South Africa’s dismal showing in the Test series in Australia was as disappointing as it was expected given their crushing losses to England in the preceding two Tests at Old Trafford and the Oval which finished inside the equivalent of two playing days.
Australians were stunned by the two-day finish at the Gabba. Many South Africans, less so.
There is much to digest. No doubt there will be much to be written in the weeks and months ahead. Hopefully, a lot more will be done than written. We’re looking at you, Enoch Nkwe. But for now, with 43 hours of travel about to begin, it’s time to hand over to someone else.
“None of the defeats were a surprise, they’ve been a long time coming,” said former Protea, Paul Harris, a key part of the first South African team ever to win a series on Australian soil in 2008.
“Our first-class cricket is not very good and has been in decline for some time. Contrary to other countries, like the UK where they have actually kept first-class cricket strong, the emphasis in South Africa has been on white ball cricket for years and consequently it’s not very good at the moment. It’s actually very weak,” Harris said, careful not to blame the players for the state of the game.
Harris was speaking to me and my co-host on TalkSport’s weekly cricket programme, the Cricket Collective, and wasn’t holding back.
“You have to separate players from administrators. We can talk for hours about how bad the administrators have been for the last ten years which has led to severe financial strife. T20 cricket is the quickest and easiest way to rectify that, you can’t ignore that fact, and we’ll have to play a lot of it.
“The players want to play Test cricket because it’s the pinnacle of the game but South Africa have lost most of their clout at the ICC and haven’t done themselves any favours so we’re being marginalised as a Test nation.
“There is frustration bordering on anger because this hasn’t happened overnight, the batting has been poor for a long time but we get away with it at home because our bowling attack is so good and our wickets are rubbish, so the gap is narrowed.
“We saw it a year ago when India were beaten at home – yes, we played really well but we needed the bowlers to chip in with runs to get us out of trouble. It’s been a mess for a while but we’re now seeing the chickens coming home to roost,” Harris said.
“In 2008 we had the best top six South Africa has ever produced and we had Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel leading the attack. The current players simple aren’t good enough, but they don’t lack guts or spirit, they’re doing their best and they’re not lacking character.”
“Temba is our best player and should be batting at three to give himself the best chance of scoring hundreds. But we’ve got guys at home who are averaging over 50 – Ryan Rickelton was injured, apparently, but he’s been popping out hundreds in domestic cricket.
“South Africa has put so little effort into first-class cricket for so long that we’re now reaping the ‘rewards’ of that. We had six Franchises and that was working, the system wasn’t broken, but then we returned to 15 provincial teams. I can’t see how that is going to work. Our international players don’t play domestic cricket anymore, they are given mental health breaks, so I can’t see how that is going to work for the national team.
“The leadership has been incredibly weak from the top down and it isn’t changing. There is no silver bullet, obviously, it is going to require effort, commitment and money. I just hope there sufficient recourses in all three departments.
“Like many people around the world, and this pains me to say because I loved beating them more than anyone, but I’ve loved watching England play Test cricket in the last six months. I may even manage my time in the bush and on the golf course to make sure I can watch the Ashes. People ask me why we couldn’t play a bit more positively in Australia. Well, you need to have the technique to keep the good balls out before you can whack the bad ones,” Harris said.
*A final thought from Dean Elgar after rain ended South Africa’s record run on 45 Tests without a draw: “We chatted before the last day and I said ‘we can either lie down and let Aussies roll us again, and create a bit more embarrassment, or we can fight out day five. It was good to see how the guys responded. We could have been done by lunchtime and that wouldn’t have sat well in our camp.”
Lunch time? LUNCH TIME? Australia needed 14 wickets to win! Lunchbloodytime? Wow.
More coherent thoughts next week. At least, from me. “I’m taking as much time off as I want, that’s what I need right now,” said Elgar, not me.
How do we work out who are our best players if the domestic scene is so poor?. SA Cricket needs a total revision, and it starts with management; it starts with players feeling valued and appreciated, not being pawns in a desperate last-ditch attempt to save the game in this country due to gross boardroom abuse.
Spot on - we have an unhealthy preoccupation with whiteball and it has messed up our cricket.
We need leaders who put the game first!