Thursday 6 March 2014
Bumpy Roads Ahead of South Africa Cricket
There is no doubt that if you ask who has been the most consistent cricket team in test cricket during last decade or so, the answer would be comprehensively South Africa Cricket team. The ride for South Africa cricket has been quite smooth thus far. But with retirements of likes of Jaques Kallis, Graeme Smith and with Dale Steyn getting old by the day the South African Cricket team's caravan is likely to find a bumpy road and ride could be quite uncomfortable in coming days.
South Africa will undoubtedly be knocked from their number one ranking - no cricket fan or pundit has an issue with that - that's sport. All teams rise and fall. WI (West Indies) dominated the cricketing world for a while but haven't been there for decades now, Australia dominated for a while but haven't been there for many years now. SA have enjoyed a good patch over the last few years but will also be taken over by another team sometime. At the end of the day the rankings are nice and do show who is playing the most consistent cricket but as long as teams are playing good competitive cricket then fans are happy, especially if team is around the top 3 or 4 in ICC rankings. Does this loss against AUS mean that AUS are now the best team in the world? Of course not - SA are still the best shown objectively by the rankings system. Aus were beaten every now and then during their reign as number one but that didn't mean they weren't still the best team in the world at the time. Aus still have to win many more games before they can claim the number one status again. Same can be said about India, who also won more than they lost when they achieved the no. 1 ranking in cricket.
Great or not, SA played good test cricket for a while. They were the closest to a champion team in all conditions though they failed to beat India in India. But then again, not many teams beat India in India which is why England's feat in 2012 was remarkable. South Africa have some decent players left in the tank but they are ageing. Dale Steyn will only get slower and older, AB De Villiers is already at his peak, Hashim Amla isn't the force he was 2 years back. Then you have guys like JP Duminy and Faf Du Plesis who are relatively inconsistent at test level. Finally, there are youngsters like Elgar and Quinton De Kock who are untested in different conditions. Add to that, SA still don't have a quality spinner. So it will be tough for SA to replicate their successes of the past 4 years. They will still be a good team at home but one is not so sure about their overseas chances.
Even after the recent loss to Australia at home 2-1 in test series South Africa maintain the ICC ranking of number 1 in test cricket. This is an indicator of how consistent they have been in the past. A loss here and there doesn't make different to them as far as ranking of teams in concerned in test cricket. But this could be something that has happened in past and something that might not happen in future. The current crop of South Africa cricketers don't look equipped enough with skills to resurrect their team from such deadly losses.
May be this is the opportunity for South Africa to concentrate on ODI cricket more, than the other forms of cricket. South African cabinet is pretty bare when it comes to collection of ICC trophies. Despite having a good set of players they have never threatened to win a world cup. ICC cricket would cup 2015 will be great opportunity for the rainbow nation to win the cup if they concentrate and plan towards it from now on.
Recently the South African colts won the ICC U-19 (under nineteen) world cup. Now, with their test cricket going down, South Africa has perfect chance to make forward moves as far as limited overs cricket is concerned. A twenty twenty (t20) world cup in Bangladesh will provide the latest chance tow in a world cup for South Africa. The present set of players in South Africa team also look to be more suited to shorter form of cricket rather than test cricket. May be we will see them winning couple of world cups over the next year or so.
The biggest problem CSA(Cricket South Africa) is facing immediately is to declare a captain for the cricket team. AB De Villiers looks to be the likely cricketer who will take over the reins of South African cricket team captaincy now that Graeme Smith is retired. But this move could be counterproductive as De Villiers is the best batsmen in South Africa cricket eleven and load of captaincy on his shoulders might wear him down quicker than what CSA wants at the moment.
Although the article might seem a bit negative but I will end it on a positive note. Change is inevitable and South Africa should embrace it as they have a core of top quality players to take them into a confident and successful new era. They need to look forward, not mope around lamenting recent retirements and searching for non-existent world-class all-rounders. Six batsmen, a wicketkeeper batsman, a bowling all-rounder and three fast bowlers. Don't believe that a side of Hashim Amla (capt), Elgar, van Zyl, de Villiers, du Plessis, Duminy, de Kock (w/k), Philander, Abbott/Hendricks, Steyn and Morkel will be any weaker than the sides SA fielded over the past 18 months. In fact, given the performances of the retired trio in their twilight years,one can say that 'new model' is a better one than old one.
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