Where are SA’s players among Wisden’s lists?

their team has been given a raw deal by Wisden.

Starting with their victory at Lord’s on July 20 2012 — which took SA to the top of the rankings — they have played 43 Tests‚ won 22 and lost nine.

Of their 43 Tests before that game at Lord’s‚ stretching back to January 2008‚ SA also won 22. They lost 10.

And all they have to show for their success between 2008 and 2012 on the Wisden scorecard are Dale Benkenstein‚ Mark Boucher and Neil McKenzie‚ who all made the grade in 2009.

Of course‚ Wisden is largely a book about cricket in England‚ and therefore about players who are prominent there regardless of where they are from.

That it was the global authority on the game until the internet age was due to England’s pre-eminence in all matters cricket‚ sometimes more off the field than on.

This kind of nostalgia still holds with a certain sector of the game’s following.

How many‚ for instance‚ insist that Lord’s is the “home of cricket”?

Officially‚ that place is the International Cricket Council’s offices in Dubai. Realistically‚ it is anywhere in India.

Spiritually‚ Lord’s it may be. But only for those who consider cricket quintessentially English.

For all that‚ Wisden is less part of cricket’s creaking past than it is of its bracing present. The 2017 edition cover photograph‚ for instance‚ is of Kohli playing a reverse sweep during a Test match.