The Proteas were disrupted again before the first Test against Australia
Peter Robinson
Not that we should be discussing gambling in the context of South African cricket, but if you wanted a flutter on the Test series that starts at the Wanderers on Friday bet365, an Internet betting site, are offering 10-11 on Australia to take the series, 3-1 on South Africa and 9-4 the draw. In other words, Australia are pretty heavy favourites in what is essentially a two-horse race.
You can’t really argue with that. So conclusively did Australia clobber South Africa last month that it is almost impossible to believe that deep scars have not been left in the minds of the home team. This, though is not the worst of it.
It emerged this week that the South African team for the first Test match was chosen with no consultation between the convener of selectors, Rushdi Magiet, and the South African captain and coach. In fact, to push this point a little further, the Australian captain and coach would have learned of the South African team before Shaun Pollock and Graham Ford.
Quite apart from this shameful snub to Pollock and Ford, Magiet’s failure to communicate with the two men directly responsible for South Africa’s fortunes on the field indicates that the idea of strategic planning has been thrown out the window.
You might have thought that at least some time would have been spent prior to the selection of the side mulling over what went wrong in Australia, trying to correct the mistakes that were made and examining ways of exposing Australia’s weaknesses. Instead, the selectors have thrown a team at the captain and coach and told them to make the best of it.
This approach also raises questions about how many agendas, hidden or otherwise, are at work in South African cricket. Ford, for one, might have cause for some concern over his immediate future. His position has already been threatened by the United Cricket Board president Percy Sonn and at issue is not whether Ford is a good or bad coach, but whether, if South Africa lose the Test series to Australia, a scapegoat will be sought. It’s an uncomfortable reality of international cricket when things go wrong administrators point fingers at the coach, no matter that the administration might have caused the problem in the first place.
Add to this the confusion created on Thursday when both Pollock and Justin Ontong withdrew from the team and the recipe for disaster grows even richer. It means that if South Africa are to succeed against the odds the 11 who eventually step out on to the Wanderers pitch will have to dig into their reserves of courage and determination as never before.
Allan Donald made the point this week that South Africa did not function as a team during the Test series in Australia. “I think we need 11 guys out there playing for each other,” he said. “I wouldn’t say that was the case in Australia. The senior players have got to stand up and be counted.”
That, in a nutshell, is it. But the prognosis cannot be entirely gloomy. Any side which contains a Gary Kirsten, a Herschelle Gibbs, a Jacques Kallis, a Mark Boucher, a Donald and a Makhaya Ntini can count itself as possessing a core of experience, skill and determination and no matter the immediate past or the disruptions that have plagued this South African summer, Australia will expect nothing less than a dogfight at the Wanderers.
It is difficult, of course, to see too many weaknesses in an Australian Test XI that was settled long before the tourists landed in this country, but South Africa’s most immediate ambition will be to break the Matthew Hayden/Justin Langer opening partnership that so plagued Pollock, Donald and company in Australia.
It is no secret that the South African bowlers believe the Australian middle order to be fragile, but to get at it the door has to be prised open at the top of the order.
It is difficult to know how the Wanderers pitch might play. Adam Gilchrist described it as looking dry earlier in the week, but there has been a lot of rain around during the past 10 days and if there is cloud cover the ball will swing. Just over two years ago, when England found themselves staggering almost unbelievably at two for four, it was the movement through the air that undid the batsmen as much as the juice in the pitch.
Whatever the conditions, though, you would not write off South Africa’s chances until the last wicket has fallen. But if the home team is to succeed against considerable odds, it will be in spite of the current selection methods, not because of them.
Peter Robinson is the editor of CricInfo South Africa