Ken Borland

New Proteas Test captain Dean Elgar certainly seems to have made the sale in terms of getting buy-in from the team for his new approach and he said on Wednesday that the 2-0 series win in the West Indies was a result of the environment in the squad.

The opening batsman’s first outing as the full-time captain ended with South Africa hammering the West Indies, who were one place above them on the ICC rankings, by an innings-and-63-runs and then by 158 runs in the two Tests at St Lucia. It was the Proteas first Test series win away from home since beating newly-crowned world champions New Zealand in March 2017.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve won away from home, so it was a much-needed result and this performance speaks volumes for the environment around the team and the brand of cricket we played. It’s not about me, the players are my biggest asset as captain and I’m here to motivate the squad and the environment. It’s a massive honour to captain this team.

“You can either take the captaincy to your head or to your heart, and I like to think I’ve taken it to my heart. I’ve always been a leader, through school and franchise cricket, and I think I lead from the front. I may be small in stature, but I’m a big guy in terms of standing up. I don’t shy away from that,” Elgar said.

While the fast bowlers were front and centre in setting up the victory, Elgar also had plenty of praise for spinner Keshav Maharaj and the batsmen.

“Rabada, Nortje and Ngidi are a fearsome threesome, they put the fear of God in the batsmen, and they are a machine attack. Each of them is unique, but they complement each other so well, they know their games and they understand different game-plans.

“But Keshav is a massive player for the Proteas, the way he has changed his game and is always willing to learn. He’s huge for the environment and deserves more respect. To take a five-for on a pitch that wasn’t turning is brilliant. The batsmen have struggled of late but in really tough, challenging conditions, it was great to see everyone come in and make a contribution,” Elgar said.

The return of fiery fast bowler Shannon Gabriel to the West Indies squad suggests the home side’s response to their thrashing in the first Test at St Lucia will be less of a dignified one and more ferocious in nature when the second Test begins at the same venue on Friday, and Proteas captain Dean Elgar said he is expecting nothing less.

South Africa’s only selection issue is whether batsman Temba Bavuma has recovered from his hip problem, in which case he will come in for Kyle Verreynne.

While their dismal batting was the West Indies’ biggest problem, and they have recalled the experienced Darren Bravo to try help, their bowling attack can certainly do with the venom of Gabriel, who took 13 wickets at Gros Islet against Sri Lanka in June 2018, the best ever figures at the ground.

“I know how a team tends to bounce back at home and we definitely expect that from the West Indies. We’re definitely not taking anything for granted and the West Indies will be coming back with a plan. We have one win in the bag so far, but we can’t stop now, we want another win and to make it 2-0 would be great. Just one win has already taken us so far, so imagine what two will do?” Elgar said on Thursday.

South Africa have themselves always relied on their pace bowlers to spearhead their efforts and, with tropical showers around the island of St Lucia this week, Elgar believes the Proteas attack could once again be their trumpcard.

“The bowlers led the pack in the first Test, the words clinical and ruthless spring to mind, and the pitch looks similar to that one. There’s also been a bit of rain around, so maybe the wicket will be a bit softer and it seems to have the same grass cover. That means in the third and fourth innings there could be indentations and when our big fast bowlers hit those, that’s when the ball reacts from an up-and-down point of view.

“We have a well-spoken-about plan, but we have one of the best spinners in world cricket too, Keshav Maharaj plus three fast bowlers and an all-rounder, that’s my idea of the old South African way. It was great to see them stick to the plan so well in the first Test, when maybe we’ve been searching a bit lately. We’re happy to have the same sort of pitch again and if any bowling unit is going to get something out of it, it would be ours,” Elgar said.

While the Sharks team will certainly miss their nine Springboks who are away in the national camp in Bloemfontein, the fact that they will still field a very competitive outfit for the Currie Cup, as shown in the squad chosen to open their campaign against Griquas in Kimberley on Saturday, indicates that coach Sean Everitt has hit the bullseye when it comes to building the franchise’s depth.

Star flyhalf Curwin Bosch may be resting, but hooker Fez Mbatha and scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse were part of the Springboks’ alignment camps, the old second-row pairing of Ruben van Heerden and Hyron Andrews has been reunited, and James Venter, Thembelani Bholi and the in-form Phepsi Buthelezi comprise an excellent loose trio. Centres Marius Louw and Jeremy Ward are a seasoned combination and Springbok Sevens star Werner Kok is on the wing.

“The Preparation Series was a massive boost for us because we were able to juggle two teams, which showed we had confidence in all the players and we were able to look after the guys who have a massive load. In the last year, guys like Fez Mbatha, JJ van der Mescht, Phepsi Buthelezi and Jaden Hendrikse have all come through and had opportunity at senior level.

“It now seems like they have been around for a while and they have had exposure to senior rugby. We have confidence in their ability, our juniors are the best in their positions in the country, and it is a well-rounded squad with the addition of guys like Jeremy Ward, Marius Louw and Boeta Chamberlain. Plus Henco Venter still has to come in,” Everitt said.

And even now as they go in search of the elusive trophy you would have bet the Sharks would have grabbed by now before the arrival of Covid and Jake White at the Bulls, Everitt still has his eye on the greater squad as a whole, particularly with the South African franchises heading into the unknown in Europe.

“You can look at the Currie Cup both ways, obviously we want to win it, make no mistake, but it’s about growing our squad too. There’s not going to be time for any pre-season before we play in Europe, so that’s 11 rounds of Pro16 we have to get through and we won’t have our Springboks back until probably January.

“To win the Currie Cup, we have to be more accurate, we have to be able to really squeeze the opposition and not give them anything. Those are issues we can rectify,” Everitt said.

Sharks – Manie Libbok, Werner Kok, Jeremy Ward, Marius Louw, Anthony Volmink, Boeta Chamberlain, Jaden Hendrikse, Phepsi Buthelezi (c), Thembelani Bholi, James Venter, Hyron Andrews, Ruben van Heerden, Khutha Mchunu, Fez Mbatha, Khwezi Mona. Bench: Kerron van Vuuren, Mzamo Majola, Wiehahn Herbst, JJ van der Mescht, Reniel Hugo, Mpilo Gumede, Grant Williams, Marnus Potgieter.

Test rugby is always a high-stakes endeavour, but the series against the British and Irish Lions is going to be as tightly wound as the bobbins on the machines that used to stitch together the four panels that comprised a rugby ball, which is why the Springboks will be relying on the tried and tested experience within their squad, according to backline coach Mzwandile Stick.

The Lions’ last two Tests were a 15-15 draw and a three-point win over the All Blacks in 2017, and South Africa won the 2009 series through a five-point win in Durban and then the 28-25 thriller in Pretoria. So while there is much excitement over the likes of Aphelele Fassi, Damian Willemse, Rosko Specman, Yaw Penxe or Sanele Nohamba pulling on the Green and Gold next month, Stick preached caution on Thursday.

“There’s going to be massive pressure and we have to make sure we build the confidence of the youngsters. We can’t just throw Aphelele, Rosko and Yaw in together. We’ve still got a guy like Willie le Roux, who has massive experience and understands what it takes at Test level. We want Aphelele to feed off Willie and not wait until he retires to be able to learn that stuff.

“The new guys are all asking good questions, interacting and training with the experienced guys, and seeing what stuff they do off the field to prepare as well. If Willie can help Aphelele now, then it means he won’t take seven years to learn those things. We really want to build our depth and start from scratch at scrumhalf when someone like Faf de Klerk decides to move on,” Stick said.

The curse of the Covid pandemic, and South Africa’s hard lockdown, means the Springbok management has also had to focus strictly on the conditioning of the locally-based players in order to make sure they will be up to the intensity of Test rugby when they step on to the field at the Cape Town Stadium on July 24.

“As coaches we were never lectured in a pandemic and I think the last one was in 1918! But it’s been a tough challenge for the players as well and we had to improve our ball-in-play time. We know at Test level that it’s close to 38-40 minutes, but in our Currie Cup we were averaging 26 minutes. So we needed to control the stoppages and what happens off the ball.

“Fortunately the standard has really improved, skills-wise too. We know the last time we played together was in the World Cup final in 2019, but the last time the Lions played together was in 2017, so both teams are in the same situation. Luckily our overseas players have had tough, physical competition week in and week out. And no-one is interested in excuses anymore,” Stick said.