EDITORIAL: Proteas lift SA cricket outlook

So near and yet so far. The Proteas’ loss to India in the final of the Twenty20 World Cup in Barbados at the weekend is no easier to stomach for the game could so easily have gone the other way.

On the contrary, getting so close to breaking the curse that has afflicted SA’s cricketing World Cup fortunes over so many years, only to fall at the final hurdle, somehow makes things feel worse. But once the pain subsides the outlook for SA cricket will be revealed to be more encouraging than fans and pundits’ disappointment would indicate.

Making a World Cup final after a series of seven semifinal defeats in the T20 and limited over formats is a huge step in the right direction. And there is no shame in losing to an Indian side that has not only dominated internationally but has the clear advantage of hosting the IPL competition.

Even so, clearing that final hurdle in future will not happen automatically. Several of the players who featured in the T20 final — Heinrich Klaasen, Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Tabraiz Shamsi, Keshav Maharaj and Anrich Nortjé — are already in their 30s and nearing the end of their careers.

Cricket SA’s relative stability compared with the chaos of the past obscures the fact that though improved, its financial problems have not been fully resolved and success will remain elusive as long as there is insufficient investment in the game.

There is a lot of work to be done between now and the next World Cup if the Proteas are to finally bag one. But now we know they can.