SA’s team has lost its heart, lungs and soul
“GOOD riddance” was one former SA test stalwart’s reaction to Graeme Smith’s retirement from international cricket this week. But there was not a lot where that came from.
Smith united far more than he divided and gave SA a dozen of his best years, almost 11 of them as captain. Filling the hole he leaves will challenge SA cricket’s resources and resolve.
And that challenge doesn’t end there. Since July 2012, SA have lost the heart, lungs and soul of their test team in the shape of Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and Smith.
Although Boucher was cruelly removed from the equation with SA on the cusp of claiming the No 1 ranking in England in 2012, there is no doubting the value of his contribution to the team’s hard-nosed culture, beyond everything he achieved from the distance of scorecards. Kallis and Smith, who stayed to get the job done, are also giants of the cause in measurable and immeasurable ways.
For 18 years and 430 tests, SA could count on the big three. They were the centre of what is unarguably this country’s best team, and one of the finest to step across a boundary. This they proved by remaining unbeaten for 14 series before Australia’s victory at Newlands this week. That’s not as many as West Indies’ 29 or Australia’s 16, but it’s the closest SA have come to dominating the world game.
No longer. The dynasty is done. South Africans who expect their team to keep winning as often as they have done probably think Bafana competed with Brazil and that President Jacob Zuma was warmly received by the crowd.
“SA need to rethink, because all of their experienced players have become former players,” Makhaya Ntini said.
Smith, Ntini thought, had decided to retire because “when you’re married with kids you’re not young anymore”.
“We are going to have a young team. AB [de Villiers], Faf [du Plessis] and Hashim [Amla] are the leadership now, and [Dale] Steyn and [Morne] Morkel have played more than 100 tests together.”
The first task facing Andrew Hudson and his selectors will be to decide on Smith’s replacement as captain. With SA’s next test engagement in Sri Lanka in July, they have time.
The new captain, Ntini said, needed to be “someone who is 100% sure of their place in the team”. Of the serious candidates, only AB de Villiers fits that bill. Another, Faf du Plessis, is being given the opportunity to prove himself worthy of replacing Kallis at No 4 in the batting order, and has yet to settle that debate.
“You could take the gloves away from AB [and make him captain] and give them to Thami Tsolekile,” Ntini said.
Given Tsolekile’s shoddy treatment, there is probably less chance of that happening than Boucher, Kallis or Smith coming out of retirement. Comment on this: write to tellus@sundaytimes.co.za or SMS us at 33971 www.timeslive.co.za