Proteas bloom despite being confronted with many challenges

Not that anyone should expect Michael Vaughan to have all the facts at his disposal, but when he talked about South Africa’s “easy” route to the World Test Championship (WTC) final, it showed a remarkable lack of insight about a team that has made rapid progress in the past 18 months. 

Had the former England captain spent five minutes looking at the Proteas in that period, he’d have seen how Shukri Conrad and Temba Bavuma have had to manage an attack that was decimated by injuries and a batting unit whose confidence needed to be rebuilt. 

The WTC points table before the Proteas went to Bangladesh was wide open, with six teams in contention for a spot in the final. Then South Africa lost their captain, who is also their best batter, to an elbow injury. They emerged victorious. 

At home, they played the first Test in Durban against Sri Lanka and saw Wiaan Mulder fracture his finger and Gerald Coetzee injure his groin. They emerged victorious. 

Before the first Test against Pakistan at Centurion, with Coetzee out, Lungi Ngidi out and Nandre Burger done for the season, Conrad made a call to Anrich Nortjé to play at SuperSport Park. Then Nortjé had his toe fractured at training before the T20 series, so Corbin Bosch was called up. South Africa emerged victorious. 

Then, before Cape Town, Tony de Zorzi strained his left thigh, meaning Ryan Rickelton had to go back to opening the batting. That worked and South Africa emerged victorious. 

It’s been anything but an “easy” ride for the Proteas.

South African cricket, especially the bowling, has had its depth tested in ways neither Conrad nor Bavuma could have imagined.

At points across the season, six bowlers were unavailable. That placed huge demands on Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen and both were outstanding, with Jansen again reminding the cricket world of his all-round skills, also making valuable contributions with the bat. 

“Jansen is a superb cricketer,” said Pakistan captain Shan Masood, adding Pakistan were looking for someone of that ilk as part of the next phase of their development as a Test side. 

South Africa also have Mulder, who delivered 23 overs in Cape Town and has made several valuable contributions with the bat this season.

“Individually the bowlers have been superb,” Bavuma said.

Jansen took 24 wickets across four Tests against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Rabada and Maharaj 14 each. Dane Paterson has been an unsung hero with 13 wickets and there is a strong argument he should have played at Newlands, which was probably suited to his skills. 

However, that would have robbed the country of the opportunity of seeing what Kwena Maphaka could do. Nervous in the first innings, he returned to bowl an excellent seven-over spell in Pakistan’s second dig, claiming Shan’s wicket at a vital time of the day. 

The batting has improved beyond expectation, even if Bavuma and Conrad can see areas for improvement. The Proteas scored 11 centuries in the last six Tests, three of those to Kyle Verreynne, two each to Bavuma, Tristan Stubbs and Rickelton and one each for De Zorzi and Mulder.

Conrad is tinkering and if there is a criticism it's that he hasn’t been able to settle on a No 3, having said last year that spot would go to Stubbs. The 24-year-old’s short Test career has been split between No 3 and No 4, but the small sample size suggests 3 is a better place for him — he averages 44.71 there in eight innings compared to 23.37 in the same number of innings one spot lower down.

“We are on a journey, we are not close to playing at 100% and it will be scary when we do fire on all cylinders,” Bavuma said.

The journey has been far from easy. It started with doubts about him as captain, then concerns about a young batting order and this summer has seen a number of fast bowlers laid low by injuries.

“From where it started, it was a little bit dark for the Test team, but now there is a lot of light shining,” he said.