A senior electronic journalist told me that being theoretical and not practical is not going to add any silverware, be it in sport or any other challenge in life.
Sadly, South Africa, tagged as chokers in most global multi cricket tournaments, seem to give their huge fan base sugar coated pills and not the happiness they promise their fan base upfront but more often than not let themselves down at the business end.
Look at their talent base and bench strength. They are on equal terms with India, Australia, and New Zealand.
Batters with muscle power and technique to match man to man with the big 3, namely India Australia and New Zealand, whilst their seam cordon can even dine with the likes of Cummins, Starc, Hazelwood and even enjoy evening tea with Joffra Archer, Mark Wood and even hit the deck hard as Matt Henry or Kyle Jammison of New Zealand.
They are blessed with the firepower of Ryan Rickleton, Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Rassi Van der Dussan , Henrich Klassan, Miler the killer with Wiann Mulder the run maker .
The bowling department is solid with Marco Jansen, Kagisgo Rabada , Ngidi, and a few more on the bench. The Proteas are no mugs in the spin department with Keshav Mahraj and leg spinner Tabraiz Shamsi amongst the first choice and a host of emulators following the two.
They, as usual, got off to a traditional South African start in global tournaments with pure dominance upfront by outplaying Afghanistan, who even beat England in this series by thumping them by 107 runs, bravo was the voices in the spectators stand whilst the com box strained their voices singing the praises of the African nation.
Sadly, their second game against Australia was a no-go due to an unwelcome guest called Rain the pain.
They bullied England by 7 wickets and headed the points table even ahead of Australia when they qualified for semi-final against New Zealand.
They come to Gadaffi Stadium on equal terms against the Black caps, even looking more confident than their counterparts who returned from Dubai after Indian spinners wrapped serpents around their feet in their league stage game.
But now comes the sugar coated pill we are sucking into. The placid pitch at the Gadaffi Stadium is a 320-run, par score type of pitch if batting first.
Experts even stated that it is unlikely that South African bowlers will give their fielders weary legs with their 3 seam attack with a specialist spinner, including two all-rounders, one with a spin bowling arm and the other with a seam option to join Rabada, Ngidi and Jansen in the seam cordon and Mahraj in the spin department.
Can any team bargain for a better option in a bowling cordon with Keshav Mahraj as the specialist spin option?
But the South African bowlers choked and leaked 362 runs as Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Darryl Mitchell, and Glenn Philips played holiday cricket against the Proteas seam and spin cordon.
Some pundits even commented at one stage of the herculean task of 363 for victory by the South Africans was a possibility with Tenda Bavuma and Rassi Van der Dusan taking South Africa to 128 for 1 wicket.
The end story South Africa choked to 218 for 8 wickets with Klassan, Markram, and Mulder out cheaply, but David Miller came to the rescue with a rare 100 not out to add a bit of respectability to the South African total.
The media, the South African public, endorsed the old saying that South Africa is well-known for choking at the business end.
But spare a thought for David Miller and Kagisgo Rabada, who stitched a partnership to take South Africa past the 300 mark.
We now know South Africa can also fight back, but the choking virus is still in their DNA.