Vincent Barnes identifies ‘belief’ as an antidote to South Africa’s self-inflicted crumbling under pressure. Moreover, he insists some players need to heal from the T20 World Cup fallout deeper than others and do so before they leave for Australia next Thursday. | ✍️ @imongamagcwabe
It is July 2019, and Powerade Performance Academy is hosting a coach’s clinic at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha. Along with a few other speakers, Malibongwe Maketa waited his turn to do a presentation for the coaches.
Maketa started off his session with an ice-breaker, ‘you’re all probably wondering what this guy is doing here after what happened in England a few weeks ago’. The room burst into laughter. Maketa had succeeded. He addressed the elephant in the room (the horrific 2019 World Cup campaign, in which Maketa was an assistant coach).
Hidden behind that ice-breaker, lay awareness of the judgements held against him. It is nothing new. We see it all the time in football. The coach, his staff and the captain take all the blame when things go wrong and they often get sacked. Maketa’s opening that day reminded me of Chris Rock’s Oscar awards’ opening monologues; funny and direct communication of his opinion or feeling about the subject. The price paid by those on which responsibility is bestowed is very high.
“The way the World Cup went in 2011, I came back from Bangladesh, I mean I didn’t even play, I was assistant coach of the team, you just want to go and hide somewhere. But you can’t, you’ve got to face up to reality,” Vincent Barnes said about his post-World Cup experience, exclusively to Cricket Fanatics Magazine.
“They don’t have much time. They’ve got to get stuck in now, they have a big tour coming up and they’re leaving in a week’s time.”
Key players in South Africa’s Test squad, which is to tour Australia in December, have just returned from another disappointing World Cup campaign. They are feeling “very tired”, as Kagiso Rabada told Cricket Fanatics Magazine during the launch of the SA20, a few days after returning home. Perhaps it is a result of this, that Rabada and Temba Bavuma haven’t featured in any of the three rounds of the 4-Day Series. Both have caught quite a lot of flack.
As Vinny explained, World Cups are almost torturous, and to make things even more interesting, South Africa tour the most hostile and fiercest opposition in their own backyard only a few weeks after the World Cup. Barnes insisted that healing from the wounds of the World Cup and from the abuse players got on social media, should be dealt with before we board a plane to Australia next Thursday.
“There’s going to be the media in our faces and they’re going to be talking about us losing against the Netherlands. We’ve got to understand that we have to deal with it right now. We probably are,” said Barnes.
“We’ve got a young coach in Mali and as CSA we want to ensure that Mali has all the support and the resources he needs to ensure that when they leave here, they are ready and prepared for the tour. But right now, dealing with the fallout of the World Cup is most important. Some guys have to deal with it a bit deeper than others.”
Barnes was part of the coaching staff when South Africa won a Test series for the first time in Australia in 2009. That team was led by Graeme Smith and had also beaten England in England prior to the tour Down Under.
“When we got to Australia in 2008/09, Mathew Hayden was talking about how he is going to take down Dale Steyn,” Barnes remembers.
“But that’s normal for them. They will look at who they can attack. They will go for people like Dean Elgar. They’ll go for Temba because they know they will create vulnerability in the team environment.
“This is what they have been doing for many years. They are going to target individuals and sometimes they do it through the media. If the Aussies get on top of you, they will hammer you into the ground,” he added.
The Proteas made two more trips back to Australia since 2009. They won the Test series in both tours (in 2012 and 2016). But things have changed. The class of 2022 is different in many ways from the trailblazers before them. To help close the gap, Barnes engaged in a tweet in which he outlined what the class of 2009 had, for the current generation to look to implicate and embody.
But belief and confidence are result based. Where will this Proteas Test side draw the belief and confidence from having been beaten by England 2-1 in September?
“The team is completely different now. Back then we had a team on top of their game. We don’t have that type of batting lineup. It’s a team that’s in transition, but we can’t be in transition forever. It’s going to be a lot of soul searching, a lot of discussions as part of their prep. A lot of their prep is going to be psychological. We’ve lost now to England and also lost two players to injury,’ said Barnes.
“There’s no doubt that each player in that Test squad is a very good player. They’ve earned the right to play for their country. There’s no issue with the ability, skill and talent, it’s about how to deal with that type of pressure now going into a series like that. That’s the important part here. Mentally we’re going to have to dig deep and step up for a series like this. They are going to be noisy, they will make it very very difficult for us.”
The last thing South Africa needs after the T20 World Cup is to lose in Australia. Perhaps not so much about losing the series because we all know that this Australian Test side is very strong and can beat any team in the world, especially at home.
It is rather the concern of another South African team rolling over under pressure – pressure both from the media and the on-field pressure. The many vivid nightmares of the Proteas teams crumbling under pressure, strengthen the concern felt by many cricket lovers in the beautiful rainbow nation.
“Focus on the massive tour ahead of you. If I took any player that’s in that squad they’ve performed here domestically. The last thing we want is for them to question their own ability. Don’t question your ability. Don’t question what you can do,” Barnes echoed in an attempt to pass on wisdom and to inspire the class of 2022.
“You can’t be fighting yourself because you’re up against a massive opponent. Your mind has to be clear as to what you’re going to be facing. Your challenge is not yourself. Get out of your own way. Allow yourself to face Pat Cummins or bowl to David Warner,” he added.
Win or lose. Fight or flight. There’s just no place to hide in international cricket.
“When I got involved with the Proteas, Gerald Majola was still involved with CSA. He said to me – ‘just remember, you’re part of an international team now. There’s no place to hide.’ I still carry those words with me,” said Barnes.
