Forget the Trophy... it’s all about the South Africans
As I write this, it is eight days and counting to the start of the Champions Trophy.With England installed as pre-tournament favourites, there is an air of anticipation that the national team could at last break their major tournament one-day hoodoo. Runners-up in three World Cups and twice in the Champions Trophy, could this really be England’s time?
But mouth-watering as that is, when I think about this summer’s cricketing festivities, it is not the Champions Trophy that is making me tick, but rather the looming Test series against South Africa. The Ashes aside, it remains, for this observer anyway, the best of the rest by a country mile.
Ever since their reintroduction to international sport in 1991 following their hiatus due to Apartheid, South Africa have been involved in some of the hardest battles on the Test block. When they toured England back in 1994 – a side littered with street fighting cricketers in the mould of Kepler Wessels, Allan Donald and Brian McMillan – South Africa set their stall out as nation that would never take a backward step.
Whenever there was any trouble, they always fronted up and their desire to scrap it out shows with the results they have enjoyed in this country – only once have England got the better of them on these shores, winning a five-match series in nail-biting fashion back in 1998.
Well-marshalled and always meticulously prepared, South Africa bring a certain X-Factor with them. There is a degree of menace in the way they play and they have never been shy to get under an opponent’s skin. They play cricket the hard way; even in the lower reaches of the club game, South Africans are built with a certain desire to push themselves that little bit further.
This year, the tourists will be without two of their marquee players with AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn absent from the Test squad. Taking two players of that calibre out of any side will make life a lot easier for the opposition, but even without their star qualities, the Proteas will still have enough to keep England on their toes; in Vernon Philander they have a seamer blessed with the skills to exploit the English conditions, while Hashim Amla will be looking to continue his fine record against the home side.
I anticipate an England win, but they’ll have to scrap for their lives to attain it…