“You don’t come to a country to win a Test match, you obviously want to win the series,” South Africa’s coach says
South Africa have (again) proved to themselves that they can “mix it with the best” after winning their first Test in India in 15 years, in conditions they described as providing “a different experience” to what they are used to.
Careful to stress that he doesn’t “have a problem with wickets like this”, South Africa’s coach Shukri Conrad preferred to focus on what it meant to have triumphed over both the surface and the opposition. “There was prodigious turn, and the Indian quartet of spinners just don’t give you anything. You throw Jasprit [Bumrah] in there with a new ball and when it starts reverse-swinging, both him and [Mohammed] Siraj are obviously world-class,” Conrad said at the post-match press conference. “It makes our victory even sweeter that we were able to contend with all of that and come out on top. It gives you a belief that you can mix it with the best and do special things.”
That South Africa, who are the current World Test Champions, feel the need to justify their abilities or defend their success may seem strange, but it is because they are not regarded in the same terms as other successful teams on the circuit. Not by themselves and not by others.
Conversations about the best Test batters centre around Joe Root, Steven Smith and Shubman Gill, even though Temba Bavuma averages over 50 as captain. Though Kagiso Rabada does crop up in the same discussions on bowlers, Bumrah and Pat Cummins are usually top of mind. As for South Africa’s spinners? Nobody dreams of mentioning them in the same breath as Nathan Lyon, and that’s because they don’t have the same consistency in success.
There is also the reality that the Ashes and the Border-Gavaskar and the Anderson-Tendulkar trophies make more headlines than a contest involving South Africa. Perhaps for as long as the Big Three exist, South Africa will be the outside, noses pressed against the window, but now, they are leaving a print that cannot be ignored. “Whilst we might not have the ability that a lot of teams have, or we haven’t tapped that ability yet, what we lack in that, we certainly make up for in our ability to play as a unit and the resilience we show,” Conrad said. “We never give up.”
South Africa’s determination to stay in games has seen them do some remarkable things over the last year, like post a match-winning ninth-wicket stand in the Boxing Day Test last year, complete the joint-second-highest successful chase at Lord’s and come back from defeat in Lahore to beat Pakistan in Rawalpindi. It also saw them go from conceding a 30-run first innings deficit to winning this Kolkata Test by the same margin and ensuring they cannot lose the series. The win means Bavuma is unbeaten in 11 Tests as captain – and South Africa have won ten of those – and Conrad, with a first-choice squad available to him, has not (and will not, irrespective of what happens in the second Test) lost a series.
South Africa have (again) proved to themselves that they can “mix it with the best” after winning their first Test in India in 15 years, in conditions they described as providing “a different experience” to what they are used to.
Careful to stress that he doesn’t “have a problem with wickets like this”, South Africa’s coach Shukri Conrad preferred to focus on what it meant to have triumphed over both the surface and the opposition. “There was prodigious turn, and the Indian quartet of spinners just don’t give you anything. You throw Jasprit [Bumrah] in there with a new ball and when it starts reverse-swinging, both him and [Mohammed] Siraj are obviously world-class,” Conrad said at the post-match press conference. “It makes our victory even sweeter that we were able to contend with all of that and come out on top. It gives you a belief that you can mix it with the best and do special things.”
That South Africa, who are the current World Test Champions, feel the need to justify their abilities or defend their success may seem strange, but it is because they are not regarded in the same terms as other successful teams on the circuit. Not by themselves and not by others.
ESPNCricinfo
