South Africa have been the most consistent Test side for the best part of a decade. Just as their failure to make World Cup finals has been monotonous, their success in the game’s longest form has been outstanding.
And while their tenure at the top of world cricket is undoubtedly drawing to a close, this is a side that can still offer stern competition to any opponent.
Reports of the Proteas’s demise have abounded since their Boxing Day hammering at the hands of England. And after looking utterly helpless as Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow laid waste to an under-strength bowling attack in the current second Test, such reports only gained credence.
But in typically gritty fashion, South Africa have fought back.
Hashim Amla currently sits not out on 157, Faf du Plessis alongside him on 51. AB de Villiers fell 12 runs short of another century. All three scored at a strike rate well under 50, putting their side firmly back in the Test and reminding Alastair Cook’s men that victory over South Africa will rarely be as easy as it was on Boxing Day.
This is a side that delights in the grinding, arduous nature of Test cricket. They thrive in proving doubters wrong. Australian fans will recall the mammoth effort of de Villiers and du Plessis which led to a draw in the Adelaide Test of 2012, but that defiance is a trait which remains to this day.
Just one month ago, the Proteas almost clung on for the most unlikely of draws, despite the Nagpur pitch on which even Glenn Maxwell would have turned the ball square. A run-rate of less than one per over was irrelevant. Defying expectations was all that mattered.
Expect that same mentality to come to the fore over the next year. South Africa are being written off, their chances of retaining the number-one Test ranking rated as non-existent.
They have issues, no doubt. Hashim Amla has struggled to balance the duties of captain and number three batsman. AB de Villiers is similarly overburdened by the weight of expectation, a dodgy back and occasional wicketkeeping duties.
In the absence of the retired Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis, their batting order is fragile. The same can be said of Dale Steyn’s body. And Vernon Philander’s, for that matter.
But Amla has shown the permanency of his class. Faf du Plessis may be out of form, but his gritty fifty could go some way to reversing that. Quentin de Kock’s recall will lighten the load on de Villiers, and while Kagiso Rabada has struggled in his three Tests to date, at just twenty years old he offers the potential to be a seriously good fast bowler.
Between Amla, de Villiers, and du Plessis, there is talent enough to cover for a stretched batting order. A fiery spell on Boxing Day showed there’s still a spark in Dale Steyn’s wild eyes.
All great teams eventually falter – there is no better example than Australia’s current tourists, the West Indies. And to be blunt the Proteas hardly deserve to still be ranked as Test cricket’s number one side.
But expecting this South African team to go down quietly is to forget what made this team so good in the first place.
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