Once more, South Africa step into the breach

What would Gary Kirsten do? It's not a question anyone involved in the WTC final between South Africa and Australia at Lord's would or even should ask, but it's fair game for the rest of us. And Kirsten is rarely placed to answer it.

His triumphant transition from player to coach was complete when he surveyed, with a broad, beaming smile and a wan wave, and from the shoulders of Suresh Raina, the jumping jiminy joy of a packed Wankhede on the famous night of April 2, 2011. The World Cup was India's.

Another famous cameo in Kirsten's coaching career came at Lord's an hour after tea on August 20, 2012. Steven Finn steered the first ball he faced into the low, cupped hands of Jacques Kallis at second slip, ending the match, halting Vernon Philander's raid at 5/30, and securing the Test mace for Graeme Smith's team. They retained it for 21 months.

Those moments, 503 days apart, put Kirsten in one of cricket's most exclusive clubs. Only three other head coaches have won an ODI World Cup and guided a team to the Test mace. By then Kirsten had set himself apart even in that company: he had taken India to the No. 1 Test ranking in November 2009.

"It was an amazing privilege to go away from home and commit three years to India, working with some of the best players in the world," Kirsten told Cricbuzz. "That they won [the World Cup] was a representation of the impact that I had on that team. Although sometimes I would argue that I didn't have much of an impact. But creating an environment in which they felt they could be at their best is what coaching is all about. I think we were able to do that.

"We were still challenging people and pushing the bar as much as we could. But largely the environment was a place where people felt that they could express themselves and play to the potential that they had."

Despite their Test success South Africa have never won a senior World Cup in either white-ball format. Instead they have lost nine of their 11 knockout games. Australia have been champions seven times across both versions, along with seven stints as the No. 1 Test side amounting to 122 months. Why aren't the South Africans more accomplished in an allround sense?

"Winning a World Cup has got so much behind it," Kirsten said. "It's a massive occasion, and there are so many cricket-playing nations there, all in one tournament. To beat them and get across the line will always be an amazing thing to do.

"But being the No. 1 Test team in the world for a period of time, it's almost like the players value that more. A lot of the players I speak to, who play both formats, say maybe it holds more water than winning a World Cup. Or it's certainly equal to it.

"Winning a World Cup is equally as tough. [South Africa] had chances where we were the form team. But you don't just rock up and it happens. You've got to play good cricket for a long period including in the knockout stages. So the form book goes out the window. You've got to play the right cricket in that moment. That's always been the criticism of South Africa - in those moments, they haven't played their best cricket. They ended up playing some of their worst games in those situations. Knockout cricket is a different animal.

"The WTC final is the same thing. It's a one-off game. We are the underdogs big time, but it just takes Kagiso Rabada or one of our other fast bowlers to knock over three batters in two overs for that to change.

"The one-day team have a stigma attached to them after losing games they should have won. They've got guys who do well in other formats with other teams. But, in ODIs, a mist comes over them. There's no doubt it has a bearing; there's scarring there. As much as every coach and every captain will say, 'We've moved on and it's not an issue', it is always an issue."

Aiden Markram would beg to differ. "The few of us who have been part of ICC events that didn't go our way have dealt with it," Markram said at Lord's on Sunday. "We've chatted to each other and made sure we've buried it and taken some good lessons from it. Now it's more about the excitement of having another opportunity to do the job."

So, why don't South Africa's Test performances lend more to their white-ball tournament results?

"It's a tricky one to answer," Markram said. "I suppose everyone's super pumped because we haven't played much Test cricket. Maybe that's part of the reason. But the personnel is different, of course."

South Africa played only a dozen Tests in the 2023/25 WTC cycle, compared to Australia's 19. And Markram was among five players in the XI who reached the T20 World Cup final in Barbados last June, when they were beaten by seven runs by India, who are in the WTC final squad. Here they go again ...

"Some of us have experienced finals, semi-finals, big events, big moments, and some guys might not have," Markram said. "It's about each guy making sure they don't peak too early and get too excited too early, because then you drain yourself. That means managing your loads at training, managing specifics, instead of trying to flush everything out in one session.

"You're trying to have a gradual build-up so that by the time you get to day one you feel like you've ticked every box, but it hasn't been at 100 miles an hour. You have to respect the Test match. It takes a lot out of you from an energy point of view and psychologically. So you need to be fresh and ready to go on day one."

Shukri Conrad hasn't had the chance to win a World Cup; he was appointed South Africa's white-ball coach last month. But he is a win away from reclaiming the mace that Smith's team secured at Lord's almost 13 years ago. It would be quite some success.

Steven Smith has scored more Test centuries - 36 - than South Africa's entire squad, who have made 22 between them. Nathan Lyon's 24 five-wicket hauls don't quite put him in that category: the South Africans' add up to 35. But Mitchell Starc's 15 means two of Australia's bowlers have claimed four more five-fors than South Africa.

The catch is that, as one of the busiest Test sides, the Aussies have had more opportunities to rack up those numbers than most of their opponents. Relative to South Africa, exponentially more: Australia's squad have 772 Test caps, or more than double South Africa's 367.

More importantly, you have to be good enough to score a century or take five wickets. You could do so nearly accidentally in T20 or 50-over cricket. Not so when the ball is red, the kit is white, and the days are long.

That didn't stop Kirsten from voicing confidence in Conrad's ability to pull off victory: "Shukri has pulled a young group of guys together. You can see they are genuinely playing with proper passion and playing for each other. A team are always looking for that, and when you find it you can exceed your potential. They seem to come up with performances when they need them. If anyone's writing them off, they're stupid because this team's found a way to win games.

"I think Shukri makes teams play the best they can, and he's done a great job with this side. The thing he has done far better than I did is that he understands the domestic scene better than most coaches. He's been on the domestic circuit as a coach, he's commentated, and he's worked with all of those players. He's been with the [South Africa] A side and he's been with the [CSA] academy. He's in a great position to know the players."

What would Gary Kirsten do? Maybe something like what Shukri Conrad is doing.