Sometimes an unbeaten record can be as much of a burden as a bad run of losses
CRICKET:V Roger Prabasarkar
LIKE painters, musicians and sculptors, cricketers are very often not appreciated until they are dead – or at least retired. India seems to be full of “former greats” at the moment, many of whom were dropped from the national side on any number of occasions and routinely criticised for one thing or another. Too slow, too loose, too selfish etc …
But their achievements on the field of play are now regarded as intrinsic to the national sides of the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. The full worth of Kepler Wessels to South African cricket, likewise, never appeared to be understood by South Africans while he was captian.
When India toured South Africa in 1992 Wessels was as hard and uncompromising a captain as India had ever faced. The senior professionals (Azharuddin, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri) felt as though they were always short of air on the field of play. Wessels did not allow the opposition breathing space.
Hansie Cronje appears to have inherited some of Wessels’s mental fortitude but, refreshingly, he breathes extra life into the game rather than choking it. The approach of the two captains is different and circumstances vary – the most obvious being that Wessels never brought a team to India – but comparisons are inevitably made. Apart from toughness, Cronje also inherited a great burden. An unbeaten record.
On the third evening of the last Test (with India 270-5 and leading by 330 runs) Cronje was disappointed with some South African newspapers for writing the team off and implying that India would win. Apparently (and it was a private conversation so I cannot be sure – Cronje’s public persona has and will probably always remain impeccable) he was really very upset, suggesting that he would like to take a rolled-up copy of the offending newspaper and place it up the … well, you can guess, after the team left Kanpur with a draw and a tied series.
The fact that all cricket followers in their right minds had written South Africa off is neither here nor there. The point is that Cronje had just realised what an awesome record (and burden) he had inherited from Wessels. His desparation not to be the first captain to lose a series for five years was so strong that it literally became tangible, expressing itself in unusual behaviour and not completely rational thinking.
It also expressed itself on the field of play on the fourth morning when India raced to 400-7 declared in the face of some decidedly confused bowling and fielding. For the first time in two months on Indian soil Cronje didn’t look in control of proceedings.
Even at Eden Gardens when Azharuddin was dementedly thrashing a century from 74 balls the captain had the presence of mind to reassure Lance Klusener and calm the rest of his shell-shocked soldiers.
But on the fourth morning in Kanpur he looked like a man preoccupied. One can only surmise what was passing through his mind but it must, inevitably, have revolved around the concept of defeat. In that session 130 runs were scored, when the average over the first three days had been just 70. Cronje was steeling himself for what he was dreaming would be a glorious rearguard action and a Test saved. But he probably knew, too, that he was dreaming.
This article is being written on the fourth evening with South Africa 127-5, surely destined for defeat. Of the five wickets that fell, four seemed to reflect the riotous emotions that beset the captain and surely rubbed off on the rest of the team.
Gary Kirsten must have known that he had hit the ball only after it had hit his pad and would not, in different circumstances, have been as distraught over an LBW decision that was actually a brave and skilful piece of umpiring.
Herschelle Gibbs, reminding himself all the time that he should leave as many deliveries as possible, was caught in two minds with the delivery that removed his off stump, initially wanting to leave he realised too late that he should play.
Perhaps the worst case of desperation was the dismissal of Daryll Cullinan who will no doubt be roundly chastised for attempting a risky single with the total reading 29-2 and South Africa needing 461 to win. But running dangerous singles is merely one example of what happens when batsmen are churned up by a range of powerful emotions. He might have flashed at a wide delivery outside off stump, pulled a long hop to square leg or played a reverse sweep. Instead, he ran himself out. Pressure does that. Cullinan should not be singled out for harsh treatment.
The strangest dismissal was that of the captain himself. Having played an innings of complete control and composure to reach the 20s, he became consumed with the idea of attack and promptly took 16 off one over from left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi and raced to his first 50 of the series.
Possibly caught up in the notion of “playing your natural game” he attacked once too often and fell into the trap that he sets so often himself as captain. Short cover was there to accept the catch as Cronje drove uppishly at a flighted delivery from Joshi. Pressure does that.
Bob Woolmer and Cronje will have to fight hard to stop recriminations and destructive introspection when the Test ( and the series) has been lost. (Apologies in advance to Brian McMillan and Dave Richardson should they bat for six hours on the final day.)
It is only natural, and heatlhy, to hold debriefing sessions after any exercise but even the Indian press contingent have heard “off the record” mutterings from some South African bowlers that they have done their job but the batsmen have only produced runs when the going was good and have not been prepared to fight it out when conditions were more difficult.
And the bowlers do have a point. The series should already have been won. Chasing 170 to win in the final innings of the first Test at Ahmedebad was more than possible – the memory of the dismal collapse to 105 all out banished so gloriously to the back of the mind after Eden Gardens, has now become almost impossible to bear.
India, meanwhile, continue on their oh-so- familiar rollercoaster of form and happiness. The mood of the team, and of the nation for that matter, depends only on the last result. Sachin Tendulkar is once again the toast of the people and those who would have had him removed as captain had India lost this series, are once again his friends. But we know, as the Indian team does, that wallpaper is not the same as cement in covering deep cracks.
These cracks, no doubt, will reappear in South Africa where India will be touring with a squad containing all the right numbers as far as provincial “quotas” are concerned, but nothing else.
Seven batsmen, two spinners, three wicketkeepers (?) and just two back-up seamers to support the already overworked Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad will surely come unstuck on South African wickets and then, hopefully for Cronje’s sake, the pain of losing a series that he knows South Africa could and should have won, will ease.