There is a lot to re-evaluate in the world of professional cricket, from schedules to bilateral series and the future of domestic franchise leagues and even the future of domestic first-class cricket. There is also the relationship between the formats which may be a lot closer than previously believed.
Test cricket and T20 cricket were thought to be almost mutually exclusive for much of their coexistence but coaches and players are now seeing how they can be mutually beneficial. Far from hindering and even ruining Test techniques, the shortest format can help, to a degree.
One of the simplest but truest pieces of advice a coach can give to an aspiring batter is to “watch the ball”. Young players take that for granted but it’s more difficult than it sounds. Learning to really watch the ball is a skill which takes time to develop. Jacques Kallis is one of many greats who put the ability at the top of his priority list.
The onus on boundaries and fast scoring in the T20 game make it essential. If a batter doesn’t watch the ball well they won’t hit it well, they won’t score quickly and they won’t be paid very well. But watching the ball well doesn’t just mean hitting it well — it is just as important in defending and leaving it.
Just as a batter doesn’t use all their T20 shot options in a Test match, bowlers don’t use all of the deliveries they have to learn in the shortest format when moving from four overs per match to 30 or 40. Test bowlers used to rely mostly on patience and repetition and, while those qualities are still intrinsic to sustained success, they have been complemented by the new skills which underpin success in T20.
The popular perception about T20 cricket is that it is all about scoops, ramps, knuckleballs and slow bouncers. It isn’t. But those are the moments which are remembered because they stand out from what is, fundamentally, about 90% “normal” cricket in which the ability to “watch the ball” when batting and hit the top of off stump when bowling are still the keys to winning more than losing.
When SA20 commissioner Graeme Smith said the new tournament would make SA cricket and its players “better and stronger” it sounded a bit too much like marketing talk. When he included first-class cricket and the Test team in that assessment, it was hard to understand. Especially when a C team was sent to New Zealand for a Test last year because the A team was contracted to play in the second season of the competition. But he knows what he’s talking about, does Smith.
It’s not just the presence of so many seasoned international players and the influence they have on their young, local teammates. It’s the crowds. Every South African player mentions the crowds. Initially that, too, sounded like they were carrying out instructions from the marketing team but the average professional cricketer can’t say their own name without stumbling when asked to do so in front of a camera in a promotional shoot.
For almost all of them, the SA20 is the first time they have ever played in front of a meaningful number of spectators, never mind a sold-out stadium. It’s not just transformative, it’s career-changing in some cases. Actors, musicians and comedians all talk about the difference an audience makes to their performance — sportsmen and women are no different.
Apart from Newlands, Test matches are poorly attended in SA so how can packed crowds in SA20 matches help for a sparsely attended five-day match? Test cricketers know it’s their biggest “stage’” or at least their most important, so if they’ve helped win matches with the noise, vibe and speed of T20, they can draw from that experience in Test cricket. Ryan Rickelton, last season’s leading run-scorer, is the perfect example.
St George’s Park, Boland Park and Kingsmead were all sold out last week and Supersport Park was almost packed despite the rain on Sunday. Newlands was sold out for Monday night’s derby between MI Cape Town and the Paarl Royals. It’s a tough ask to fill the Wanderers but they came close and there’s no doubt it will be packed for the final.
Inconceivable though it was just a few years ago, if domestic T20 cricket really can help rather than hinder the development of Test players, then SA may have created an even more valuable piece of jewellery than we thought. The rest of the world has noticed, too. An old friend deeply involved in English cricket sent me this note regarding The Hundred over the weekend:
“While we wring our hands and pontificate about how best to sell a product we haven’t even established yet it looks like SA has just stood up, stubbed out a cigarette and built the second best league in the world overnight.”
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