da heads bet: Former South Africa speedster says the team moved on from that defeat within 24 hours, which left many players dealing with emotions in their own way
da cassino online: Sreshth Shah13-Nov-202313:33
Steyn: If South Africa win the semi-final, they can go on and dominate the final
The last time South Africa reached the men’s World Cup semi-final in 2015, it was yet another heartbreak in their pursuit of an elusive world title in cricket when New Zealand’s Grant Elliott knocked them out in a dramatic finish. Dale Steyn was at the centre of that defeat, and looking back eight years later, he says that the team moved on from that loss very quickly, or perhaps, even too quickly.”I think we dealt with it really well in that 24 hours, and then we went home and everyone went our own way. But getting together the next time as a South African team and walking back to the dressing room, I felt like we hadn’t spoken about what happened few months ago,” Steyn told ESPNcricinfo. “And we needed to make sure that that elephant was out of that room. It was certainly still in the room for what I felt was a long time.”Describing the aftermath of that evening in Auckland where a golden generation of South Africa ODI cricketers lost their chance to reach the final, Steyn said that the first thing he did was “put a smile on his face and be a professional.”Related
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“I went into the dressing room and I sat down and I was like ‘this is where you have to be the true professional you are. You are a senior player.’ I went around to some of the younger guys, the Quinton de Kocks. Morne [Morkel] was incredibly upset, visibly upset even on TV.”But I thought to the public eye, when you’re on TV, you have to maintain that professional image. Put a smile on your face, be professional when you’ve been beaten in a big game. You’ve got to take the losses with the wins and the good with the bad. But as soon as you get in the dressing room, my role was to pick up all the players around me. And that was very heavy. We all kind of went to our rooms that night, I’m sure everyone was upset.”The next morning there was a group message, ‘guys, there’s a breakfast planned somewhere’, and we all got together. Then it was as if the night before never happened. We tried to move on as quickly as we could.”A year or two years after that had happened, did we start to address it as a team. As individuals, everyone dealt with it their own way. But as a team, we hadn’t unraveled it or spoken about it.”
'That one picture right there could mean so much to so many more people'
Dale Steyn talks about that iconic moment from the 2015 World Cup pic.twitter.com/WVJIxdLah5
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) November 1, 2023