The myth of the second syndrome hits hard
● The dreaded “second season syndrome” is a condition that strikes cricketers at different phases of their careers.
For Aiden Markram, who struggled in Sri Lanka after an excellent first season in home conditions, it has come sooner rather than later. He is not alone, the syndrome has afflicted excellent players of his generation.
Australia's Ricky Ponting and South Africans Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers all had slumps before their careers took different trajectories.
Former Proteas middle-order stalwart and current Cape Cobras coach Ashwell Prince was a remarkably consistent performer who saw both sides of cricket.
Prince said expectations of players in their rich early years become a burden that often weighs them down mentally.
“It has to be psychological because even if players know more about you, players should believe the reason they did well in the first place was not because they didn’t know anything about them, but the fact that players do have quality, which is why they succeed in the first place. A big thing is made about players knowing more about you in your second season, which is fair, a quality player is still a quality player,” Prince said.
“In your first season in the elite levels, when you make a step up, you become more motivated and look at all the positives. If you do well, there’s the expectation in the second season because you delivered with that weight in your first season. It’s just a case of doing well, but in the second season it’s expected of you and it becomes psychological. It’s about believing in yourself to perform again. Some have doubt when it comes to believing in whether they can do it again, but the really good ones get over that hurdle.”
Stories of the syndrome abound. Australia’s top Test run-scorer, Ponting, made 96 on his Test debut against Sri Lanka but was dropped five games later after failing against the West Indies the following year.
His first six games contained three fifties but on his return against England at Leeds in 1997, he cracked the first of 41 Test hundreds.
His next ton came seven games later against SA in the 1997 Boxing Day Test while his third hundred arrived against the West Indies 10 Tests and 13 months later.
De Villiers played 98 consecutive Tests from his debut in 2004 until the January 2015 New Year’s day Test against the West Indies. However, he had nearly three years between his third and fourth Test tons, both made against the West Indies after his debut 2004/05 season saw him score three 50s and four 100s.
In 23 Tests between April 2005 and January 2008, De Villiers also collected nine fifties and while there were some low scores, he wasn’t dismissed without scoring
Smith had the difficult burden of being a young captain who had a bright start to his Test career.
His second-year syndrome came between April 2005 and October 2007, when 16 Tests realised only five 50s.
Prince said a player’s enduring quality often gets him through a lean patch and believes there’s too much overthinking about the second-season syndrome.
“From a batsman’s perspective, people have seen you after the first season and they now claim to know all your weaknesses. From there, they’ll try this and that tactic to get you out but you then ask yourself why they didn’t try all of that in the first season because they are the more experienced campaigners. I think too much is made of the second season because when a bowler tries to get you out, they are trying all their cards and they won’t withhold their tricks,” Prince said.
“I don’t think it’s luck where players score runs in their first season, it’s because of their quality. Every player goes through a form dip at some point, which sometimes puts the second season notion into serious doubt.”