Brad Morgan
19 March 2008
The South African cricket team's recent tour of Bangladesh was a success. A two-nil win in the two-test series and a three-nil whitewash in the one-day series is as well as Mickey Arthur's charges could have wished to fare. Now, with confidence in abundance, the Proteas are resting up before beginning a daunting schedule that will test the resiliency of the players away from the comforts of home.
First up is a three-test series against India in India, which runs from late March to the middle of April.
Then, from 29 June to 3 September, the Proteas undertake a major tour of England. It includes four tests, five one-day internationals, a Twenty20 international, plus two limited overs matches against the England Lions (England A), and three-day contests against Somerset and Middlesex.
In December, South Africa head Down Under to tackle Australia in three tests and five one-dayers.
Test rankings
An
examination of the ICC test rankings shows how tough the programme awaiting the Proteas is. Australia are ranked number one by a considerable distance. Second place belongs to India, who gave the Aussies all they could handle in their recent series in Australia, which the home team won two-one. Sri Lanka are in third place.
England, meanwhile, are ranked fifth, just one place below South Africa. They're a tough nut to crack at home; in mid-2007, India finally brought an end to England's unbeaten run on home soil that stretched back to 2001 by winning a three-test series one-nil.
It should be pointed out that rain prevented an English victory in the first test; the Indians were in massive trouble, 98 runs short of victory with only one wicket in hand, when the heavens saved them.
One-day internationals
South Africa will play one-day series against England and Australia. Having succeeded the Aussies as the world's top ranked ODI team
after their whitewash of Bangladesh, the Proteas will have a collective target on their backs – everyone wants to beat number one.
The Aussies are ranked second, marginally behind South Africa, while England occupy seventh, but, once again, offer tough opposition in England.
Reaching the top position in the ODI rankings is a feather in the cap of the Proteas' players, but coach Mickey Arthur wants them to hold onto it. At the 2007 World Cup, SA moved to the top of the table but quickly fell away during the course of the tournament. Almost a year later they are back at number one and Arthur wants them to be there a year from now.
With the away series against Australia set to be followed by another showdown against the Australians in South Africa, the Proteas will need to beat Ricky Ponting's side to keep hold of the number one ranking 12 months into the future.
Successful Bangladesh tour
The recently completed tour of Bangladesh
provided Arthur with a lot of reasons to smile and provided the players with a good foundation from which they can build upon.
Captain Graeme Smith took over from Sachin Tendulkar as the number one ranked batsman in limited overs cricket after he scored 199 runs in the three matches and was dismissed only once. Smith's contribution at the top of the order, and the aggressive manner in which he bats, is crucial to South Africa's success, so an in-form skipper is a big plus for the team.
In addition, Smith totaled 304 runs in the test series triumph, including 232 in the second test in which he shared a world record test first wicket partnership of 415 with Neil McKenzie, who scored a career best 226.
Steyn's ascent
Dale Steyn continued his assault on the test bowling rankings with another sensational series, capturing 14 wickets at a miserly average of 12.57. His success lifted him up to second in the rankings, behind only Muttiah
Muralitharan, and close to the magical 900-point mark.
Encouragingly, with the Indian tour in mind, Steyn has enjoyed outstanding results on two successive tours of Asia – firstly against Pakistan in October 2007 and then on the recent tour of Bangladesh.
Steyn, with good support from among others Makhaya Ntini, Morne Morkel, and Andre Nel, has shown that fast bowlers can be effective on the slow turning tracks in Asia. At the same time, South Africa's spinners have enjoyed a fine time of things on the two afore-mentioned tours.
In Pakistan, Paul Harris led all wicket-takers with 12 in the two-match series. In Bangladesh, with Harris missing because of injury, Robin Peterson captured six wickets in the second test, including a career-best and decisive 5 for 33 in the Bangladeshis' second innings.
The signs are encouraging and the manner in which the players have risen to the challenge - especially in the one-day game after Shaun Pollock retired as the top ranked bowler in ODI cricket - has pleased coach Arthur.
Reflecting on the contributions of top players, all-rounder Jacques Kallis didn't have a great tour of Bangladesh by his high standards, but the fact that other players were able to pick up the slack is further cause for optimism.
Kallis' views
Interviewed on East Coast Radio's Sports Cage, Kallis admitted that all the players will have to hit their straps in India for the Proteas to do well. He said he was looking forward to the tour which, he added, would be tough because the Indians are playing good cricket at present.
They'll have a new coach for the series against the Proteas, a man who is far more familiar to some of the South Africans than to the team he now leads: former SA opening batsman Gary Kirsten.
"It's going to be interesting playing against him…for all these years being a teammate…" said Kallis.
"So, no doubt, he's going to be a little bit nervous and I'm sure he's looking forward to it, as are we looking forward to playing against him, and hopefully we can make his first test series a real rough one and make him grumpy from the start. That's what we're trying to do," laughed Kallis.
Good preparation
Kallis, South Africa's all-time leading run scorer in tests since he succeeded Kirsten in the record books, believes the tour of Bangladesh and the tour of Pakistan before that will serve the Proteas well.
Unlike some others, he feels the wickets are good for both seamers and spinners. The Bangladesh and Pakistan tours, he explained, have helped the South African bowlers work on and refine the art of reverse swing bowling, which is something that comes into play more on the sub-continent than elsewhere.
"It's nice to have the option of two spinners," said Kallis, commenting on the success of SA's spin bowlers in Bangladesh, where Robin Peterson and Johan Botha excelled in the absence of Paul Harris. However, he said he expects South Africa to follow what has been a traditional route for the country when the team has toured India in the past.
"I still think that we'll stick to the one spinner option. I think the seamers look forward to bowling with the ball in India, where it does tend to reverse (swing) more - probably more than anywhere else - so I think the seamers can still do a job there."
Physical and mental tests
The three tours coming up are going to be as much a mental as a physical test for the Proteas.
Australia are well known for the psychological battering they put opposition through. India's recent ill-tempered series against the Aussies showed they are prepared to give as good as they receive, while England's stubborn fighting qualities are well known.
It's going to take everything the South African team has to offer to defeat all three opponents away from home. The potential rewards are massive, but the potential for damaging results is equally huge.
Mickey Arthur, Graeme Smith and the rest of the players are going to have to display the hard-nosed fighting spirit that has made the Proteas a respected and difficult opponent anywhere in the world for an unusually long period of time in hostile surroundings.
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