Ken Borland

If the main thing is winning then Proteas fans should be delighted to see Simon Harmer back in the Test squad for the tour to New Zealand. Paul Harris, South Africa’s leading spinner when they were last ranked No.1 in the longest format, is certainly very happy to see the Essex off-spinner back in the national team’s ranks.

The returns of Harmer and paceman Lutho Sipamla are the two changes to the squad that did such fine duty against India, with George Linde unavailable due to his wedding and Sisanda Magala giving way to his Central Gauteng Lions team-mate.

The 32-year-old Harmer has played five Tests, the last of which was against India in Nagpur in November 2015. The following year he signed a Kolpak deal with Essex and in the last five years has been the most prolific wicket-taker in first-class cricket anywhere in the world – with 443 wickets at an average of just 22.77. Playing for Northerns, he is the second-highest wicket-taker in the four-day competition behind Duanne Olivier (28), with 27 at 21.40.

“It’s amazing what Harmer has achieved and he deserves his recall,” Harris told The Citizen on Wednesday. “He’ll obviously be coming in with huge confidence because he has taken so many wickets.

“England would have selected him ages ago if they could have. But we might play two spinners and Simon balances it nicely – an offie joining a left-armer.

“He’ll be a great back-up. Keshav Maharaj is our main spinner, but to have Harmer pushing him, putting pressure on him, will be good.

“It’s a great selection and, as much as we enjoy criticising the selectors, we have to give them credit here. It’s a really good squad,” Harris said.

The Proteas leave for New Zealand next week and, due to Covid fears, the second Test has been moved from Wellington to Christchurch, where the first Test from February 17 will be played.

Hagley Oval was the venue where earlier this month the Black Caps snuffed out, via an innings victory, Bangladesh’s hopes of an historic series win in New Zealand following their shock victory at Mount Maunganui.

“We’ve seen lately that there have generally been good pitches there,” Harris said. “There will be a bit in it for the seamers, so it would have been nice to have Anrich Nortje fit.

“But sometimes they can be a bit slow and then the spinners come into it. So you just need to hang in there, hit the deck hard and there may be a bit of turn later. It should be a cracking series!” Harris added.

Proteas Test squad vs New Zealand – Dean Elgar (captain), Sarel Erwee, Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma (vice-captain), Kyle Verreynne, Ryan Rickelton, Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Glenton Stuurman, Lutho Sipamla.

The decision by the Bulls to field top players like Bismarck du Plessis, Marcell Coetzee, Morne Steyn, Harold Vorster and Lionel Mapoe in the Currie Cup loans some credibility to the competition, but truth be told, there can be little doubt that the famous old tournament is now on its last legs.

Of course it helps the Bulls that they have deep pockets thanks to the generous investment of their equity partners. But they should not be criticised for being professional and organised enough to attract those investments and also recognising the need to significantly improve the depth of their squad now that they are playing in two competitions at the same time.

The fact that they have been willing to field a number of players who will feature in Saturday’s URC derby against the Stormers shows that they, at least, are taking the Currie Cup seriously, unlike so many in South African rugby.

The Sharks are probably in an even better position financially, but they made a slow start to the Currie Cup by beating Griquas by just one point in Durban. But conditions – hot and humid and then raining – were definitely a levelling factor and the Sharks were not helped by having to play the final quarter with 14 men due to a red card. But even with all their riches – both in personnel and in finances – the Sharks only fielded one Springbok in 33-year-old prop Lourens Adriaanse.

The Bulls being 40-0 up against archrivals Western Province at Newlands and the Pumas putting fifty past the Lions at Ellis Park does little for the credibility of the Currie Cup.

Little wonder then that the public response has been muted. If SA Rugby is barely interested in the Currie Cup, why should spectators pay good money to support it? The Currie Cup, from being South African rugby’s second biggest brand after the Springboks, is now so devalued and the public are not going to be fooled by all the hype when there is little substance.

Some people do enjoy rugby more from the aesthetic of plenty of tries being scored and this mishmash Currie Cup will probably provide that. But even the Bulls are unlikely to use their top players in it once the United Rugby Championship gets into full swing.

SA Rugby find themselves with a problem because the URC hasn’t captured the public imagination yet like SuperRugby did in the early days. In that regard Covid has obviously not helped, neither have the poor performances of the South African franchises overseas.

But a disjointed, lopsided competition – Jake White made the point that Saturday’s game at Loftus Versfeld is the Bulls’ first at home in the URC, which started on September 24 – now also has its waters further muddied by the Currie Cup taking place at the same time.

I would call it an absolute howler by SA Rugby but there are some extenuating circumstances in their defence.

First of all, it is the provinces who have said they want a double-round of Currie Cup, which then becomes a challenge to fit into an already crowded calendar. Player workload concerns are also a factor, with URC starting in January and running through to June 18, after which there is the Test window.

But the last time a normal Currie Cup season was played in a double round, it began on June 18 and ended on September 11. I would still play the Currie Cup after the URC. Sure, the current Springboks would not play, but when last did they feature in a proper Currie Cup anyway?

At the moment, this most famous of domestic competitions has been reduced to Vodacom Cup status.

He was always going to miss the next two Tests against India on paternity leave, but it was confirmed on Thursday night that we have seen the last of Quinton de Kock in Test cricket as the wicketkeeper/batsman announced his retirement from the format.

The 29-year-old made relatively minor contributions with the bat – scoring 34 and 21 – in his final Test as South Africa lost by 113 runs at Centurion on Thursday. It leaves De Kock with a Test record of 3300 runs in 54 matches at an average of 38.82, with six centuries and 22 fifties.

As designated wicketkeeper, that average goes up to 40.12 and of all the glovemen in Test history who have scored more than 2000 runs, only countryman AB de Villiers (57.41), Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower (53.70), Australia’s Adam Gilchrist (47.60), Englishmen Les Ames (43.40) and Matt Prior (40.18), and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (40.48) have averaged more.

De Kock’s reason for retirement is his family, with he and his wife Sasha expecting their first child in the New Year.

“This is not a decision that I have come to very easily,” De Kock said in a statement. “I have taken a lot of time to think about what my future looks like and what needs to take priority in my life now that Sasha and I are about to welcome our first child into this world and look to grow our family beyond that.

“My family is everything to me and I want to have the time and space to be able to be with them during this new and exciting chapter of our lives.

“I love Test cricket and I love representing my country and all that it comes with. I’ve enjoyed the ups and the downs, the celebrations and even the disappointments, but now I’ve found something that I love even more.

“In life, you can buy almost everything except for time, and right now, it’s time to do right by the people that mean the most to me,” De Kock said.

De Kock had the sort of batting x-factor you just can’t buy and was certainly one of the most feared South African batsmen.

But De Kock seemed to be getting worn down by the grind of Test cricket, especially the new normal of bio-secure bubbles, not helped by a fairly disastrous time when he had the captaincy thrust upon him.

If this decision buys De Kock more time in limited-overs cricket – he says he remains fully-committed to the white-ball game – then it will be worth it for the Proteas.

Kyle Verreynne, who has already played two Tests, is the likely successor behind the stumps for the Test team, with Ryan Rickelton waiting in the wings and Heinrich Klaasen another gloveman who has had a taste of Test cricket in the last couple of years.

Anyone who still buys into the narrative that India are poor away from home has clearly not been keeping up to date because Virat Kohli’s men have won their last four series overseas.

That includes back-to-back triumphs in Australia and victory in England. But South Africa remains the one country where India have not managed to win a series. And the fact that Sri Lanka were the first subcontinent team to achieve that feat – in 2018/19 – does not sit well with the global superpowers.

Opener Lokesh Rahul is developing into one of India’s key batsmen and on Friday he admitted winning a series in South Africa for the first time is “extra motivation” for the team, although he is well aware of the challenges they will face in Centurion, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

“This is a huge series for us, we always take away tours as a challenge,” Rahul said. “A lot was said about India not being able to win overseas, but we worked really hard on it and we won in England and Australia.

“But we have not won a series here and that is extra motivation. We will try to be better this time and learn from our previous mistakes here.

“The pace and bounce here is very different to any other country, which is why it was important to get here earlier and we’ve had a great week of preparation, with a lot of intensity.

“Australia is fast and bouncy, but here the pitches start a bit slow, then quicken up and then slow down again, and you have to adjust. It’s an exciting place to play and the new ball plays a big part,” Rahul said.

Kohli was the only Indian batsman to average more than 35 on their previous tour here in early 2018 and the tourists will be relying on him again, along with his fellow 33-year-olds Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara to contribute much more.

They are hardly antiques, but their form in recent seasons suggests they will be looking over their shoulders at the younger generation.

Rahul himself had a miserable time in South Africa in 2018, scoring just 30 runs in four innings. But he believes he has the game-plan to put that right.

“I have to play close to the body, the same as an opener wherever you play. I need to try see off the new ball and that means leaving a lot of deliveries. We don’t want to be giving away wickets in the first 25-30 overs.

“I need to play tight, I did it in England as well. You need to be a lot more focused and disciplined here, you have to be patient to get your runs.

“It’s important that we start well with the bat and be prepared to leave the ball multiple times,” Rahul said.