Ken Borland

“We’ll only be 100% ready as a team in 2022/23 but we will go into the T20 World Cup with quiet confidence,” CSA director of cricket Graeme Smith said on Monday.

The Proteas left at the weekend for the United Arab Emirates and yet another tilt at elusive World Cup success. As has so often been the case, form is on their side as South Africa have won their last three T20 series, including wins in the West Indies and Sri Lanka, in similar conditions to what they are expecting in the UAE.

But given the torrid years they have come through, the Proteas are not really being mentioned as contenders for the title. Smith is comfortable with that position.

“Last season there were so many challenges in terms of logistics, Covid, injuries and being in bubbles for the first time, and we kitted out 43 players with 33 of them getting on the field.

“But from the tour to the West Indies in June we’ve seen the performance curve go up and that has been a big confidence booster. As a team, we’ll probably only be 100% ready in 2022/23.

“So we’ll be going into the World Cup as underdogs, but we have enough quality in the team to be quietly confident, it’s about combinations and reading the conditions well.

“We’ve especially seen a big upward curve in terms of playing spin and it’s been great experience for someone like Aiden Markram to play in the IPL – I especially like that he’s batting in the middle-order – while we know Quinton de Kock will be integral and Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje have developed into a great fast-bowling pair,” Smith said.

The former Proteas captain, speaking at the KFC Mini-Cricket National Seminar at Zebula outside BelaBela, said the coming summer will be one not to miss for South African cricket fans.

“India coming here is a huge tour. They have won away from home now around the world but they have never won a Test series here, so that’s going to provide some real added flavour to the series.

“There have been a number of meetings about getting crowds back, we are pushing hard, we are positive and hopeful. We need that investment coming into the game otherwise we can’t run grassroots programs like KFC Mini-Cricket.

“Domestically, we’ll have the Mzansi Super League in February and we’re very happy with how the new structure has gone so far. There was a bit of apprehension at first, but it’s been great to see the Division II teams compete well.

“Players are sticking their hands up and it’s lovely to see the provincial colours back and see that provincialism again. There’ll be kids watching the Limpopo Impalas play today and see that there is a pathway for them to play first-class cricket,” Smith said.

Doing well in the Indian Premier League will obviously help, but CSA Director of Cricket Graeme Smith says free agents will need to prove their total commitment to the Proteas if they are to earn a recall to the national side.

Faf du Plessis, Chris Morris, AB de Villiers and Imran Tahir all put in noteworthy performances before the IPL was suspended earlier this week, one match away from the halfway stage, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many fans would want all four of them to be back in India in October, representing South Africa at the T20 World Cup.

Smith said that while the door was not closed for them to be selected, there were certain conditions that needed to be met first.

Asked specifically about all-rounder Morris, he said “I notice Chris said there have not been discussions with him, but he joined the high performance programme in Lockdown last year. No-one has a definitive right to play for the Proteas, it’s up to the selectors and their performance on the field. Lately Chris’s performances have been really good, both in the IPL and in our T20.

“But we can’t choose someone who is going to go in half-arsed, who is 50/50 about it. We need to know that the player is fully committed and will do everything required and everything for the team. It’s a question that applies to all of the free agents, who are technically still always available for the Proteas. AB de Villiers has officially retired so that’s a different discussion that is ongoing,” Smith said this week.

The West Indies have won two of the last three T20 World Cups despite many of their top players being scattered around the globe, and free agents like Chris Gayle, Samuel Badree and Andre Russell did the business for them in the last tournament, held in 2016 in India.

“The free agents are generally more experienced in the format than most players and we’ve seen the success the West Indies have had using them, so it’s definitely something we would consider. But the selectors also have to consider team dynamics and the type of players we have in our own system.

“Right now the focus is on trying to get the best squad together in the build-up. We have 15-17 T20s lined up, including plenty of sub-continent preparation, so the squad will have plenty of time together. It should be a nice build-up for October,” Smith said.

The last season was a disrupted one due to Covid-19, but in the coming year the Proteas management are going to be much more answerable for results, starting with the tour to the West Indies next month, CSA director of cricket Graeme Smith said on Thursday.

Head coach Mark Boucher has been coming under fire for the Proteas record of losing five of their eight Tests and winning just four of their 16 T20 internationals since he was appointed in December 2019. South Africa’s ODI record in that time is decent, however, with five victories against three losses.

Boucher made no secret of the fact that the Test team needed a lot of work when he took over, with the retirements of half-a-dozen world-class performers in recent years, and he has often had to field weakened teams in white-ball cricket.

“We’re heading into a crucial period for both players and management. Previously we were just trying to get as much cricket played as possible and we used more than 30 players. We have lost a number of key players and then the cancellation of domestic four-day cricket in December didn’t help the team either. So it was a bit of an exploratory period.

“Mark Boucher was able to identify players going forward and I think this period now is crucial in terms of results. We need to get our best team playing together, we have two Tests and five T20s from the beginning of June in the West Indies and then the white-ball squad goes directly to Ireland. There’s a small break in August and then we have T20 series in Sri Lanka and India and then the T20 World Cup,” Smith said.

The former Proteas captain also praised the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for their handling of the Covid crisis that has led to the suspension of the IPL. Smith said all the South African players he had spoken to had enjoyed their Indian ‘adventure’ and felt safe in their bio-bubble.

Smith mentioned that India will play three Tests, three T20s and three ODIs in South Africa next summer and the good working relationship between CSA and the IPL has certainly played a part in that tour coming to fruition.

“The BCCI has been exemplary in getting our players out of India, although it has been easier with us because our borders have not been closed and commercial flights are still available. Some of our players are already back here, but by Friday all of our IPL guys will be out. The players say they felt safe and it was a really good experience, they were happy with the duty of care the BCCI showed.

“With the unpredictable nature of Covid, a bio-secure bubble is never fool-proof and if the virus is raging in your country then there is always a risk. Once it gets inside then it becomes very difficult. CSA has run 15 BSBs and not enough has been made of our success. We need to give credit to our doctors and compliance officers, they have shown how successful our bubbles are,” Smith said.

Any minute now Cricket South Africa are set to announce their winter tours with director of cricket Graeme Smith saying on Monday morning that he was hoping for a “very busy” year of international action. But he also called on the International Cricket Council (ICC) to show more leadership to ensure teams outside of the Big Three continue to have decent fixtures lined up.

While Australia pulling out of the Test tour scheduled for next month clearly still hurts CSA, Pakistan will help fill the void by coming over for a white-ball series in April, and CSA are expected to announce tours to the West Indies and Sri Lanka over our winter, as well as a series in India before the T20 World Cup in October/November.

“Our relationship with Cricket Australia is definitely now strained and the ICC needs strong leadership because Covid is just amplifying the Haves and the Have-Nots. The FTP [Future Tours Programme] is going to be hugely challenging with eight ICC events in the next eight years, an extended IPL and the calendar being dominated by England, Australia and India [the Big Three]. That just amplifies the stress on us and the other countries looking for good content.

“Fortunately there has been the opportunity to manoeuvre a bit in the FTP and add some tours. This Pakistan tour coming up was meant to happen last October and we were meant to go to the West Indies last year, there’s also a Sri Lanka tour, India before the World Cup and they’re also meant to be coming here at the end of the year. But it takes time to finalise these – it’s a bit of a bun fight because every nation is trying to fill gaps,” Smith said on Monday.

“So I think the men’s team is going to be very busy. But the game as a whole needs leadership right now because I don’t think we want to see only three teams competing at the top in 10 years time. Their leagues are just getting bigger and bigger and the rest will be left with no content. Covid has really fast-tracked this issue and I think the ICC has been caught a bit off-guard,” the former Proteas captain added.

Because of the uncertain global stage at the moment, Smith announced a new drive by CSA to uplift the domestic game. The T20 Challenge will start on Friday and is being played in a bio-bubble in Durban, with all the Proteas being obliged to play. The conclusion of the four-day competition will then happen in March and Smith is hopeful the national team players will also feature in that.

“Because Australia are no longer coming in March, we’ve decided it is important to invest in our domestic competitions and we are making all the national players available. Those guys coming from Pakistan will go straight into the bubble in Durban. We’re also trying to make sure the four-day competition will be televised and there will be national player involved too.

“South African cricket needs to come first and it is open season now in terms of national contracts. There have been some good performances by the Proteas, but there are a lot of places up for grabs and we want to see a lot of competition and people performing domestically. The goal is to see all our players stepping up because it is now contracting season. Everyone in the Proteas has been really positive and they want to play,” Smith said.

The mental well-being of players will need to be carefully managed though especially as some of the Proteas were already showing signs of bubble fatigue in Pakistan.

“It is a challenging space being in these bubbles, but some of the Proteas have only played seven games the whole season so the workload issues are not there. Being in Pakistan, with security around you all the time, may have caused some additional stress, but all the players were extremely happy with how they were looked after by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

“We are trying our best to manage the mental health of the players, there is a psychologist involved and SACA [the players’ union] are also helping. For the IPL the players will have to spend two months in a bubble and I don’t see our four-day competition happening in a bubble. We want to do as much as we can for the local competitions and we want to see players putting their hands up there,” Smith said.