As the domestic season draws to a close, a roundup of efforts to stabilize first-class buildings despite the winds of change
firdose moonda
The Lions were crowned South Africa's first-class champions in a tense five-day final against Western Province at Wanderers, ending the country's red-ball season. This classic game saw the Lions come back from an 87-point first-inning lead on the first morning with a 5-for-35 loss and set Western State's goal at 308 points for a 99-point victory.
Delano Potgieter was the batting hero for the home team, scoring 81 points in the first innings and scoring a career-best 155 points with no outs in the second innings, making up for the top order's struggles. Tshepo Moleki, who made his Test debut in New Zealand last month, hit his first career five in the first innings of the Western Province, while Björn Fortuyn won the title for the Lions with 5 for 69 on the final day and is also top of the competition. won the position of wicket-taker. .
The varied contributions indicate a season in which the Lions relied on the collective rather than outstanding individuals. Only one batsman was in the tournament's top 10 scorers, Wian Mulder (third), and only two bowlers were in the top 10 wicket-takers. Their strength lies in their depth and determination, shaped by former national team head coach Russell Domingo, former national bowling coach Alan Donald and former national team captain Hashim Amla, who are all part of the Lions' coaching staff.
As Lions captain Dominic Hendricks said on the eve of the final, they instilled the values of international cricket in a domestic team that believed that “every four-day match is a Test match”. “We have a mentality of training and playing as if we were playing a Test match. All the conversations were about what Test cricket is like and how difficult it is to win. ”
But how many Lions players, or first-class players, are ready to step up to Test cricket?
Part of the answer may lie in South Africa's recent Test match against New Zealand. There they lost 2-0 to a makeshift team drawn from first-class teams (becoming the first South African team to lose a Test series to New Zealand). Structure. Although they showed some fight in the second Test, they were outclassed throughout the tour. Moleki and Dane Patterson, who led the attacks for the Lions and Western Province respectively in the final, showed no threat in the test. Eddie Moore, one of the top 10 Western Province batsmen, gave his all against the New Zealand bowlers, while Tony De Sorge, Kyle Veraine and Fortuin, who played key roles in the final, It was because of their efforts in SA20 that they were unable to participate in the New Zealand series.
In some ways, juxtaposing SA20 with elite competition is one of the clearest ways to gauge the direction of gaming development in South Africa. The SA20 schedule has not only affected the availability of national team players, but has also pushed the country's top competition from the prime time of summer to the edge of the season. This year's competition began in November and lasted for five rounds until the end of December. The tournament then took a six-week hiatus until mid-February, when it resumed with two remaining rounds and the final. November to March is summer in the southern hemisphere, but for domestic surfaces, especially hitters, January to early February is the best season nationally. That may explain why no batter has surpassed Marques Ackermann's 571 points in a season.
In the season immediately preceding SA20, two batsmen scored more runs in first-class matches played in the January window, and in the season before that, six batsmen scored more runs in total. was recorded. Before COVID-19, before South Africa abolished the franchise system and adopted a two-tier provincial system, top batsmen regularly scored more than 900 runs a season and played more matches. The reduction in the number of games a season from 10 to seven is more a result of cost-cutting than a tight calendar, but it has also affected the experience players get in red-ball games.
A similar problem exists in the development of bowlers. For the third consecutive season, spinners have dominated his bowling charts, and Beyers-Swanepoel is the only uncapped seamer among his major wicket-takers. Is it because the first-class competition is being held too late for the sport and is being held at a time of the season when the surface is already in use for several other matches?
“It will be interesting to see four-day cricket starting earlier in the summer because the wickets are a little different at that time of the summer and will evolve as the summer progresses,” Hendricks said. “It might be a bit more sporty in the beginning, but in the middle the batting will be a bit better and towards the end it will be a bit drier so the spinners will play a role.”
It also doesn't help that South Africa's international front-line players rarely play domestic red-ball cricket. Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi have only appeared in two top-flight games domestically since 2017, but the promising new players are quickly being picked in the white leagues. -Ball setup. For example, left-arm seamer Kwena Mafaka, who was named player of the tournament at the U-19 World Cup, will play for the Lions in the next T20 tournament.
But these are the realities of changing priorities in cricket, and South African players are learning how to deal with them. “We know that in county cricket you play multiple formats at once,” said Western Province captain Veraine. “Having to play half the season is a challenge, but when you come back for the second half, the team is completely different with the injuries, the guys are fit and the mood is completely different, so there are quite a few challenges. That’s true, but there are some positives as well.”
Mr. Verrein used himself as an example. He opened the first-class season with a 150 against the Titans and then played two grueling Tests against India. When the format changed, he became Pretoria Capitals' top scorer in SA20 (including his first hundred in that format) and returned to the red-ball circuit to score his second century of goals. He finished as the fifth-highest scorer and oversaw a trip to the Western States finals. Considering the poor state of state administration, this was an achievement in itself. Western Province is currently searching for a new CEO while battling debt from the cost of constructing a new building on the stadium site, but Bereine is hopeful that on-field performance will spark a turnaround. There is.
“When Sarig [Nackerdien, the Western Province coach] “One of my biggest messages when I was appointed was that as players and as managers we have to find ways to keep the circle small and control what we can,” Berein said. he said. Certainly cricket will continue to be the main thing. If we can find a way to keep winning cricket matches, other things might change. ”
This is an example of an attempt to keep the red ball game alive. There are others all over the country. In Durban, the Dolphins have top scorer Ackermann, who missed out on a place in the finals despite a strong campaign to continue their rise in form in recent years. In Pietermaritzburg, Tristan Stubbs hit a record triple century for the Warriors, making a strong case for the Test. And in Johannesburg, Mulder showed a maturity that could revive this lengthy qualification. The full value of it may be seen in the next World Test Championship match when South Africa take on the West Indies in August. Until then, it's all about white balls.
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's South Africa and women's cricket correspondent
