Ken Borland

Dean Elgar was philosophical about the telling blow his team has suffered with the withdrawal of fast bowler Anrich Nortje from the series against India, but the Proteas captain was more upset when he told South Africa’s administrators that they have not backed the squad, and especially the coaches and management, enough.

As has become the norm, the Proteas go into a vital series with off-field clouds hanging over their heads. The most threatening of those is the news this week that coach Mark Boucher and director of cricket Graeme Smith are to be subjected to a formal enquiry by the CSA board based on the “tentative” and “untested” findings of the Social Justice and Nation-Building Report.

On the field, they will be without one of their key enforcers, Nortje needing to see specialists to sort out a persistent hip injury. The 28-year-old has been South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in Tests this year with 25 in five matches at an average of just 20.76.

“It’s not too tough for us, as a team we’ve got used to bad news being around us the last one-and-a-half years,” Elgar said on Tuesday. “We just adapt to it, even though they are not ideal headlines.

“What happens off the field is irrelevant now, we have to try and implement a game-plan and trust it. We’ve been through such crappy times, but we’ve formulated such a bond that works for us as player group.

“There have been so many different administrators, but I feel that we have not received enough backing, especially in terms of our coaches and management. We need to show them some love.

“As players, we would like to say that we back them, we know the work they put in that is not seen by the public. It’s not nice to see them being lambasted by articles in the media,” Elgar said.

Another Proteas squad member who is encountering some mixed media treatment is returning fast bowler Duanne Olivier, and Elgar did his best to bolster the former Kolpak’s image. Nortje’s injury means the 29-year-old is now surely almost certain to play his first Test since February 2019.

“The team has responded very well to Duanne coming back, he’s played with quite a few of the guys before and he has half-a-dozen Central Gauteng Lions team-mates here as well,” Elgar said.

“I want us to have the best opportunity of winning matches and series and I’m sure there’s 100% backing for that in the changeroom. Which means sometimes you have to make tough calls.

“But I’m very pleased and excited to have him back, I know what he can do on the field and there are no bad feelings. I see a different energy and enthusiasm in him.

“He’s a different cricketer now and he brings a lot of knowledge and experience back into the team, which is what we need. He’s a matchwinner, I’m very aware of that and that’s what I want to have,” Elgar said.

‘Don’t bite the hand that feeds you’ is a well-known phrase and in Cricket South Africa’s case it translates to ‘don’t ignore the requests of whoever is giving you your payslip’ as they announced on Monday that no tickets will be made available to the general public for the three Tests against India that start on Boxing Day.

CSA have made their immense gratitude to the Board of Control for Cricket in India for agreeing to the tour despite all the recent Covid scares well-known, with the broadcast fees providing a timely boost to their dwindling financial reserves. So when India requested that there be no spectators present during the series, for the protection of their somewhat reluctant players, they were always going to accede.

CSA were even willing to say in their official statement that it was a joint decision by the two bodies. But sources from the stadiums who are going to host the three matches have confirmed India was clearly reluctant to have the general public at the games.

There will apparently still be some spectators at the matches because a limited number of hospitality suites will be available for sponsors and administrators.

Another disappointing revelation for cricket fans on Monday was the news that the Mzansi Super League, scheduled for February, will revert back to just being an ordinary CSA T20 Challenge competition.

The Proteas are due to play a Test series in New Zealand from mid-February, which means they will certainly miss most of the T20 tournament, and, according to insiders, there has been little interest from any overseas stars in the MSL.

The difficulties of international travel during these times of Covid have played a role, as has the rand/dollar exchange rate, with CSA apparently needing to fork out large amounts to get rather average overseas cricketers to participate.

It means fans will have to be satisfied with seeing the young pups of domestic cricket battle it out, and it will also be held in a bio-bubble at St George’s Park.

CSA made the decision apparently in an effort to protect the MSL brand, given that the product in February is bound to be watered down compared to the premier global event they envisaged when they first introduced the troubled event.

The squads

The Proteas won the series 2-1 the last time India toured South Africa in early 2018, in a hotly-contested series.

But they have lost much of their brawn from that series with the bulk of their attack – Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel – having retired and their powerful middle-order of Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis also no longer playing.

From that 2018 series, only six players are still in the Proteas squad – Elgar, Markram, Maharaj, Rabada, De Kock and Ngidi. And there are fitness doubts over Lungi Ngidi, who has only bowled seven competitive overs since July.

India are missing, due to injury, the combative all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Rohit Sharma, one of their leading batsmen in recent years. Rohit is their highest-ranked Test batsman at No.5, but India still have plenty of batting muscle with four others from the top-20: Virat Kohli (6^th), Mayank Agarwal (12^th), Rishabh Pant (14^th) and Cheteshwar Pujara (17^th).

Jasprit Bumrah (11^th) and Mohammad Shami (18^th) will be the pace enforcers with the ball for India, but off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, number two on the rankings, is likely to be a major threat in the third and final Test at Newlands.

The venues

The same three grounds used in 2018 will be hosting the Tests again, but this time in a different order: SuperSport Park hosts the opener from Boxing Day, followed by the New Years Test at the Wanderers and then the series ends in Cape Town from January 11.

Batsmen found it hard to dominate in 2018 with Kohli and Dean Elgar the only batsmen to average over 40.

Hopefully the pitches in use this summer will provide a more even battle between bat and ball. Pitches with more even bounce would also be good because in 2018, the team that won the toss and batted first won all three matches, with terribly inconsistent bounce blighting the fourth innings.

Tactical approaches

South Africa could field a fiery trio of out-and-out fast bowlers in Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada and Duanne Olivier, making liberal use of the sort of short-pitched bowling Indian batsmen are generally not as used to facing and which has proven successful at both Centurion and the Wanderers. Lanky left-armer Marco Jansen also has plenty to offer in terms of pace and bounce.

Not that India’s pacemen are going to be at all generous to a South African batting line-up that has struggled to inspire in the last couple of years. If there is any assistance from the conditions, they will find it with the new ball and they are also very effective practitioners of reverse-swing.

Marco Jansen announced himself in the IPL back in April, but over the next couple of months the six-foot-eight 21-year-old could really burst on to the international scene as he is tipped to make his Test debut against India, either on Boxing Day or in the New Year.

And the good news is that Jansen is in fine form, having shone during the SA A series against India A that ended last week. In six first-class matches this summer for Eastern Province Warriors and SA A, he has taken 17 wickets at an average of 20.29. On a flat Bloemfontein pitch, Jansen troubled the India A batsmen more than his returns suggested.

“I was very pleased with how that series went because Bloemfontein is not easy for seam bowlers,” Jansen told The Citizen on Monday. “I just tried to be as consistent as possible.

“Fortunately I played a bit of four-day cricket before the series and it’s all about consistency otherwise you won’t get that rhythm or be on a good run. I’m bowling well at the moment because I’m consistent and hopefully I get to play one or two games for the Proteas.”

Growing up in Potchefstroom and starting his professional career in Bloemfontein, Jansen has certainly honed his skills on the sort of good batting pitches you get at Test level.

“When I look at a pitch and realise that it’s flat, I try and take responsibility and be as consistent as possible in terms of where I land the ball and how much energy I put in.

“Growing up in Potch, it was easy to get deflated and not give 100% all the time. But the players in Bloem helped me and I developed a new mindset – not to shy away, to go harder when it’s flat, be even more consistent and bowl with more energy,” Jansen said.

Having played for Mumbai Indians this year and now taken on India A, Jansen has plenty of intel in the memory bank for when the Test team arrives.

“It helps to know how they think and I know most of them. If I do get a chance to play against them, then you want to play better than them. You look forward to it especially because you know them.

“Someone like Hanuma Vihari, man he faced a lot of balls in the SA A/India A series! When I hear his name, I just see balls and balls. We actually chatted a lot and he batted really well in those conditions.

“We spent a lot of time joking around too and I told him that there will be a bit more bounce in Pretoria and Johannesburg, there’s no other pitch like Bloem in the country. I told him he better get his plans together!”

Likewise, Proteas fans can bank on Jansen, if he does make his debut, having both a plan and great form to rely upon.