It is said the difference between a good meal and a bad one can be a simple pinch of salt.
In much the same way, the difference between winning and losing – especially in the frenetic world of Twenty20 cricket – can be the minutest of details.
One bad ball, one lucky shot, one moment of brilliance… it can all change wickedly in just a single moment of significance.
Friday night’s cliffhanger at the Wanderers seemed to be packed full of these moments.
It was typical in one sense, because the Bullring and the Proteas’ splash of pink always seem to produce magic.
But it was unusual in the sense that there were quite as many twists, and the hero at the end was an unlikely one.
Chris “Tipo” Morris is a lot of things on the cricket field,
but not many had him down as a match-winner with the bat.
Sure, he moved to the other side of the Jukskei on the premise that he was going to work on his batting and look to be recognised as a bowling all-rounder.
Good luck with your good intention, the cricket world said.
His cameo on his Test debut, when he made a flowing 69, is almost forgotten, because it was lost in the mystique of the history and significance that were occurring at the other end.
Temba Bavuma’s century was such that it threatened to take some of the gloss off Ben Stokes’s incredible double in the same match, so it is understandable that “Tipo’s” offering has become hazy.
After all, this has been a summer of individual landmarks, collective adaptation and some sumptuous fare from some of the world’s greatest and newest talents.
England have held the upper hand because they have handled the big moments better, and the manner in which the irrepressible Joe Root and the tenacious Chris Woakes dug them out of a hole to 262 suggested they had taken charge of another big moment.
When Woakes then castled Faf du Plessis and brilliantly ran out the pink panther, AB de Villiers, it looked as if we were witnessing the last rites in the series and England seemed as if they had seized their moment at the Wanderers again, as they had done so wonderfully in the Test series.
But no one had reckoned with Mr Morris choosing Friday night, in front of a startled full house, to announce himself as the Proteas’ next possibility with bat and ball.
He concedes he is a work in progress, noting that his batting can be hit and miss, but Morris hardly missed the other
night.
The manner in which he tore into Stuart Broad – of all people – was scarcely believable, and he did it with a minimum of fuss.
The six he chipped over mid-wicket, with a hint of a follow-through, was the stuff of dreams.
Morris, magically, was in his biggest moment in a Proteas jumper, and he loved it.
He showed a coolness that has been missing in South African pressure chases for a long time.
Of course, he had his luck, thanks to Adil Rashid shelling a sitter at mid-off.
But there was little fortune in the way he stroked South Africa to victory.
Cheeky fellow that he is, Morris also had the good grace to share the moment with Immy Tahir, letting South Africa’s jack batsman smite the winning run, with the country holding their collective breath.
Morris ultimately proved to be the difference between winning and losing on Friday night, and his own stock rose markedly in the process.
And just to prove he hadn’t lost himself in the headiness of the moment, he donated his entire match fee – and his Man of the Match prize – to charity.
It was just the necessary pinch of class at the end of personal triumph.
“Tipo” can stay.
– THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT