The perception that international cricket caps have lost their lustre exists only among us, the followers and viewers. Earning a Proteas debut remains the highlight of a young player’s career, even if it is “only” a T20 cap in a bilateral series without context in a team missing a dozen of the country’s established international players.
For most of cricket’s international history national selectors around the world guarded the privilege of representing the national team as though they were appearances before royalty. Before the advent of ODI cricket 50 years ago, Test cricket was played rarely enough to deserve the reverence in which it was held.
Every country had its unwritten rules for certain players deserving a national cap over others. A minimum of three years toil in first-class cricket was thought to be a good benchmark and, in the case of players 24 years and younger, a large dose of humility. Youngsters with “attitude” were frowned upon. Even Graeme Pollock wasn’t a unanimous choice when he debuted.
It took ODI cricket almost two decades to begin diluting that attitude. For much of the ’80s and ’90s, the same men played in both the Test and 50-over teams. But selection rapidly became far more fluid with the arrival of T20 cricket, once national administrators started taking it seriously.
But it was only a decade ago that the first international teams ― India and Australia ― had different tour itineraries in such proximity that many established stars were unavailable for selection. That was the tipping point. Once the threshold of mutually exclusive tours had been broken, the trickle of international debutants was bound to become a torrent. Well, a steady stream.
South Africa has used more players in the past four years than any other country, even India, which barely raises an eyebrow these days when playing concurrent bilateral series. India sent a T20 squad to South Africa in 2025 while the Test squad were in Australia preparing for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
More than 40 different men have worn the Proteas badge in the past four years, which makes some followers feel squeamish. Those with the fortitude for more T20 cricket in the past 10 days after the month-long World Cup might have seen players in New Zealand they’d never spotted before, or even heard of. Many find that unsettling and unsatisfactory.
South Africa has used more players in the past four years than any other country, even India, which barely raises an eyebrow these days when playing concurrent bilateral series.
There are a couple of mitigating circumstances, such as coach Shukri Conrad being forced to select a largely uncapped squad for a Test series in New Zealand two years ago. And the present T20 series, also in New Zealand: more uncapped players.
The unhappiness of the supporters is a throwback to the days when international sport was “special”, made so by its scarcity. Those days are long gone now, but they will return. Bilateral series like this one (inconsequential other than as revenue-generating “content”), which concludes with the “decider” in Christchurch on Wednesday, will soon be a distant memory.
Cricket Australia has been wringing its collective hands over how to maximise revenue from the sale of its Big Bash League and, yesterday, New Zealand Cricket’s board of directors agreed “in principle” to pursue the establishment of an independently owned NZ20 League in place of the Super Smash competition which it owned and administered for more than a decade.
The England Cricket Board completed the sale of The Hundred (it’s technically a “part sale” but we all know what that means) for about £500m and the Australasians want some of that action. It has caused simmering ructions in both countries with a host of more traditional administrators and directors resigning in protest.
Never mind sponsors and advertisers, there simply aren’t enough cricketers to sustain quality in all of these franchise leagues. This is good news for all the South African players who now have national representation on their CVs. Whereas some see the Proteas cap as being cheapened, the opposite is true for the players who can literally turn it into cash.
In the quest to find overseas players for the BBL, NZ20, ILT20, Pakistan Premier League, Sri Lanka Premier League, Caribbean Premier League and so on … recruiters, agents and team owners will be easily persuaded by candidates who are/were good enough to be selected for international cricket, whether they deserved it or not. It’s all in the marketing.
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