'Artistic hunters' South Africa draw inspiration from tiki-tika for World Cup success

The modern-day batting revolution has a name that was pioneered right here at ESPNcricinfo (and is in fact now part of the Collins Dictionary. Though Bazball was intended to describe an aggressive approach to red-ball cricket, it has since been used for any kind of run-scoring that is proactive. And it sparked several offshoots, the Bazbelles ( or 'Jonball' used for the England Women), Gurbazball (for Afghanistan's opening batter), Bouchball (guilty as charged), Amazeball (I just made that one up) and now, South Africa present… football.

Yes, that one. The most popular global game, played with the big round ball where the aim is to score more goals than your opposition. The one with the offside rule, and World Cups only every four years. And the one that is the inspiration behind their recent approach to batting, which has seen them rack up totals of over 300 every time they've batted first at this tournament and break the record for the highest score in a World Cup game.

"I am a big Barcelona fan, and a fan of tiki-tika," Enoch Nkwe, South Africa's director of cricket, said when asked to explain how the national team has crafted its identity.

Tiki-taka is a style of play mostly associated with the Spanish football team that won the 2010 World Cup, which was hosted in South Africa (so maybe there's the link) and is basically about maintaining possession, usually through short passes. Translating it to cricket strategy isn't straightforward but Nkwe explains it as having an understanding of how to "rebuild without having to put yourself under pressure and continue moving the game forward".

And he has an example to illustrate what he means. In March this year, South Africa chased a record target of 259 in a T20I against West Indies, and won comfortably thanks to a 152-run opening stand between Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks and a strong finish from Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen. "We identified the partnership with Quinny and Reeza, it was aggressive but it wasn't reckless. They played good cricketing shots," Nkwe said. 'And then there was a period where we lost quick wickets. It's then about when you lose possession, how to regain control."

De Kock, Hendricks and Rilee Rossouw were dismissed in the space of 13 balls, which took South Africa from 152 without loss to 193 for 3. Even as they lost wickets, they still found three fours and four sixes to keep up with the required run rate and could then rebuild. "Aiden and Klaasen went seven balls without a boundary and they were still in a position where they could go for the kill. That's the mindset: how do we bounce back in that moment without having to wait, how do we try and react as quickly as possible to take over control. Let's not leave until the last ball, let's create an opportunity to win the game and kill it."

That's where another analogy comes in, of the more metaphorical type. "So with that situation, we thought of it as being artistic which speaks to being very creative in certain situations. Certain players are very good at that - whether it's lapping, reverse, some popping it over the inner ring, they all have their own way. But being artistic is also being street smart," Nkwe said. "And then we also have a hunter's mindset. The attacking, more aggressive, really backing yourself. We summed it up as: artistic hunter."

That is apparently how South Africa have since described their style of play, albeit that this is the first time they are making that public. Think of it like you may have 'Protea Fire', the vision that was conceptualised around the braai to embody resilience. The protea, South Africa's national flower, is the first to bloom after a bushfire and the cricketers were encouraged to embody that bouncebackability on the field. Of course, that also means they needed something to bounce back from and is probably why "we have always been seen as reactors", Nkwe said

The new approach is intended to be the opposite of that. And if you really look at the way South Africa have batted you can see it. The top six have all found new scoring methods and areas. De Kock doesn't mind starting slower to build a base. Temba Bavuma has shown signs of going quicker. Rassie van der Dussen has worked on the sweep shot. Markram is more aggressive. Klaasen can clear the ropes more regularly. David Miller rotates the strike better. And below that, Marco Jansen and the rest take batting seriously and have worked on how to deal with pressure so they are ready in case of a chase. It hasn't always worked but when it did - against Pakistan and Afghanistan - it showed South Africa have some idea of how to deal with pressure. Of course, this style of play is at its best when batting first. That's where we can see it as bold. Brave. Bullish.

With those qualities in mind, it can hardly be a surprise that the "artistic hunter" phrase was adopted in the Boucher-era in late 2019, when South Africa tried to plot the way forward after a disastrous - well everything, but mostly a disastrous - 2019 World Cup. Boucher was due to take the team to this tournament after being given a four-year contract (unprecedented at the time but necessitated by the desire for stability in a chaotic period) but stood down after last year's T20 World Cup. By then, Nkwe had also resigned as Boucher's assistant and been reappointed as Director of Cricket, succeeding Graeme Smith, who appointed both Boucher and Nkwe.

Read all that again and it may seem confusing why something that was adopted under a regime that has changed is still in place but Nkwe has always maintained that the new coaches Shukri Conrad and Rob Walter are aligned in the same ways. In fact, CSA hopes that this approach will become the national blueprint and will be used by domestic teams as well. But in many ways, it's just a sign of the times.

Cricket has become about scoring quicker and in all formats and South Africa are catching up. "We know we've got the talent in South Africa. It's been about how we allow our talent to express themselves. We've seen it with the fast bowlers in the past. With the batting, we hadn't quite got that yet."

Now, they believe they do and strange monikers aside, their best chance to show that is in the semi-final on Thursday.