A proper thrashing, a thrilling but lucky escape in the T20 series against Australia and a distinctly wobbly start to the one-day international series at Centurion on Wednesday has led to an outbreak of head-scratching and reflection about what might have been done differently in the build-up to the season.
Neither pundits nor players expressed satisfaction with the fact that the majority of the national squad had played no meaningful cricket for six months (with apologies to the Champions League in India) and gathered together only three days before the first T20 match at Newlands.
Two of the biggest names in the squad, Graeme Smith and Dale Steyn, looked as rusty as shipwrecks.
“It’s not ideal, but those are the cards we have been dealt and we just have to get on and make the best of it,” said coach Gary Kirsten beforehand. Perhaps they were the “official” cards dealt, but Kirsten became a master of innovation during his three years with the Indian team and will almost certainly reflect, in time, on what he might have done differently and will do if and when the situation arises again.
Kirsten will reflect that Smith, in desperate need of some cricket following a knee operation just six weeks before the Australians arrived (and the six months off), was able to organise two “middle nets” at Claremont Cricket Club in Cape Town for two days in which he faced 60 overs. It was the equivalent of warming up for a bout against boxer Wladimir Klitschko by pillow-fighting a 10-year-old girl, but at least it was something. Could the national squad not have formed a 22 with themselves and some keen youngsters, eager to make an impression? Could they not have played a practice match in Durban or on the Highveld if there were weather concerns in the Cape?
Steyn’s need for cricket was even more pressing because, unlike Smith who has played some of his greatest innings when carrying injuries severe enough to prevent him training, Steyn has a track record of going off the boil alarmingly quickly with time away from the game and taking a long time to return to his best.
‘The bush’
Three years ago, following his mighty effort against Australia in the historic Test series victory, particularly in Melbourne where he produced one of the finest individual performances in South African Test history with a 10-wicket haul and never-to-be-forgotten innings of 76 in a ninth-wicket stand of 180 with JP Duminy, he was sent straight to “the bush” on return to South Africa by coach Mickey Arthur for “rest and recuperation”.
Australia arrived for the return series just three weeks later and, although the great fast bowler had all his arms and legs moving in the right direction, they weren’t co-ordinated with one another. By the time he was finally “back”, South Africa were 2:0 down and Australia had avenged the embarrassment of losing for the first time on home soil in 16 years — and the first time ever to South Africa.
So it was particularly peculiar that Steyn was rested for the T20 matches. He was carrying a shoulder “niggle” but it affected only his throwing rather than his bowling and he could have played.
Kirsten wasn’t just innovative during his tenure as Indian coach, he was highly perceptive and far more right than wrong with his hunches. Although Steyn will have to improve a lot from the six overs he bowled during Wednesday night’s soggy first one-dayer in Centurion for this one to look good.
As contrary as Steyn’s non-selection was, Smith’s inclusion was positively bizarre. What other country would include a man recovering from surgery and without competitive game time for more than half a year? Obviously he was selected on reputation, but that is a policy fraught with risk. Allan Donald could tell him all about that, having finished his career in a blaze of physiotherapy rather than glory.
Smith is facing the greatest challenge of his life this season and it is precisely because of the enormity of his reputation and the deeds he has accomplished in the past eight years.
Whereas most 30-year-old cricketers look ahead to what they believe and hope will be their best years, having learned to understand and utilise their strengths and weaknesses, Smith’s career looms behind him, not in front. It hovers over him like a giant, taunting and teasing that he will never again be able to rise up and face the challenges he once did, let along overcome them. How can he possibly live up to his reputation? Some of his achievements rank among the greatest of all time — for any country.
Now married and with just the Test captaincy left from his once all-encompassing leadership portfolio, the natural vulnerability he might be feeling was added to significantly by his miserable six-ball duck and crucial dropped catch in the first T20 at Newlands. When he was booed by the Wanderers crowd in the second game, it could not have hurt more if he had been stabbed. It was petty and shabby. He did not deserve it.