South Africa set for a long spell at No.1

Among the top four sides, they appear to have the best combination on and off the field. But they have to find de Villiers’ best position and prepare for life after Kallis – Harsha Bhogle

After all they’ve just seen off the challenge from the team many have labeled the best in history and they’ve done so by racking up with impressive performance in Test Series in England. South Africa’s emphatic win in the first and third Test against England made them top of the World in Test Cricket and they would unquestionably look to hold on the top spot. Their Test series win against England included why they aren’t popular beyond their own supporters. Also, at the moment no other team looks like to threat this team, who have the best promising combination and a well balanced side.

How did they do it? Obviously the quality of the team helped. Their top-order is firing on a continuous basis and all the players including tailenders chipping in with some useful contributions. Also, the fact that atleast one batsmen is able to stand with patience and bat with the tailenders to put his side in a commanding position. If an experienced batsman is at the center, tailenders would have enough confidence and consequently with no doubt he would go for his shots. This is the area where South Africa does well consistently and so, they deserve this No.1 Spot in Test Cricket.

Most of the teams, Australia and India are undergoing the transition period, where their senior cricketers have left the game. Whereas that is not the case with South Africa, as they have the cricketers who have been playing for them for almost 10 years. Their main stars are, Kallis, Smith, Amla, AB de Villers, J P Duminy, Steyn, and Morne Morkel.

These cricketers are showing greater level of composure towards their innings, which is the special characteristic of Test Cricket and that is why, South Africa has been able to climb to top spot.

So, here are my lists of players who have been the lethal weapons for South Africa and also, they helped Proteas in climbing to the No.1 Spot.

Graeme Smith has been a wonderful leader for South Africa, ever since he took over from Pollock. Under him, South Africa virtually qualified for finals in major tournaments but proved to be chokers as they’ve never won big tournament under him. But in the longer version of the game, Graeme Smith proved to be the successful leader for South Africa as he has won many test matches single-handedly for Proteas.

A special characteristic of Smith is the way he attacks at the start of the innings. He can be compared to Clive Lloyd because of the aggressiveness these two have in their captaincy. Even in the concluded Test Series against England, Smith was able to get rid of England’s elite players by designing the field in such a way that the batsman would comprehensively be beaten. England’s influential players – Strauss, Cook, Trott and Matt Prior were either trapped in front or were dismissed in Test match fashion (caught at slips and gully). Also, he realizes the situation and analyses the batsman’s technique and then select a bowler who could pose threat to the batsmen. This is exactly what had happened in the first Test against England. In the second innings, Smith allowed Steyn to bowl more number of overs because from first innings he grasped that England’s players are in defensive mood. So, giving Steyn and Morkel more number overs proved to be successful for Smith.

Jacques Kallis has been a very underrated cricketer for a while, where as his statistics would suggest that he is the best all-rounder of all-time. He is capable of fulfilling an attacking or even a containing role. The fact here is that Smith has not used him to perfection in bowling. Otherwise, this man would have been in the greatest cricketers of all-time.

This man has got over 12,000 runs in Test Cricket and at the same time, he has got more than 250 wickets. Kallis certainly has this one under his belt. Whenever a tense situation loomed, Kallis would find a way to finish the job for Proteas.

However, he is on the verge of retirement. If he retires, then South Africa without doubt will miss an all-rounder and will lead to unstability in the bowling department. So, prepare life after Kallis.

Nevertheless, till he’s there, SA would certainly look for more contributions from him. Now, he just needs to change the technique of his batting style. Instead of being defensive on earlier, try and punish more number of deliveries to the fence. So that field gets slightly spread up and chances of being dismissed in slips get minimized.

Dale Steyn has been the most reliable and exhilarating fast bowler for South Africa. As Clive Lloyd had Walsh, Smith has Steyn. He hits the deck hard with pace, and he swings the ball with pace as batsman would absolutely find it difficult to take him on in new-ball. For that reason this man has been ranked No.1 fast bowler in Test Cricket. Not only he bowls with electrifying pace, he also bowls with accuracy which in turn he gains reward. Not many fast bowlers would be accurate as Dale Steyn.

His focus is always to bowl wicket-to-wicket and normally he doesn’t test the batsman by offering width as he perhaps knows that will not help in getting wickets continuously. He will be a dependable bowler in all the three formats for next two years. If he fires consistently, then nobody can take the position of No.1 from South Africa.

Veron Philander has been swinging the ball even on flat tracks, where you don’t expect much deviation. This is a terrific skill that this man possesses and it (swinging the ball) seems to be fashionable way of picking wickets in Test Cricket as Test matches are played on flat tracks. He has picked up 51 wickets from seven games, which is phenomenal. He also has control over the swing and not like Anderson or Broad. He usually pitches the ball in just outside off- stump and then get the ball to deviate from there. That is the challenge line for a batsman to play the shot. If he is hesitating, then he would definitely be dismissed.

So, Philander is a bowler for South Africa in conditions like Australia and England where he would indeed be helpful. If he also shines alongside all the other bowlers, then South Africa will hold the top spot until the retirement of their finest cricketers.