Chokers no more as South Africa bury those ghosts with gusto with a ‘Would be great to not have to hear it again’.
South Africa are World Test Champions. They are chokers no more.
The ‘chokers’ tag may now be consigned to the past, but Temba Bavuma heard the allusions as Australia attempted to influence South Africa on the fourth day at Lord’s.
The Australians reminded Bavuma and Aiden Markram that the task was not finished when they returned on day four with a 69-run deficit to win. The strain was evident in the middle, particularly when Mitchell Starc’s beauty cut Tristan Stubbs’ bail with the objective 41 away and Bavuma edged Pat Cummins behind with 65 needed.
However, Markram’s memorable innings brought them within touching distance of the target, so there were ultimately no serious fears.
Though there were still some remarks, Bavuma was quick to point out that playing the current Australian side is a different experience than in the past, a direct reference to the controversial 2018 series.
“Playing against Australia is a bit different in the last couple of years,” he said. “They’re not as vocal out on the field. They’re still aggressive through their body language, through obviously their skill, but there’s not a lot of chatter.
“Of course, the tag of us being chokers, that came about this morning. One of their players threw out the fact that we could lose our eight wickets in less than 60 runs. I definitely heard that.
“Aiden kept using the [words] lock in after every over, let’s keep locking in. Let’s give them nothing. So yeah, not a lot of chatter, just one or two things that were, that were said.”
Markram, who was upset when he reached his century on the third evening and made a reference to his own emotions when he lost the T20 World Cup the previous year, hoped that the past was no longer a topic of conversation.
“It would be great to not have to hear it again, that’s for sure,” he said. “In terms of it motivating you, I mean, there’s always going to be external things that can motivate you, but it’s not your sole purpose for playing. To have got the job done and to literally have got the job done and to get rid of that is quite a big thing for this team.”