Plethora of problems besetting Proteas

There is no solution to South Africa’s Test troubles other than to play more matches, said the Proteas’ interim coach Malibongwe Maketa.

Maketa, who oversaw the squad’s preparations for the Australian tour, said players in the squad currently and those pushing for spots needed to be exposed more if the Proteas are to turn around their fortunes at Test level.

The team has lost four of its last five Tests and earned a draw in the final match against Australia that finished in Sydney on Sunday, preventing a cleansweep for the hosts in the series. 

“It’s been said enough, we’d like to play more. For us to grow and these players to grow, they have to play and they need to be exposed. I felt we had enough first class experience (in the squad) but that is nowhere near enough to compete at this level, especially against an experienced bowling attack,” said Maketa.

He was made interim coach after the shock resignation last year of Mark Boucher, who has since been employed by the Mumbai Indians franchise in the Indian Premier League.

Maketa, confirmed he would be interested in the head coaching position on a permanent basis.

Cricket South Africa will appoint two head coaches for the national men’s side: one to look after the limited overs formats, while another will look after the Test team and will then integrate back into CSA’s high performance structures to further assist with player development. 

“It’s quite an exciting challenge with what we have. Looking at the players back home I’m sure they are thinking they have an opportunity to push for a position. Hopefully I get to be part of this project,” Maketa said.

He felt the Proteas' recent problems were cyclical and that the players were capable of turning form around if properly supported.

“It’s important to be really honest with where we are. We’ve had a tough series in England, a tough series here and as a country we want to be competing against the big teams.

“But we don’t have the Test caps that they have at the moment. We are on our own journey in terms of putting structures together to compete against them. We’ve done well in the past against these teams, but right now they are slightly better than us.

“Some people would look at the structure, look at other things, but we brought the best team that we had, we didn’t compete. So from that we have to go back, reassess and get the right mix and put the right processes in place to compete against the best teams.”

Of the squad that toured Australia, only skipper Dean Elgar, vice-captain, Temba Bavuma, Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj had played there previously. 

Maketa also explained that the Proteas had an unsettled batting unit, that besides not filling the holes left by the retirement of a number of great players including Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Graeme Smith, had also recently struggled with injuries. 

“We need to get a lot more exposure in terms of first class and Test cricket. We are working hard to get more Tests, to get these guys playing more and trying to get a bit more continuity.

“We’ve had Covid-19, guys missing series because of Covid, injuries, having to move the batting order around. Those are not excuses, that’s the reality, we’ve not had continuity, people are out of form and some are batting in different positions.”

Elgar is the most notable of those out of form, with the skipper averaging just 9.33 in the series, while the use of three different players in the No.3 spot during the series, illustrates the unsettled nature of the batting line-up.

“Heinrich Klaasen who occupied that spot in the Sydney Test, usually bats in the middle order, while Keegan Petersen, who was handed that role last year, has missed five Tests in the last 12 months — in New Zealand because of Covid-19 and the Australia trip because of a hamstring injury.”

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