“It’s not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand.”

— John Cleese in the movie Clockwise, 1986

As you may have gathered from my articles, I am a long-suffering Proteas fan. For me, the pain and ecstasy of the lows and highs seem to be magnified when the team in green and gold are playing the other team in green and gold.

Bearing that in mind, at the start of “moving day”, after Australia bossed batting day, I try to find anything that will make me positive about the Proteas’ prospects. I wake up to a bird call that I have not heard yet this summer.

Eager to find out about my new feathered friend, I record the dulcet tones and discover that an African Paradise Flycatcher has travelled south to grace us with its beauty. Is this a sign from the cricketing gods, or a mere coincidence?

My hopes are raised when I find that African folklore sees its sudden appearance as a positive spiritual omen, that it brings blessings or even a shift towards favourable circumstances. You can’t make this stuff up, right?

Superstitions are a massive part of any sport, and cricket is no exception. It may even be the sport with the most superstitions. There is Nelson, with the score on 111, the Devil’s number 87 for Australia, and dressing room fables that could keep a thousand dinner parties entertained.

That is a topic for another day, or you can check my previous article here: The Ultimate Test – Day 3: Lucky No. 13 Fan Experience Blog.

How fans deal with hope and despair is fascinating. My own experiences on the South Africa/Australia cricketing continuum may, in fact, have led to my increasing hair loss.

As a fan, it is sometimes hard to believe that your heroes may be fallible. I think back to 29 December 2001 in Melbourne, with Jacques Kallis run out on 99 when batting in the second innings.

I can’t believe how angry I was that he and Neil McKenzie contrived to give Steve Waugh’s team the pleasure of denying Jacques his hundred.

I ask around the ground about people’s highs and lows, and the answers are illuminating in their diversity. There are plenty of highs that are thought of and not too many lows.

The outright winner for the lows takes us back to Newlands in 2018, when Test cricket was rocked by a gritty piece of yellow paper.

Test match memories include the capitulation in Barbados in 1992, when there was so much hope of a win on South Africa’s return to Test cricket.

Matthew Hoggard’s spell of 7/61 at the Wanderers in January 2005 took the series away from South Africa and broke the heart of another fan.

Dean Elgar was the villain when he ran out Aiden Markram against Bangladesh in 2018, with his palindromic partner just three runs short of a century on debut.

A fan of a younger generation finds Test cricket at Kingsmead to be a permanent low point for the Proteas. The solution: play all Tests at Cape Town, Centurion and Johannesburg.

I made it difficult in asking for Test match highs and lows, as there were two events that out-lowed all the others, both of which occurred in ICC Cricket World Cups.

There were fans who went a little quiet, tears welling in their eyes, and asked me if I could remember where I was on that fateful day in June 1999.

Yes, I can.

From Heartbreak to Historic Highs

So much for the lows, let’s go to the highs.

It had taken South Africa over a century to record their first series win in Australia, winning by two matches to one in 2008/09.

It was fitting that there were individual memories of matches, performances and sheer determination in that momentous series.

The stand between JP Duminy and Dale Steyn gets a mention, with the former’s 166 being a particular highlight.

Captain courageous Graeme Smith’s appearance with a broken hand in a losing cause in Sydney is a massive highlight for many.

No DNA, just RSA?

1994 was a great year for a couple of our fans.

The amazing Test in Sydney, when Fanie de Villiers never gave up and bowled South Africa to an improbable win over the mighty Aussies.

Later that year, Kepler Wessels led South Africa to a win in their first Test back at the home of cricket, Lord’s.

Closer to home, there are two innings that stand out.

The prodigious talent of Herschelle Gibbs, with his 228 off just 240 balls in the New Year’s Test of 2003, and the inspirational Temba Bavuma’s 179 against Australia just days ago in Gqeberha.

The Moment That Changed Everything

The overwhelming favourite takes us back just over a year, to four glorious June days in NW8, London.

In the fourth innings, it was that man Bavuma, hobbling to his 66, and Aiden Markram, with his imperious match-winning 136, who stole the show and the hearts of their adoring fans.

For South Africans, the push into the covers by Kyle Verreynne and the resultant euphoria is undeniably the best single moment in their Test match universe.

It is easy to agree.

Where There Is Despair, There Is Hope

Call me the eternal optimist if you will.

My engagement with the Newlands faithful inspires me, as does the fact that my African Paradise Flycatcher brought the Proteas six wickets for just the 99 runs Australia added to the overnight score.

Where there are villains, there will be heroes. No matter the lows, there will always be highs.

No matter the despair, there will always be hope.