‘Sabbatical’ served Proteas players well

The season break, or the seemingly productive ‘culture camp’, had evidently served the Proteas players well as per some of their recent performances in the ongoing Indian Premier League, writes Marc Jacobson.

Call it their break, sabbatical, lockdown isolation or off-season, whatever it is, it seemed to have served as a worthwhile time away from the game after what was somewhat of a disastrous 2019/20 season for the national outfit.

Certain players have starkly enjoyed the off time for much-needed introspection, self-assessment and even peer-reflection after the team came under fire several times last season for coming to grief.

The aforementioned ‘culture camp’, which took place in mid-August, had, according to some players, been instrumental in ironing out differences between players and resolving various issues facing cricket in South Africa.

Without even mentioning the #BLM controversy, the purpose of the camp was for the 32-large group of players to engage, reform and meet each other halfway in terms of their identity, the team environment, their cultural differences and of course, their performances both on and off the field.

It seemed necessary, especially after the dark clouds that have loomed over South African cricket recently in line with results and off-field drama involving Cricket South Africa’s executives and sponsors.

The players, as individuals, have seemed to walk through a proverbial washer and exited as cleaner, lighter and keener competitors on the field, with all their baggage having been disposed of.

Certain players have entered the IPL fray to represent their different teams and several of them have starred and made waves in the process.

The first player to spring to mind is Kagiso Rabada, the Proteas go-to pace bowler. Rabada, who’d always showed star quality from the outset of his career, seemed to have slumped in his performances and form last year and looked somewhat ‘tired’ during a stagnating time of his young tenure.

In what has been a ‘sixathon’ in the IPL so far, Rabada has managed to consistently keep batsmen at bay with his on-point and visceral bowling attack.

So far, the 25-year-old, representing the Delhi Capitals, has taken the most wickets in the league of 12 and has scored the best average of a brilliant 12.50, the best of any bowler who has bowled in more than two innings.

Rabada looks rejuvenated and sharpened in every department on the field. He also managed to break the record of restricting the opposition to the lowest ever score in a ‘Super Over’ during their match against Kings XI Punjab.

It took Rabada just three balls to dismiss Kannur Rahul and Nicholas Pooran for only two runs. Also, just a few days ago, Rabada took the best figures of the tournament so far of 4/24 against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Another Proteas pacer, Anrich Nortje, who plays on the same team as Rabada, has also been impressive, having taken the sixth-most wickets of seven, scoring a decent average of 21.28 with best figures of 3/33.

Lungi Ngidi had a brief but solid stint for the Chennai Super Kings, having taken four wickets in two innings with a respectable average of 23.50 and having shown best figures of 3/38.

With the bat, a big mention must go to former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis, who received heavy criticism last year for both his captaincy and dwindling form. Many fans and critics called for him to be axed from the national side and to retire because “his glory days had passed him”.

Coined a “has been” by many, Du Plessis even stepped down from his captaincy role, which was replaced by Quinton de Kock. As his career came into question, so arrived the timely break, which seemed to have done wonders for the 36-year-old’s progression in the sport.

Playing on the same team as Ngidi, Du Plessis has scored the second-most runs so far of 282, just 20 runs less than the leader, Rahul. In the process, he had smashed eight sixes and 28 fours.

What makes his spell more impressive is his current average of 94.00, second only to West Indian Kieron Pollard with his unbelievable median 163.00, thanks largely to his four ‘not outs’.

Although having retired from international cricket (for now) and having not really been a part of the Proteas fold last year, AB de Villiers, renowned for his unconventional hitting and superb big shots, is currently 14^th on the runs list.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore specialist has scored 155 runs so far, including seven sixes and 15 fours, with an average of 51.66.

De Villiers is certainly on the radar for a Proteas call-up ahead of the T20 World Cup next year, with rumours suggesting he had already been in talks with head coach Mark Boucher of making an international comeback.

De Kock, who had actually been the lone performer during last year’s dire season, had surprisingly misfired during the IPL so far for the Mumbai Indians but he managed to make up for it with a stellar knock of 67 in their victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad a few days ago.

This instills some hope that the skilled and respected wicket-keeper-batsman is returning to his usual form.

The Proteas did enjoy a 3-0 ODI series victory over Australia just before lockdown took its course, which added a silver lining to the dark year.

With individual players showing their worth against world-class oppositions in the IPL, it can only be appetising to see whether these very players would be able to channel this flair into the culmination of the national side. SA cricket is certainly in need of some hope.