SA headed for Test showpiece, but crowds still disappoint

SA’s two-Test series success over Sri Lanka on Monday catapulted them to first place in the World Test Championship (WTC) and put them firmly on course for 2025’s final — a feat that would have been unthinkable less than a year ago.

Five Test wins in a row, made up of away victories over the West Indies in Guyana in August, two in Bangladesh in October and two more over Sri Lanka, means SA top the table of Test results over the past two-year cycle and are within touching distance of a place in the final at Lord’s from June 11-15.

They beat Sri Lanka by 109 runs at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on Monday, to add to their 233-run win in Durban a week earlier.

If SA go on and win the two-Test home series over Pakistan, which starts in Pretoria on Boxing Day, they will be assured of place in the final.

“We weren’t even thinking about this when we went to the West Indies in August,” coach Shukri Conrad said of the limited expectations for the side after starting the 2023-25 WTC cycle with a 1-1 series draw against India and then effectively forfeiting a two-Test series in New Zealand in February, having failed to avoid a clash of dates with the SA20 league.

Cricket SA allowed their top Test players to stay home and earn lucrative salaries in the domestic Twenty20 competition, instead sending an understrength side where half the team had no previous Test experience.

They were roundly defeated by New Zealand.

But SA have worked their way into contention with five wins in their subsequent six Test outings in what could be a boost for the longer format of the game in a country where it is under threat.

The Proteas already play a lot less than other countries — 12 Tests in the latest WTC cycle to 21 for England and 19 each for Australia and India — to the annoyance of the players.

“In SA, T20 cricket dominates but I think Test cricket is something that is still highly treasured by a lot of the players,” captain Temba Bavuma told a press conference.

Bavuma said the series win had strengthened his belief in himself as a player, but it also gave his team a lot of confidence in what they were doing on the field.

“Guys are coming from the sidelines but are still in a mental space where they can put in winning performances for the team,” he said

“As much as guys have a good time being around each other, each guy is waiting for their opportunity to do it for the team, and that is testament to the coaching staff and how well they have been preparing the guys.”

But poor crowds are a problem.

“A lot of people say we don’t play enough Tests, but they don’t even show up for the few Test matches that we have,” Cricket SA CEO Pholetsi Moseki said.

Progress to the WTC final might engineer a shift in attitude that could be a boost for the red ball game and hand the Test format a lifeline.

Reuters