Perhaps there has been a little too much negativity in recent months and years. Now is the time to focus on how much has been salvaged from what could have been wreckage of a season, even a year.
That’s not to say the situation is less serious than has been reported, or that there are not further problems ahead, or even that everyone involved is pulling in the same direction and places the game’s greater good above self-interest, but even the castaway can appreciate the seagulls.
Cricket in SA will still suffer long-term physical damage from the combination of its internal fights and the consequential dip in international performance and profile, but the determination to keep the game being played has been spirited and uplifting.
Why should we expect anything less? Perhaps the problem lies with those of us whose daily professional exposure is too close to the peak of the pyramid and not close enough to the base. We see the Proteas struggling and the administration floundering and we paint that picture. Mind you, our efforts to revisit the game’s roots at school and club level this year have been pandemically thwarted.
It has been a triumph of determination and logistical expertise to play all three formats of the men’s domestic game with a staggeringly small number of Covid incidents. The bio-secure environments created at Senwes Park and Kingsmead for the Momentum One-Day Cup and the CSA T20 Challenge weren’t just medically successful. They also succeeded from a playing perspective.
Cricket SA chief medical officer Shuaib Manjra had an immediate effect on the game this season, domestically and internationally, but his planning along with the Cricket SA operations team might well have a lasting effect in the years ahead as provincial cricket is forced to think unconventionally about how fixtures are played. Fifteen provinces in two divisions will be waging an ongoing battle between income and expenditure in the years to come. Rather than a conventional fixture list, clusters of games at one venue in the post-Covid era may well have a future.
The really good news is the success of the Momentum Proteas — the SA Women’s team. A one-day international series victory in India, clinching it 3-1 with a game to spare during a record run-chase of 269, was every bit as impressive as the men’s equivalent.
Without injured regular captain Dane van Niekerk and with her replacement, Sune Luus, herself replaced by Laura Wolvaardt, the team regenerated in thrilling style and revealed a hitherto unsuspected depth. Opener Lizelle Lee has enjoyed a hot streak of runs every bit as prolific as anything Hashim Amla enjoyed.
Having won a memorable series against New Zealand last year and then beaten Pakistan at home earlier this year, SA’s women are making light, uncomplaining work of the obstacles placed in front of them. No wonder Momentum chose to focus their support on them, having withdrawn from the men’s international and domestic game in protest at the maladministration infesting it.
Is the men’s game as weak as some would have us believe? There appeared to be a worrying lack of “power-hitters” during the T20 Challenge and MODC, but dry, slow pitches at Kingsmead and Potchefstroom did not help. Besides, not every generation produces Lance Klusener, Albie Morkel or AB de Villiers.
First-class cricket usually provides a clearer idea of the talent within a system and the country’s top eight batsmen are all averaging over 50 while the top 10 bowlers are taking their wickets at under 25 runs apiece. Aiden Markram has reminded anybody who needed it that he remains a world-class batsman with 781 runs, including four centuries, at an average of 97.6 in just six games. Kyle Verreynne has demonstrated why we need to stop thinking of him as a wicketkeeper (though he is a very good one), with 571 runs in only four matches at an average of 95.
SA continues to produce more first-class cricketers than it can employ and the country has better playing facilities at junior level than any other — for those who play the game. The problem is: which comes first, new players or new pitches and fields? It is not unique to this country.
Sadly, there are more administrative storm clouds on the horizon and the rain will once more dampen the players. But they will not stop, the game will go on and good times will return. Watching the seagulls in flight is sometimes better than worrying about what comes out of their rears.
*Manthorp has followed SA cricket as a writer and broadcaster since its return to the international arena in 1991. He has been on more than 100 tours and has covered more than 300 Test matches and eight World Cups.
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