South Africa do it again!

Death. Taxes. South Africa choking at the World Cup.

The Proteas wrote another chapter in their tale of tragedy in cricket's biggest one-day tournament when they butchered a certain win against England tonight.


South Africa looked certain winners when they reached 3-124 in reply to England's meagre 171 all out before they lost their last seven wickets for 40 runs.

The traumatic collapse included a shambolic mid-innings sequence during which four wickets fell for just one wicket, reducing the Proteas from 3-124 to 7-127.


Keeper Morne van Wyk and paceman Dale Steyn looked to have rescued their side when they reduced the equation to just 12 runs with three wickets in hand.

England, who had sweated through a thrilling tie with India and humiliating loss to Ireland to start the tournament, then reclaimed the upper hand by having van Wyk bowled (chopping on Tim Bresnan) with the first ball of the 47th over.

The Saffers then reduced the equation to eight off 18 balls, before Stuart Broad trapped Steyne plumb in front. Steyne had the decision reviewed, but the third umpire found he was out. Eight runs off 17 balls, one wicket in hand.

Number 10 Morne Morkel then edged Broad behind to leave South Africa stranded six runs short, all out for 165.

In isolation, this defeat wouldn't be THAT bad - plenty of teams chasing modest targets have fallen short after middle order collapses - but in South Africa's case, it's a disturbing trend that goes all the way back to 1996, which was also held on the subcontinent.

Then, the Proteas cruised through Group B undefeated, earning many pundits' nod as the tournament favourite when the knock-out stage began. With a side boasting Hansie Cronje, Gary Kirsten, Dave Richardson, Brian McMillian, Jonty Rhodes, Shaun Pollock and Allan Donald, it was easy to see why.

Drawn against the unfancied West Indies - who suffered a humiliating loss to minnow Kenya earlier in the tournament - in the quarter-final, the Saffers posted a competitive 245 batting first.

However, Brian Lara slammed a century to catapult his side into the semi-finals and open up the first of many psychological wounds that would plague the South Africans - namely, being the best team in a given tournament and coming away empty-handed.

In 1999, South Africa managed the mother of all chokes - twice. They finished atop their group, only losing to Zimbabwe. After being anointed favourites at the start of the Super Six stage, they beat Pakistan and New Zealand before facing Australia, who had a difficult run through the pool phase.

At Headingly, South Africa racked up 7-271 and had reduced the Aussies to 3-48 - surely, they were safe and the only team they feared was going to be on a plane home within hours. However, a funny thing happened - Australian skipper Steve Waugh chose the perfect time to play his best ever ODI knock, finishing with an unbeaten ton to snatch an unlikely one-wicket win. Waugh was aided in his awe-inspiring effort by being dropped by centurion Hershel Gibbs on 56. Gibbs grassed a simple chance trying to pull off a schoolyard trick of throwing the ball in the air the instant he caught it.

The result meant the sides would meet again in the semi-final at Edgbaston, with the Aussies holding the advantage in the event of a tie. South Africa, hell-bent on avenging their shock last-start defeat, had the Aussies in trouble before Waugh and Michael Bevan dragged them to a moderate 213.

South Africa started brightly, reaching 0-48 off 10 overs when Waugh called upon Shane Warne, who ripped out two quick wickets (and a run-out) to have South Africa tottering. After a few twists and turns, South Africa looked home when Lance Klusner blasted the first two balls of the final over to the fence, thus levelling the scores. After a near run-out next ball, Klusner and Donald didn't have a midwicket conference.

What happened next sealed South Africa's reputation as chokers - Klusner hit the ball to Mark Waugh, who flicked it on to Damien Fleming, who was waiting at the non-striker's end. Klusner had charged up the pitch looking for the winning run while Donald remained in his ground. Fleming underarmed the ball to the striker’s end, where Adam Gilchrist whipped off the bails to seal ... a tie. Australia were through to the final (which they won convincingly) while South Africa were ruing what could have been - again.

South Africa had a chance to atone on home soil in 2003, but the dark clouds gathered when they lost first-up to 1996 nemesis the West Indies. Normal service resumed when they thrashed eventual semi-finalists Kenya by 10 wickets. They were then unlucky to post 306 versus New Zealand, only to lose via the Duckworth-Lewis Method of deciding rain-shortened matches. The hosts then took out their frustrations on Bangladesh (winning by 10 wickets).

Then came arguably the greatest example of nincompoopery in the history of, well ... nincompoopery. Chasing Sri Lanka's 9-268 in the final group game, South Africa were well aware rain at Durban could disrupt or even curtail their reply. This would mean the Duckworth-Lewis method would be applied to decide the winner in a match South Africa had to WIN to advance. Knowing what the DLM had done to them earlier in the tournament, South African management gave their players a table showing what they needed after each ball to TIE, not WIN. One ball before the fatal deluge, South Africa's batsmen, Mark Boucher and Klusner reached the total printed on the sheet. The total to TIE, not WIN, remember. They could have taken an easy single with the final ball before the rain came, but chose to stay put. Of course, the heavens opened, washing away the chance of any more play and leaving the South Africans TIED with the Sri Lankans via Duckworth Lewis Method. That result meant the Proteas didn’t even reach the Super Six stage of their tournament.

The moral of the tale? If you’re near a South African cricket team at the World Cup, make sure you know the Heimlich Manoeuvre – it could come in very handy.