CRICKET
Peter Robinson
Nearly half-a-century ago the then South African Cricket Union grappled with the idea of cancelling a tour to Australia on the grounds that they didn’t think their team was good enough. In the end Jack Cheetham and his side were given the go-ahead and shocked everyone by drawing a five Test series 2-2.
It was around then that South Africa’s reputation as dogged fighters took hold. If nothing else, South African teams would scrap to the last. As used to be said of Kepler Wessels, it didn’t matter how many times he got knocked down, what counted was how many times he got up.
There was, sadly, very little of this spirit in evidence at the Wanderers last weekend. Allowing that Australia are a very good team and that South Africa were their captain and opening bowler and a batsman down before the start and lost their other opening bowler on the first day it was still a shameful capitulation.
Of the 11 who represented South Africa at the Wanderers, perhaps only Ashwell Prince and Makhaya Ntini came away with some credit.
Much has been said of the scars inflicted during the 3-0 series defeat in Australia and of all the South African batsmen, perhaps only Prince was less concerned with what had gone before than what he had to do in the Test match. He got into line, he left with good judgement and he played with no little courage. He may not be the long-term answer to the number three position (at some stage Jacques Kallis has to go back there and if he bowls less as a result, well, so be it), but he fully vindicated his somewhat surprising selection.
Prince, in fact, was probably a better bet for the Test than the man he replaced, Justin Ontong, for no other reason than the fact that he has been around a few years longer and has had time to discover his own game.
There is a worrying obsession in South African cricket with youth and while it may be true that the best time to blood fast bowlers is when they’re young, fit, fresh and fearless, the same logic does not necessarily apply to batsmen and spinners.
Ntini is a better bowler for having been dropped and allowed to work at his game. Much criticism has been levelled in the direction of bowling coach Corrie van Zyl, but Ntini has come back a better bowler. He gets in closer to the stumps and his rhythm, without which he can’t bowl a hoop down a hill, has returned.
These two apart, however, South Africa were dismal, individually and collectively. There was no apparent strategy for the first match of a series and while the blame for this has to be shared by the selectors and coaching staff, not many of the senior players accepted their responsibilities.
The point is, however, that the Wanderers debacle did not come, with no warning, out of the blue. For one reason or another, the core of the team that beat England at Newlands two years ago, as well balanced a South African side as any since readmission, has dissolved. Of that side, Daryll Cullinan, Hansie Cronje, Jonty Rhodes, Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock and Paul Adams did not play at the Wanderers, while Allan Donald did not make it through the first day.
You cannot allow a turnover of this magnitude to take place without the team suffering. Cricketers and teams need to grow and mature and this has not been allowed to happen.
It is common cause that South Africa’s first-class system has been diluted with too little talent spread around the country. Even more critically, though, the focus of the United Cricket Board has become blurred. You cannot suggest to a professional sports team that there are more important things to consider than winning and then expect them to go out and fight to the last drop of blood. Why should they? They’ll get paid anyway.
There will obviously have to be changes, both in personnel and attitude, if this series is not to be a rout. It would seem Cullinan only has to give the selectors half-a-chance during this weekend’s South Africa A game to pick him for Cape Town, probably in place of Boeta Dippenaar.
Nicky Boje is another who is under threat, and while Herschelle Gibbs is unlikely to be dropped, his carelessness might have cost him his place had he been Australian. If he needed to be reminded of the basics of batting, he should simply have looked down the wicket at Prince.
However much juggling takes place, however, the biggest adjustment needs to be made to the thinking of both the administrators and the players. Much of what lies ahead for South African cricket in the next few years might depend on whether the Test team can clamber back to their feet for the last two Tests.
Peter Robinson is the editor of CricInfo South Africa