No excuses, the Proteas were a shambles

Iam astounded by the Proteas’ excuse that they are in “a transitional phase” after surrendering to India like a bunch of schoolboys. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, transition means “a change from one form or type to another, or the process by which this happens”.

So what they are trying to imply is that the Test team has went through some serious changes of late. Interesting. Very interesting. Let’s look at the facts for a minute.

They are making it sound like we lost half of our team. But out of the Test squad the Proteas deployed to India, nine were established players in the team. Aiden Markram, Dean Elgar, Faf du Plessis, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj. Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada have all been together for a while and all first-choice players, while Theuns de Bruyn has been in and out of the side for a while and Dane Piedt returned to the team after making his debut some years ago. There were only two positions that became vacant in the light of recent retirements. Those of Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn. JP Duminy retired alongside Amla after the World Cup, but he already quit Tests in 2017.

And let’s be honest, Amla and Steyn had not been at their best long before they bowed out. Steyn’s recurring injuries only saw him play eight Tests over the last three years, only adding 22 wickets to his record tally. The Proteas learned to cope without him for quite a while and when he finally did return, it was more of a bonus than anything else.

Yes, the team did lose Morne Morkel, who retired, and Kyle Abbott and Duanne Olivier to Kolpak contracts over the course of three years but like in Steyn’s case, managed to keep up the customary high standards in that department with Rabada becoming the world’s No 1 Test bowler, Ngidi announcing his arrival on the scene, Philander being his steady self and Anrich Nortje joining the squad as the next exponent of raw pace. In other words, that base was covered.

Amla only averaged 28.8 in his last 13 Tests and almost became a bit of a liability toward the end of his career, purely because of the lofty standards the team was used to getting from him for most of his impressive career.

And Zubayr Hamza was already earmarked as his long-term replacement and made his Test debut last season, while De Bruyn could have easily staked his claim taken into account that he hasn’t made a name for himself at that level yet. So that base was covered too.

What did happen in India was that the players performed pathetically, the team selection was dodgy and the rookie international coach Enoch Nkwe clearly had no answers.

The pitches looked like tarred highways when India occupied the crease only to transformed into snake pits after every innings break. India took 60 wickets in three matches to the Proteas’ 25.

The masterplan of implementing spinners were futile as our spinners flopped miserably and the Indian seamers outgunned their own spinning colleagues. But wait, isn’t that the department we are suppose to be good at? That’s how bad it was.

Transition? Try just plain crap.