After defeating a very good England team, probably one of the best from the Island ever, South Africa gained the rights to be the number one test playing nation in the world.
Being number one, at last is an exceptionally satisfying reality. The opportunity to watch some of the play of the last two months on the tele was an honour and a richly rewarding experience; which, mind you, left most cricket followers in this country with no fingernails to brag with.
The test at the Kia Oval had its drama but eventually it resulted in a fairly easy and convincing victory for the Proteas. From then on the English had to play catch-up cricket; which was never going to be an easy task against one of the finest teams ever to play the great game.
Headingley was equally gripping; but as it resulted in a draw.
After that everyone knew that despite the absence of Kevin Pietersen, England would throw everything into the last test in an attempt to share the series and to cling onto the number one spot.
And so it was: after five breathtaking days, with some of the best cricket ever played, England succumbed, but only after they came perilously close to deny South Africa the joy of being the best.
Statistics and scientific evaluations of players’ abilities will show that England has lesser potential and talent than the Proteas in all departments, except maybe in spin-bowling, and that the victorious team is indeed the better of the two.
However, and this should not be denied or downplayed, Andrew Strauss’ men constitutes an amazingly gutsy and talented team.
Watching the South Africans celebrate after the series win made me think that the old cliché was probably true: the Proteas was “hungrier” than England and they wanted a series-win more than their opponents.
That would explain why the Proteas, every time when the opponents threatened to take control, reeled the English in.
It would explain why the Proteas, whenever the likes of Jonny Bairstow, KP Pietersen and Steven Finn did the miraculous came back to top their performances.
On day four of the Lords-test Finn bowled the most brilliant spell in the series; putting the Proteas on the back foot and opening opportunities for England to win the test and to share the series.
Later that night; and again when the new ball finally arrived yesterday, Vernon Philander topped that performance.
Whatever the English did the Proteas did better and that is why they are now the number one test team on the globe.
If the outcome of the Basil D’Oliveira-trophy test series 2012, between England and the Proteas, left you speechless; well overwhelmed with a tear or a few, you will not be blamed. The Proteas fought hard for this achievement; harder than anyone of us will ever understand.
During the third test the English media used the “choke”- word. Mean, but not without merit: in the past the Proteas would have succumbed to pressure and expectations. But not this time; my educated guess is that the Proteas dealt with the “choke” and that they got rid of it. Doing that on foreign soil and without Mark Boucher makes it even more remarkable.
As for the wellbeing of cricket and especially the long version; this series did wonders for test cricket. It proved that test cricket remains the ultimate cricketing experience. This is the type of series that makes young players dream to play tests for their country before they take the field for One Day Internationals and T-20 games.
I believe England made a massive mistake when they sidelined Steven Finn for the first test. He is clearly the best of the England quick’s. Graeme Swann had little influence on the series and the Proteas again proved their dominance over spin.
Leaving out Jonny Bristow for James Taylor was a mistake.
Eventually the Kevin Pietersen-saga was a tough nut to crack for Andrew Strauss. His captaincy was nothing other than superb, but he failed with the bat.
Matt Prior again showed his value as a wicket keeper and batter and with Boucher no longer around, the England keeper is ahead of any other by a country mile.
In the South African setup, all the batters scored vital runs at crucial times. The experiment with a recognized batter at 7 became a trump card.
Although AB might feel that his batting was down on par, his keeping was very good.
Jacques Kallis proved, again that he is the best batter and cricketer of all times.
Graeme Smith is a wonderful captain, and his mental strength carried the Proteas through every little crisis.
The debate about the best bowling attack in the world is something of the past: there is no better than Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Jacques Kallis. Even Imran Tahir had his moments.
During the series there was a lot of debate, especially amongst the England commentators, who the best cricket coach is. They favored Andy Flower, but after taking India and now the Proteas to the number one spot, Garry Kirsten proved him as the best.
The Proteas owe their success to an exceptional group of players, a brilliant coach, remarkable coaching support staff and a great group of professionals in all support structure.
I salute this team.
I am immensely proud of them.
Certainly one of the best series ever and the last test a real thriller. Tahir not at his best form , but he is classy and will definitely bounce back and once he regains his form Proteas will be really difficult to stop. Enough youngsters is also coming through. a Really well written article True van Punt. I really enjoyed it.
Thank you,scrumchums. Yes; I also thinkTahir will come good. He did not play second string to Swann.
A deserved win for the Proteas, even after suffering the loss of Boucher early on they went on calmly and were focussed on their task from the beginning. I think alot of that goes to Gary Kirsten for the way he has coached the side. He brings a calmness that was lacking before. Also its great to have Allan coaching our bowlers, they just seem to get better and better and even Morkel is putting his hand up. As for Tahir, well domestically he has always been able to wrap up the tail and that is what he has generally been used for. Let us not forget that he is one of our better bowlers and definitely would not be in the team if he didn’t deserve his place. Swann did not do too well either so let us wait until the Proteas play on the sub-continent to fully judge if Tahir deserves to be there or not. And last but not least who can forget the MIGHTY HASH and that superb innings of his, even at Lords he stood firm while wickets fell. A genuinely superb player who has the world at his feet, worse than bowling to a wall lol. NO 1 and how great does that feel
Did you here Amlas response when asked about being number 1 and 2 batsman in both formats of the game..”well not sure how these rankings work, Im not even the second best batsman in my team” What a man !!! He deserves everything coming his way,a true gentlemen professional and human being….long live the HASH
Hi King, he certainly is something else, even after tha triple century he deflected attention away and spoke about what Kallis had done, thats an inspiration right there, going about his business without looking for praise or glory. Alot can be learn’t from him.
The Proteas were superb, best series I have watched in ages.
The only real concern for me is Tahir.
He is not taking wickets (and the few he is getting is not top order batsmen)
and to compound the problem is has been very expensive.
It’s a blessing that Philander can play a holding role in the team….
if my mind we might as well play a Harris type spinner that holds an end and gets the odd wicket. (and maybe bats a bit)
otherwise 10/10
Great test series, the boys showed their mettle…deservedly no 1 in the world!
Hi Jan-willem, yes they showed what it means when you are the best by a good old English country mile.
I just love the way Philander shut up the English press with that last innings’ bowling with the new ball. I think, being a seam bowler, he had to get used to what one can do with the Duke ball that has a far less prominent seam than that of a Kookaburra. I noticed he swung the Duke a lot more than the Kooka in the end though. I also do think that Allan Donald must also take a lot of credit for his bowling coaching. Especially Morkel has shown a lot of improvement particularly in the aggression stakes (looks much more willing to hurt batsmen), yes there are still moments of immaturity, but they have become very few. That no-ball that gave Prior a reprieve was the first from Morkel for that innings – sad that it came then, but still he used to bowl a lot of those! Tahir and his no-ball issue is dumbfounding – I have never seen a spinner bowl so many! He had his good moments too though.
I might have had my seams confused there, but in any case the seams of the two types of balls differ and will affect a seam-reliant bowler like a Pollock or Philander.
Yes LT, the Duke’s seam is more pronounced. I think Vernon had a problem with too much movement in the first two tests; he simply bowled balls that were too good to find the edge. At Lords he found the right line: on off and swinging towards the slips. After that he was unplayable. It is amazing how he just came into test cricket and made it his domain by bowling ball after ball on the right length and line.
Yes, wonder why he is not so good as a ODI-bowler? In test-rankings he is now blowing in Dale’s neck as ranked 2nd! What a great situation to be in with Morkel also in the top 10
Rugby SA vs England 2 wins one draw
Cricket SA vs England 2 wins one draw
Love it when we bash the pommies
And they have Saffa Pieterson to thank for their draw…SA all the way baby
King G, you think the KP could have changed the outcome?
Jonny played pretty well.
Probably not but I would have hated him to be there towards the end when it got quit tense,he has alot of grit being from SA and all… what do you reckon ?
KP is a enigma and if anyone was going to get the runs it would have been him. Look they cannot play without him. Any team with KP is better by far. If England won the test I think the Poms would have been convinced that they do not need him; now they know for a fact they need him desperately.
First time in my life did not switch to rugby on Sat but watched a wonderful cricket game Well done boys enjoy the moment
Same here; glimpsed at the rugby every 5 minutes but stuck to my game.
It was simply magnificent and a priviledge to watch. Vernon Philander has all the makings of the next Ian Botham. What a bowling performance. Will AB stay keeper for the Australian tour?
Vernon is very special, yes.
AB will probably stay on for Australia; but if keeping is going to affect his batting they will look for another keeper.
The only guy that might feel pressure is Jacques Rudolph because FAF is blowing in his neck.
Hugo, while I agree with you in principle on Rudolph, he batted 4 times, has a high score of 69 and averages 35 in this series. – while that may be nothing spectacular. it is also not that woeful…I expect better of him, averaging around 40-45 in the number 6 batting position would be considered pretty decent. – so he isn’t that far off the mark, I wouldn’t drop anyone just yet
Hanjo, I agree with you that Rudolph is a great player and that he deserves more chances.
Rudolph will be the first to say that he is batting way under his potential and all he needs is one or two big hundreds.
At one or other point he will have to up his average to 40 – 45. He is good enough for such an average.
With a specialist batter at 7 and Vernon at 8 Rudolph has lots of support from the lower order; if needed he has the time and support to play big innings’.
The fact that FAF is in the group will keep Rudolph on his toes and that is how it should be.
Would love to hear Kitch’s comments on Vern, after he took 5 in the final innings(including Strauss, Cook, Prior and Bell) … Kitch was very quick to rate Philander as an average bowler.
If that doesn’t make sense, I meant to say Kitch rated Vern as average prior to the series. would love to hear what he has to say now.
Kitch, if he is indeed a pom will not have anything to say; there is simply to much egg all over his face.
Hey has anyone heard from the Arse-”carl” ….not too much to say then I take it…Well done boys awesome guts shown class act really special to watch Amla is a KING MOST HUMBLE MAN since Gundi …RESPECT!!!!!
Agree Proteas were on top right through the series and only some lone preformances gave England any hope.
My only dissapointment in our team is Tahir. Maybe I just thought he was better than he is? But he is no Warne that is for sure. The pitch on Monday was very good for spin but Tahir failed to land enough balls in the rough. He might get better.
As for the rest 10/10.
Yes, he certainly gets turn so maybe he will start to find the edges. He did bowl a few rippers and where very unlucky not to bag two or three more. As his game progress he will bowl good lines and lengths more often.
Agree the best series I have ever watched.
Hi Stephen, yes I agree it was the ultimate showcase of test cricket.