The Proteas and South African cricket in general are in trouble. (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images)
On Friday evening, the Proteas suffered a 5-1 ODI series loss to India.
It’s their heaviest defeat since 2002, when Australia won by the same margin.
Naturally, it would be easy to point out all the things that went wrong (such as injuries to senior players) in the series as well as the shortcomings (poor batting, an inexperienced captain).
However, taking that perspective runs the risk of making us oblivious to the structural weaknesses in South African cricket that’s threatening the long-term future of the national team.
The Proteas’ struggles are merely a symptom.
Here are the warning lights that are flashing.
Senior players are steadily not adding value anymore
With the exception of Faf du Plessis, Vernon Philander and to a lesser extent (to date) AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla, the Proteas aren’t getting much out of the experienced men tasked with one last stab at World Cup glory in 2019.
Perhaps the best example is Morne Morkel.
The lanky quick’s international future has been in doubt for some time and his performances have attested to a man not fully focused.
He’s become wayward and distracted, unable to take the amount of wickets expected from a man of his stature.
JP Duminy’s decision to just concentrate on white ball cricket hasn’t translated into more consistency with the bat while Imran Tahir has taken 12 wickets in his last 10 ODIs as good sides pick him off with ease.
Even De Villiers and Amla are hardly examples of senior players piling on the runs.
Relying on a core for World Cup glory when they aren’t performing is bad news.
Whispers of selection interference grow louder
Throughout coach Ottis Gibson’s short tenure, there have been reports of disagreements on final team selections.
And it’s not difficult to see point them out.
Andile Phehlukwayo’s inclusion for the third Test against India was weird given that South Africa were gunning to win the series 3-0 but needed an extra batsman to do so.
As a result, Theunis de Bruyn was earmarked to play before alleged administrative interference put Phehlukwayo in the inside lane.
His role in the match was fairly limited.
Lungi Ngidi’s ODI debut in Cape Town was also suspicious.
Despite Morkel’s iffy form, why drop your most experienced seamer in a must-win game to keep the series alive?
Given the context, it seemed like a move that threw Ngidi at the deep end.
And possibly a needless one.
It was revealing that he prospered after that because the pressure was a bit less.
The national selectors need a rethink: is it fair to place black players under undue pressure just to prop up representation numbers at the end of the season?
Domestic standards are dropping … fast
Stiaan van Zyl. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images)
Arguably the best thing about the postponement of the T20 Global League (T20 GL) was that it illustrated the massive gap in skills between the national players and the rest.
The Proteas, who were all available for the Ram Slam T20, dominated the tournament.
The first non-Protea player to feature among the leading run scorers (Christiaan Jonker) was only fifth on the list.
The top three wicket-takers were also national players.
It’s undeniable that Cricket South Africa’s stringent quota requirements are putting pressure on the system too but it must also be kept in mind that those non-white players are also playing in a franchise system where they don’t have the luxury of competitive teammates or opponents.
That’s in a large part due to the continued Kolpak exodus, which has robbed the Proteas of men like Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw.
The sight of Stiaan van Zyl, on a Kolpak contract with Sussex, making 228 for the Cape Cobras this week and not being available for national duty is tough to swallow.
Cricket South Africa’s administrators are focusing on politics and not running the game
Thabang Moroe. Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images.
Last week, CSA’s acting CEO, Thabang Moroe, called a private meeting with journalists for a briefing on the T20GL.
The awkward part about that was that all the invited journalists were black.
One can draw at pretty obvious conclusion.
CSA’s representation at organisational level looks good.
There’s a black president (Chris Nenzani), a black acting CEO and a black COO (Naasei Appiah).
They’ve been lauded for bold transformation selection strategies in domestic cricket and have built a Proteas brand that feels far more inclusive than the Springboks.
But while CSA pull the right moves in terms of representation, they neglect basic operations.
There’s been no accountability for the T20 GL fiasco.
Moroe was part of a sub-committee that was supposed to keep tabs on the progress of the implementation of the tournament.
According to Cricbuzz, he never bothered to attend one meeting.
He hasn’t said a word about his own culpability.
Now he’s tasked with saving the concept.
The memorandum of agreement between CSA and the Proteas players regarding commercial rights is still nowhere near being finalised.
If the current agreement expires in April without a new one in place, one can expect all the big names to go on strike and play wherever they want … except South Africa.
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