SA is second-best in world cricket — let the good times roll

All is good in the house of SA Test cricket. All is very good. Cast aside naysayers and doubters this is not their time. If sceptics and critics want their day they will have to wait because today there is far too much to celebrate and cherish.

Comfortably the best fastbowling attack in the world, both on the field and in reserve. Four (perhaps five?) of the gutsiest top-order batsmen in international cricket with the technique not only to survive on the angry pitches for which SA is known but to gather more runs, and more important runs than their opponents.

A collective ethic which includes not only the notion of “team before individual” but exhibits a commitment so obvious that nobody can doubt its veracity.

A world in which 50s and 60s can be match-winning is an uncomfortable world for batsmen to exist having been told all their lives that such scores are not only ineffective but can be costly.

Keshav Maharaj ranks among the top three orthodox spinners in the world at the moment captain Faf du Plessis said last week he was the best SA had ever produced

yet, like the batsmen, he put personal ambition behind him and gave his place in the starting XI to another fast bowler with a smile on his face. Well, maybe not a smile. But at least he refused to grimace or complain.

SA now has a bowler among the top-10 wicket takers of all time to sit with equal pride alongside Jacques Kallis among the greatest run scorers and there would appear to be yet more to come from Dale Steyn.

Apart from the injured Lungi Ngidi there are at least three other fast bowlers who would not look out of place in Test cricket. That cupboard is stocked to bursting point.

The batting reserves, too, are encouraging. It is possible to overcome a poor first impression some great players have had to do so but mostly they last, for a long time.

When Zubayr Hamza instinctively leapt into the air to uppercut a bouncer for four and then pulled the leg spinner over midwicket for six it was hard not to wonder whether he had been born for it. (He does average almost 50 at first-class level, but there was just “something else” about him

The competition for a place alongside Aiden Markram, Dean Elgar, Faf du Plessis and Temba Bavuma in the top six just became a lot hotter for Theunis de Bruyn. And if the signs were accurate that the great Hashim Amla really is overcoming a prolonged slump and returning to his best or even close to it would be great then that department is solid, too.

The Proteas have enjoyed the constant luxury of a topclass wicketkeeper-batsman for over four years and yet Quinton de Kock is still only 26 years old. It bothered him deeply that he had not scored a century for more than two years before the Wanderers Test not that he allowed his frustration to show, but still waters run deep.

We should try not to take him for granted, though it is difficult not to in the light of his reliability and penchant for thriving in troubled times.

So the team returns to No 2 on the Test rankings with a mouthwatering showdown looming in October when they are scheduled to return to India for the first time since 2015 to play three Tests. It will be No 1 against No 2.

The senior players are still scarred by what happened in that country four years ago not only the 3-0 loss but the end of one of the longest and proudest away records in the history of the game.

It ended an unbeaten run of 14 series spanning eight years on the road and, effectively, led to Du Plessis’s conviction that home-ground advantage should be maximised to the full in pursuit of victory.

India will, no doubt, do the same again.

But before then Pakistan are certain to present a greater challenge in the ODI series while South Africans who did not watch the Mzansi Super League will get the opportunity to see another prodigious batting talent in Rassie van der Dussen.

Competition for World Cup places in both squads will be sure to give the series a mouthwatering extra edge.