In the dampness of the
series against the English, the inclusion of Paul
Adams in the South African squad is a bright
CRICKET: Jon Swift
IT is perhaps an upardonable turn of phrase given the current state of England’s sodden safari round South Africa, but the inclusion of Paul Adams in the national squad for the fourth and fifth tests in a series so far without a result represents a significant ray of sunshine.
The selection of Adams also marks a departure from the apparent mindset of the selectorial process.
This is not a barb at the panel. They have managed remarkably well with attacks based on seam and reinventing the wheel just because it happens to be there is more often than not a self-defeating process.
But on a number of fronts the Cape Town teenager with the delivery which has been likened to a frog in a blender, represents an important move forward. He is an attacking rather than a defensive spinner. He wants to take wickets. His nine in the South Africa “A” game against the touring English at Kimberley was proof of that.
There is also the inescapable fact that the selection of Adams signals the end of the all- white South African teams, a myth that was ironically exploded by the selection of another left-arm slow bowler in Omar Henry.
It is indeed ironic that Henry, who had dug himself out of the mire of apartheid to play for his country in the three tests against India during the 1992/93 season was, at exactly 100 days short of his 41st birthday, the oldest player to make a South African debut. Adams, at 18, will be the youngest. But, as Geoffrey Boycott so rightly points out, if you are old enough, you’re good
Sadly, even on debut, Henry represented the past. Adams represents the future, both in talent and the unbridled joy he patently takes out of playing. It is here that Adams really represents value. And perhaps will go some way towards erasing the indignities suffered over the years by cricketers of colour as talented as he is. Men perhaps like that superb bat Osmond Latha. One hopes so.
For Adams undoubtedly has the understated charisma and the magic of a left-arm delivery that comes from who knows where to breathe some life into a series which has begun to sit stolidly on its rain-soaked behind.
Perhaps Pollock and his selectors were right in keeping Adams back and not letting his success in one outing against England — as comprehensively beguiling as it may have been — rush them into picking the Grassy Park youngster. One feels that this is indeed the
It adds an extra dimension to the South African side. And while this remains conjecture, surely the attacking spirit and guile of Adams in tandem with the fire of Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock might have made the difference at the Wanderers.
One wicket for a hundred and plenty from someone like Adams would have been infinitely more acceptable — both as a proposition for victory and for the spectators — than the ennui of 50-plus overs of defensive spin for no return which was the case.
Ahead lie the last two tests of a series being fought out — when the unremitting unkindness of the weather permits — with a dour intensity, seven one-day games, and then the entirely different challenges of the World Cup on the Indian sub-continent.
It is perhaps from recent history that this doggedness has emanated, with the whitewash in Pakistan which marked Bob Woolmer’s introduction to the national coaching job in 1994 as the starting point.
Going one down in the 137-run loss to Ken Rutherford’s New Zealanders in the opening Test of the three-match rubber at the Wanderers didn’t help, and even squaring the series with an eight-wicket revenge at Kingsmead on the eve of 1995 didn’t quite
But then came the clinching sevenwicket victory for Hansie Cronje at Newlands in the opening week of 1995 — achieved by this country’s guts and determination and the inspired bowling of Fanie de Villiers, a maiden Test century for Dave Richardson and Cronje’s 112 more than anything — that promised new and better horizons as the side became the first team in the 20th century to come back from one down to win a three-test
A crushing 324-run win over the much-vaunted Pakistanis in the one-off Test at the Wanderers in January — with Brian McMillan scoring his maiden Test 100 and Fanie De Villiers taking 10 wickets and scoring a sparkling 66 — was champagne stuff.
De Villiers has been hampered by injury and his continued absence from the national side has taken some of the light out of the season.
South Africa again gave New Zealand a beating at Eden Park in the one-off centenary Test with Cronje making another ton and Daryll Cullinan falling just four runs short of joining his captain in three figures.
The under-24 and under-19 sides went abroad: the younger players with limited success in England and their slightly more mature counterparts with singular success to Sri Lanka.
As the international vista broadened, so did that within the confines of Africa. Kenya toured as did Zimbabwe. This was followed boy our national side whitwashing Zimbabwe in a Test and two one-dayers on the visit north of the Limpopo.
And then the rains came. The skies darkened, the clouds rolled over and the umpires scrabbled for light meters.
St George’s Park now awaits what could be the pivotal Test of a series which desperately needs the spark of something other than sheer fortitude to blow new flames into the embers.
Some highly unorthodox left-arm spin and the sheer fun of watching the young man who delivers it could just be the catalyst to stoke those flames.