The time is cardinal that South African cricket invests deeply and extensively in its youthful talent stocks before the sport succumbs to an involuntary collapse, writes Marc Jacobson.

Society is facing weird times currently due to the pandemic and sport in particular, most notably at school level, is on the receiving end of its prolonging wrath.

With schools sport having predominantly been put on hold since March last year, there are growing concerns over how professional players ought to be filtered through the system.

Gone seem to be the days where the Proteas are able to showcase an array of world-class talent. Faf du Plessis, who’s nearing the end of his career, is the only SA ODI batsman (7th) currently in the top 10 of the ICC ODI rankings.

Kagiso Rabada (6th) is the only ODI bowler in the top 10 list, while he’s also currently occupying 9th spot on the Test bowling rankings. Sadly, there isn’t one SA Test batsman who’s currently made the cut in the Test batting standings.

Rassie van der Dussen is the only South African in the top 10 of either T20I rankings, currently claiming 6th place in the batting ratings.

These are sad readings for a national outfit that proudly paraded three, four or five players in each top 10 list just six years ago.
The Proteas have invariably fallen under their own dark cloud since their disastrous 2019 Cricket World Cup campaign, with little improvements having been made along the way.

The team and its governing body have been desperate for answers, and it has gotten to the point where too much uncertainty looms for the future. Well, perhaps the system is to blame for that.

There are fears that the sport in SA will regress as it has in the West Indies, after the Caribbean side’s international reign in the 1970s and 80s. SA should rather learn from that particular de-evolution.

SA Cricket has, resultantly of their sense of ‘panic’, been left longing for ‘life savers’, which was evident in them pleading to get AB de Villiers out of retirement and back into the set-up.

De Villiers is undoubtedly a world-class batter and a legend of the game, but the fact that SA had so vigorously fought for his return was telling in the sense that the federation knows there is no one in the system to back him up.

There is little talent coming through and even fewer talent that can win ICC tournaments or win series against the likes of India, England, Australia, New Zealand or even Pakistan, with the latter exposing the Proteas both at home and away recently.

The SA players returning from England in light of the domestic restructuring next season, such as Kyle Abbott and Duanne Olivier, have also been thrown into the equation in the Proteas’ quest to find answers. There’s no denying that the returning stalwarts do provide some cause for optimism, but it’s a somewhat worrying sign that SA is not honing or developing new, prosperous talent.

SA has the ideal school’s system to be highly fruitful and the talent is there, it just needs to be identified and advanced.
If the success of school’s rugby in SA is anything to go by, there is no reason why cricket, which is the country’s forefront summer sport, can’t follow suit in the sport’s progression.

Other than the Proteas struggling as they have been, the SA Emerging side lost an ODI series to Namibia recently, which shouldn’t be happening considering the vastness and depth of the sport in SA.

SA also hosted the U19 Cricket World Cup last year, wherein the hosts finished in a lowly eighth position after losing successive matches to Bangladesh, West Indies and Afghanistan in the play-off stages. Again, that shouldn’t be happening.
Without disregarding the senior players in the system, the country needs to invest more at grassroots level, in rural areas, and in players from a very young age.

There seems to be a loss in translation somewhere down the line where the cream of the crop isn’t coming through. The pandemic may have stalled the process direly, but it’s never too late to fix it moving forward.

Perhaps the Proteas can utilize their tour of West Indies and Ireland in June and July this year to test and trial the younger players in the system with the object of finding some answers before the T20I World Cup later this season.

The off-field drama also needs to be sorted out, because that is by no means helping the cause. It’s time for cricket to do the talking and it’s time for SA to produce greats, and to become great, again.