Miller, Stubbs, Ngidi and Maharaj walk the wobbliest of tightropes in seesaw thriller that redefines belief

At 9.45am on Wednesday the Wi-Fi at my cottage decided to play silly buggers. My DStv stream buffered and stuttered, froze, then roared back into life before the spinning circle of doom returned. It was the Pam Bondi-Epstein files edition of internet connections; more redaction than revelation.

Smart TVs are not very smart without Wi-Fi. Afghanistan still had a good chunk of their innings to play against South Africa in the T20 World Cup, and I had a notion it might be tight. I sprinted down Fourth Avenue in Parkhurst to find a dumb TV with a dish. A music channel was showing at the first café. The second didn’t have a TV. Most places were still opening. The Jolly Roger was closed. Pirates Sports Club it was. I made it there just after 10am, hot, sweaty and out of breath, just me, a coffee, a cleaner vacuuming around my feet, a barmaid taking stock and a man with a leaf blower.

We always expect South Africa to do South African things at a cricket World Cup, but Wednesday’s match felt like a seesaw moment for the Proteas.

Two hours and two super overs later I was still at Pirates, hot, sweaty and out of breath, just me, a cold cup of coffee and Pirates staff staring dumbstruck at dumb TVs in shock and awe, legs numb, minds frazzled and bums squeaky.

We always expect South Africa to do South African things at a cricket World Cup, but Wednesday’s match felt like a seesaw moment for the Proteas. The wobbliest of tightropes was walked by David Miller, Tristan Stubbs and Dewald Brevis with the bat and Lungi Ngidi and Keshav Maharaj with the ball. Could this be the moment they begin to believe?

It was a display of flaws and flays, power, skill and lashings of luck. This was T20 cricket at its finest and worst, made more meaningful because it was between two teams playing for their countries rather than another team called the Royal and Super Giant Bodice-rippers of (insert city here). This puts franchise cricket well and truly in context as a day job for some of the best players in the world, a way to put bread on the table so they can fulfil their first love of representing their lands.

As well as the handful at Pirates, broadcaster JioHotstar, India’s largest streaming platform, reported a staggering 69-million views, the most for a morning match so far at this World Cup. It’s been a record-breaking World Cup “on JioStar, delivering the biggest ever opening day across JioHotstar and the Star Sports network for any ICC event”, reported the ICC.

“Total consumption across JioStar’s digital and linear platforms grew by 59% compared with the 2024 edition, reaching 14.7-billion minutes on the opening day, together delivering the biggest yet opening day in ICC Men’s T20 World Cup history.”

A good return for the ICC and JioStar despite reports in the Economic Times in November that the latter intended to “withdraw from the media rights deal for [ICC] tournaments. The move comes despite two years remaining on the four-year contract, reportedly due to significant financial losses.”

India’s win over the US in their opening game had a reach of 101.9-million on JioHotstar, up by 81% over 2024. By comparison, Sunday’s Super Bowl had an average of 124.9-million viewers on NBC’s platforms for the entire match, making it the “second-most-watched show in US history”, according to The Athletic. The biggest was last year’s Super Bowl, and this year’s game was, to turn a South African phrase, kak boring.

“There was no Tom Brady, no Patrick Mahomes, nor barely anyone on the field a non-Fantasy Football player could name. The game was boring with its lack of offence, the result never being in doubt, and really not many memorable plays,” reported The Athletic.

Sport is a battle for numbers and eyes. USA Network estimated Liverpool’s Premier League match against Manchester City had a global viewership of more than 700-million. Expect the numbers for the T20 World Cup to be stratospheric for the rest of the tournament.

The fine advertisement put on by South Africa and Afghanistan aside, Pakistan agreed earlier this week to honour their match against India in Colombo on Sunday. It is a decision that will save the ICC from losing $200m in revenue from their $3bn broadcast deal with JioStar.

South Africa play New Zealand at 3.30pm on Saturday, a match that will decide who will top Group D. Guessing what will happen is a fool’s game, but it is safe to say it may be hot and sweaty, smart and dumb, and breathless.