Victorious Proteas lap up two bonus days of relaxation ahead of third Test
The rewards available to the world’s best cricketers are greater than ever, with domestic T20 leagues handing out month-long contracts to retired internationals that are worth more than they made in several years playing for their countries.
The Indian Premier League has made millionaires of more than 100 players in the decade since its inception and many more have been made financially secure for life.
Even the Bangladesh Premier League pays its biggest names more than $300,000 for a month. It is certainly worth the time and dedication to reach the top.
Once there, sponsorship deals with kit and accessories companies can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, not to mention the match fees and win bonuses paid by the majority of national boards for those still representing their countries.
But there is something else that puts just as big a smile on the faces of international players; something that has no price: an unscheduled day off that has been earned, especially on tour and in a place such as Wellington.
Scheduled days off are different. They usually involve travelling, or a team meeting, an interview or a sponsor commitment. But a day that was assigned for a match is free from all those things.
All the best parts of New Zealand’s capital city are accessible on foot and it is a beautiful and fascinating walk.
All over town, the Proteas players were seen browsing shops and enjoying the vast selection of international cuisine, smiles on the faces of one and all.
All the talk of “not taking our eye off the ball” and “the Black Caps will bounce back hard” could wait for the third and final Test match in Hamilton.
The 48 hours after the second Test were about reflecting and enjoying their success at the Basin Reserve, which culminated in a remarkable and unexpected three-day victory on Saturday.
Having crashed to 94/6 on the second day, still 176 runs in arrears, it was the New Zealanders who were contemplating an early victory and a day or two at home.
Faf du Plessis and the coaching staff are not happy about the lack of success for the top order but that, too, will wait for analysis and a debrief.
The two days’ rest have been about enjoyment and self-satisfaction — and why not? That’s why they play sport, isn’t it? Apart from the material rewards.
New Zealanders, meanwhile, have been full of introspection and chastisement. Not content with beating Bangladesh and Pakistan already in Test series this summer, they said the season would be judged on their results against SA, whom they have yet to beat in 15 attempts.
It was not just the defeat that angered many, but the nature of it. A carefully planned strategy of negating the tourists’ seamers with dry, turning wickets blew up spectacularly with the back-to-back fivewicket hauls for Keshav Maharaj and the bonus four from JP Duminy.
As tidily as they bowled, however, much of the batsmen’s demise was of their own making.
Most unforgiveable for a cricketing nation that prides itself on “fight” more than talent, because it has more of the former, was the feebleness with which they sold – or gave away – their wickets. Unlike Australia’s selectors, who swept the cupboard almost bare and stocked the shelves afresh having been humiliated by SA in November, the Kiwis made no changes to the squad earlier this week.
It may have looked like a resounding and courageous show of faith, an opportunity for those who were so humbled to redeem themselves, but the truth is more stark. Nobody has knocked on the selectors’ door with more than a timid inquiry.
In fact, the Proteas will have more selection issues than the home side.
A debut for the prodigiously talented Theunis de Bruyn in place of Stephen Cook? How can the recently arrived Dane Piedt be shoe-horned into the starting XI should the Seddon Park pitch look excessively spin-friendly on Saturday?
None of Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada or Morné Morkel deserves to be omitted from the squad. A batsman, perhaps. Duminy? Unlikely.
On Tuesday, the squad boarded the short flight to Hamilton rested and content.
Du Plessis knows, and has often said, that this can be a dangerous state of mind. Fortunately, he appears to be reasonably adept at eradicating it.