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South Africa moot adding Tests to winter calendar

Test cricket in winter could become a reality in South African cricket after the experiment to host New Zealand out-of-season was declared a success by players and administrators alike

Firdose Moonda
Firdose Moonda
01-Sep-2016
Supersport Park, home of the Titans, is keen to continue hosting Tests in the winter  •  ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Supersport Park, home of the Titans, is keen to continue hosting Tests in the winter  •  ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Test cricket in winter could become a reality in South Africa after the experiment to host New Zealand out-of-season in August was declared a success by players and administrators alike. The Durban debacle aside, SuperSport Park in Centurion produced a good pitch and pristine outfield, and drew sizable crowds on all four days.
"We want to play Test matches at home as much as possible so if that means we have to do it in the winter, we are all for it. Especially in Centurion," Faf du Plessis, South Africa's stand-in captain, said. "Everything about the field was really good. The weather was really good, the pitch played well and the outfield was beautiful."
The possibility of dead pitches was one of the reasons why cricket in winter hadn't been mooted by Cricket South Africa previously. Dry winters everywhere except the Cape - where rain makes it difficult to play - leave surfaces barren. But at Centurion, a significant grass covering ensured assistance for seamers throughout.
"This was a great Test wicket - you had all the different combinations and all the factors come into play," du Plessis said. "Day one, your seamers must play a big role, the wicket must move around and you must be tight as a batting unit. Day two and three must be good batting conditions and then day four and five must bring its different challenges. Maybe the only thing we didn't see in this match was spin on day four and five, and also, we didn't see reverse swing. It didn't happen because the outfield was beautiful, nice and lush, so those are the only things we didn't see."
Kane Williamson, who regarded South Africa's first innings total as being " hugely influential" in the outcome, was a little more measured in his praise of the pitch, which thought may have deteriorated a little too quickly. Batting became progressively difficult as uneven bounce became a factor from the second day.
What both captains agreed on was that the outfield was as pleasant to play on as it was to look at. The playing area was re-laid with winter grass for this Test after both South Africa and New Zealand complained of the outfield being too hard, during an ODI series in July-August 2015.
The de-seeding process, which involved planting different grass to the usual summer carpet, took place in April. It was far different to the work done at Kingsmead in Durban, where the outfield was decompacted in June, making it hard to recover in time for the first Test.
That doesn't mean Durban is completely unsuitable for winter cricket. Had flash floods in July and unseasonal downpours on the second day of the first Test not taken place, more play may have been possible. Durban's warm days could be factored in while drawing the winter schedule. However, it is likely that concentration of out-of-season activity is likely to be on the Highveld where clear skies and mild sunshine are a guarantee.
One venue that is particularly keen to continue hosting winter cricket is the SuperSport Park. "It's like asking a kid if they want ice-cream," Jacques Faul, Titans CEO said. "We would definitely do it again. We considered it a huge success."
While the stadium did not see a sell-out crowd, the local association was happy with the numbers they got. Faul put down the response to proliferation of sporting activities at this time of year, which includes rugby. Attendance swelled to 9000 on days one and two - a Saturday and Sunday - and dropped to around 3500 on day three and 2000 on day four.
"That's what we budgeted for," Faul said. "We would have liked to start on Friday but that was impossible because of the regulations about the number of days teams needs between Tests. Ideally, we would like to have it Friday to Tuesday."

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's South Africa correspondent