Ken Borland

The West Indies are famous for producing the most ferocious fast bowling attack of all time, but conditions in the Caribbean have changed so much since then that low and slow pitches are now far more common than hard tracks with pace and bounce.

South Africa, nevertheless, have won their last three series in the West Indies largely through the use of menacing pace bowling. Of the Proteas bowlers who have taken more than 10 wickets over there, Allan Donald (20), Andre Nel (17), Dale Steyn (15) and Morne Morkel (14) all average less than 25.

Jacques Kallis, who was certainly genuinely quick when the mood grabbed him, has taken the most wickets (27) on tour there, but played four more Tests (12) than any other bowler. Left-arm spinner Nicky Boje is the third-highest wicket-taker, but his 20 scalps came at an average of 40.55.

Current coach Mark Boucher also played 12 Tests in the Caribbean and it looks like the Proteas will be backing their fast bowlers again when the first Test starts on Thursday at Gros Islet, St Lucia.

“These are new conditions for us because we have not played here in the rainy season, normally it’s warmer and dryer. But it has felt more like England: overcast and although I have never seen it rain over here before, the last three days have been rainy. So there is a lot of movement and we are using the Duke ball and not the Kookaburra we used to over here. The Duke stays harder for longer and ball-maintenance will be key.

“We have got the right balance in the bowlers we have over here, we have four seamers that are probably hoping to play and then a spinner. Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi are all different and Keshav Maharaj can bowl well on any surface. Then there’s Wiaan Mulder too. We want to put the West Indies under pressure with ball and bat,” bowling coach Charl Langeveldt said.

So it seems unlikely that wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi will play and George Linde, who kind of does the JP Duminy role of back-up spinner who can bat, is likely to lose out to seam-bowling all-rounder Mulder.

Langeveldt admitted that the Proteas have not done themselves justice in Test cricket recently, and new captain Dean Elgar is certainly giving his team no peace about it in their team chats so far.

“We really want to turn our Test cricket around and the captain has talked about doing the basics for the longest. It might mean boring cricket, but that’s what you want in Test cricket. Dean certainly brings something different, he demands professionalism, discipline and that team ethos, which is something we’ve needed to revisit.

“He has asked the senior players to lead by example and to speak to the youngsters. We need to keep our disciplines for long periods,” Langeveldt said.

Faf du Plessis was a surprise exclusion from the Proteas T20 squad for the tour of the West Indies, but the former captain could still find himself jetting over to the Caribbean, plus a new contractual arrangement for free agents is on the cards.

Apart from adding experience to a rebuilding batting line-up, Du Plessis was one of the best batsmen in the recently-suspended Indian Premier League, so why wasn’t he chosen? It turns out his omission was due to him not having a contract in place with Cricket South Africa, and, according to their current policy, that would mean he would not get paid for the tour, but would earn match fees, which are just top-up amounts for those players who do have national deals.

It is a gap in CSA’s contracting system which director of cricket Graeme Smith is trying to fix in consultation with the South African Cricketers Association (the players’ union).

In the meantime, there is a chance that Du Plessis can reignite his T20 World Cup hopes by getting a late call-up to play in the West Indies. For that to happen, the national selectors would have to agree to add him to the squad and Du Plessis would have to agree to special financial terms CSA will offer. The organisation budgeted for 17 national men’s contracts for the season but only awarded 16 of them, and some of the money from that extra ‘salary’ is believed to be on offer for Du Plessis.

With the rise of lucrative T20 leagues there are likely to be many more free agents in future, but they currently fall outside of the Proteas contracting system, in what one CSA official described as “the elephant in the room that everyone has been avoiding”.

The policy at the moment sees the players ranked from No.1 to No.16, depending on the balance of Test, ODI and T20 matches in the next season, using scientific data methods. But free agents are excluded from this.

It’s another problem that Smith has inherited as director of cricket. Checks and balances obviously need to be in place to ensure the free agents are not just using the Proteas to score lucrative T20 contracts elsewhere, but are actually contributing to the national team’s culture and success.

There is also the danger that if players are given format-specific contracts, then many could opt out of Test cricket and just play the white-ball formats.

On the other hand, the Proteas need to have marquee players that the top teams want to play against and that people want to watch in action, developing a strong team is obviously a key strategic objective of CSA.

With the first-choice Springbok pack hit by injuries, it makes little sense for the squad for the British and Irish Lions series to be loaded with outside backs, but that’s exactly what coach Jacques Nienaber and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus have done.

Their 46-strong Springbok squad contains eight outside backs, the most well-stocked department of all with one more player than either the loose forwards or props. The allocation of seven loose forwards includes Duane Vermeulen, who suffered what looked like a serious ankle injury at the weekend, and amongst the six locks named for the series, two of them – Lood de Jager and RG Snyman – are still injured.

There are two utility forwards included in Jean-Luc du Preez and Rynhardt Elstadt, but the cynical might surmise that the outside backs have been overstocked in order to get the transformation numbers up – there is only one White player amongst the back three in fullback Willie le Roux.

“Local derbies are like Springbok trials and when you play strength versus strength week in, week out, like the Rainbow Cup has been, then you expect a number of injuries. So every weekend has been quite nervous for us, fortunately there haven’t been too many injuries, but there are many niggles in the squad. We’ll have to reassess after the first couple of weeks.

“But the good thing is our local players will be used to physical rugby, which will be a big part of the Lions series. The big question is when is a player 100% ready for Test rugby, when do we experiment? We play Georgia twice, but we have not played together since the World Cup, so we don’t want to experiment there,” Erasmus said.

Erasmus admitted that he was not optimistic that Vermeulen will be available for the Lions series, and the uncapped Jasper Wiese is likely to replace him at eighthman, with the World Cup winning coach saying the 25-year-old’s form for the Leicester Tigers in the English Premiership cannot be ignored.

“Duane has to be doubtful with his ankle. He’s on his way to Cape Town for scans. I spoke to Jake White [Bulls coach] and it looked bad. For Duane to limp off so early in a match is very unusual, so we are fearing the worst,” Erasmus admitted.

“But Jasper Wiese can play eighthman and we cannot ignore the form he is in, he was outstanding in the Premiership and he knocked the door down weekly. He is explosive and we’re really lucky that he’s versatile, he can play openside as well.”

In just 14 Premiership appearances, the former Free State Cheetahs player has made 701 running metres, beaten 54 defenders, has a 90% tackle success rate and has made eightline-breaks.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt praised his new-look outfit for an excellent performance as they beat the Lions 33-21 at Ellis Park to set themselves up for a virtual semi-final against the Bulls in next weekend’s final round of the Rainbow Cup.

Needing to win with a bonus point to keep their hopes alive, the Sharks fielded a team with 10 changes to their starting line-up and scored five tries to three to hold off a Lions side that showed impressive tenacity and intent, but struggled at the breakdowns and at lineout time.

“It was a massive challenge with all the changes and Covid disruptions, and it’s never easy coming to Ellis Park and beating a Lions team that is on the up and playing some superb rugby. But we have worked hard on the things that were not working in our game and it was a really pleasing performance by the pack and the backs did well with the platform laid for them.

“I knew that there would be no lack of energy because there were a lot of excited youngsters champing at the bit to play. Manie Libbok and Boeta Chamberlain haven’t played for a while, Werner Kok was in a different position, Makazole Mapimpi was back and unbelievable, and Anthony Volmink was outstanding at fullback. This result gives us a lot of confidence,” Everitt said after the game.

While Everitt will have the services of all his players in the Springbok squad for the decisive match against the Bulls in Durban next Saturday, if the Sharks make the Rainbow Cup final then their resources are going to be stretched extremely thin with nine players away in the national camp.

“The depth of the squad will be tested, but on the other hand it’s great for those players to get the opportunity. We’ll choose our strongest possible team for next weekend because we are in with a very good chance of making the final. We need to score four tries and win the game and we haven’t lost yet to the Bulls in the last year at Kings Park.

“We know the Bulls have improved and they always find a way to win, especially when their bench comes on. We lost our last match against them at Loftus but you need to put the whole game in perspective. We just unravelled in the last 20 minutes and they scored four soft tries,” Everitt said.