Ngidi Lungi and Wiaan Mulder have grown up hearing stories of South Africa winning the Champions Trophy (then known as the Wills International Cup) in 1998.
However, they have no memories from that tournament because Lungi was two-and-a-half years old, and Mulder was an infant when the Hansie Cronje-led side created history, defeating the West Indies in the final in Dhaka.
However, every time they head to an ICC event, hoping to break the title jinx, they are reminded of that historic occasion, which serves as inspiration for the current lot of South African cricketers.
Things are no different this time as the team hopes to clinch the Champions Trophy trophy, overcoming the disappointments of last year’s T20 World Cup, where it narrowly lost to India in the final. Having started its campaign with a convincing win against Afghanistan at the National Stadium in Karachi on Friday, Lungi believes that this is South Africa’s best chance to win an ICC tournament after nearly three decades.
South Africa’s Wiaan Mulder, centre, reacts after the dismissal of Afghanistan’s Hashmatullah Shahidi during the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between Afghanistan and South Africa, in Karachi, Pakistan Friday, Feb. 21, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
AP
South Africa’s Wiaan Mulder, centre, reacts after the dismissal of Afghanistan’s Hashmatullah Shahidi during the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between Afghanistan and South Africa, in Karachi, Pakistan Friday, Feb. 21, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
AP
“If you look over the last two ICC events, we have come very close. The one beautiful thing is we have won this one (Champions Trophy) in the past so that definitely gives us a lot more confidence,” Lungi told Sportstar.
Having been in the set-up for years, the fast bowler believes that with a bunch of experienced and young, talented players around, the team is perfectly balanced. “The guys that we have here are fantastic cricketers, and you saw from today. The new guys that have come into the team, they’re putting in performances,” he said.
“As the bowlers, we knew it was going to be a bit of hard work, but we put our best foot forward every time, so we have definitely got a chance. Just like the last few ICC events, we take a lot of confidence from that coming in,” Lungi, who claimed a couple of wickets against Afghanistan, added.
Mulder, too, believes that it’s important to execute the plans and apply the skills at crucial junctures. “The idea is to play our best cricket as the Proteas team. In the past, we have not been able to do that consistently as we lost three competitions after reaching the semifinals, so together, we have got skills, and it’s all about applying them as often as we can, depending on the conditions and how we can assess that as well as we can,” Mulder said.
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“There are too many preconceived ideas about what we are going to get (in terms of the conditions), and then it’s just about giving our best. That’s pretty much been the message from the team,” he added.
With a comfortable start to the tournament, South Africa now has challenging hurdles to cross over the next few days as it faces Australia and England. The team will be hoping to ride on the momentum and chase its dreams of clinching a global title after years of wait.
