NEIL MANTHORP: Pity the Proteas did not want, pity is what they got

A peculiar and never hitherto experienced emotion pervaded most of the Australian cricket community as the Proteas packed their kit bags after the Sydney Test match and tucked their tails between their legs ready for the journey home.    

It wasn’t triumph, gloating or celebration and it wasn’t contempt. There had been some of that after the thrashings in the first Test at the Gabba in Brisbane and a little more, albeit watered down, after the mauling in Melbourne. But once the New Year Test was done and dusted with the tourists owing their share of a draw to two days of rain, the South Africans were the subjects of that most damning thing in elite professional sport. Pity.    

As uncomfortable as the thought might be that Australia’s superiority was so comprehensive that they (almost) felt concern for their outclassed opponents, it could have a positive, long-term outcome. If England and Australia finally realise that Test cricket cannot survive on Ashes and India tours alone, they may be inclined to be part of a solution.    

“We need a lot more exposure for this group of players, at first-class level and at Test level,” said interim head coach, Malibongwe Maketa, after the Test. “I thought we had enough first-class experience but it was nowhere near enough to compete against a team like this.    

“We lost to a better team, more skilled and more experienced. To come out and compete on the last day like we did was quite encouraging but it’s important to be really honest with where we are. We had tough series in England and here. We are on our own journey in terms of putting structures in place to compete against them. We’ve competed against them in the past but, for now, they are better than us,” Maketa said.    

Administrative relations between the two countries have been strained to breaking point over the past three-four years but, now that there is no animosity between the teams on the field, perhaps the cordiality with which this series was played can extend to the boardrooms. If it does, cricketing contact at junior, Academy and A team levels would go a long way towards helping SA to rebuild its first-class game.    

Maketa was especially clear about one of the main reasons the country is not producing Test quality batters but is not short of wicket-taking fast bowlers.    

“We play very well at home, teams come to SA and we have knocked them over, but it’s going to be difficult to go away and compete. Pitches are tough to bat on at home, the stats confirm that, so do we prepare better pitches to give batters confidence or do we just say ‘we’ll be the team that wins at home?’    

“Do we carry on making it hard for teams coming to SA — but then how do we learn to bowl on good wickets like these? Or do we leave it the way it is and teams will know how hard it is to come to SA and win? It’s a Catch-22. But we want to be successful all around the world, to win the Test Championship we need to be able to come here and win, go to India and win. We don’t want to be a team which only wins at home,” Maketa said.    

“There are players who are scoring a lot of runs at home but our first-class players need to be exposed to this sort of level, at least a higher level, SA A games and getting a feel for what Test cricket is all about.    

“It was always clear that first innings runs would be important in order to bring our bowling attack into the game, because we believed we could take 20 wickets. I believed that we could get that ‘par’ score of 350, but unfortunately we couldn’t.     

“Their bowlers give you nothing, they control their lengths and they’re clever with their fields. At the moment the gap (between the teams) feels very big but I really do believe that, if two batters had put their hands up in the first Test and given us a lead of 100, with our bowling attack, who knows ...”

Every coach, no matter how honest, needs a straw to clutch at from time to time.    

Before a revamp of the first-class competition is undertaken, A tours are organised and under-19s are sent to England and India to learn how to play “proper” cricket, the question Cricket SA needs to answer, honestly, is this: does first-class and Test cricket feature in future plans? If not, spare the pain — and the money — and let everyone don fancy dress for the 5.30pm start.

At least we know it’ll be fun — and defeat hurts much less.