Ken Borland

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus may be downplaying the importance of winning the inaugural Nations Championship, but filling his team with World Cup winners and first-choice regulars to play England at Ellis Park on Saturday makes it clear how seriously South Africa are taking their opening Test of the year.

With only the injured Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu absent, the backline is probably the one Erasmus would name if it were the World Cup final on Saturday. And up front are all the formidable old names – the now-established first-choice loose trio of captain Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese; Eben Etzebeth and Ruan Nortje in the second row, and Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Thomas du Toit in the front row.

One can probably vigorously debate whether Grant Williams or Cobus Reinach are the number one scrumhalf; but Williams has played 28 Tests already and can no longer be called inexperienced, while Reinach has not played any rugby since his injury on Stormers duty at the end of April.

Du Toit may or may not be South Africa’s best tighthead prop, but English pundits have nothing but praise for him, the 31-year-old having taken the European game  by storm during his three years at Bath. With Wilco Louw fatigued after a tough URC campaign, the Sharks-bound Du Toit gets an early chance to lay down a marker in the Springbok jersey, his mobility for a high-paced game at altitude being a plus.

It is fit and proper that Erasmus and the Springboks are taking England so seriously, in contrast to many South Africans who expect them to be filling their boots against Steve Borthwick’s visitors.

Yes, England struggled in the Six Nations, but let’s not forget that at the start of this year, it was this weekend’s clash at Ellis Park that was creating the most excitement for the early rounds of the new Nations Championship. England had risen to third in the world rankings thanks to their unbeaten run through their Autumn Internationals, including a 33-19 dismantling of the All Blacks, and them versus South Africa seemed to be a match-up between the two most in-form teams on the planet.

The momentum was lost in the Six Nations, until England nearly beat champions France in Paris. They looked back on the up again and showed that they do still have some potent weapons.

“Our mindset is just to win another Test match and I’m pretty sure England are the same. The Barbarians match was a nice warm-up and it helped get the guys into the structure, but this is now a big Test. England are always tough, their strength in numbers is really good, many of their players were in the Premiership final so their standard is very high,” Erasmus warned when announcing his team this week.

“There are not a lot of games against England in our squad and it will be all about how quickly we can get cohesion, alignment and playing together. England should have won their last game against France, they only just lost, and having been here a while, they’ve probably adapted to altitude.

“We’ll have to see how they run the ball, but they have a young and energetic side that fits an open, running game. We’ll have to get the better of them facet by facet of the game, try and win by dominating the different departments of the game.

“This is a big year for us, there are young guys there in our squad but they don’t have a lot of caps and next year is the World Cup. The priority is to keep our momentum and belief, so we’re just trying to win, we won’t be chasing bonus points. If we win all our games, we’ll win the Nations Championship.

“We just want to try and get on the front foot, get momentum, but it’s not going to be easy. Which is why we’ve chosen a more experienced side. If it goes well on Saturday, then we can use more youngsters in the next few weeks,” Erasmus said.

The double World Cup winning coach’s caution is also justified by history: the last Test the Springboks played at Ellis Park was their embarrassing 38-22 defeat to Australia on August 16 last year, while the last time they played England in Johannesburg was on June 16, 2018.

On that occasion, the Springboks won 42-39, recovering from a horror start in which they went 24-3 down. It was just Rassie’s second Test as head coach and Siya Kolisi was the first Black African to lead South Africa in a Test match. The lesson from that game was that momentum can shift very quickly at Ellis Park.

Last year’s defeat to the Wallabies provided another salient lesson and warning – it is easy, given how fast-scoring matches can be at Ellis Park, to get carried away. The Springboks were near-perfect in the opening quarter, leading 22-0 with some scintillating rugby. But then they hit a speed wobble, over-played and Australia were well-deserved winners.

Using Manie Libbok at flyhalf worked marvellously when the Springboks were in charge and on attack, but his game management was exposed when the Wallabies fought their way back into the contest. It seemed on that day that Libbok had only one gear – flat out – and their game eventually spiralled out of control, a bit like what has happened to English cricket with their Bazball.

This Saturday at Ellis Park will be the first Test since then that Erasmus is using Libbok in the No.10 jersey. The injury to Feinberg-Mngomezulu nows gives the former Stormers star the chance to show that the effective job he has done coming off the bench since then can be repeated from the start.

“I have a clear understanding what my role is. I need to go out there and lead with my voice, drive the team around the park and make sure we execute our game plan. I need to do my exits, make sure we are in the right areas and play with the right balance,” Libbok told SuperSport this week.

“It’s especially about looking after the forwards, not wasting their energy and overplaying them. I need to handle the pressure, kick at the right times and get in their territory,” Libbok said, perhaps in reference to the feeling that the Springboks had shot their bolt way too early against the Wallabies last season.

South Africa are going to have to box smart against England and it will require a much more controlled performance from them if their proud record against the Red Rose in Johannesburg is not going to go the same way as their one against Australia went to everyone’s shock last year.

England have not won at Ellis Park since 1972 and anywhere on the Highveld since 2000, while Australia’s previous win at the intimidating venue came in 1963 and they had not triumphed anywhere in South Africa since 2011.

England are a competent side across the board and the Springboks will be looking for a knockout blow via their usual weapons of physical dominance at the gainline and in the set-pieces, with a lethal backline able to both create space and take advantage of what materialises thanks to their mighty forwards.

“The current structure of global cricket is unsustainable and countries outside of the ‘Big Three’ (India, England and Australia) will play less and less bilateral series cricket, with some in danger of disappearing altogether from the Test cricket scene,” Tony Irish, who is an independent director of cricket’s global players’ body, the World Cricketers’ Association, has warned.

The only international cricket that really makes money now is India at home and abroad, and England and Australia tours. Any other bilateral cricket loses money. Bilateral cricket is those tours between countries playing Tests, ODIs and T20 matches.

The Future Tours Program previously ensured every team would play each other twice in a four-year cycle, home and away. But Narayanaswami Srinivasan [India], Giles Clarke [England] and Wally Edwards [Australia] deregulated everything in 2016, making bilateral tours a free-for-all. There are no rules, and therefore there is no context to so much international cricket.

It has become like Liverpool playing Arsenal and Chelsea five times a year and Bournemouth just once. But the BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] don’t want more regulation and a well-structured calendar. That would mean they cannot wheel-and-deal, give and take games away from countries depending on whether they vote with them or not.

They want the status quo to continue so they can maximise their own revenues. England and Australia just go along with them and no-one stands against them.

There also needs to be a more equitable distribution of ICC revenues. India take nearly 40% of the revenues and they already get huge pots of money through the IPL and bilateral cricket.

There is huge financial inequality across the game with India at the top of the pile. India has resources of approximately $1.5 billion dollars per year; the country in 13^th place gets $6 million per year yet these two teams must compete against each other. How do they expect this to be a contest? There are 108 International Cricket Council (ICC) member countries and 50% of ICC revenues go to the ‘Big Three’, 87% of bilateral revenues are retained by England, Australia and India; while countries ranked 13 to 108 get 2% of total cricket revenues. ICC revenues are those generated from ICC events i.e. world cups, and is different to bilateral revenues which are the aggregate of what all of the countries generate from their series against each other.

Why must the ‘Big Three’ take such a huge slice? The system is just so inequitable and so incoherent. The whole structure, even ICC events, is set up for them and they have won 19 of the last 22 major ICC events.

While life is obviously good for Indian cricket, and they do deserve consideration for being the biggest market in the game, the second-biggest sport in the world is in danger of becoming like gridiron or baseball, which are minor sports in all but a couple of countries.

The ‘Big Three’ are just maximising revenue for themselves now, but it’s very short-sighted because in five or six years they might have no-one else to play against. People will get bored of just watching England-versus-Australia-versus-India. It’s a bad strategy and it’s one of the reasons the players are gravitating towards franchise leagues.

The ICC held their AGM in late July and set up a working group to make recommendations to the ICC board on an improved system of playing international cricket. But Irish, who is also a former chief executive of the South African Cricketers’ Association, told kenborland.com that despite this initiative and the phenomenal interest created by the magnificent five-Test series between England and India, “bilateral international cricket for other countries is highly endangered unless structural changes are recommended by this group and those structural changes are implemented”.

“The current system is broken,” said Irish, “primarily because there is no coherent playing schedule centrally controlled by the ICC, and bilateral cricket consists of a matrix of individual deals between countries, with no rules.

“This allows the ‘Big Three’ to play more and more against each other and less and less against the smaller countries. In a landscape where the global media rights revenue pie is also getting smaller, the commercial value of series between the smaller countries is dropping and these countries will soon no longer be able to afford to play bilateral series, which includes Test matches.

“This is also happening in a system where there is an inequitable sharing of revenues from ICC events. The combined effect is that in the current system the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The smaller countries will, in addition, struggle to retain their best players for bilateral cricket as these players can earn more playing in T20 leagues around the world than they can playing bilateral cricket for their countries.

“The ICC sees all these franchise T20 leagues purely as domestic cricket, but in reality they are not – they all use international players and because of that they compete with bilateral cricket for players. In an unregulated schedule they also compete for calendar space. For a number of the small countries, the leagues are winning this battle against bilateral cricket; and Test cricket being the longest format, and the most expensive to stage, will suffer the most.

“In South Africa, despite the Proteas being the world Test champions, the team is scheduled to play only four Test matches over the next 12 months and there is no home Test cricket in the coming season,” Irish pointed out.

Amidst this pessimistic outlook, however, the World Cricketers Association released its Game Structure Report (https://theworldca.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Global-Game-Structure-Report-Final-1.pdf) in March. The report is the only holistic review of the structure of cricket and is based on over 60 detailed interviews with game stakeholders (including administrators, media and commercial partners, players, team owners and broadcasters and journalists), extensive player surveys, statistical and scheduling data, and financial and economic data. Among the recommended structural solutions are:

1. A centrally controlled (by ICC) global calendar which includes all bilateral cricket, ICC events (eg World Cups) and T20 leagues using international players
2. Simpler and easier to follow competition structures across all formats with credible points systems to provide context
3. Workable windows for core international bilateral (including Test) cricket
4. A more equitable distribution of ICC event revenues
5. A regulatory framework across the cricket system.

“This shouldn’t be all doom and gloom because there are solutions to this. They however require structural change to the whole system and not a tinkering with the current system. The introduction of windows for bilateral cricket is part of a workable solution to ensure bilateral cricket, including Test cricket, can co-exist with T20 leagues rather than compete with them,” Irish said.

“In the current system, no top countries play during the IPL, so that effectively has its own window. The IPL is fantastic for the game, but that window will continue to grow because of the billion-dollar investments in it and its insatiable market. It’s already gone from six weeks to nine weeks and this growth cuts into the playing calendar of other countries.”

“In addition, we’re now seeing cross-ownership of teams with the IPL franchises having sides in the SA20, The Hundred, Caribbean Premier League and Major League Cricket (USA). Eventually we’ll get to the stage where T20 franchises will offer the best players contracts to play for all of their teams across multiple leagues.

“If this happens, the national Boards will lose contractual control over their most important assets, being their players. If anything should act as a warning sign to the national Boards that the system must change, it is this.

“In a restructured system, the World Test Championship could also be improved. Currently it is confusing because the points system is contrived to fit the existing matrix of bilateral deals which has some teams playing more matches than others and some countries not playing others at all.

“Very good Test teams like the Proteas and New Zealand are playing fewer and fewer Tests, which will translate into less and less domestic four-day cricket – the breeding ground of Test cricketers. A four-day domestic first-class competition is one of the biggest cost items for every national Board, but if Test cricket loses money and less and less of it is played, then it is obvious that Boards will cut back more and more on four-day domestic competitions,” Irish said.

“We believe, said Irish, “that by making these changes it would significantly improve the global cricket product and that this would result in additional annual global revenues of approximately $250 million. The Boston Consulting Group, which has done a significant amount of work on the economics of the game, believes that the global cricket industry revenues should be about double what they currently are.

“We presented the World Cricketers Association Game Structure Report at the World Cricket Connects conference at Lords in June (just before the World Test Championship final) and it was well-received by the majority of those present at the conference.

“We know however that our proposals are being met with resistance at the ICC level. I think that most countries know that the current system is either broken or that it should be significantly improved. If the ICC group looking into the global structure don’t like our proposals, then it will be interesting to see what recommendations they make to deal with the current problems.

“I don’t believe the current system can carry on much longer without some countries being forced to abandon aspects of bilateral cricket or them losing their most important assets as the game continues in the current direction of travel,” Irish said.

If we want international cricket to be a healthy product then we can’t just go on doing the same thing. Even the richer countries will eventually fall off the edge, it’s a downward spiral. It’s all going in the wrong direction, especially if you’re a smaller country, and no-one is stopping the train.

The Global Game Structure Report calls for four 21-day protected windows reserved for bilateral cricket in which no T20 leagues can be held. It would mean every country would play at least one match per format against all other teams. Promotion and relegation between two divisions would provide greater context and jeopardy.

To save bilateral cricket, we need structural change, not a little plaster. Day/night Tests, pink balls, four-day Tests – none of it has worked to meaningfully change things.

Previously, the Woolf Report was specifically about ICC governance, but India didn’t like it and so the ICC dismissed it. It was the same three countries getting their way because India don’t want to lose their bargaining chips. Remember when Haroon Lorgat stood up to them and India cut their tour to South Africa in half and CSA lost a billion Rand?

The ICC and the ‘Big Three’ seem intent on allowing such great cricketing nations as South Africa, New Zealand and the West Indies to fade into obscurity, their heroes and entertainers seen only in dusty old archival film footage.

Neil Brand was South Africa’s Test captain just three matches ago,  but now seems almost forgotten by Proteas coach Shukri Conrad. But the Titans skipper knows that a far greater weight of runs than he scored last season will be necessary to force his way back into the picture. Fortunately Brand is the persistent sort.

The left-handed opener and under-rated orthodox spinner led South Africa in their two Tests in New Zealand last summer when the SA20 was being played and had gobbled up most of the country’s top players. Now that everyone is available, competition for places for the two Tests in Bangladesh next month, and the series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan at home, is stiff with most of the stars available.

Brand has started the new season in fine fashion though, scoring an impressive century for the SA A team he led against Sri Lanka A, in Benoni. His 129 highlighted all his strengths – defiance at the crease, the technique to see off the new ball and the ability to shift gears when the bowling allowed it.

Despite his dream of playing Test cricket coming true in the most astonishing way, last season was actually a battle for Brand, who averaged just 25.92 in all first-class cricket last season, with one century and two fifties.

“It was a bit of a struggle,” Brand admitted when interviewed by Rapport. “I just couldn’t get going although I had lots of starts. But I learnt a lot last season too, especially going to New Zealand and playing for SA A. And I’ve put a lot of hard work in during the off-season, especially on my set-up because a lot of bowlers were getting me out from around the wicket, it was something they had obviously analysed.

“So I’ve made things a bit more simple for this season and it’s always nice to start with a hundred. It’s not really my personality to try and get away from cricket, I prefer hard work, so that’s what I did during the winter. There’s definitely a step-up between domestic and international cricket and it’s hardest in batting,” Brand said.

Now that the 28-year-old, who has been playing first-class cricket for nearly a decade, has a sense of what it requires to succeed at international level, he is well-placed to answer the question as to what our domestic players need to be able to make that step up.

If one has been following the conversation around local cricket recently, then you’ll not be surprised to hear him say playing more cricket is the key.

“We definitely lack cricket. Playing just seven first-class games makes it really tough and sometimes, if you have Proteas white-ball commitments, you only play three or four matches. I would definitely be keen for more red-ball games, we need at least 10. Most players who play for 10 years would be heading for 100 games, I have 55.

“So definitely more cricket is needed. Even for bowlers, for the volume required they need to be bowling 20 overs a day. Four-day cricket presents you with tough conditions and you have to find a way to perform. Our skills are there, but we just don’t execute them for long enough,” Brand said.

Being able to bowl consistently at speeds in excess of 140km/h is obviously a great asset in Test cricket and South Africa have had two of their prime express pace options in Anrich Nortje and Gerald Coetzee removed from the equation, but the Proteas are content they have all their bowling bases covered for the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s next month.

South Africa announced their 15-man squad for the showpiece final on Tuesday and Nortje and Coetzee were both excluded based on concerns over their match fitness and their ability to last all the days of what could be a six-day Test. Nortje has played just once for Kolkata Knight Riders in this year’s Indian Premier League, while Coetzee returned to action this month and has played twice for Gujarat Titans. But four-over spells are hardly a base in terms of conditioning for the demands of Test cricket and coach Shukri Conrad has wisely left both out of the final squad, however much he would have wanted them there.

Dane Paterson and Lungi Ngidi have been called up instead and both have the experience to deal with the pressures of a final and the skills to bowl effectively at Lord’s. And Corbin Bosch, the most like-for-like bowler to Nortje and Coetzee, has also been named in the squad.

“We all enjoy sheer pace, but unfortunately Anrich’s return to the Test squad just did not pan out the way we hoped. He was due to play in the Centurion Test against Pakistan but then suffered a broken toe and is now in no position to play a Test match,” Conrad said at Cricket South Africa headquarters in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

“Gerald has been able to make his way back on to the field as well, but he’s in a similar boat as Anrich when it comes to bowling loads. But if you look at what Corbin has done against Pakistan, then you’ll know he’ll provide really good cover and could even make the starting XI depending on conditions.

“Corbin certainly doesn’t lack pace, so we are not too compromised on that front, he brings really good balance to the squad. The medical staff have been in touch with all the bowlers since the IPL started. They might not get the necessary workloads in the matches, but they are at the nets and we are all very happy that they’re doing the necessary work, they report regularly to us and we are very comfortable with where we are at. And Australia are in a similar position to us,” Conrad said.

Bavuma said he was very happy to have Ngidi and Paterson, both more fast-medium practitioners but with plenty of seam-bowling skills that will suit English conditions very well, in his attack. Especially Ngidi, even though the 29-year-old has not played a Test since last August in the West Indies.

“Playing in Australia or South Africa, the conversation about extra pace is definitely bigger, but there’s a different view for fixtures elsewhere. Control and skill is a lot more of a thing in England and having Lungi and Dane will definitely benefit the team.

“With Lungi, if he’s fit and motivated then you know what you’re going to get, whether he’s been playing for six months or not. So there’s no massive risk with him, I know what I’m going to get and he’s a senior player. The team listen to what he has to say and there’s a lot of backing and confidence in him in the team,” Bavuma said.

While the coach conceded that Australia were probably favourites for the one-off final, he and captain Temba Bavuma were still full of fighting talk about their prospects.

“We probably go in as underdogs, not in terms of ability but experience. But I’m very confident that if we play to our best then we have every chance of beating them. We never just want to compete and, while reaching the final was a goal, so was winning it. That was the goal Temba and I set out once the Test side started to get some momentum.

“We have very good players, our bowling attack is always a threat and we have batsmen who have the ability to put the Australians under pressure. Every Test for us lately has almost been a must-win and the players have shown they can deal with those pressures.

“And it’s great that the final is against Australia because we haven’t played them for a while and they are the one side we always want to topple and show the world that we belong at the top table. Test cricket is the lifeblood of the game around the world, the other formats rely on it and the ICC need to take it in hand and look after it rather than the whims and fancies of a few nations,” Conrad said.

Bavuma said another opportunity to secure some long-awaited ICC silverware should not be seen as added pressure, but rather a reward for playing very good cricket in the World Test Championship.

“We have some experience in knockout games now and getting into these positions shows that we have been playing very good cricket, playing well enough to get into those matches. Now it’s about what we need to do to get over the line, what exactly do we need to do differently? Or, what happens to us emotionally that we do something different when we should just stick to what we’ve been doing.

“But we are not really feeling any extra pressure, we have a 50/50 chance and we will make sure it stays that way by preparing as well as we can and making sure we leave no stone unturned. We have found ways to be successful and we take confidence from that. We respect Australia, but we have certainly earned our place in the final,” Bavuma said.

WTC Final squad: Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, David Bedingham, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne, Ryan Rickelton, Lungi Ngidi, Keshav Maharaj, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada,  Dane Paterson, Senuran Muthusamy, Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder.