South Africa’s time to Rise

2019 have been very disheartening for South African fans, the series of major retirements continued as the team stumbled from one loss to another but what was more damaging was the reputation of the took severe beating as the South Africa Cricket Board Administration fell down like house of cards, can the Christmas this year signal the start of new era for national team

 

There is lot of hope from Graeme Smith

The Arrival of some of the most prominent names have infused fresh breathe of air in South Africa cricket as their seems to be new positivity around the team as they take on England in a crucial Boxing Day test. The selection of the team was the first instance when the air of changes were felt. The team was selected with an aim to select the best players for the test rather than fulfilling quota requirements.

The next good thing was the selection of the players who have been doing well in the domestic cricket for quite long time but were ignored due to number of various reasons. Selection of Pieter Malan, Russie van der Dussen, Dwaine Pretorious, Rudi Second was the reward of consistent performance in the domestic cricket.

Jmes Anderson will be playing his 150th Test

South Africa has multiple challenges that lies ahead the first and foremost is to get the performance of the team right on the field. The team has lost its last 5 tests and the losses have been damaging, the 2-0 loss against Sri Lanka was the first time when the side has lost a Test series against an Asian side. On the Indian team the team saw its worst ever defeat, the defeat was not just 3-0 whitewash but gave more mental scars on the team. Therefore the most important aim will be to get to the winning ways and open the account in Test Championship as South Africa lies at no.9 out of 9 teams in the prestigious five day championship.

On the other hand the second challenges will be to built a team after sequence of high profile retirements and to take South Africa out of rebuilding phase soon. Selecting players on basis of merit will be another important criterion in order to ensure the talented players leaving the country and trying to explore options in England and New Zealand. If a team has lost most talented players due to the state policy and more lucrative financial options it has been South Africa .

Pretorious wait for Test Debut will be over

The major immediate challenge which lies in front of South African cricket is to resurrect the Administration and make South Africa Cricket popular and prestigious again. Whatever have happened in past 12 months in Cricket South Africa (CSA) the national governing body of sports in South Africa has been quite disturbing. Charges of Corruption, Court Cases and disputes with provincial federations, South Africa Player Federation and then misuse of powers and incompetent governance have maligned the image of South African Cricket board .

The positive signs are there appointment of Greame Smith, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis, Charles Langaveldt, Linda Zondi and indirect connection with Gary Kirsten and Paul Harris have ensured that a strong team who can guide the new generation. On the other hand the new team which have been selected have shown the sign that the selectors have preferred merit over any other thing , the quota formality can be met later as the Test series is the most important assignment that South Africa has in coming time. Selection of players like Pieter Malan, Russie van der Dussen, Dwaine Pretorius, Rudi Second will encourage other players in the domestic structure who will have belief that their performances will  be rewarded some day.

Joe Root has huge challenge to bring Test team on track

It is time for South Africa to rise against an opponent who has been struggling themselves. England have turned into power house in case in of white ball cricket, since 2015 but it has been the year since when they have started to face number of problems in red ball cricket and the problems have been compounded with the fact that the new generation player have been unable to replace the outing players . England still needs to find able replacement of Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook and with James Anderson and Stuart Broad on the verge of retirements their bowling stocks might take a serious hit and in the absence of a world class spinner since Graeme Swann retired in 2013 , England might be in for some serious tough time ahead.

In such a moment the fans might be able to get some engrossing cricket between these two sides which might not be perfect but still carry lot of aura around them due to their fan following and the brand of cricket they have played majority of the time during this century , Who will emerge as winner only time will tell.