COVID-19 – Bulletproof Truth

Rassie van der Dussen, meet Bishan Singh Bedi

“The situations we faced in the past four years – COVID, Black Lives Matter, SJN – various political stories that we’ve had to manage as a team, have really forced us to pull together.” – Rassie van der Dussen

Telford Vice / Pune

RASSIE van der Dussen, meet Bishan Singh Bedi. You will have so much to talk about that your conversation will soar through and beyond mere cricket. You won’t agree on everything — that would be boring, anyway — but by the time you say goodbye you will have made not only a friend but a comrade.

Sadly, as of last Monday, when Bedi died in Delhi, this connection is no longer possible. That they never met is indeed a pity, because Bedi was that rare creature in cricket, regardless of the era: a player who thought about and spoke about matters far away from the game. His boundary wasn’t the edge of the ground. It was the full extent of what it meant to live, with integrity, in this imperfect world. Van der Dussen is of the same mind.

Which is not to conflate them as cricketers. Bedi’s bowling action was fluid simplicity in motion, the game’s equivalent of Picasso’s lifelong yearning to paint like a child. Van der Dussen’s batting technique can look as if it’s been cobbled together by a committee for the preservation of ungainliness. And yet, just as the product of Bedi’s apparently beach cricket action was the undoing of the world’s top batters, so Van der Dussen’s spiky angularity reaps runs and adds rectitude to South Africa’s batting.

He is their compass at the crease, just as a lodestone guides him off the field. As with Bedi, Van der Dussen’s boundary encircles everything. His answer, at a press conference in Pune on Tuesday when he was asked what had changed for South Africa’s team — who have won five of their first six games at this World Cup — since the 2019 edition, when they lost five of their eight completed matches, said as much.

“I think the situations we faced in the past four years, whether it be COVID, whether it be Black Lives Matter, SJN [CSA’s Social Justice and Nation-Building project, which exposed deep rooted racism in the game], various political stories that we’ve had to manage as a team, have really forced us to pull together.

“And the effect of us being really tight off the field, knowing each other intimately. We’ve been playing together for a very long time. Between any two members of the squad there’s a real connection somewhere. So I think there’s definitely something different in this team. We’ve had to deal with quite a lot of controversy and that’s stood us in good stead.”

A lot of that would seem to have nothing to do with scoring runs and taking wickets. But, because cricket is part of the real world and not the other way round, those who need to score runs and take wickets will be thrown this way and that by the impact of events beyond the edge of the ground.

Van der Dussen, like Bedi, is not among the unfortunates who believe in the impossibility that sport should be sacrosanct and separate from everything around it. The reaction to South Africa’s loss to the Netherlands on October 17, which leapt far past Dharamsala’s confines, proved that.

“You realise there are people at home who’ve been scarred by South Africa’s performances at World Cups,” Van der Dussen said. “And you can’t criticise them for feeling that way — it’s criticism coming from a place of hurt; they’ve seen that movie before. But we haven’t lived that, so it’s not really applicable to us and it’s not affecting us. It’s part of history but it’s certainly not part of us as a team.”

That history is starkly different to the Springboks’, who have returned home to the adulation of their compatriots after winning the rugby World Cup for a record fourth time. The Boks have yet to lose a final. The Proteas have yet to reach a final. That’s a bleak view from the cricket end of the equation, but Van der Dussen said the team were “massively” inspired by their rugby counterparts.

“I think Siya [Kolisi, the Springbok captain] mentioned in a press conference that if you’re not from South Africa you don’t really understand what sporting achievements mean for the people at home and for us. The realisation for us is that we’re no different. Yes, we haven’t won World Cups. But if we do manage to get there it will be an honour for us to be mentioned in the same sentence as those guys.”

What did it mean for Van der Dussen to represent not a country where realities are less contested, or problems are on a smaller scale, or the future seems stable? What did it mean to play, instead, for South Africa’s teams?

“We come from a very divided background, and that sort of mindset is still entrenched in a lot of communities and among a lot of the older generation. What the Springboks and what sport shows us is that, as South Africans, when you do get things right and you do things the right way, what you can achieve. Good things happen to good people. That Springbok team, that’s what they are. They’re all hardworking, good South Africans with a real humility about them, a real hunger for success. It shows, when you’re willing to put differences aside, what’s possible for a country like ours.”

At 34, Van der Dussen lives in a South Africa he knows is at once different and similar to what it was under apartheid. Gerald Coetzee, 11 years Van der Dussen’s junior, is from a different time and, in some senses, a different place. “We’ve grown up to understand each other’s cultures, and when we don’t understand something we try to respect it,” Coetzee said. “Because when you don’t understand something you still need to respect it.”

Coetzee “can’t imagine how hard it must have been” to live and play sport under apartheid, “but our cricket heritage is old and we look up to those players. So as much as the politics was horrible, the players were decent. There’s a balance — looking at the cricketers we’ve produced over the years and being proud of that; also looking at the history and being sad. But also rejoicing about that it’s become so much better and there’s been so much growth. We need to look at that and appreciate it.”

Had Bedi, a cricketer’s cricketer who was so much more than a cricketer, still been with us it would be difficult not to imagine him nodding and smiling in approval. This, he might have said, is how life is supposed to work: one generation making it better for the next.

Before India visited South Africa for the first time from November 1992 to January 1993 — when apartheid was dying but still the law of the land — Bedi, then 47 and long retired, asked Vijay Lokapally, a stalwart Indian journalist who was to cover that tour, “to get literature on South Africa the country and on South African cricket”, Lokapally said. “Bedi sir felt strongly for the blacks. He particularly wanted books that had information on the apartheid days.” When Lokapally returned home Bedi invited him to lunch and a debrief: “He listened to my experiences with childlike enthusiasm. He wanted to know if I had experienced any discrimination because of my colour.”

Famously, Bedi wrote to the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) to demand his name be removed from a stand at the Kotla after the ground was relabelled in honour of Arun Jaitley, a former DDCA president and BCCI vice-president but more prominent as India’s minister of finance. To be connected with a figure he detested was too much for Bedi, whose letter scathed: “With honour comes responsibility. They fêted me for the total respect and integrity with which I played the game. And now I’m returning the honour to assure them all that four decades after my retirement, I still retain those values.” As if that wasn’t clear enough, he followed up with another volley days later: “I don’t wish a stand in my name when late Arun Jaitley’s statue is erected without any visible shame.”

Even so, the Bishan Singh Bedi Stand still hugs the western boundary in Delhi, offering spectators respite from the setting sun. Cheers rose from those in its seats on October 7 — 16 days before Bedi’s death — when South Africa piled up 428/5 to beat Sri Lanka by 102 runs. Quinton de Kock and Aiden scored centuries, but so did a player who isn’t blessed with their languid left-handedness, a man of angles, integrity, and the courage to speak his mind. Maybe, in cricket’s strange way, Van der Dussen did meet Bedi after all.

Cricbuzz

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Changes for Elgar’s team, but assets, resources, options still key

“I want the responsibility. I’m sure someone else would have said the easier option is to be the stand-in captain. But I’m not that way inclined.” – Dean Elgar

Telford Vice / Catania, Sicily

WORDS flow freely from Dean Elgar, and his stream of consciousness was typically strong during a press conference on Monday ahead of South Africa’s Test series in England. But three words bubbled up more often than most: assets, resources and options.

Here’s Elgar on Ryan Rickleton, who scored two centuries, a 95 and three half-centuries in eight first-class innings for Northamptonshire in June and July: “The way he’s played has been a massive confidence booster for him, and the way we view him now is as a stronger candidate to hold a position in the side. He’s done everything the right way; he’s put the numbers on the board. He’s another asset for us as a squad.”

And on Anrich Nortjé, South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in the ODI series against England last month: “The way he bowled in the white-ball games and the way he’s bowled in the nets is big for us. He brings a whole different kind of pace to the table. In the UK if you have those kind of assets you need to use them in the best way you see fit.”

Rickleton and Nortjé will be prominent in the selection conversation going into the first Test at Lord’s, which starts next Wednesday. Even more so because other key assets, resources and options have been or could be removed from the equation.

Since the start of 2021 no South Africa batter has had a higher Test average than Temba Bavuma and only Elgar has scored more runs. During the same period no bowler has taken more wickets for the team in the format than Kagiso Rabada, and among the seamers only Lungi Ngidi’s average is lower. But Bavuma will miss the series because of an elbow injury and Rabada is in doubt with damaged ankle ligaments.

“Workload is the biggest concern — whether he can carry himself throughout a Test match, with the intensity and the volume of overs in a day’s play,” Elgar said about Rabada’s chances of playing at Lord’s. “For now he’s doing all the right things.”

Here he is on filling Bavuma’s berth: “We have three guys who are up for that option in Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen and Khaya Zondo. The good thing is we do have resources.” And assets, of course.

It’s a whole new ballgame for Elgar compared to the last time he captained a Test team in England. Lord’s was also the venue where, in July 2017, he stood in for Faf du Plessis, who was on paternity leave. England won Elgar’s first match in charge by 211 runs with a day to spare, and when Du Plessis returned Elgar happily handed back the leadership — at a press conference both attended, Elgar peeled off an imaginary armband and, with a wry smile, offered it to Du Plessis, who didn’t struggle to get the joke. “There’s a lot of things in captaincy you don’t see as a player,” Elgar said at the time. “He’s laughing ’cause he knows it’s true.”

Now all of those things, seen and unseen, are on Elgar’s shoulders. The buck has stopped with him since he was appointed Test captain in March last year. Did he prefer being able to shrug off the challenges that came with the job, as he was able to do in 2017? Or would he rather be in the position permanently, and thus have more say in the direction the team takes?

“Being the appointed captain is possibly easier,” Elgar said on Monday. “You’ve got more control and you can arrange things accordingly. You can almost give the players more time, more love, going into a match. I want the responsibility. I’d like to think what we’ve created over the last year, and what I’ve learnt over the last year of captaining in international cricket, has given me a lot more resources going into this series. I’m sure someone else would have said the easier option, and the route they would choose, is to be the stand-in captain. But I’m not that way inclined.” So far, so good: as a permanent captain Elgar has presided over three victories and only one loss in five series.

Another change from 2017 is that Elgar will have all of South Africa’s fit assets, resources and options available to him. The Kolpak era ended in December 2020, and with it went the counties’ power to ban some of the foreigners on their books from playing international cricket. That’s why South Africa’s squad includes former Kolpakians Duanne Olivier and Simon Harmer. “It would be stupid not to use them,” Elgar said. “Even if they don’t play they’re great for the changeroom from an information point of view.”

A more recent difference is that this will be South Africa’s first away Test series since the lifting of most Covid-19 restrictions. Elgar welcomed the more relaxed environment: “It’s about putting the guys in a better mental space and allowing them the freedom and responsibility to be a human being. It’s great to be able to walk around in the streets without a mask. It’s like going back to civilisation and being human again.”

Elgar will want change in another area, what with South Africa having lost the first Test three times in their last five series. “I’ve made the guys aware that starting slowly against tough opposition away from home is clearly not the game plan,” Elgar said. “Playing catch-up is not easy in Test cricket. We might get away with that at home, where we know the conditions a lot better. But when you’re touring you can’t start slowly.” Even more reason to make the best use of those assets, resources and options.

First published by Cricbuzz.

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Covid rejigs South Africa XI

“The two players are currently in quarantine at the team hotel and are under the care of the team’s medical staff,” Shuaib Manjra, CSA chief medical officer

Telford Vice | St George’s Park

COVID-19 has taken a further toll on the second Test between South Africa and Bangladesh in Gqeberha, with Sarel Erwee and Wiaan Mulder contracting the disease. They have been replaced in the home XI for the rest of the match by Khaya Zondo and Glenton Stuurman.

A CSA release on Monday quoted chief medical officer Shuaib Manjra as saying: “This is an unfortunate situation, but not unexpected after the decision was made to have this tour under the managed event environment protocol, rather than the strict bio-safe environment protocol as was previously the case. This is in line with the country’s policy in revoking the Disaster Management Act with reference to the pandemic, as well the huge mental strain that a bubble environment induces.”

Erwee and Mulder reported feeling ill, and tested positive on Monday. “The two players are currently in quarantine at the team hotel and are under the care of the team’s medical staff,” Manjra was quoted as saying.

Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo, who lives in Gqeberha when he is not with the team, is not at St George’s Park because he has come down with coronavirus. South Africa bowling coach Charl Langeveldt and Zunaid Wadee, the team’s security officer, caught Covid during the first Test in Durban and are also not at the current match.

Zondo, who has played six ODIs, makes his debut in the format while Stuurman, who played his first Test in Christchurch in February, earns a second cap. With the match in its fourth innings and Bangladesh at the crease, batter Zondo is unlikely to have much to do. Fast bowler Stuurman, too, might not see much action considering the amount of turn on offer.

The St George’s Park Test is South Africa’s last engagement of the summer, which should help allay fears over the virus spreading through the camp.

First published by Cricbuzz.

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

What happens when coaches are absent?

“Everyone shares knowledge among each other.” – Sarel Erwee on how South Africa are coping without their bowling coach.

Telford Vice | St George’s Park

WHAT difference does a coach make at elite level? It’s one of sport’s more unanswerable questions, and more so in cricket — where at least as many decisions are made on the field as in the dressing room. Given how prominent statistical analysis is becoming in the game, we may yet be able to measure that part of this piece of string.

For now, all we have are theory and supposition. So the segue on the subject offered by the curious circumstances of the St George’s Park Test is intriguing: what happens to teams when coaches are absent? Russell Domingo, Bangladesh’s head coach, isn’t at the ground. Neither is Charl Langeveldt, South Africa’s bowling coach.

Domingo, a Gqeberha native who still lives in the city when he isn’t in a Tigers tracksuit, travelled here from Durban the day before the squad to visit family and friends. And a good thing, too: he tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, and might well have taken a few players or other members of the support staff down that path with him had they been sat next to them on a plane on a flight of 90 minutes.

Confirmation that Langeveldt had contracted the same disease, along with Zunaid Wadee, South Africa’s security officer, was also had on Friday. Their symptoms were not serious, and they chose to drive together from Durban to their homes in Paarl and Cape Town. They were involved in a crash near their destinations, but were not badly injured.

Domingo, Langeveldt and Wadee are resting and recuperating at their respective homes, and expected to make full recoveries. Their experience triggered the more relaxed coronavirus protocols agreed between CSA and the BCB before the series, but no rules appear to have been broken. Less certain is whether the teams have been affected by the absence of their coaches.

Mominul Haque ignored Domingo’s advice to bat first at Kingsmead, a decision that doubtless led to Bangladesh’s dismissal for 53 in the fourth innings. This time, the choice was taken out of Mominul’s hands because Dean Elgar won the toss. But it would have been Mominul who decided to station himself at the unusual position of short mid-on on Sunday, when he took the catches that did for Sarel Erwee and Ryan Rickelton in South Africa’s second innings.

Langeveldt often has a noticeable positive effect on the bowlers he coaches, usually in a skill sense. When he comes on board, his charges are soon equipped with new deliveries and subtle variations to their existing repertoires. South Africa’s attack are unlikely to lose what Langeveldt has given them in the space of one Test, but his keen eye for detail wouldn’t have gone amiss.

How have South Africa made do without him? “We’ve got experienced guys in our team, experienced coaches as well,” Sarel Erwee told a press conference. “So everyone shares knowledge among each other, especially the bowling unit. Yes, we’re missing our bowling coach and we wish him well. But we’ve got other guys helping out and it’s going well so far.”

In contrast to Langeveldt, Allan Donald, his Bangladesh counterpart, tends to emphasise aggression, an argument that isn’t difficult to make on the evidence of the attitude the visitors’ fast bowlers have brought to this series.

Not that it’s helped the visitors much. Maybe coaches matter more when teams are well-matched, when the smallest advantage could be what wins games. That isn’t the case this time, with South Africa steaming towards a 2-0 series win.

Going into the fourth day, Bangladesh need 386 more runs to reach their target of 413, which would be the highest successful chase in a Test in South Africa and the third-highest in history. The most runs yet reeled in to win at St George’s Park is the 271/8 Australia made in March 1997. South Africa’s 215/5 against New Zealand in February 1954 is the only other instance of a target of 200 or more being overhauled in Gqeberha.

South Africa reached this happy place by piling up 453 — only their second effort of 450 or more in their last 19 Tests — and then keeping the pressure on to dismiss Bangladesh 236 runs behind. The follow-on was not enforced, and South Africa batted into the second hour after tea before declaring. Then, with Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer sharing the new ball, as was the case at Kingsmead, they sent the visitors spiralling to 27/3 in the 9.1 overs they faced before stumps.

Ripping turn from both ends to tentative batters under the glowing floodlights as the sunset draped itself over the sky to the west made for a dramatic spectacle. How did openers feel about that scenario? “We experienced it last week in Durban, and it makes your heart flutter,” Erwee said. “It’s not a nice period. We’ve got two world-class spinners, and it makes it even worse if you’re got to go face them.”

Erwee’s burgeoning partnership with Elgar is having a significant impact on South Africa’s performances. They have opened the batting only eight times, but already they have mounted two century stands and two more of more than 50. Six of the side’s other first-wicket pairs never scored as many as the 397 runs Elgar and Erwee have made together despite having as many or more opportunities to do so.

“We share a good relationship off the field, so you get to know each other and what makes each other tick,” Erwee said about Elgar. “Taking that off-field relationship onto the field makes you understand your partner better.”

Good coaches know better than to get in the way of the development of that kind of healthy bond. Maybe that’s the key to their role at this level: understanding when to get out of the way.

First published by Cricbuzz.

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Bewildered, beaten, bumped off World Cup path

“We went to sleep.” – Mark Boucher

Telford Vice | Cape Town

CRICKETMINDED South Africans had reason to celebrate on Tuesday night, when Cyril Ramaphosa, the country’s president, relaxed pandemic restrictions. Just in time for Wednesday’s deciding ODI in Centurion, stadiums could henceforth be filled to half their capacity and alcohol would be permitted. Less than 24 hours later, the party was properly pooped.

Bangladesh thrashed the home side, dismissing them for 154 and taking nine balls more than half their allotment of overs to triumph by nine wickets. Not for nothing are the visitors on top of the World Cup Super League standings, where they have now won 12 out of their 18 matches. The other side of that story is that the South Africans were outplayed in all departments and in their own conditions. Worse, they looked resigned to their fate long before it was sealed.

If you had braved the freeways that surround Centurion, which are some of the unloveliest and busiest of their sorry ilk, to support Temba Bavuma’s team in person, you would have been justified in demanding a refund for your time, money and effort. Good thing, then, that the majority of the crowd were cheering themselves hoarse in the cause of Bangladesh’s famous victory. The time, money and effort they spent on being there was worth it many times over — a small price to pay for the reward of a memory to treasure forever.

South Africa have been dismissed for fewer runs 11 times in the 318 ODIs in which they have batted first. But only thrice have they successfully defended smaller totals, and not since February 2000. They enjoyed a stable start to their innings with Janneman Malan and Quinton de Kock sharing 46 in the first 6.5 overs. But the latter’s dismissal started a slide of all 10 wickets for 108 runs in 30.1 overs. The last five crashed for 47 in 12.3. Only David Miller and Dwaine Pretorius, who put on 24 for the sixth wicket, were able to mount a partnership that was more than half the size of the openers’ effort.

The Bangladeshis bowled with intelligence on a pitch of variable bounce, mixing their lengths to great effect. But the South Africans batted as if the surface held no terrors, and seemed bewildered when they paid the penalty for loose strokes. The contrast was as stark as it was strange.

Taskin Ahmed showed on Friday, when he took 3/36, that he was a threat in these conditions. On Wednesday he dialled the danger up a notch or two, tearing into the crease with increasing enthusiasm to claim 5/35. Then Tamim Iqbal and Litton Das sped Bangladesh homeward with a dominating stand of 127 off 125. Tamim’s 82-ball 87 not out will live long as one of the most assured innings yet seen from a foreign player in South Africa.

That the home side had been discombobulated by their shambling batting was plain in the opening over of Bangladesh’s reply. Eight of the nine South Africa wickets had been taken from the Hennops River End. Yet Kagiso Rabada bowled the first over of the second innings from the Pavilion End. Rabada’s fourth delivery might have offered a reason why — Litton slapped the wide, short ball to backward point, where Keshav Maharaj dropped a catch he should have taken. That was the only significant error Bangladesh made on their march to an emphatic win. As Bavuma said in a television interview, “They really showed us how to play with the bat, the ball and in the field. We just weren’t good enough.” Mark Boucher was blunt in the press conference that followed: “We went to sleep.”

Bangladesh have never known this joy. Of their 28 previous matches in South Africa across the formats before this tour, they had won only one: a 2007 World T20 game against West Indies at the Wanderers. They had rarely been competitive in their nine bilateral series in the country before this rubber. All told, of 71 bilateral series outside of Bangladesh they had won only 10. Just four of those — all against West Indies — had been achieved over heavyweight opponents. And now this. Not only did Bangladesh beat more or less the same personnel who routed India 3-0 in an ODI series in January, they beat them all ends up twice in six days to claim the rubber.

Suddenly, South Africa’s path to the 2023 World Cup looks dangerously cluttered. The top eight sides in the Super League standings will qualify for the tournament, and Bavuma’s side are currently ninth. Their remaining Super League fixtures are three games each against India, England and Australia, and two against the Netherlands. On the evidence of the Bangladesh series, only the points on offer in the Dutch matches can be considered safe.

The Bangladeshis can stop worrying about all that. Their presence at the next World Cup is assured, and deservedly so. You could hear as much in the happy clamour of their supporters, who all but drowned out questions to Bavuma and Boucher from reporters in the open-air pressbox.

Centurion wouldn’t have made money on beer sales to the teetotaller Tigers fans. Here’s hoping having been able to turn off the floodlights early helped even things up.

First published by Cricbuzz.

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

This is bigger than seven sorry sessions at Hagley Oval

“Why we are lacking in intensity, I’m still trying to process.” – Dean Elgar

Telford Vice | Cape Town

IS a long, dark cloud not of the team’s making and out of their control hanging over South Africa in New Zealand? Are they victims of draconian coronavirus rules, out of touch administrators, processes that can seem at odds with what they are trying to achieve on the field, and a public poisoned by their own unresolved anger at the state of their wider reality? Are they, in a word, unloved?

“I don’t think so, no,” Dean Elgar told an online press conference on Saturday when he was asked whether issues further afield had breached the boundary. “It’s definitely not foreign conditions for us with regards to what’s been happening off the field. I don’t see that as an excuse. As a group we’ve worked through that already.”

Elgar spoke with the debris of his team’s epic defeat at Hagley Oval still swirling. South Africa had lost 7/77 in the first session of the third day’s play to hurry New Zealand to victory by an innings and 276 runs. Only twice have the New Zealanders achieved bigger triumphs, both times against Zimbabwe. Only once, when Australia beat them by an innings and 360 at the Wanderers in February 2002, have South Africa lost more heavily.

Cricketminded South Africans will accept, grudgingly, that a team that glittered with greats like Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath was better than theirs. But to be lumped into the same sorry category as Zimbabwe will hurt. As will the fact that, in this match, New Zealand’s No. 11 scored more runs than any of their players. The closest any of them came to Matt Henry’s 58 not out was Temba Bavuma’s too little, too late 41 in the second innings. There’s also the uncomfortable truth that this is the biggest of the 75 innings defeats suffered by any Test team in the past 10 years.

Why did things go so badly wrong for a side who, little more than a month ago, had come back from losing the first Test against India — then the world’s No. 1 team — to win the series? “It’s something I’m also trying to wrap my head around,” Elgar said. “Our intensity was lacking. We know that when our intensity is high, we compete and give ourselves the best chance of getting a victory. Why we are lacking in intensity, I’m still trying to process.”

New Zealand claimed 13 of the 20 required wickets with catches in the arc. What did that tell Elgar? “When the ball’s going around, you still need to keep the scoreboard ticking. That ties in with our [lack of] intensity.”

South Africa’s innings runrates were 1.92 and 2.66. New Zealand’s was 4.09. The home side batted for almost two hours longer in their only innings than their opponents did in both of theirs. “It’s extremely frustrating and difficult to build pressure as a captain when the ball’s being hit both sides of the wicket; you can’t set a field for that,” Elgar said.

So much for the cricket. What of the rest? Elgar said a warm-up match would have been useful, but accepted that that would not have been possible given New Zealand’s strict Covid-19 protocols. About that: “I’m not going to sit here and use quarantine as an excuse. We need to be firing by the time match day comes. We needed to live by the rules and regulations, and get through them.”

Visitors to New Zealand face 10 consecutive days of “managed isolation and quarantine”. The regulations were relaxed for the South Africans, who were allowed out to train during that period. But they still spent most of their time alone in their rooms.

It would be irrational to argue that New Zealand’s players should have had to abide by the same rules, but it would also be irrational to dismiss the distinct mental and emotional advantages they had over the cooped up South Africans.

New Zealand has implemented some of the world’s toughest anti-pandemic measures since going into lockdown on March 19 2020. In that time, the Kiwis have played seven Tests at home and won six of them — five by an innings. But South Africans who feel their knees jerking in the direction of blaming quarantine for their team’s performance should pause for thought: Bangladesh beat the Black Caps in Mount Maunganui in January.

They would also do well to remember that New Zealand were a fine side, especially in their own conditions, before the virus changed the world. Their last loss at home prior to the Bangladesh upset was inflicted by South Africa at the Basin Reserve in March 2017. Between the two defeats, they won 13 and drew four matches at home. Home and away, they have won 20 and lost seven since the Wellington defeat. That, of course, included beating India by eight wickets in the World Test Championship final in Southampton in June. So, some respect for the opposition is in order. But that is not the South African way. Rather, we look for monsters, real and imagined, to explain the problems.

Like the suits. Wherever South Africans are gathered, some will be convinced the board know nothing about cricket and are determined to sabotage the team, and others that the board are protecting racists in the ranks. Still others will believe the majority of the board should be comprised not — as is currently the case — of independent members but of the conflicted, smallminded provincialists who used to be in charge. And who dragged the game to the edge of a financial and governance abyss, where it remains precariously.

South Africa’s players have, over the years, and for better or ill, built a buffer of indifference towards what administrators do and don’t do. The suits are tolerated, often through barely concealed contempt. But sometimes what they get up to does permeate the dressing room walls.

That Graeme Smith is unlikely to seek a renewal of his contract as CSA’s director of cricket when his current deal expires at the end of March is an increasingly poorly kept secret. CSA’s stated aim to secure the ammunition to fire Mark Boucher at his disciplinary hearing in May is public knowledge. Smith and Boucher are directly connected to the team in obvious ways, and from what we know right now it would be unfair to say they do not have the players’ confidence. So what hurts Smith and Boucher, legitimately or not, will hurt the team.

Already they are sensitive to what might seem minor matters. For instance, it did not go unnoticed in the squad that CSA failed to put out a release congratulating the team on their series win over India, as they do routinely. These statements are invariably anodyne and have no news value, but this one’s absence was crassly conspicuous.

Maybe it was nothing more than an oversight that CSA didn’t see fit to mark one of South Africa’s most remarkable successes since readmission. Try telling that to those who have made up their minds that CSA are a blight on cricket.

They are the same people who will have spotted a devil in the detail of Wiaan Mulder being swapped out for Zubayr Hamza in a team sheet discrepancy before the Christchurch Test. That led to questions why Ryan Rickelton, who has had a demonstrably better domestic season than Hamza and has been in the Test squad for longer, did not play ahead of him. Boucher’s explanation during an online press conference on Friday amounted to “ … we decided to go with ‘Zubs’. That’s just how we felt the line-up needed to be”. He did not sound convinced, nevermind convincing.

If transformation has been a factor in a player’s selection, it should not be up to the coach, the captain, the selectors or even the board to say so. That is the job of CSA’s transformation head, Max Jordaan. Who? You’re forgiven for never having heard of him, but he’s a major cog in the machine. He was as missing in action this time as he was when CSA enforced their will on the team before the 2015 World Cup semi-final, when Kyle Abbott was axed outrageously.

South Africa’s team needs transforming: seven of the XI who took to Hagley Oval were white, or almost two-thirds of a side representing a country whose population is more than 90% black and brown. And look how well that turned out.

That excellence is exclusively white is a deeply racist but persistent myth. Black excellence is hardly ever acknowledged by whites, which leads to bizarre, ill-informed exaggeration and untruth to try to correct the imbalance. Dispelling these damaging tendencies is vital, and unfortunately falls to the bloodless bureaucrats who paint by numbers when the picture is far more complicated than that. And then they hide.

Who, then, can blame the public for being divided and angry? In cricket they see a concentration of the factors that have made South Africa the unhappy country it is: the crippling inequality, the waste of talent and resources, the maladministration, the opportunities not given and others not taken, the lack of change for the better, the corruption, the refusal to accept anything that doesn’t come from a particular perspective.

Elgar’s team are a lightning rod for all that. They are also, in winning and in losing, the team South Africans deserve. All of us need to own up to that. That’s how love works.

First published by Cricbuzz.

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

From ‘brown shit’ to ‘bullshit’

“It’s just another curveball that the Proteas have to deal with. We’ve become pretty good at that.” – Dean Elgar on Keegan Petersen’s withdrawal, and other matters.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

MARK Boucher’s disciplinary hearing was the only dark cloud hanging over South Africa’s imminent trip to the land of the long white cloud. Then Keegan Petersen tested positive for Covid-19, removing him from the equation for the two Tests in Christchurch later this month.

And that in the wake of Petersen having nailed down the pivotal No. 3 position by scoring 276 runs in six innings — more than anyone else — in the home series against India in December and January. How cruel a blow was his untimely withdrawal from a team who rose from the ashes of defeat in the first Test against Virat Kohli’s then world No. 1 side to twice chase down challenging targets on tough pitches?

“It’s just another curveball that the Proteas have to deal with,” Dean Elgar told an online press conference on Wednesday. “We’ve become pretty good at that of late. It’s unfortunate that ‘KP’ is going to miss out on this trip; I’d love to have seen him build on what he started in the Indian series. But these are uncertain times and these kinds of curveballs come your way, and you just have to deal with them.”

There is no upside to being without the assured, reliable, productive Petersen. But at least the South Africans have viable alternatives. Either Sarel Erwee, Ryan Rickelton or Zubayr Hamza — who has filled the vacancy in the squad — could slot in at No. 3. Or Erwee could open with Elgar and Aiden Markram, who is currently struggling at the top of the order, could take guard at first drop. Or Nos. 4 and 5 Rassie van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma could move up one place and Erwee, Rickelton or Hamza could be deployed at No. 5.

Elgar seemed to favour Erwee’s inclusion: “Sarel Erwee has been our backup batter for quite some time. He’s had a few series now where he’s been carrying the drinks, and he’s been brilliant off the field. So I’d like to think he’s the guy who comes in. In saying that, Zubayr Hamza is another option. It’s pretty clear cut that Erwee and Hamza are the two guys who will be pushing for that No. 3 spot.”

That Rickelton didn’t rate a mention was surprising. He has scored three centuries in his five first-class innings this season for an aggregate of 473 runs and an average of 118.25. Erwee has had three more innings and scored 36 more runs, among them one hundred, for an average of 63.62. Hamza’s 11 innings have yielded 48 fewer runs than Rickelton despite the latter having had fewer than half the number of opportunities. Hamza has had one century this summer and averages 42.50.

Including the New Zealand venture, Erwee, 32 and uncapped, has been part of South Africa’s squad for five Test series going back to the home rubber against Sri Lanka in December 2020 and January 2021. He is by all accounts a joy to have around, and doubtless he deserves the chance for which he has worked so hard. But whether he should be given that chance ahead of Rickelton and his dazzling form promises to be a complicated question to answer.

More so, even, than how Elgar feels about the implications of that other curveball: the action being taken against Boucher. At a hearing scheduled for May 16 to 20, CSA will seek to have South Africa’s coach sacked on charges of racism dating back to the 1990s — when Boucher was part of a team who called Paul Adams “brown shit” in one of the dressing room songs sung to celebrate victories.

A ruling handed down by disciplinary chair Terry Motau on Monday to fix the dates of the inquiry said Boucher’s lawyers “indicated that he intends to call some of the players to testify on his behalf and that these players will be part of the tour of New Zealand from 17 February to 1 March 2022 and the Bangladesh tour of South Africa from 18 March to 11 April 2022 and that having a hearing in between the two tours would be disruptive”.

How did Elgar feel about the possibility of him and his players being called to give evidence in Boucher’s defence? “This process has been up in the air for quite some time,” Elgar said. “We had a feeling it might come to this point, where players might be asked to testify in the hearing. So be it. I’m sure [the South African Cricketers’ Association] will assist us if players are asked to testify.”

Would this hanging sword of Damocles hamper his team in New Zealand? Or unify and galvanise them? “I’d like to think the latter. We’ve had these experiences that we’ve had to deal with as a players’ group. If anything, it’s really helped us. We’ve moved forward in such a good way. We’ve realised that cricket comes first for us. Irrespective of what our head coach is going through, we’re still supporting him through this process. Because we know how much value he adds to our system and to our group.

“But we’ve had these tough times before, and I’d like to think it’s just another hurdle in our path that we’re going to have to get over. We’ve gotten over them pretty well as a players’ group. We realise cricket remains cricket, and that’s our first priority. We need to stick together, which we’ve done in the past, and let this follow its course. But we know we’re here to play cricket. We’re here to win matches and series. We’re supporting our head coach because he’s a massive part of our group.”

Asked if the team had put devices in place to help them deal with diversity, Elgar shook his head and balked: “I’m not sure if this is a presser about what’s happening in the hearing or us going to New Zealand. We either call it now or we talk cricket, please.”

Elgar doesn’t struggle to speak his mind in bracingly direct fashion. That is an admirable and valuable trait in any captain, but the leader of a team that purports to represent a deeply damaged and factionalised nation is bound to upset at least some people no matter what he says. So it was to the combative Elgar’s credit that, when asked how he has found the experience of discussing off-field matters with the press, he delivered a nuanced, balanced reply.

“It’s been OK, but I think it takes away from the group everything that we’ve achieved. And for me that’s bullshit. So the minute you start talking about something that’s … I know it’s extremely relevant in the public eye and it is relevant for us, no doubt. But as a players’ group we’ve achieved so much and that gets squashed by negativity in the media. And rightly so — it sells headlines.

“I know I have to answer these things and that’s OK. I’ve got absolutely no issue with doing that because I understand that interaction between me and the media is extremely important. But this is a presser about us going to New Zealand. And if you want to talk about the hearing, let’s create another time for that. Again, I don’t mind speaking about those kinds of externals. I have absolutely no issue with that. Just understand that this is a presser about us leaving tonight for New Zealand to play a Test series, and 60% of the questions haven’t been about that.

“So you can understand my frustration. I want to get the right message out there, and the questions I receive have nothing to do with cricket. Again, I don’t mind answering them. That’s fine. But then let’s create another platform for that.”

While we’re getting things straight, let it be known that Elgar fielded 12 questions on Wednesday. Four of them were about “externals”. That’s 33.33% of the total questions; a long way from 60%. The press conference lasted for 27 minutes and three seconds. The questions and answers concerning “externals” took up seven minutes and 11 seconds. That’s 26.56% of the total time; an even longer way from 60%.

Elgar is the rock of South Africa’s batting and a fine and followable leader. So who cares if his maths seems wonky. But all of us should care if he tries to pick and choose what to talk about in his dealings with representatives of his team’s supporters. Selectively, mind: he showed no displeasure about unpacking in detail how New Zealand’s strict quarantine regulations — an “external”, clearly — might impact his players.

That said, he deserves to be afforded the same balance and nuance he bestowed on his questioners. So there is reason to be happy that he said: “I’ve had two weeks off. I haven’t touched my bat. I haven’t touched my bag. I’ve just opened it now to see what’s in there, so I can pack what I need. But I’m in a good space. I’ve been able to reflect well on what happened in the India series.”

A lot of good happened for South Africa in that series, internally and externally, and much of the credit belonged to Elgar. And was acknowledged as such. By significantly more than 60% of those watching, and reporting.

First published by Cricbuzz.

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Elgar among those ‘shocked’ by De Kock bombshell

“You’re not immortal and the game definitely doesn’t stop for you.” – Dean Elgar on life after Quinton de Kock.

Telford Vice | Johannesburg

DEAN Elgar has admitted to being shocked when Quinton de Kock announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket after India beat South Africa by 113 runs at Centurion on Thursday. Team sources have said De Kock spoke to senior players individually before breaking his news to the dressing room. It seems his captain was not granted a one-on-one.

“I was pretty shocked,” Elgar told an online press conference on Sunday. “I wasn’t aware this was going to happen.” That didn’t mean he took issue with De Kock’s ending his career in the format after 54 matches: “Sitting down with ‘Quinnie’ that evening, and him explaining to me the reasons for it, I respect his decision and fully understand the space he’s in at the moment. Hopefully he doesn’t wish one day that he was still part of our red-ball set-up. We have to get over it and move on.”

This wasn’t Elgar’s first retirement rodeo: “I’ve been fortunate enough to experience quite a few big South African cricketers retire. One thing I’ve realised is that the game of cricket continues. You’re not immortal and the game definitely doesn’t stop for you.”

Since Elgar made his debut at the WACA in November 2012, Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, Mark Boucher, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn and Morné Morkel are among the major South Africa players who have hung up their whites.

“If was up to me I wouldn’t have any of those guys retire,” Elgar said. “It’s a tough one, but retirements are part and parcel of the game. Not having ‘Quinnie’ around is disappointing for me. But it’s something I need to get over, because I know there are a lot of talented players within our squad and our system that I need to give a lot of attention to now.”

De Kock listed his impending fatherhood as a major reason for his decision, while his struggle with bubble life was a contributing factor. Elgar spoke with empathy on those scores: “People think [playing professional cricket is] glamorous and you live in massive houses and drive nice cars and get free clothing. That is part of it, but the flip side is that it’s extremely demanding on your personal life. If you’re in a relationship it’s extremely difficult, because you spend a lot of time away from home.

“If you play [only] white-ball cricket, you’re away for maybe two months of the year playing in the IPL. If that’s all you do you’ve got 10 months at home for you to be around your loved ones. If you play three or four Test series that’s potentially six to eight months away from home in a year. So I can understand the toll that takes on you.

“Especially now, when we live in these bubbles. The people who construct them are trying their utmost to make them a lot more layer-friendly, giving us luxuries like living in a hotel on a golf course. That’s an example of giving guys a way out to clear their minds. It has been a struggle for a lot of guys. Putting them into the bubble is not easy.

“This is by no means a bitch or a moan. It’s the reality. We still love what we do, but it is tough on a few guys. Each person is unique and their personalities deal with it differently.”

Elgar confirmed that Kyle Verreynne would replace De Kock in the second Test, which starts at the Wanderers on Monday.

First published by Cricbuzz.

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Long walk back to fortress Centurion

“The intensity that we brought out there with the ball today, that’s what we’re going to require.”

Telford Vice | Centurion

“WHERE are the bodies?” The question from a passerby put a wan smile on the face of the figure sat on a chair in a corridor at Centurion. At least, you had to believe it did. Because you couldn’t see their face nor much else of them. If they weren’t smiling, maybe they had heard that one too many times already.

They, and their colleague across the way, were clad head to toe in white PPE; complete with hoods and gloves and single vivid blue stripes running for and aft, top to bottom, and side to side on their costumes. All that was visible, through a clear plastic visor, was their face. The bit of their face that was not covered by a mask, that is. They have been part of the extraordinary retinue of this series since the bubble was established.

It was not a scene you would expect to encounter at a cricket ground. But these are unprecedented times. And so the gallows humour was not misplaced. We’ve all seen people in this now grim get-up, mostly on a screen while they tend to the victims of the wretched virus in far corners of the world.

Mercifully, in Centurion they are there for no more morbid purpose than to serve as couriers between the real world and the sanitised cloister meant to keep the players and officials out of harm’s way. On Tuesday, for instance, one of the ghostly crew was called upon to replenish the coffee beans in India’s dressing room. That meant entering the “Red Zone”, as it calls itself on signs attached to the skeletal barricades marking its boundaries.

That’s not the only indication that Centurion has changed. On the grass banks that surround two-thirds of the ground are ranged a dozen dapper moulded plastic figures; identical in form, different in colouring, and taller even than Marco Jansen. They step forward smartly with their left foot, leaning into their stride. Their left hand has hold of the brim of a top hat, their right grasps a walking stick angled sharply to the rear. Their coat tails flap behind them in the breeze like a fishtail. They are part of a brand activation that whisky drinkers will not need any more clues to identify. Another joke: you can advertise alcohol at the ground but, in terms of the Covid-19 regulations, you can’t buy a drink there. Not that there are any spectators in the stands to buy a beer or anything else, and no vendors to buy from.

But a handful of souls have gathered in a few of the private suits, which are allowed to open. The throatiest among them spent much of Tuesday morning welcoming Lungi Ngidi back to the fine leg boundary in appreciation of another wicket. He took 3/26 in the seven overs he bowled unchanged from the West Lane End to finish the innings with 6/71. From the Hennops River End, Kagiso Rabada bowled the other six overs needed to dismiss India for 327, taking 3/21 in his spell and 3/72 in the innings. Both put in the kind of relentless, bristling, uncompromising shifts that are the hallmark of South African fast bowling. And which were largely missing from the attack’s performance on Sunday, Ngidi excepted. On Tuesday, Ngidi and Rabada combined to take, for 55 runs in 15.3 overs, all seven of the wickets that were still standing after Monday’s play was lost to rain.

South Africans looking for signs, after an unconvincing first day on which India reached 272/3, that their team hadn’t lost their moorings would have been reassured. Like Donald and De Villiers, Pollock and Ntini, and Steyn and Philander before them, Rabada and Ngidi had the knowledge, the gumption and the heart to pull things back.

Then again, this is Centurion, where South Africa have won 21 of their 26 Tests and lost only two — one of them a contrived England win in January 2000, when a pile of cash and a leather jacket bought Hansie Cronjé’s agreement to try to manufacture a result after more than three of the first four days had been lost to rain.

There are no ramparts or draw bridges in these parts, although moats appear spontaneously when thunderstorms lash the dessicated earth, and in the right light the concrete can look medievally foreboding. But Centurion is no less a fortress for the lack of those details. Dominate South Africa here? Only one team have done that, and they had a fire-breathing dragon called Mitchell Johnson, who took 7/68 and 5/59 to bowl Australia to victory by 281 runs in February 2014. Good luck India …

“Keep walking … keep walking … keep walking …” Hooked on that lyric, the whisky sponsor’s jingle rang out every time a new batter strode to the crease. But it would have been as appropriate to play it for each departing batter. The closest we came to that was when the incoming Quinton de Kock crossed the boundary a few metres before the freshly dismissed Rassie van der Dussen had completed the journey in reverse. So “Keep walking … keep walking … keep walking …” made a premature, but apt, appearance.

Only while Temba Bavuma and De Kock stood firm for 134 balls in their stand of 72 did the South Africans look like preserving the game as a contest. Bavuma’s 52, his 16th half-century and the product of patience and 161 minutes and 103 balls, was his umpteenth fighting innings; a thing of defiance. But there wasn’t enough where that sturdy effort came from, and South Africa were dismissed for 197 — the first time they have been bowled out for fewer than 200 at Centurion.

On a pitch that started spongey and has hardened into a surface that offers everyone something — and that bequeathed 18 wickets for 268 runs on Tuesday — India’s bowlers were superb. None more so than Mohammed Shami, whose mastery of line, length and seam movement made him as close to unplayable as any bowler should be allowed to venture. In five overs after lunch, four of them scoreless, he took 2/9. He was as good as that and his eventual reward of 5/44 makes him sound.

The first blow was struck by Jasprit Bumrah, who had Dean Elgar taken behind with a delivery that was easily good enough also to trap South Africa’s captain in front or bowl him. India were so comprehensively on top that they hardly missed Bumrah, who left the field in the 11th over after turning an ankle in his follow through. He didn’t bowl again until the 61st. The rest of the attack took 6/162 while he was indisposed.

One of the more stauncher members of the lower half of the order was debutant Jansen, who made a nuggety 19 and shared 37 with Rabada — the second-biggest stand of the innings. Jansen, who had an indifferent first day, when he went wicketless in 17 overs that cost 61 runs. But he had Bumrah caught at third slip to end India’s first innings, and was on a hattrick when Mayank Agarwal feathered his first delivery of the second dig to De Kock.

“He did have a bit of a tough start to his international career,” Bavuma said. “He confessed that the emotion and nerves got the better of him. Today, as we saw with his batting, he was a lot more assured and the confidence we know he has shone through.” That’s the kind of character South Africa will need as they search out the remaining nine wickets without allowing India to build their lead, currently 146, out of sight.

“What’s happened has happened,” Bavuma said. “The intensity that we brought out there with the ball today, that’s what we’re going to require.” Not only to stave off defeat in this match but to rebuild the currently crumbling Fortress Centurion. To do that they will have to head in the right direction and keep walking … keep walking … keep walking …

First published by Cricbuzz.

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Olivier’s omission explained

“He was pap.” – a source on Duanne Olivier’s condition before the Centurion Test.

Telford Vice | Centurion

THE mystery of Duanne Olivier’s controversial absence from the first Test between South Africa and India in Centurion has been explained, albeit belatedly. Olivier was left out despite being the highest wicket-taker in the provincial domestic competition, and even after Anrich Nortjé was ruled out of the series with a hip injury. Was Olivier punished for going Kolpak?

But CSA said on Monday Olivier had recently recovered from Covid-19. It is understood he should be fit for the second Test at the Wanderers, which starts on January 3. On Sunday, selection convenor Victor Mpitsang was asked by reporters from several publications why Olivier was not picked. To one, he offered nothing more than season’s greetings. To others, he did not reply.

Cricbuzz has learnt that Olivier tested negative for the virus before the squad went into camp on Saturday. Even so, his bowling was not up to his usual standards during preparations for the first Test — “he was pap [flat]”, in one source’s estimation — and he was told his return to Test cricket would be put on hold. By all accounts, Olivier was relieved to be given time to get back to his best. He is also dealing with minor problems with his left side and hamstring.

Despite his first-class success, Olivier’s selection in the squad raised eyebrows. In February 2019, after he had taken 48 wickets in his first 10 Tests, he rejected the promise of a two-year CSA contract to sign a three-year Kolpak deal with Yorkshire. While he was there, he was asked whether he was interested in qualifying to play for England. He said he was; a reasonable response considering he thought he had ended his international career.

The Kolpak era was over on December 31, and several of the affected South Africans have thus been rendered eligible for international selection. One of them, Wayne Parnell, broke the ice when he played in an ODI against the Netherlands in Centurion on November 26. But the prospect of Olivier’s comeback has not been universally welcomed — his loyalty is being questioned in myopic quarters.

On Monday, the reporters who had asked Mpitsang why Olivier wasn’t playing were given a statement by the South Africa team manager’s and told to attribute it to the selection convenor. “Duanne Olivier is healthy and well, but did return a positive Covid-19 test result a number of weeks ago, which forced him to quarantine and took time away from his training ahead of the current Test series against India,” the statement read. “This did take place while he was away with the intention to spend time with his family and his work loads were not where the selection panel would have wanted them to be by the time he entered the team bubble ahead of the first Test match. He picked up a hamstring niggle during the two-day, inter-squad match at the start of the camp and the selectors did not want to risk him unnecessarily when there are two more Test matches to think about.”

So, instead of Olivier being named to play his 11th Test in Centurion on Sunday, Marco Jansen made his debut. “Statistically, Marco Jansen was the standout performer with the ball against India A in their recent tour to South Africa and the selectors backed him to take on the senior India team and do well,” the statement read.

Jansen took six wickets at 31.83 in the three four-day games the countries’ A teams played in Bloemfontein in November and December. But Glenton Stuurman — who is also in the Test squad — took seven at 27.14 while Lutho Sipamla, a puzzling omission from the Test squad, claimed nine at 33.11. So how Jansen was the “standout performer” in “statistical” terms in the A series is difficult to fathom. But Cricbuzz has learnt that feedback from the two selectors who were in Bloem to watch those games, Mpitsang among them, was that the 21-year-old, 2.06-metre tall left-armer was the most impressively threatening of the home side’s fast bowlers.

Hence Jansen deserved his chance, and though his return of 0/61 from the 17 overs he bowled on Sunday are not the figures that a young man in a hurry would want from his first day at the highest level, he showed glimpses of the quality that has earned him 62 wickets at 22.88 in 18 first-class matches. Had Quinton de Kock held the chance gleaned from Mayank Agarwal, Jansen’s day might have panned out differently.

“Every player who has been selected for this Proteas team is believed and backed to be capable of representing the national team and give a performance of the highest level,” the statement read. “The absence of one player does not take away from the quality that another brings to the set up.”

Understood. But if the questions had been answered when they were asked, a controversy could not only have been avoided but would also not have grown into a conspiracy theory.

First published by Cricbuzz.

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.