In the days when India regarded Test cricket as a chore rather than the ultimate challenge the game had to offer, they played as few as six Test games in a calendar year but maximised the number of one-day games to the point of embarrassment. South Africa adopted a pragmatic view of the insult that was a two-Test series.
“It’s not ideal — not ideal at all,” said Gary Kirsten in 2000 when he was still opening the batting. “A three-Test series is the minimum you need to test the skills and depth of two teams.”
South Africa failed to capitalise on a victory at Eden Gardens in 1996-1997 and many of the players were desperate to become the first South African team to win in India. Senior players adopted a philosophic approach to the suggestion that victory in a two-Test series would have a “hollow” feel to it. “Not if we win both Tests,” they said.
Their sentiments could easily have been taken as signs of arrogance, even of disrespect — but not when they achieved exactly that. Nobody even dared suggest that South Africa were not the better team and that two Tests were not a genuine measure of the players’ ability.
Twelve years later it would again be both arrogant and disrespectful to talk about the Proteas beating the Australian team at both Newlands and the Wanderers, which leaves us more than likely facing the frustrating prospect of yearning for a third match to complete a “proper” series. Remember, South Africa have not beaten Australia at home in four attempts since isolation and most of the team were still hurting from the 2-1 loss here almost three years ago.
“It’s not ideal,” said Jacques Kallis, poignantly. “We were never told the reasons for the schedule being the way it is but there’s no doubt that the players from both teams would have made whatever sacrifices were necessary to play three Tests. Perhaps we could have played one T20 rather than two and moved the one-day internationals closer together.”
Indeed. The second one-day international was played on Sunday October 24 in Port Elizabeth and the third last Friday night in Durban. If an irrelevant international T20 had been dispensed with and the one-day internationals played in a week — Sunday, Wednesday, Friday there would have been plenty of time to play a third Test. Another extra day could have been found if the pre-Test warm-up game in Potchefstroom had been scheduled for three days rather than four.
The official reason for the downgrading of the Test series is galling — and extremely worrying. The Champions League T20 in India bit into the time originally allocated for Australia’s tour of South Africa. So something had to “give”. Thus, not only did the game’s financially driven administrators confirm that 20-over cricket was more important to them than Test cricket, but even domestic 20-over cricket was more important.
“If Test cricket is being compromised in any way, then I am dead against it,” said Kallis. “Everything comes from Test cricket, all the other formats of the game and the reputations that players gain, it all comes from playing — or aspiring to play — Test cricket. We know that as players, we know how the game works,” he said.
Administrators will tell you that T20s and one-day internationals are far more profitable than Test matches. They are cheaper to host and produce for television and they generate more income from broadcast rights and advertising. But, according to players like Kallis who know a bit about the game after 20 years of playing professionally, the short, rich formats are unsustainable in the long run without Test cricket. We are told that future series between these great cricket nations will always be a minimum of three Tests. But the precedent has been set and there are no guarantees it won’t be repeated.
So what are South Africa’s chances of winning both and putting this debate on ice? Much will depend on Kallis, as it has done for the last decade, and Dale Steyn. Fortunately, Kallis looked in prime form and Âpristine physical condition in the three one-day internationals. But Steyn was battling with the chronic injury to his bowling elbow and clearly struggling to bowl at top pace. If he can operate in the mid 130km/h range, Morné Morkel could find himself with a debutant — Vernon Philander — as company in the fast-bowling department, with Lonwabo Tsotsobe joining Alviro Petersen in the outbox marked “dropped but did nothing wrong”.
There is a great deal to be excited about, make no mistake. But Âimagine if the South African Rugby Union announced next year that the Currie Cup would be played over 60 rather than 80 minutes.