Ken Borland

New Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad is not aiming to be the manufacturer of some dramatic new way of playing five-day cricket, but he has nevertheless made some brave calls as South Africa head into a new era in what most players still consider the pinnacle of the game as they take on the West Indies in the first of a two-match series in Centurion from Tuesday.

Conrad has not only installed a new Test captain in Temba Bavuma, whose predecessor Dean Elgar remains in the team but needs to regain his ability to make tough runs, but also cut a trio of players who would probably have expected to still be involved.

Dropping two of the three leading run-scorers in the series in Australia over the festive season is certainly a tough call if you are Kyle Verreynne, who scored two half-centuries in the three Tests, or Sarel Erwee, whose last Test innings was the dogged 42 not out he scored to help South Africa save the third Test in Sydney.

Lungi Ngidi has also been a regular in the Test team, playing 11 of the 18 Tests in the last two years. He has taken 33 wickets in that time, at an excellent average of just 21.63. Ngidi has also conceded only 3.06 runs-per-over in that time, all of which suggests he plays an important role in the Proteas attack, but Conrad has seemingly gone the bold route of wanting the express pace of uncapped Gerald Coetzee instead.

Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram are the batsmen to benefit from the axing of Verreynne and Erwee. There is no doubting that both are amongst the most talented strokeplayers in the country, but Klaasen has scored just 48 runs in four Test innings, and Markram makes yet another return based on just how damn good he looks whenever he picks up a bat, except when it comes to actually scoring runs at Test level.

Typically of Conrad, who is never afraid to back his big calls, he has already stated that Markram will return to opening the batting alongside Elgar. The new coach is not reinventing how the Proteas play Test cricket, but he is certainly aiming for a more aggressive, positive approach.

Conrad was walking around the SuperSport Park field on Monday morning during the Proteas’ final preparations like a sergeant major, but he is not all bark and bite; he found time to give the no-doubt hurting Elgar an arm around the shoulder and a rub of the neck.

If the 55-year-old Conrad is the equivalent of the Proteas’ chairman of the board, then Bavuma is the new CEO tasked with getting the best out of the staff.

Bavuma is no stranger to international captaincy, of course, having led the Proteas in 17 ODIs and 25 T20s. He is highly-respected by his team-mates for his tactical acumen, technical ability and tenacity.

Bavuma has been no stranger to tough times recently, and he was stressing the need for his team to embrace a fresh start against the West Indies.

“These are exciting times, it’s the start of a new journey and I would like us to start with a clean slate and play the way we want to play,” Bavuma said at Centurion on Monday.

“We have got enough resources in the 15-man squad to adapt to conditions and back up whatever tactics we want to employ. And there are other leaders within the team, guys who have been around for a while, who I can definitely lean on. We just need to ensure we are all speaking the same language.

“The brand of cricket we play is how we want to measure ourselves, but we still need to man up. We know as a batting unit that we need to score the runs, we need to go out and do what we need to do.

“A lot of these guys have won a series against India not long ago when no-one really backed us to do that. I always preach playing together as a team and we don’t want to lose that,” Bavuma said.

Fresh starts almost always involve a positive approach to things, and it seems the Proteas are as concerned with how they go about playing as what they produce. Conrad will have to live or die by his brave choices, and perhaps he will discover that sometimes producing the goods is all that matters, no matter how you look doing it.

Temba Bavuma and the Proteas will no doubt still receive more than their fair share of flak for the next few weeks following their shock exit at the hands of the Netherlands in the T20 World Cup, but it is only right that Cricket South Africa come under scrutiny too for their handling of the domestic game.

The Proteas are the end result of whatever comes through the domestic system, so that pipeline is of vital importance. The first domestic tournament has already come to an end with the Northerns Titans winning the CSA T20 Challenge in Potchefstroom last weekend.

As provincial cricket so often is these days, it was a low-key event, not helped by it all taking place in one little university town. But CSA’s cost-cutting necessities are understandable.

But what is neither understandable nor acceptable is the way CSA impose so many other agendas, other than performance simply being the be-all and end-all, on the provincial teams.

The fact that CSA issued a directive forbidding the Central Gauteng Lions from choosing their star player, Sisanda Magala, simply because he failed their fitness tests, should cause all the provincial CEOs to rise up and reject such interference in their affairs by the mother body.

Magala is the sort of T20 specialist, with his death-bowling skills and hard-hitting batting, who could have made the Lions genuine contenders for a tournament in which they finished fifth, just two points away from the semi-finals.

The Lions missed out on vital promotion/relegation points because they were severely hamstrung by CSA. A player on the fringes of the national team – many believe he should have been in Australia for the World Cup – was also denied the opportunity to further build on his sizeable reputation.

And Magala’s credentials have not just been praised by great fast bowlers such as Dale Steyn and Shaun Pollock; the most ruthless judges of them all, the Indian IPL team owners, clearly rate the 31-year-old very highly too – he was bought for R5.4 million by the Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA20 Auction.

Magala’s ‘crime’ was that he cannot run a two-kilometre time trial in eight minutes, 30 seconds, missing out by a few seconds and that was enough for some jobsworth at CSA to ban him from playing in the CSA T20 Challenge. The big lad is actually pretty athletic in the field and never has a problem bowling his four overs and is quite capable of running quick singles. Where running two kilometres applies to batting and bowling I would love to know.

With so much at stake for the provinces – relegation would be a financial disaster for a team like the Lions – the day is surely coming when they challenge any policies imposed on them that stop them from performing at their best.

This over-emphasis on arbitrary fitness tests is surely something that falls under the ambit of director of cricket Enoch Nkwe and he needs to address it.

Not having Magala, one of our best cricketers, playing is also doing a disservice to transformation. In order to reach their targets, the Lions actually had to rope in a club cricketer to replace their star all-rounder on the morning the tournament started.

Magala’s treatment is just yet another example of South African cricket hurting itself. How did forcing him on to the sidelines serve the game or make it better?

Perhaps the day South Africa finally win a cricket world cup is the day when high performance, winning or getting results (call it what you will) is the only focus for our teams.

Mark Boucher finished his tenure as Proteas coach with what he acknowledged was the worst result of his three-year term, but he absolved the coaching staff of any blame in the shock T20 World Cup loss to the Netherlands, implying the fault was squarely with the players.

“As coach, yes, it is the worst of the lot. It’s frustrating because as a player you still have a say, but as coach you leave it up to others to perform. Looking at the coaching staff, we ticked every box and we thought the guys were in a very good space,” Boucher said.

“At the start of the tournament, we would have taken having to beat the Netherlands to get into the semi-finals. We’ve got a good team and we believe on a given day we can beat anyone.

“That’s why the loss is so disappointing and we only have ourselves to blame. We were never really in the game, the Netherlands could come out and play brave cricket and we just weren’t able to get the momentum back on our side.

“We mustn’t look at one or two players, we need to look at the whole squad and they simply were not good enough today. The bottom line is we did not play well enough,” Boucher said.

Many articles have been devoted to why the Proteas consistently under-perform at World Cups, but Boucher said the team had shown their mettle in tight wins before, like over India in their third match of the tournament.

“I believe each world cup exit has been an individual event, although I know there is a lot of history. We have really played some good cricket in the T20 format, but we lost to Pakistan and looked flat today.

“The energy just did not seem to be there and we did not bowl or bat the way we should have. We certainly should have been better, but it just didn’t happen.

“But it’s not the only upset in this tournament, some very good sides have been beaten by so-called ‘lesser’ teams. The more we don’t do well at World Cups, it does start to play on your mind.

“But we’ve played tight games and won. I’m gutted, to be honest. The players really deserved to give themselves a better chance,” Boucher said.

Anrich Nortje – 8

11 wickets @ 8.54, Econ 5.37, BB 4-10

Pushed himself farther than any of the other bowlers and enjoyed a superb tournament. High pace, good control and even some slower balls saw him twice take four wickets in an innings.

David Miller – 7

78 runs @ 78.00, SR 116.41, HS 59*.

The left-hander’s beloved finishing ability was to the fore against India, but unfortunately he could not repeat the heroics against the Netherlands, thanks to a spectacular catch.

Still South Africa’s best in the middle-order, he was sorely missed against Pakistan due to his back spasm.

Rilee Rossouw – 7

141 runs @ 35.25, SR 169.87, HS 109.

The crowds were cheering him after his magnificent century against Bangladesh, but he failed against India and Pakistan, while he looked threatening but gave it away versus the Netherlands. Shot-selection can sometimes let him down.

Wayne Parnell – 6.5

5 wickets @ 20.40, Econ 6.37, BB 3-15. 5 runs @ 2.50, SR 38.46, HS 3.

Did grand work up front with the new ball, but was expensive at the death, conceding 26 runs in the two overs he bowled there against Pakistan and the Netherlands. His batting was barely functional for an all-rounder.

Keshav Maharaj – 6

3 wickets @ 29.66, Econ 7.41, BB 2-27.

You can always rely on Maharaj’s left-arm spin to be tidy and controlled, which it once again was.

Quinton de Kock – 6

124 runs @ 31.00, SR 161.03, HS 63.

Magnificent in the first two games, and then his batting fell away as his feet often looked entombed in concrete. Also tended to be a bit solemn in the field, when teams normally look to their wicketkeeper to provide the spark.

Tabraiz Shamsi – 6

4 wickets @ 14.00, Econ 7.00, BB 3-20.

Only used by the Proteas in the two matches in Sydney; Bangladesh’s demise was hastened by his three wickets, but then Shamsi was put to the sword in one over by Pakistan’s Shadab Khan.

Lungi Ngidi – 5.5

7 wickets @ 16.57, Econ 8.92, BB 4-29.

Missed the match against Bangladesh but bounced back with an outstanding display against India. Was disappointing when the Proteas exited the competition in Adelaide, his performance not being up to scratch on a pitch that suited him.

Aiden Markram – 5.5

99 runs @ 24.75, SR 125.31, HS 52. 1 wicket @ 21.00, Econ 7.00, BB 1-16.

Always looks so technically correct at the crease, and his half-century against India was an innings of proper class. Got in and got out though against Pakistan and the Netherlands. Bowled three overs of tidy off-spin.

Heinrich Klaasen – 5

36 runs @ 18.00, SR 133.33, HS 21.

The difficulties of the role can be seen in the performances of the Proteas’ back-up finisher. Would obviously have liked to have changed the results of the two matches he played in, against Pakistan and the Netherlands, but his strike-rate was okay.

Temba Bavuma – 3.5

70 runs @ 17.50, SR 112.90, HS 36.

Again found life at the top of the order tough, although his 36 off 19 balls against Pakistan seemed to have revitalised him. Can there be any future for him in T20 Internationals?

Kagiso Rabada – 3.5

2 wickets @ 75.50, Econ 9.43, BB 1-24.

South Africa’s premier fast bowler was a bit like the husband who does not do his chores around the house. The expectation was there, in perfect conditions for him, and he looked good at the start of the tournament, but he was tardy in the last two matches.

Tristan Stubbs – 3

31 runs @ 10.33, SR 100.00, HS 18.

An unforgiving World Cup debut for the 22-year-old as he was just not able to provide much acceleration at the death. Perhaps he pushed too hard, too early, but the Proteas should certainly give him more opportunities.