Claim the Proteas got there ‘on the back of beating pretty much nobody’ shows lack of respect for their achievements
South Africans were still celebrating their side’s passage into the World Test Championship final, secured after the fast bowler Kagiso Rabada cosplayed as Brian Lara in athe former England captain, who left his post in 2008 after losing a home series against South Africa, declared that the Proteas got to the final “on the back of beating pretty much nobody”.
Not that losing against New Zealand on their own patch is a disgrace. Unless of course Vaughan also considers Kane Williamsonto be a bunch of nobodies, in which case we should probably disregard England’s own victories against them. Since South Africa’s 2-0 defeat against New Zealand at the start of 2023, a result that was a consequence of what this column called a Faustian pact, they have not dropped a game. Their seven-match winning run is tied for the fifth-best of all time and Bavuma’s record of eight wins from his first nine Tests as captain puts him joint-second on this metric in cricket’s 148-year history.
This team should be celebrated. So should any outfit from beyond the so-called Big Three who are able to punch above their weight and sneak their way into a showdown for silverware. It has been 13 years since a major ICC final did not include one of India, England or Australia. With franchise leagues gobbling up precious weeks in the calendar, and with proposals of a two-tiered Test ecosystem starting to look like an inevitability, the gap between the haves and the have-nots will surely deepen.
Should it matter that the Proteas didn’t have to play a pink ball game in Adelaide, or face a moving Dukes at Trent Bridge in order to secure their place at Lord’s this summer? As with all things, there’s nuance here. Because as much as Conrad, Bavuma and their supporters might sneer at Vaughan’s accusations, the truth is that they have benefited from a complicated and imbalanced competition. That is not their fault.
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