Reaching a verdict at the conclusion of the Proteas 12-match double-tour of Australia and England is utterly baffling. Seldom are the highs outdone by the lows, even when series have been won. And seldom can there have been greater consolation victories than those achieved by the opposition having already lost a series.
Australia were 2-0 down in the ODI series when they smashed 431-2 in the third game, obliterating SA’s bowling attack with three centuries before swatting away the opposition for 155. When England were 2-0 down they hammered 414-5 before humiliating the Proteas for 72 to seal the largest win — by 342 runs — in ODI history.
SA’s defeat by 146 runs in the second T20 International against England was another record and, perhaps, even more embarrassing with the hosts becoming the first Test nation to breach 300 with an eye-watering total of 304-2. (It puts SA just behind Gambia and Mongolia who conceded 344-4 and 314-3 against Zimbabwe and Nepal respectively.)
Head coaches are supposed to have answers, or at least pretend to. But Shukri Conrad wasn’t alone in his bemusement. “If you’re going to lose games heavily, rather they be games that don’t matter,” he said quixotically — but not seriously. Three shattering defeats undeniably bleached several layers of gloss off the victories.
“We have to be better, to have options. It was abject and embarrassing,” he admitted after England’s onslaught at Old Trafford, which yielded the hosts’ highest total, highest individual score (Phil Salt 141*) and largest-yet victory. And SA’s heaviest defeat.
Cricket won’t reach the stage where every ball of an innings is a boundary, but the periods of consecutive boundaries will become longer and, whereas an over costing 20+ used to occur once every two or three games, there is at least one these days and often three or four. Lizaad Williams achieved a unique, symmetrical feat in the Old Trafford massacre when his first 15 deliveries cost exactly 60. Four per ball. He finished his three overs at 63 runs.
Eye-watering
And what of spearhead Kagiso Rabada? Well, after a fine first over, which cost just seven runs, he matched Lizaad’s slaughter to finish with an eye-watering analysis of 4-0-70-0. It takes a while to sink in.
“It’s a tough one, to be honest. We’ve had some honest conversations in the group, including things like not taking playing for country for granted and thinking on your feet when the pressure is on,” said a shell-shocked captain, Aiden Markram. Australia and England, frustrated by their earlier failings, threw caution to the wind. Perhaps it can simply be left at that, though Markram’s intimation suggested it shouldn’t be.
Still, there were some outstanding individual performances over the month the Proteas were on the road and few observers would have bet on the tourists winning both ODI series. Dewald Brevis’ national record of 125* in the second T20 in Darwin confirmed his stature as a great “in the making” and Matthew Breetzke has repaid plenty of faith and earned an extended run, at least in 50-over cricket.
Corbin Bosch may have started his international career as a Conrad pet-project but he has settled quickly into international cricket and should be a “keeper” for the next few years while Wiaan Mulder (7-0-93-0) in the final game in Australia and (7-0-33-3) in the first game in England showed he can blow as hot and as cold as the team.
• If Cricket SA’s administrators aren’t keeping an eye on developments in New Zealand, they should be. Whereas England, Australia and India can afford to pay their players sufficiently well to demand full allegiance to the national team, SA is far more closely aligned to the Black Caps financially.
Cricket New Zealand announced last week that no less than five of their senior players had been “awarded” casual playing contracts, which allow them to remain as part of their high performance group (with access to medical and training facilities) while continuing to earn extra revenue in domestic leagues and committing to a bare minimum of the country’s bilateral fixtures.
It is the direction in which the game has been heading for more than a decade, it’s just speeding up. If Conrad’s insistence that Proteas players are either “all in” or “all out” isn’t an obvious problem now, it will be very soon.
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