London: Chokers no more! Perennial stumblers at business ends of global competitions – indeed a victim of stage fright as recently as in the ultimate stage of last year’s T20 World Cup against India – South Africa laid to rest 33 years of an unenviable syndrome of so near yet so far. Indeed, they did so by winning cricket’s greatest and most prestigious prize – the ICC World Test Championship in the 2023-25 cycle. They defeated the forever formidable Australia by five wickets at the game’s centre-stage, the Lord’s Cricket Ground. Their supporters sang and danced in joy.
South Africa were banned from international cricket when they were probably at their peak in the early 1970s and the Pollock brothers, Graeme and Peter, among others, were at their prime. Their government’s Apartheid policy triggered this sanction by the international community. Welcomed back to the fold the previous year, at the 1992 Cricket World Cup in Australia, democratic and multiracial South Africa promised much, only to disappoint.
They have now come of age. It was their ‘India 1983 moment’, and the trophy was at the highest and most exacting strata of the game – Test cricket.
The architect of the historic success was unequivocally opener Aiden Markram, who’s immaculately judged 136 decisively took the contest away from Australia. He left the field crestfallen though, having narrowly failed to carry his bat. South Africa were a mere six runs away from their target when he flicked Josh Hazelwood off the hips into the hands of midwicket.
South Africa’s batting coach, Ashley Prince, said, “We certainly know he is someone for the big occasion.” He revealed “He (Markram) has done some technical work but not a lot.” A year and a half ago, he pegged a hundred versus India on a difficult Cape Town pitch, albeit in a losing cause. This time his innings contributed to victory. He could not have chosen a more opportune occasion.
Bavuma on top
The inexorable rise of Temba Bavuma, the first black cricketer to captain South Africa, is reflected in a batting average of over 50 every year in the past five years, bar 2022. Hobbling as he ran between wickets due to a hamstring injury, he was unbeaten on 65 overnight.
On resumption on Saturday, Bavuma added just one run before a leg-cutter from Pat Cummins, bowling from the side of the ground that houses a spaceship-like media centre, with the help of the legendary slope at Lord’s that slides from north to south, clipped his outside edge on way to wicket-keeper Alex Carey.
Low scoring in the first two days of the Test was as much a result of technical inadequacies of the batters as sharp movement off the seam. But with the skies clearing and the wicket easing on the third day, the tenth wicket for Australia notably realised 59 runs. Mitchell Starc, better known for being a left-arm pace merchant, starred with an unbeaten 58. Thereafter, Markram and Bavuma made hay as the sun shone, eventually posting a match-winning partnership of 147 runs before they were separated.
The fourth, and what turned out to be the final day of the match, too dawned bright after a light shower overnight. Lord’s was characteristically resplendent and the attendance robust, despite only a session’s play being in prospect. Overnight, South Africa needed 69 runs with eight wickets in hand, to accomplish a significant cricketing triumph. The Australian fast bowlers typically probed away metronomically till the end but to no avail on a track no longer conspiring with them.
The World Test Championship, first mooted by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, has inserted a meaning to Tests. It has excitingly thrown up different champions in the three cycles staged so far. Notwithstanding the invincibility of Australia and West Indies in the past, they were still only recognised as unofficial world champions.
However, deficiencies remain in the conduct of the championship. There’s been a distinct half-heartedness about staging the competition compared to ICC’s enthusiasm for shorter formats. Better marketing, more prize money and a promotion and relegation process are necessary to capture people’s imagination.
A purse of $3.6 million to win the WTC final, compared to $4 million for the Cricket World Cup, testifies to the anomaly. Besides, a tournament where India and Pakistan don’t meet is incomplete. This needs to be incorporated in the itinerary even if such a series is held at a neutral venue.
As the crow flies, it’s about 10 miles from Lord’s to the Beckenham Cricket Club where the touring Indians are warming up in a face-off with India A ‘behind closed doors’. This is understandable in the context of the visitors wanting to keep their strengths and weaknesses, not to mention tactical thinking, close to their chests. They will adorn themselves with unattained glory if they capture the WTC crown in the 2025-27 cycle, which they are about to embark on.
