Business as usual? Contrasting histories prompt different semi-final views for SA, Australia

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"There's a couple of different ways you can go about it - you can either build it up as the most important game of your life.

"Or you can treat it as business as usual."

If anyone else but an Australia captain had said those lines ahead of a major semi-final, you wouldn't believe them. Surely, the sense of occasion gets to you, right? No matter how much sportstalk you do about it being "just another game" and "needing to start from scratch", and the "past being the past", players, being human, must know that they are competing for something truly momentous.

Australia may be the exception, though, because to say they are a side that have form in knockouts, have pedigree in global tournaments, just straight up know what they are about when it comes to big matches, is underselling. They have not only won five of this particular kind of trophy before, they are the reigning World Test Champions, and won the T20 World Cup as recently as 2021.

In fact, five of the likely Australia XI for Thursday's semi-final played in the 2015 World Cup final, which Australia of course won (those five: David Warner, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood). Captain Pat Cummins was merely in the squad for that match, but did play in the T20 World Cup win, alongside many others who will play against South Africa.

"We feel lucky a lot of our players have been in these situations quite a bit," Cummins said. "You know what it takes, but you're not really weighed down by history. You're more excited about the challenge.You just get stuck into what needs to be done.

"I think we've experienced that keeping it pretty chilled and 'business as usual' is the way to go for our group. You draw back on those past wins, but you also draw back on the past few weeks and know that us at our best is good enough. You don't need to try and push it too hard. There's a quiet confidence. I think our team plays our best when it's got that."

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The comparison couldn't be more stark. South Africa come to this contest with a history of having being perceived to have slipped up when knockout matches have been tight. The most famous of those screw-ups of course came against Australia in 1999 - a match that is now and quite a distance removed from any of the players in this game.

But then there was also South Africa having lost from a favourable position in the semi-final against New Zealand in the 2015 World Cup, their fielding performance beset by crucial errors towards the end of that game.

They are, as a result, choosing to tackle their fears. Captain Temba Bavuma revealed on the eve of the match that the team had addressed anxieties collectively.

"There's been an acknowledgement of the emotions," he said. "I don't think you can deny or run away from that, but there's also been I guess solutions or mechanisms that have been given as to how to deal with that anxiety if you feel that it overwhelms yourself. And I think that advice also flows to the senior players. I think there's only two guys in this group that have gone into a semi-final, Quinton de Kock and David Miller, so there's not a lot of experience from all the other guys."

This is Bavuma's third ICC tournament at the helm, but his first knockout match as captain. As with other South Africa leaders, he's trying to strike the right balance between noting the enormity of the game, while trying to keep himself on an even keel.

"The game will be massive. I've tried not to really allow myself to get into that space. You want to treat it as just another game. I guess you're forcing me to acknowledge the occasion. It's something that I'm looking forward to. It's something that I'll savour in the moment. I know it will mean a lot for the family and people back home.

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