On Saturday the Proteas fly out of Johannesburg heading for Karachi via Dubai. Not the safety and security of a charter plane for Quinton de Kock and his 21-man squad, although there’s certainly nothing wrong with Emirates Business Class.
That is the least of the experiences which lie ahead, a tour for neither the faint-hearted nor the claustrophobic. From the moment the squad is met on the tarmac and ushered away to their quarantine base this will be a tour unlike any other they have been on. Only head coach Mark Boucher and Faf du Plessis, who captained a World XI in an exhibition T20 series in 2017, have toured the country before.
They will travel in armour-plated buses with bullet-proof windows in a cavalcade of military and police vehicles providing presidential-level security. Even when they have completed the 10-day quarantine period before the first Test match, they will not just be confined to the team hotel, but to a single floor of it. There will be no popping down to reception for a cappuccino. They won’t be able to train until the fourth day, provided everyone tests negative.
The route between the hotel and the match venue will be ‘secured’ 30 minutes before they travel with all traffic coming to a halt on either side. It creates extreme inconvenience for locals and the consequences can be even more serious in the event of medical emergencies. And yet the players will encounter no resentment – their mere presence is regarded by city residents as another step towards ‘normality’ after decades of domestic terrorism.
The major cities have changed dramatically and fundamentally in the last 10 years. When the CSA and SACA delegations visited Karachi last month they were shown the city’s ‘security control centre’, established at a cost of $130 million. Literally tens of thousands of cameras provide views of even the smallest of side streets. Big Brother is watching, and recording, everybody’s movements. And there are no protests about that.
Prime Minister Imran Khan may have a background in cricket but the international game’s slow revival in the country has been merely a by product of his determination to improve the quality of life of the country’s 216 million citizens. Insurgency by the Taliban and other extremist groups has been controlled not just by a military response, but by dialogue.
Pakistan is a military state and does not pretend otherwise. When the Proteas are transferred from Karachi to Rawalpindi for the second Test, and then to Lahore for the three-match T20 series, they will be transported to their chartered aeroplane as if they were beating hearts in ice-packs on the way to a transplant operation.
There will be military snipers on the roofs of the stadia and fully armed, special-services troops in full view inside the grounds – sometimes just outside the change-room, occasionally inside it. On the last Proteas tour to the country, in 2007, several batsmen recalled having second thoughts about ‘letting off steam’ following their dismissal.
On the first tour, in 1997, I fell in love with the country, from the leafy gardens of Lahore to the leather markets of Rawalpindi and the delectable cuisine of Faisalabad. That was a ‘proper’ tour on which friendships were made which remain today and the history and culture of another nation were as important off the field as the cricket was on it. Not that I’m proud of everything that happened…
The warm-up match before the Tests was played in Peshawar, on the Afghanistan border where security guards attempted to control the flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic through the Khyber Pass. A small bus was organised to take some of us up the mountains to the border post. We were told that it could be dangerous and that tribal law surpassed conventional law. We signed disclaimers.
The market was as fascinating as it was intimidating. Everything was for sale, from unexploded Russian hand-grenades and rocket launchers from the 1980s war to blocks of hashish the size of house bricks. And other stuff I daren’t put into words. Nobody took photographs!
One of the border guards handed me his AK47 assault rifle, beret and even his cigarette, for added authenticity. Then he encouraged me to fire a few rounds into the valley below. Only afterwards did we notice how many goats were grazing the mountainside.
South Africa were the penultimate team to tour Pakistan before the Sri Lankan team was attacked in Lahore leading to a 12-year absence of international cricket. Since then, The Sri Lankans returned last year for two Tests and Bangladesh has played one. This tour is the longest yet and the first to include three venues.
In some ways the controls and protocols of touring during the Coronavirus pandemic will make the military and security protocols less overbearing, if not less obvious. In 2007 the Proteas players were asking whether playing cricket in a military ‘bubble’ was what they had ‘signed up for’. Some of them became claustrophobic and anxious. But they still won the series thanks largely to three 100s and 421 runs in two Tests from Jacques Kallis and five-wicket hauls by Paul Harris and Dale Steyn.
Results are always important, of course. Professional cricketers play to win. But if these ones are able to focus on cricket and perform somewhere near their best, they may reflect on that in the years to come as an achievement as worthy as anything they may do with bat and ball.
So - appreciate their successes and don’t judge them too harshly if they appear distracted!
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Shew - I think the purpose behind touring, or at least a major part of it is for the team to "take its country" to another, foster friendships and leave a little bit of South Africa in that Land once you have left. Going on tour in the manner that they are, seems a bit pointless - other than some cricket. The team cannot leave their hotel floor as you say to even go down to the lobby restaurant, let alone same the local cuisine in the streets and then when they do play - no crowds. So, other than the crickets and the SA delegations getting a free "Jolly" before the tour, what really is the point as the locals cannot even enjoy going to watch them play. Perhaps I am too cynical? The cost must be horrendous.
You were holding the gun at the wrong end! My dad was in the khyber rifles in 1947 so when we lived in Islamabad for 5 years 77-81 when he was the Defence attaché I learnt Urdu and spent lots of time with locals. Boy was it a great place. I would love to go back!