Peter Robinson
On Monday evening, only a few hours after the Supersport Series final had curled up and died of neglect at Kingsmead, South Africa’s Test match sponsors, Castle Lager and MTN, held a farewell do for Allan Donald in Johannesburg.
It was a low-key affair. As ever Donald was immaculately dressed in a suit, making everyone else look scruffy by comparison; there were a few speeches, a presentation or two, some drinks and that was it. Donald had announced his retirement from Test cricket after breaking down at the Wanderers and, at the end of a crowded and often unhappy season, this was by way of acknowledging the end of an era.
And what an era it was. Everyone will have their favourite memories of Donald, but two stand out, both from 1998: the New Year Test match at Sydney when Donald battered the Waugh twins with the second new ball in a brave, but eventually futile, attempt to reclaim a match already given up by the South Africa batsmen; and Trent Bridge in July when Donald unleashed a ferocious barrage against Michael Atherton. Again Donald’s efforts were in vain as an umpire’s decision and a dropped catch denied him the breakthrough, but it was competition at its fiercest and impossible not to watch.
Later that July evening, Donald and Atherton bumped into each other on the stairs that separated the two dressing rooms. Each was carrying two beers, each was seeking the other out and each wanted to acknowledge a worthy opponent.
The record books say that Donald has been South Africa’s greatest fast bowler. It’s an assessment that isn’t worth disputing, but his true moments of greatness came when the spirit of the contest gripped him; when his body and his mind and his heart gathered together for a single purpose.
It was that sense of purpose that strolled out of the SuperSport Series final on Sunday and didn’t bother to come back for the last day. KwaZulu-Natal claimed the domestic first-class title to add to the limited overs trophy already in their possession and they have been, this summer, unquestionably the best provincial team in the country.
But Dale Benkenstein’s refusal to try and win the final, a decision apparently backed in the Natal dressing room, was shameful and shortsighted. If cricket is not to be a contest then it is really not worth paying much attention to and in claiming the title, Natal managed to further undermine the domestic game.
One result of their approach will be to usher in a review of the competition’s rules. Another might be to persuade an already largely indifferent sponsor to spend its money elsewhere. And if SuperSport, who already couldn’t be bothered to broadcast the greater part of their own sponsorship, pull out, it is hard to see alternatives queuing up behind them.
What is so amazing, though, is the indifference of some of the country’s professional cricketers to their job.
To point out what should be the obvious, money comes not for the amount of runs scored or wickets taken, but for the entertainment it provides. That means competition, that means contests. Have we learned nothing from the Australians?
Peter Robinson is the editor of CricInfo SouthAfrica/