SA Ladies on Fire!!!!

 

Congratulations to the South African ladies cricket side.  They have been brilliant in the last 2 weeks and been able to achieve something that their male counterparts have not been able to.

Playing and beating India in the subcontinent is one of the hardest challenges in cricket, but the Proteas Women haven't just beaten India, they have given them a cricketing lesson.  To convincingly win both the ODI and T20 series against a side ranked higher than them is a remarkable achievement!! 

Captain Suné Luus summed it up perfectly by saying that "the girls are backing themselves and playing fearless cricket", and this is obviously showing in the results they have achieved.  There is so much confidence flowing through the side at the moment. It is something that is unfortunately sorely lacking in the men's team and they will do well to take to a leaf out of the ladies' book.

So why have our ladies done so well? Obviously a lot of credit must go to Hilton Moreeng and his management staff for their preparations ahead of the India series, but I think the big reason is that our senior players stood up to the challenge. 

Its an old saying in cricket that in order to do well in big games and series' your experienced players need to play well and Lizelle Lee, Laura Wolvaardt and Suné Luus in particular have been fantastic with the bat, whilst Shabnim Ismail has led the way brilliantly with the ball.  Having these senior players perform so well and consistently has paved the way for the likes of Anneke Bosch and Lara Goodall to really shine. Bosch in particular has been good with both bat and ball in the T20 series. 

Partnerships have been key for the South Africans with bat in hand.  The top 6 have all managed to get partnerships going during crucial stages and that has made such a big difference.  

That was one of the biggest problems for the men when they recently toured Pakistan, they lost crucial wickets and crucial times, didn't get sufficient partnerships and senior players like Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock were particularly poor with the bat.

After their series' triumph, the ladies have now moved up to 2nd in the world in ODI's and are rapidly closing the gap on the top 3 in T20's.  Although Australia are at the top of the pile and have a sizable lead over the chasing pack, they will have taken notice of this South African performance and will be nervously looking over their shoulder.

The Future of Test Cricket

I am a cricket purist and test cricket is and always will be the pinnacle of the sport, but the whole cricketing landscape has changed since the advent of T20 cricket.

How many test matches have gone the distance since international T20 cricket was introduced in 2005? There has been a steady decline of test matches lasting the full 5 days and its no wonder the ICC is looking at introducing 4 day test cricket.

One just has to look at recent test series' (SA vs Pakistan), (India vs England), (SA vs Sri Lanka), (Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan) to strengthen my point.  Only one of those matches went the distance with 2 of them ending inside 2 days.  Why is this and how much revenue is being lost because of this?

Yes, one can point to pitches and playing conditions for the odd game.  Covid19 has also played its role, as players are not as well prepared lately as they would normally be.  

But, my view is that since the introduction of T20 cricket we have seen a steady change in mindset.  From a playing perspective, more and more loose and rash shots are being played during test cricket than before. Teams are looking to score quicker in test cricket and this will inevitably lead to poorer shot selection.  Are players prepared to graft for their runs as they did before or are they moving towards a T20 "mode". This is highly debatable!! 

I coach primary school children and it is amazing to see how many of them would rather play the reverse sweep, lap slog or scoop shot before trying to master the cover drive, straight drive or on drive. 

We have also seen how a lack of foot movement in test cricket has led to the loss of many unnecessary wickets.  Again, in T20 cricket, most foot movement has gone out the window and its pretty much "see ball, hit ball".  

One must remember that the T20 cricket pitch and the test pitch are vastly different.  T20 pitches are often nice and flat (to promote run scoring), where as test pitches might favour spin or fast bowling (depending on where you are playing) which challenges batsmen technically and forces them to adapt. There have been so many "collapses" in test cricket lately and if one has to analyse, you'll find its either down to a lack of application, poor footwork or poor shot selection. I think this is because players are adopting more of a limited overs approach. This needs to change if test cricket is to get back to its glory days.

It may sound like I am against T20 cricket, but far from it, I love watching the format.  Its amazing to see how batsmen and bowlers have had to evolve their games to try and outsmart each other and there is a lot of skill involved.  It as has also brought in the crowds and is a great money spinner for the ICC. There is most definitely a place in world cricket for the shortest format of the game, but not to the extent that it dominates world cricket. 

As much as I enjoy T20 cricket, I do feel that international cricket is geared towards the shorter version of the game.  Just look at tour itineraries now days, many tours consist of 2 test matches, 3 ODI's and 3 - 5 T20 internationals.  There are even T20 only series (NZ vs Aus is currently on the go).   There are also more and more T20 tournaments popping up all over the world with lots of money involved to lure players.  I'm afraid it doesn't bode well for the future of test cricket.

What I am saying is that I believe the days of 5 day test cricket are over.  Unless we start seeing a change of mindset by administrators and players alike, 4 day test cricket will soon become the norm and if it continues the way it is, who knows where test cricket might be in another 15 years!!