Beleaguered South Africa in need of a domestic revamp

Take a breath. Step back. Go for a walk. Think about something else. Because it’s been this bad before. Worse, in fact, although at the moment it won’t feel that way. For now, as Dean Elgar said in Melbourne on Thursday, “You have to keep reminding the guys that they’re not crap cricketers.”

He’s right, and he might want to tell all cricketminded South Africans the same thing. But the truth to be countenanced is that Elgar and his team haven’t been good enough – neither in the last two Tests of their series in England in August and September nor in their first two in Australia in the past 13 days.

South Africa have lost all four of those matches, usually because their batting has been brittle. They have gone down in as many or more consecutive Tests 10 times in the past, most recently from February to October in 2019 when they lost two at home to Sri Lanka and three in India. Since readmission it’s also happened in 2001/02 and in 2005/06, when South Africa lost five Tests on the bounce. Both times their opponents were Australia, who have also inflicted – or been part of – two of the South Africans’ other lengthy losing streaks.

That’s why this hurts more than 2019. Being beaten at home by the Lankans was a shock, but it could reasonably be explained as what happens when determined opponents are given conditions that cushion their weaknesses – the matches were staged on the comparatively slower surfaces of Kingsmead and St George’s Park – and are thus able to punch above their weight. When the Lankans returned in December 2020 they were blown away by an innings and 10 wickets on the pacy pitches of Centurion and the Wanderers. Losing in India in 2019 was no surprise: South Africa have won only five of 19 Tests and one of seven series there.

Besides, South Africa always feel being beaten by Australia, home or away, more than they do defeats by any other side. Even England can’t do to them, emotionally, what the Aussies can. Like competitive siblings, South Africans measure themselves against Australians.

It’s a tendency caught up in cultural connections and contrasts, and in the fact that many South Africans of means have escaped their nation’s many problems by moving to Australia. Seen through some South Africans’ eyes, Australia is a functioning, successful version of what their failing country might have been. To others, it’s where rich racists go to continue being racist. Particularly to Western Australia, where there is a ready market for South Africans’ mining expertise. The first Afrikaans church in Perth was founded in 2004. There are now three congregations of the same persuasion in Perth and surrounds and another in Brisbane.

Some of those congregants will have cheered South Africa to victory in Australia in three consecutive rubbers from 2008/09. The last time they would have had to put up with a series defeat was in January 2006. That will only add to the weight of this result, as will the meekness of South Africa’s capitulation.

“I made peace with it last night,” Elgar said after the Australians had taken 62.5 overs to reel in the nine wickets they needed to dismiss South Africa for 204 and win by an innings and 182 runs before what would have been tea on the fourth day at the MCG. “Whether it was today or tomorrow it was always going to be a tough pill to swallow.

“The negatives outweigh the positives. It was a weak performance in conditions that were in favour of good Test cricket. We’re disappointed about how things ended up. I wanted to see us give the Aussies a tough time and taking pride in our wickets. The way it unfolded is disappointing.”

Elgar puts plenty of store in the virtues of courage and character. How much did he see from a team who have been bowled out for fewer than 200 in seven of their last eight innings while conceding more than 400 and 500 in two of those matches?

“I don’t think there has been a lot of it. There’s been more with the ball. Even though the Aussies batted us into the ground [in declaring at 575/8] I saw a lot of character come out in our bowlers, not as much in our batting.”

South Africa have five days to regroup and reset before the third Test starts at the SCG on Wednesday. What would normally be a dead rubber has been lent relevance by the visitors needing to win it as well as both of their Tests at home against West Indies in February and March to stay in the running for a place in the WTC final at the Oval in June.

What message will Elgar deploy to scrape his players off the canvas? “It’s going to be about positive affirmation. You can hit as many balls as you want, it’s not going to change you. The game is 80% in the mind and 20% skill.”

He could also point out that, with South Africa scheduled to play just 28 Tests in the next four-year cycle, this is the best chance some of them will get to feature in the global showpiece. But anything Elgar might say to his charges is undermined by, in the current set-up, South Africa’s players featuring in only seven domestic first-class matches a season. Australia’s six state teams play a double round of Sheffield Shield matches and the top two in the table contest a final. How do you compete when you’re on the wrong end of that kind of imbalance? But Elgar had reason to hope change was on the way: “I know it is in the plans that potentially we have more first-class cricket back home.”

He declined to elaborate, but Andrew Breetzke, the chief executive of the South African Cricketers’ Association, told Cricbuzz: “At the SACA annual meeting [on November 30] players passed a resolution for SACA to undertake a review of domestic cricket. Players have concerns related to various aspects of domestic cricket – playing opportunities, facilities, etcetera. This will commence in January. A key issue that has already been raised is that players are not playing enough first-class cricket.”

Asked to interpret what Elgar had said, CSA chief executive Pholetsi Moseki offered: “I think he meant having a relook at our first-class structure, including increasing the number of games that the teams are playing. It is something we’re working on for the upcoming season.”

Australia’s XI in the MCG Test have played, collectively, 32 domestic first-class matches this year. South Africa’s have been involved in 21 – more than third less than their opponents. The Aussie side also have more Test caps between them for 2022; 114 versus South Africa’s 82. That’s a difference of more than 25%.

It’s in Test cricket, rather than in the dwindling domestic game with its deteriorating standards, that Elgar feels South Africa’s players will get the best education. Even if that entails enduring heavy defeats. “Our players need to be exposed to this level,” he said. “We are learning in the most ruthless and brutal way. There’s more learning to be taken out of this than beating a team of similar strength. I’d love our guys to be exposed to more of this so they can be fast-tracked in the international arena. But I’m not an admin guy, I’m a cricket player. I can only ask for what is right for cricket in South Africa. The rest is up to the guys who make the decisions.”

In 2012, the year he made his Test debut at the WACA, Elgar played eight first-class matches. That included the Perth Test and four games for South Africa A. He played 17 first-class games in 2013. Four were for South Africa A, another four for his franchise, the Knights, and three for Somerset. In his six years as a first-class player before he cracked the nod in the Test side, Elgar played 15, 14, 12 – twice – eight and seven games in whites.

Seven, the least, is also the most provincial matches a South African player has at their disposal in a season to prepare themselves to take on the finest teams in the game. Something’s got to give. Maybe it has.