It's about the winning consistency

“We will win the game, if we play to our potential” – Protea captain AB De Villiers replied to a reporter in a press conference. Reporters usually ask such questions to gauge the confidence captains have in respective their sides leading up to games. AB, who has been confident in the teams ability to win the final on 29 March, even when our play was threatening to resemble that of a minnow team caught in the shine of the spotlight. Kudo’s to our captain because, here we are, one of the last four teams still fighting for supremacy – He is not crazy after all.

Largely thanks to the heroics of certain players (Most notably DeVilliers himself). The first all-round clinical performance came in the quarter finals against Sri Lanka; a feat the Proteas cannot repeat two games in a row. Sitting in the bar watching Super Rugby over the weekend, the highlights of the Proteas vs Sri Lanka game were on one of the three TV’s in our view at the bar. “Sizotyiwa yiNew Zealand, Mora, asinaconsistency thina” (New Zealand is going to beat us, Mora, because we are inconsistent).

Cricket is not a consistent sport. You can score 400 on a pitch today 97 all out on a pitch tomorrow. The deciding factor here is whether or not you can win consistently. Whether the winning culture became more consistent after a team qualified for the quarterfinals or did so in the group stages is irrelevant. Infact, if I were to choose a time to peak I would choose the knock out stages, for obvious reasons.

Without going too far with this, the world cup will be won by the team who can win consistently. The ability to win is the ability to stick to a plan and use that plan to win on a flat pitch or a pitch that turns the ball square against an all spin attack. The ability to win is the ability to not only create a chance but to execute a winning game plan.

The proteas and the black caps are in a territory they are both in territory they know yet are bothstill unfamiliar to (both have played in one semi-final not qualified for played in a final of a cricket world cup). It is only sensible to think that even both teams being so desperate to win, the playing fireld will be levelled and whoever deals with the pressure well enough will make the final.

My predicition: South Africa will win by either four wickets or 54 Runs.

My Finalist prediction: South Africa vs India.