NEIL MANTHORP: Proteas cut thin line between thrill and despair

There was so much to celebrate before the Test series against England. The Proteas were top of the standings in the World Test Championship (WTC) and Dean Elgar had managed to navigate his undefeated way through four series as captain, three victories and a hard-earned draw.   

Then came the crushing victory against England in the opening Test of their current series — at Lord’s, by an innings and 12 runs. There was even more to celebrate, especially given the parlous record of the previous couple of years. The Proteas would be returning to London to compete in the second edition of the WTC final next year. What a triumph! 

But the successes were not built on solid foundations. Like homeowners who successfully divert floodwater from ruining their abodes, with centimetres to spare, the SA Test team has kept itself alive with just enough sandbags to stop the house from flooding. At Old Trafford in Manchester, and the Oval in London, the barriers broke — spectacularly.    

Now, instead of eagerly hoping for a chance of Test Championship glory, the prospect of withering back into the “pack” behind Test cricket’s big three of India, England and Australia looms large. The nation’s attention returns to white-ball cricket with the imminent ODI and T20I tour of India while the Test specialists will have to wait until December and their three-Test tour of Australia.    

Should they lose Down Under, and it’s hard to see how they won’t with the weakest batting line-up in the modern era, then Test cricket in SA will be in a fight for its very survival. While the team was winning by scoring “enough” runs rather than “a lot” of runs, seat-of-the-pants victories were thrilling. But the margins were close and the line between thrill and despair even finer.    

There is no chance that current Test cricketers, and even the next generation or two ahead of them, will “give up” on Test cricket. None will say they are “disinterested” in the format or that it no longer represents the pinnacle of the game. They may, however, concede that climbing the highest peaks may not represent young players’ best career interests.    

Kagiso Rabada is already one of the great fast bowlers and he talked up the talent in the squad, saying after Monday’s defeat that “the world is our oyster”. A downcast Elgar bemoaned the lack of runs which had undermined the thrilling efforts of the pace bowlers.    

Both men will continue to play Test cricket for the foreseeable future, but in very different circumstances. Elgar because it’s the only form of international cricket he plays, while Rabada, like more and more of the game’s biggest stars, will fit it in wherever and whenever he can. Not necessarily because he wants to pick and choose his games, but because his paymasters — the real ones — will demand his availability for the shortest-format tournaments around the world.     

Two years ago the Proteas Test team was in a state of disrepair, but it bounced back quickly and strongly. It will do so again, provided there are sufficient fixtures for it to compete in. The three Tests in Australia at the end of the year conclude SA’s Test schedule before the WTC final in England in June. So even if they do win against Pat Cummins’ team, they will have been inactive for six months before the one-off game.    

In the third edition of the WTC, with the final in 2025, the Proteas play neither England nor Australia and only face India of the big three in two Tests on home soil. On paper it would seem a golden opportunity to take advantage of the scheduling to stake an even stronger case for a place in the final — provided they can find some quality batters.    

It feels like a distant memory now, but it was less than a decade ago that SA had four greats — Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers — in the top six, and a host of extremely capable players supplementing their brilliance. Unlike many other countries, there is nothing wrong with SA’s “production line”. Very good batters will come again, maybe even some more great ones.    

But it is not only the corporate T20 franchise sponsors and billionaire owners who will dictate the future of young and talented players, it is also the example set by the current generation of players.

That’s why the capitulation against England was so disappointing. Four consecutive totals under 200 and just a single half-century in the series was a bleak return.

At least Rabada and the dazzlingly talented Marco Jansen had their names embossed in gold on the honours boards at Lord’s and the Oval to give budding fast bowlers something to aspire to.