T20 World Cup: How South Africa Teams Lost Three Finals In The Space Of One Year

South Africa Men and Women faced similar fates in successive years in T20 World Cup.

 

Both Men and Women's National team of South Africa has  lost 3 back-to-back T20 finals in 2 years. This also prolonged the country's wait for a Cricket World Cup trophy.

 

For any team losing a final is painful, especially when knowing the hard work, and commitment they had taken to reach that place.

 

In the case of the South Africa team, they have not lost one or two finals they lost 3 back-to-back, if losing a single final is painful to any team then losing 3 finals how badly hurts them.

 

Recently women’s T20 World Cup was successfully done, and the New Zealand women's team won their first-ever T20 World Cup. The women's T20 World Cup final was played between South Africa and New Zealand.

 

While batting first New Zealand set a target of 159 runs for South Africa, unfortunately South African women's team was not able to chase that target, and the New Zealand women's team won the match by 32 runs and clinched the first T20 World Cup.

 

This in fact was the South Africa women's cricket team's second successive Women's T20 World Cup final loss in the space of two years. The Protea women lost the 2023 final against Australia

 

In June this year, the South Africa  Mens team saw more than a ray of hope and were ever-close to the finish line in the T20 World Cup final against India. The dreams were about to turn real, the dreaded tag of ‘chokers’ was about to go off their shoulders. The stage was set for them to rejoice, but then, destiny had other plans for them in Barbados.

 

After years of suffering the pain of late tournament knockouts, South Africa was on the brink of history and glory in their first ever ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup final.

 

Chasing a record final total of 176, the Proteas were cruising to the target thanks to the onslaught by Heinrich Klaasen. But the familiar tag of chokers returned as the South Africa team led by Aiden Markram fell short by 7 runs despite needing 30 off 30 balls at one stage.

 

Just like the men’s team played its maiden final, it was the women’s team that earned a chance to win the T20 World Cup title for the first time last year when they reached the final in 2023. But their fate wasn’t any different to Markram’s men as Sune Luus’ brave brigade lost to Meg Lanning’s Australia at the Newlands in Cape Town.





Evelyn Edefe

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