and bowling firepower needed to shatter a self-imposed glass ceiling at the latest T20 World Cup under way in India and Sri Lanka.

Though SA have produced many of the greatest cricketers in the game’s history, they have been unable to combine those brilliant individual talents and lift cricket’s biggest prize. Along the way there have been many opportunities to end this jinx, but SA have always conspired to either shoot themselves in the foot or freeze in the headlights. Cricket fans who watched SA’s warm-up match against India in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday could not have failed to notice two proud golden stars emblazoned on India’s shirts.

The stars, of course, are to commemorate India’s T20 World Cup wins over Pakistan in 2007 and SA in 2024. Markram says memories of SA’s painful defeat in the previous T20 World Cup final will be a source of motivation for him. SA came within seven runs of defeating India at the Kensington Oval in Barbados two years ago, and Markram says the loss left the Proteas gutted.

[paywall]

The Proteas had been poised for victory, needing 30 runs off the final 30 balls, but they were unable to get over the line against a miserly Indian attack. A philosophical Markram says the 2026 tournament is a new opportunity to start from scratch and to play good cricket to earn the right to go and chase a trophy. To achieve their dream, the Proteas must play without fear and stand tall in match-defining moments when tightly contested games are won and lost.

[/paywall]