Ken Borland

Following a better-than-expected performance at this year’s T20 World Cup, Proteas coach Mark Boucher knows that building towards the next showpiece event in the shortest format of the game, which will be in Australia in less than a year’s time, will require just a few tweaks to his team.

This year the Proteas have shown the benefit of consistency in selection, becoming a settled squad and putting in ever-improving performances as their confidence has grown. It is therefore obvious that the majority of the players who narrowly missed out on the semi-finals in the UAE, will be back for another go in Australia next October.

“In terms of personnel, it will be different conditions so we will have to look at the make-up of our squad,” Boucher said on Tuesday. “This World Cup was played on the subcontinent and we went with two outright seamers and two spinners.

“But maybe in Australia we will need an extra seamer because that might be what’s important for those conditions. But we have the personnel to match the conditions, although hopefully one or two guys come through the domestic system and put some pressure on for places.

“The challenge for the guys is to think differently and be smart. We found ways to win in those conditions in the UAE and now we need to make the mental shift for Australia.

“We’ve upskilled these players, but the doors are not closed for anyone. Even the former Kolpak guys, if they do really well in our system,” Boucher said.

The Proteas’ next assignment is a three-match ODI series against the Netherlands in Gauteng from November 26, but Boucher admitted they had half-an-eye on the massive Test series against a top-class India team that follows.

“The focus has shifted now to the Netherlands and obviously a series we have to win to automatically qualify for the World Cup. But we’re going to try and fit in some rest and recovery for the Test guys.

“It’s a very important Test series against India, playing them at home, up against one of the world’s best sides, while we are still very much growing, still finding our feet in certain positions.

“We did really well in the West Indies and it’s going to be nice playing back in our own conditions, but we’re up against a top-quality team.

“It’s an opportunity for us to do something special, but if we don’t beat India then we must make sure we learn from it and come out a better side,” Boucher said.

People sometimes like to think of T20 cricket as being as complicated a strategic game as, say, backgammon, but for David Miller, the Proteas need to keep it as simple as possible in their crunch World Cup game against England in Sharjah on Saturday.

Of course South Africa have worked hard on implementing the right tactics against the tournament favourites, but Miller said the team, since bouncing back from their loss to Australia in their opening match, have broken their play down into small bits.

“We’ve bounced back from the loss and been really good in the last three games,” Miller said. “We have a blueprint that we are striving to perfect, and although there has been huge growth, we are still learning.

“It’s a massive game for us but we mustn’t be looking at the end result. We have to stick to our processes, take it ball-by-ball, over-by over. It’s a big cliché, but we have to do that.

“We need to be clear in our planning and preparation against England, we want to simplify what we have to do, and it’s important to really enjoy ourselves out there as well,” Miller said.

While South Africa have certainly not cured all their batting issues after some ham-fisted efforts in recent times, to have Miller back in peak form after injury is a massive bonus and the successive sixes he smoked in the final over to beat Sri Lanka will live long in the memory.

Top-level sport only loans its competitors confidence depending on the vagaries of their results, but the 32-year-old left-hander said the Proteas currently feel like they are riding a wave, having not only won consistently over the last six months but also, and certainly not coincidentally, having kept the same squad of players together.

“We’re nice and focused and ready for the next game, the team is in a good space and feeling refreshed. We’ve had a similar squad for the last six months and we’ve built up a really nice bond.

“We’re finding ways to win matches and that makes us really chuffed. We’ve won 12 of our last 14 games and that has definitely given us confidence going into this must-win match.

“In those tight moments in a game, you grab hold of every bit of confidence that you can. Winning does not necessarily have to be pretty – some of our games have been clinical and smooth, and some we still won when our performance was neither here nor there.

“We’ve happened to win one or two close games now, and hopefully that confidence, momentum and growth can keep going. Having the same squad means that we’ve learnt how to play with each other, what makes your team-mates tick,” Miller said.

Ill-equipped leadership is something which really hits a nerve when it comes to South African cricket, largely due to the incompetent and self-serving Board and CEO which the game here had to labour under between 2017 and 2019.

So it was distressing this week to see the new CSA Board suffer their first mis-step, showing the same sort of reactionary leadership of their predecessors rather than the proactive management that is required of a billion rand organisation.

The Proteas have been grappling amongst themselves with issues of a new team culture for these changing times, especially since Black Lives Matter has made such a dramatic impression on the global sports environment. And the anti-racism message of that movement should hit particularly near to home due to the notorious history of our country.

Unfortunately, the team have not been able to come up with a unified response to BLM. It has not been a good look to see some of the team kneeling, others standing; some with fists raised, some with hands by their side.

But the CSA Board has failed to provide strong leadership in this regard. It’s not as if this issue has suddenly sprung upon them. How to properly acknowledge BLM has been a problem for the Proteas for more than a year. A proactive board would have known the spotlight would be on the team at a World Cup and would have ensured proper engagement was held with the squad and a solution found before the tournament. The sort of engagement that happened on Wednesday night once the crisis was already in full swing.

Instead, like a poor captain moving his field around in response to a boundary being hit, CSA chose the ham-fisted route of not consulting and issuing a directive, on the morning of a crucial game.

The national team have had their fill of arrogant administrators having the audacity to run cricket as their own fiefdoms, and the timing of the edict, and the fact that it came out of the blue without any consultation, was bound to cause some push-back.

Quinton de Kock’s initial refusal to take a knee, even though he is a product of a mixed-race family, caused near hysteria in this race-obsessed country of ours. Personally, I believe it is the right thing to take a knee for Black Lives Matter, but what worried me more about De Kock’s actions was that he was willing to leave his team in the lurch, pulling out of a crunch game two hours before the start, because he was very annoyed at being forced to make a gesture.

But many of his critics should perhaps take the beam out of their own eye before they try to remove the speck in De Kock’s eye. How many of them are anti-vaxxers? Because that is a similar issue of personal freedoms versus common good.

How many of those who viciously labelled the 28-year-old as a racist would be willing to make a gesture when it comes to protesting Farm Murders?

Because in many people’s eyes, rightly or wrongly, Black Lives Matter is as politicised an issue as Farm Murders. Just as there surely can be no moral objection to Black lives mattering, surely all farm murders are wrong?

This is where education is so important. CSA should have sat down with the players a long time ago and explained exactly what Black Lives Matter means in a South African context and what exactly the team would be supporting and protesting against should have been thrashed out and finalised.

Quinton de Kock may have left his team in the lurch by pulling out of their last game a couple of hours before the start, but the Proteas are all looking forward to having his services once again and will welcome him back with open arms, Rassie van der Dussen said on Thursday.

De Kock on Thursday issued a statement apologising for, and explaining, his reasons for refusing to take a knee in support of BLM ahead of South Africa’s T20 World Cup match against the West Indies earlier this week, and has now agreed to follow the CSA Board’s directive.

Fellow batsman Van der Dussen said all is forgiven and the team are really looking forward to having him back in the line-up for their game against Sri Lanka in Sharjah on Saturday.

“Quinny has been extremely remorseful and everyone understands and supports what he did, even though the timing was not great,” Van der Dussen said.

“It speaks volumes for the open environment the team and management has. He did not have to explain himself to us really, but we have come a long way in creating a safe space within the squad.

“He’s one of the best players in the world and of course we will welcome him back with open arms. We understood why he did what he did, and that’s the end of the story for us.

“I’m sure he will be selected on Saturday and it will be like nothing has happened as far as the team is concerned. Hopefully he himself will be in the right frame of mind to deliver a matchwinning performance like he has done so many times before. But it’s going to be great to have our brother and friend back on the field,” Van der Dussen, one of the strongest supporters of taking a knee amongst the White contingent in the team, said.

The statement De Kock issued earlier on Thursday said his actions were guided by the lack of engagement on the issue between the CSA Board and the squad, with the “take a knee” edict seemingly coming out of the blue for the players.

CSA Board chairman Lawson Naidoo and two other directors subsequently held a virtual meeting with the Proteas squad and management on Wednesday night, in which the reasons for their directive were clarified and the players’ concerns addressed.

A CSA statement on Thursday said De Kock and the rest of the team had now agreed to align themselves with the stance against racism as a moral issue and not a political statement.