SA desperate to lift the trophy but accept there is 'no dishonour in losing'

Rassie van der Dussen was 10. Gerald Coetzee was not even born. So it's hardly surprising that the 1999 World Cup semi-final between South Africa and Australia at Edgbaston is not part of the memory bank of either the oldest or the youngest members of this South African side.

"I don't remember too much," van der Dussen said in Ahmedabad, after South Africa ended their league campaign with a victory over Afghanistan. "But looking at that team and by outside accounts, they had a lot of what we have as a team. They obviously had a really good chance to win the World Cup, and I think we have a good chance as well."

In the immediacy of a press conference situation, van der Dussen made a comparison which may yet come back to haunt him, but if you really listen to him, you'll realise he doesn't care. "You know what, on the 19th of November we'll be where we need to be, whether it's lifting the trophy or not," he said. "It's fine, whatever happens, will happen."

You don't have to believe that is actually "fine" (and why would you, given that we've been told most people who answer a question with the word fine don't actually mean things are fine), which is also fine. But you will have to acknowledge that it seems a mature enough approach for someone who is part of a team that plays for a country which is nothing short of desperate to win the World Cup.

Since 1999. In the 24 years that have passed since then, not one of them has gone by without South Africans wondering when a trophy will come home. Even in years with no World Cups, because those were times when planning would be done for World Cups. Then there was 2003 and 2007 - and that semi-final against Australia, when South Africa were 27 for 5 at one stage, does not make it into the highlights programmes - and 2011 and 2015 and many other T20 World Cups that we are not going to rehash here. And you're sure to find someone who remembers something about everyone of those defeats whether they were chokes or blow-outs or just fairly normal events like a team losing a match (because someone has to, you know).

"How many World Cup semi-finals have you watched South Africa play in," Coetzee was asked, also after the Afghanistan game.

His answer was emphatic: "One."

Which one? "2015."

That's the most recent ODI one South Africa played in and could easily have put an aspiring cricketer from the losing side off. Especially a player like Coetzee. He was also a competitive school swimmer, so he had other options, but he preferred team spirit to the silence of the deep blue sea and doesn't remember the match that the South African team tried to forget with the same pain. "That's the beauty of sport. That's why people keep coming back to watch it and why we want to be put in those positions."

Don't get smarmy and ask if Coetzee means South Africa want to fumble in the field and lose with a ball to spare but recognise that he means players live for big moments and pressure situations. "As we always say, if you come to a World Cup and you want to be in the final, you have to win the semi-final."

That is stating the obvious but considering it is where South Africa have historically slipped up, it probably needs to be said. The same applies to the opposite, because that's what South Africa have not done. Dale Steyn told ESPNcricinfo how the players "tried to move on as quickly as we could," and left the pain of that night to fester for far too long. This team has already started talking about both outcomes, in what appears to be normal and healthy terms. "Of course we are speaking about winning but we understand it's a difficult game and there is no dishonour in losing," Coetzee said. "We are coming to play. What happens on the day is out of our control. If we lose, we lose. If people want to call us chokers or not, that is out of our control. Someone has to lose. But I promise you, we are going to the game to win the game."

And therein lies the real message for those who talk about the 2023 semi-final being an opportunity for South Africa to get over what happened more than two decades ago: perhaps they don't need to. That team is not this team. That story is not their story. That baggage is not their baggage. They are connected by the colours they wear and the place they represent but they are, in personality, in outlook and in playing style, different and this team is intent on making the most of every moment they have to be themselves.

"The time we've had together the last eight to 12 weeks will go down as probably some of the best team environments and times I've had in my career. And those memories are special already," van der Dussen said. "Whether we win or not, whatever happens will happen, and we'll definitely go away from here with fond memories."