South Africa ended 2013 as they started it: top of the ICC Test Rankings, after a superb 10 wicket victory over India at Kingsmead. The Test will be remembered for the retirement of Jacques Kallis and the way the bowlers turned the match on the fifth day, on a substandard pitch, which offered little throughout the game (the less said about the ground’s curator, the better). Beating a good Indian team must not be taken for granted, but put into context of the team’s recent results, both sides evenly matched, making the win more remarkable.
While the great Australian side of the 90s and early part of the 21st century slowly burnt out, England, under Andy Flower, and an India in flux, briefly threatened to claim best team in the world status. When Andrew Strauss’ team completed a 4-0 home series whitewash, over MS Dhoni’s hapless team in 2011, England overtook India to sit top of the pile. How quickly things change: looks can be deceiving. England have gone on to fail against any side that has had the temerity to stand up to them, and India can only win on favourable pitches at home.
We then have South Africa. The Proteas have come a long way from the team that was always competitive but not good enough to be bracketed with the best sides of recent generations. As England has found out, one swallow doesn’t make a summer; beating mediocre opposition at home, flatters to deceive. Led by Graeme Smith, the team turned a corner in 2006, after a 2-0 series loss in Sri Lanka. Since then Smith’s team has completed 25 Test Series’, winning 17, drawing 7 and losing 1. Phenomenal.
What makes this record astonishing is that very often, the Proteas were playing a series to determine the number one ranking; as of 31/12/13, they have played 3 fewer Tests than Australia, 6 fewer than India and 8 less than England. Determining greatness can be as intangible as clasping the wind, but South Africa can include in these results, winning back-to-back series’ away in England and Australia, both at their best or near it, as their high watermark. Something else which sets them apart; the pitches in South Africa have often suited the opposition, and playing away from home, competing on heavily ‘doctored’ wickets, tailored to the home team, they have found a way to win.
The rise of one of the best pace attacks in the world, coupled with batting of the highest order, reflects in the results. Smith, Kallis, AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis, have dominated opposition bowlers, often making them as impotent as James Anderson without swing. Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander continually bowl the opposition out, and backed up by excellent fielding, this team is on the verge of immortality.
The years leading to 2006 were littered with batting collapses and many awful seam bowlers, quota farces, and some internal political factions. Move forward and the character of is one of immense resolve and fortitude, in a relaxed, calm environment. Saving the Lord’s Test in 2008 and successfully chasing 281 at Edgbaston in the 3rd Test, to win the series, set in motion the belief that no situation was too dire, that it could not be overcome. Playing more positively has been the most influential reason behind this.
This character can be summed up on many occasions; the second highest run chase in Perth 2008, followed by the dismantling of the Aussies on Boxing Day in Melbourne; the Innings and 12 run humiliation of England at the Oval in 2012, after scoring 637/2d. Du Plessis batting for 7 hours, on debut in Adelaide in 2012 to save the match, then have the bowlers rip through Australia in Perth, to win another series away. Winning the 2nd Test in the UAE against Pakistan to save the series. Almost chasing down 458 in Johannesburg, but winning the series in Durban, from an unlikely situation, because of a devastating all round bowling performance.
Add to those all the other mighty performances sprinkled around those special efforts, and the beginnings of greatness are within touching distance. The forthcoming series at home to Michael Clarke’s resurgent team, is the next step in the journey, that will define Smith’s team and judge whether they will go down in the pantheon of cricket lore. History beckons and only a win will do.
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