Opting for all-out pace can be SA’s undoing

Us Africans are used to having to prosper in the toughest conditions but watching the Proteas this summer has made me wonder whether long-term harm is not actually being done in pursuit of short-term success.

Coach Ottis Gibson has correctly identified the strength of South African cricket as being their fast bowlers and has therefore ordered pitches that strongly favour the pacemen. Unfortunately, his own batsmen and spinner Keshav Maharaj have been the collateral damage.

Since the first Test of the summer, against Pakistan at Centurion from Boxing Day, South Africa have been averaging 33.36 runs per wicket, which is pretty mediocre by historic Test standards. But it is difficult to put a black mark against the batsmen’s names because they have been asked to bat on surfaces that have been minefields of inconsistent bounce and excessive movement.

But Gibson and captain Faf du Plessis say the end justifies the means and South Africa are chasing a fourth successive victory against Sri Lanka in Durban this weekend.

But what is this doing for the development of South Africa’s batting, for players with long careers hopefully ahead of them like Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma and Theunis de Bruyn? And before Sri Lanka’s second innings at Kingsmead, the Proteas’ worldclass spinner, Maharaj, had only bowled 17 overs in Test cricket all summer.

Skills, with both bat and ball, are best developed on good cricket wickets and none of the pitches used for the Pakistan series could really be described as such. And the confidence of the batsmen must surely be taking a knock as they battle and scrape together their meagre portion of runs.

And then what happens when they arrive at a pretty decent wicket in Durban? Well, they play as if they’re on yet another minefield and are bowled out for scores of 235 and 259.

Meanwhile the bowlers, privileged to be plying their trade in such helpful conditions, lap it all up, enjoying a rich haul of wickets. But what happens when they find themselves toiling on a good batting deck overseas, will they know how to bowl when conditions are not tilted as much in their favour?

Gibson says confidence is the most important factor for the bowlers and they will be full of it having done so well here in South Africa. But then surely the same reasoning must apply to the batsmen, whose confidence is being dented by the same pitches?

In the white-hot heat of international sport, the margins are extremely small and every little psychological edge is invaluable.

Poor old Maharaj, deprived of competing at that intensity, has been bowling with the air of someone awakening from a deep slumber.

After this series against Sri Lanka and the World Cup, there’ll be major tests of the Proteas’ new approach when they then play three Tests in India and then host England. A false sense of their own abilities may just precede a fall.

Speaking of England, they have just lost a series against the West Indies for the first time in 10 years which, as a neutral observer, has to be good for cricket.

Less good was the furore that broke out during the third and final Test at Gros Islet over what West Indian fast bowler Shannon Gabriel said to England captain Joe Root.

In the hazy world of ICC ethics, asking “Do you like boys?” is clearly far worse than what David Warner said about Quinton de Kock’s mother this time last year because Gabriel was slapped with a four-match ban.

While Gabriel’s query was clearly ill-mannered, unless whoever he asked the question thinks there is something wrong or abnormal about homosexuality, why should they take offence?

But the ICC have always been a highly reactive organisation and they only seem to pay attention when the manufacturers of outrage all jump up and down on their social media accounts.