Rising intensity reflects importance of SA A and Emerging teams for Proteas

Off-spinner Tshepo Ntuli got into a shoving match with Bangladesh opponent Ripon Mondol on Wednesday. Before that Andile Simelane and Jishan Alam were both suspended during the One-Day series between the respective ‘Emerging’ teams of South Africa and Bangladesh. 

Any sense that these matches in May, between players at the end of their respective seasons, would be genteel ‘hit-abouts’ should be summarily dismissed. SA Emerging vs Bangladesh Emerging certainly doesn’t scream blockbuster, but it is intense.

That is arguably more than Cricket South Africa could have hoped for from the tour, which is a crucial part of the organisation's plans to create experience for those on the lower rungs of national recognition, but who have performed well provincially. 

Between the Emerging team’s tour of Bangladesh and the SA A team’s tour of the West Indies, the depth of local talent is being tested.

“SA A content is important. We needed to create fixtures against the big countries including England, Australia and India,” said director of national teams Enoch Nkwe. 

There are multiple reasons for increasing the volume of matches, but the principle one is the decreasing fixture list at domestic level in recent years. 

Numerous local coaches have bemoaned the number of first-class matches South African players are involved in, saying it provides inadequate preparation for the Test level. It is the same for the ODI format. The 20-over format features both a provincial competition and of course the SA20, but the latter’s blocking out of other fixtures for about six weeks in the middle of the season has created a hole that Nkwe has found challenging to fill.

The Emerging side in Bangladesh, which is playing its second Four-Day clash, contains a number of players who weren’t contracted to the SA20. Ntuli ultimately won his battle with Mondol, getting him stumped by Connor Esterhuizen, but almost as important as that and the two other wickets he took was the fact that he bowled 40 overs, a figure he couldn’t dream of on the first day of a match played in South Africa.

Whereas at home, where he plays in the second division for Northern Cape, he’d be operating as a support bowler in the first half of the match, on the subcontinent he is a front-line bowler and has a heavy workload. 

The batters too have to face spinners bowling with the new ball, something that doesn’t happen in the first class competitions, and demands different skills and temperament.

The SA A programme is slightly different from the Emerging one because there is already more experience in that squad. For the players, the goal is either returning to the national side — as is the case for Bjorn Fortuin, Nqaba Peter and Jason Smith — or to show that their form and ability is not limited to the domestic game. 

For Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who after a brief stint in the IPL will join the SA A side for two four-day matches against West Indies A, the Caribbean trip offers the ideal opportunity to show he can make the step up from provincial cricket. 

It’s been a successful trip for the SA A side already who picked up two comfortable victories in the three match One-Day series and even in the third match that was interrupted by rain, Sinethemba Qeshile scored a century, providing a reminder of why he was selected for two T20 Internationals six years ago.

Nkwe has insisted that the SA A matches should be seen in the wider context of the 2027 World Cup, with players who regularly feature part of the “zoning-in process” that is set to occur over the next 18 months ahead of picking a squad when South Africa hosts that tournament. 

Fortuin, who expressed his unhappiness after losing his national contract, fits perfectly into the set of experienced players with a point to prove. A dynamic wicket-taker when conditions suit him, he is also able to ‘hold’ the game and build pressure, a critical asset in the 50-over format. 

Mihlali Mpongwana, who played his first ODI in February, made a half-century and took four wickets in the One-Day series in the Caribbean, while Qeshile, who has dropped down the ladder of the country’s wicketkeepers, added a half century to the 126 he made in the second match.

With so much at stake for the individuals, it's understandable that tempers might fray as happened in Mirpur on Wednesday. It’s very much the time to grab the spotlight, which is exactly what Nkwe — even if he doesn’t want his players pushing and shoving the opposition — will relish.