Lack of Test play leaves Proteas with little leeway to implement new brand

For South Africa to approach Test cricket in the same carefree manner as say, England, is virtually impossible, because there are simply insufficient Test matches for them to play. 

They won the first match of the new era under the leadership of Temba Bavuma and Shukri Conrad on Thursday, but Bavuma was still unhappy with his side’s batting. In the first innings, they didn’t take advantage of a good opening partnership and in the second innings, bar Aiden Markram, the batting simply fell apart as they were bowled out for 116. 

That aspect of their play remains a problem. In addressing it, the players also have to be mindful of the new positive intent with which Bavuma and Conrad want them to approach the Test format. “There is definitely room for us to improve with the bat,” said Bavuma. “It has obviously been a  topic of conversation for us for quite a while now. People will look at the batting to try and understand what is the brand of cricket that you are trying to play and  we know we have that responsibility as batters and we’ll keep using those opportunities to do that.”

The problem, as both Bavuma and a host of players from South Africa and the West Indies explained, is that there is too little Test cricket for countries not named England, Australia and India. How can players implement a new style, when there’s so few chances to make mistakes and learn from them?

“It's frustrating (not playing a lot) as a new team, when you are trying to build something of substance, you really want to give guys proper opportunities to showcase what they can do,” said Bavuma.

“I think we deserve to play more Test cricket,” said Kemar Roach, who moved past Joel Garner on the list of all time leading wicket-takers in Test cricket for the West Indies with his five-wicket haul in South Africa’s second innings. 

“It’s not acceptable. The ICC really needs to look at giving the lower tier teams more Test cricket. We are playing these two Test series and that is not enough. You can’t build any rhythm.” 

The West Indies like South Africa is trying to sew new players into their side and accepted they needed to take heed of the lessons learnt from the 87-run loss suffered in the first Test. But that means getting more than just one chance.

Kagiso Rabada explained that for the Proteas to implement the new brand that Bavuma and Conrad are preaching, every player needed to trust themselves, though that too could only come with more experience, something his teammates will find difficult to gain by playing so few Tests. After the second Test, that starts on Wednesday at the Wanderers, the next time the Proteas are scheduled to play is on Boxing Day against India.

“If you look at our team and the potential we possess, the only way we can get better is to play as much Test cricket as possible. I’d like to see it change.”

Rabada pointed to how Aiden Markram, who was named player of the match for his first innings century, exemplified the approach the Proteas want to utilise, but that it was about staying true to himself. Though this was Markram’s return to the Test side after he was dropped for the tour to Australia, he had some experience he could call on to get him through.

“Positive doesn’t mean striking at an 80 or 100 strike rate, it means having a solid game plan and for it to be as effective as possible. Each individual is different, they can’t play in the same way, but Aiden, in the way that he played, was true to himself and it paid off. The word positive is an encouragement to be yourself and get the best out of yourself. Cricket is an individual sport. Our players have come this far playing the way they play. You can't expect Keegan (Petersen) to start playing like Aiden, but you can expect him to trust his game plans, be positive and for it to be as effective as possible.”

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.