Proteas thrive on being put to the Test as big prize comes into focus

The last time the Proteas won the World Test Championship mace, Hashim Amla scored a triple hundred, Graeme Smith made a hundred as did Jacques Kallis.

Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander each took five-wicket hauls, and the sterling silver, gold-plated stump with a giant ball on top was paraded around Lord’s on a balmy London evening in 2012.

There was no Championship final, as there will be in 2025 in June, at the same venue. Instead, SA under Smith had completed a 2-0 series win over England, at the end of a gripping fixture at “HQ”.

That was a truly great Test match team — which wasn’t celebrated nearly enough by the rest of the world and even their own countrymen. The passage of time has been good to them, particularly in light of SA cricket’s several failings since, on and off the field.

But as the administration of Cricket SA — at national level at least — has attained stability and a course correction has occurred with the men’s national team, SA could return to Lord’s 13 years later with a chance at once again parading that mace around the storied venue.

There is, as Temba Bavuma and Shukri Conrad have been quick to remind everyone, still plenty of hard work that needs to occur.

Pakistan, who the Proteas face next and against whom they need to win one of the two Tests, are an enigmatic bunch. They have won two of their 15 Tests in this country and have a penchant for causing an upset.

SA also have concerns about their fast bowling stocks. Lungi Ngidi, Gerald Coetzee and Nandrè Burger are all out of action until January, in the case of the first two, while Burger won’t bowl again this season because of a stress fracture.

It means SA cricket’s depth will be tested. But in fact that area, at least last week in Gqeberha, looked strong. After Coetzee and Wiaan Mulder were injured in Durban, their replacements, Dane Paterson and Ryan Rickelton, each produced impactful performances at St George’s Park. Paterson, 35, claimed a first Test five-wicket haul and Rickelton made a maiden Test century.

In Rickelton’s case, it was proof, aged 28, that all the hard work and run-making at domestic level could lead to success on the highest stage. He is a player who can still look forward to a long international career, though in the Test format, he may have to wait.

It has taken a long time for the Proteas to reach this stage, but it feels as if the process has been accelerated under Conrad, who was made Test head coach in February 2023.

In that period, in which SA has played 12 Tests, there’s been a refreshing candidness regarding selection — even in instances when Conrad has changed his mind about a player, as he did with Rickelton. Having stated in 2023 that the left-hander was the kind of batter he could build the team around, Conrad took time to review and admitted that assessment may have been hasty.

It was the same with his handling of Dean Elgar — rather than pussyfoot about, Conrad made it clear to the previous skipper that he didn’t see a future with him in the Test side.

Even someone like Ngidi, who thought his starting place was sealed, was told he didn’t necessarily fit the plan, and needed to bowl with more aggression. Instead Burger and Coetzee have been handed debuts and in those brief stints were successful — until injuries hampered their progress.

Along with the rest of the coaching staff, Conrad has built a side that has a strong sense of togetherness, comes across as decent individuals but who are also acutely aware that the increasingly good outlook about them now, remains dependent on them winning.

At face value, it doesn’t seem possible they’d beat that 2012 team in a series. But should results keep trending in the way they have the past few months, Bavuma, like Smith, might be walking around Lord’s with a big old bejewelled stump in his hand — which would signal emphatically SA cricket’s resurgence.