NEIL MANTHORP: Some straight talk on ‘rest’, ‘building depth’ would be in order

There is little to be gained from kicking sportsmen when they are down but there should be merit in being honest about just how “down” they are. That Afghanistan were the opposition to whom the Proteas lost the inaugural ODI series was an irrelevant distraction.

The Afghans have been a top-tier team for years and if anyone doubts that it is they who need to “catch up” with the rest of the world, not Hashmatullah Shahidi and his team. The relevant truth is that the Proteas were alarmingly poor in the first two games and that would have been true against any team, Australia and India included.

Building a broader base of international players and not relying on the same match-winners is an important course of action but so is the messaging — and the results. SA cricket followers have reason to feel frustrated by the performance and results but more so when the word “rest” is used to explain the absence of three regular starters (David Miller, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi) who are playing in the Caribbean Premier League.

The international status of two other players in the Caribbean remains unclear. Head coach, Rob Walter, still has no idea of Quinton de Kock’s T20 plans having retired from 50-over cricket after the last World Cup while Anrich Nortjé appears to have opted for an international sabbatical. But we can’t be sure when, or if, that might end. 

The official language from Walter and Cricket SA is that every international match is as important as the one which preceded and followed it, but that’s patently not the case. And the potential damage to the Proteas brand and reputation of being thrashed when not picking anything close to the best team should not be discounted.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with earning a lot of money playing a domestic league and missing an inconsequential bilateral series, or of being uncertain about your international future. The “problem” is in how the conundrums are relayed to impressionable supporters of the national team.

In New Zealand it has become commonplace for the country’s biggest stars and best players to skip some international fixtures and even decline national contracts to “maximise their earning potential” in the IPL and other leagues. National treasure, Kane Williamson, became the latest to turn down a national contract to play in the SA20 where he will be handsomely paid by the Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

But in every instance the players have gone out of their way to reiterate their loyalty to the Black Caps and New Zealand Cricket has played open cards about their inability to match or even mitigate against the fees on offer from T20 leagues. The messaging has been crystal clear. Not all matches are equal, players are welcome to make themselves available for the most important international fixtures — but they are not guaranteed selection.

Perhaps it’s easier to ignore the hard questions than to answer them, more convenient to fudge issues than be straightforward. Whereas NZC refuse to allow remuneration to be an awkward topic, Cricket SA — and Walter, to a degree — find it easier to talk of “rest” and “building depth”.

Another apparently tricky issue in recent weeks, other than the moral one regarding playing against Afghanistan where the Taliban are brutally suppressing the human rights of women and girls, was whether next month’s Test series scheduled in Bangladesh would be going ahead after the political unrest and rescheduling of the Women’s T20 World Cup which was also to have been played there in October.

A requested update on the situation has gone unanswered for 23 days at the time of writing. Fortunately, I can provide an update from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB): A four-man delegation from Cricket SA, including SACA’s new president, Farhaan Behardien, was recently in the country to inspect facilities and review security arrangements.

“As much as I could gather from their conversations, they are very satisfied,” said the BCB’s cricket operations manager, Shahriar Nafees. “They had concerns about the situation, so they came to observe the current conditions and how we will maintain security protocols. SA has never sent a delegation before, but after we lost the hosting rights to the Women’s T20 World Cup, they came to review the arrangements,” said Nafees, who was also part of the team which visited Chattogram and Dhaka where the Test will be played.

The Proteas are, apparently, due to land in the country on October 16 with the two World Test Championship fixtures due to start on October 21 and 29. So now you know. Monsoon rains permitting, I suspect that will be a gripping contest, literally a trial by spin.