Slow starters break worrying trend

Two of South Africa's last three series were only two-Test rubbers and they were customarily drowsy in both. But they have set about at a new pace with a win in Galle

Firdose Moonda

23-Jul-2014

Sprint or jog? South Africa may have hit the right pace  •  AFP

Distance runners are taught to treat their bodies like car engines by going easy at first and demanding more later on. In the recent past that is also how South Africa have approached Test cricket.

They started series slowly - the Oval in 2012, Abu Dhabi in 2013 - and played catch-up later on. The exact causes for their marathon-style approach were never quite pinned down but Graeme Smith mentioned the time they took to adapt to different conditions and the need to shake off the rust which develops when Test series are spaced months apart as factors. Both those things applied on this tour too, to an even greater degree.

South Africa had not played a Test match in Sri Lanka in eight years, most of the squad had come off at least a month of entirely no cricket and the conditions are as foreign as they get for men used to green tops, trampoline bounce and moderate summers. But this time they bolted off the blocks as though the machinery was already warmed up.

Something changed. "Having the one-dayers before the Tests helped because guys acclimatised," Amla said. "And maybe the fact that we just got out and did the business without too much fuss about anything else." Or it could be that South Africa have discovered two-Test series are not quite a distance run. Starting too slowly can make it difficult to recover the ground later on as they found out recently.

Two of South Africa's last three series were only two-Test rubbers and they were customarily drowsy in both. Against Pakistan in the UAE, a lethargic bowling showing in Abu Dhabi meant that even after ruthlessness in Dubai, they could not win the series. Against India at home, the caution to go for the draw in Johannesburg meant that even victory in Durban - which did provide a series win - did not supply one big enough to hold on to the No.1 ranking.

Amla on the possibility of rewriting history

South Africa last won a Test series in Sri Lanka 21 years ago. In the three times they've been back since, their defeats have got worse. But now, they can reverse the trend and enter the Colombo Test with an advantage.
"It's strange (to be considered favourites)," Hashim Amla said. "We are really pleased with our performance in the last game but we are addressing this game as though we are coming in with a clean slate. There's a bigger picture here."
A 1-0 victory would be enough for South Africa to reclaim the No.1 Test ranking. But the approach at SSC will give be a measure of Amla as either an attacking or defensive captain.
"It will be important to assess after two days before we know where the game is going," he said. "We always say on the subcontinent that the game speeds up later on. Lets see how it starts before we start making any tactical decisions."
The last three matches at SSC have been high-scoring draws but South Africa's bowlers have already showed they won't operate in the shadows of a surface's reputation and Amla hopes they will show that again. "Our fast bowlers have managed to do the job wherever we have been in the world so it's not a big surprise for us that they did well here," he said.

The stresses that come with staying on top eventually showed in next series. Against Australia, South Africa experienced the differences between the effort involved in getting somewhere and the effort required to stay there, which involves more than standing still. You have to keep moving at the same fast pace.

For South Africa, Gary Kirsten was the pace-setter. He took them to No.1 and he has now returned as part of his 100-days-a-year consultancy deal. Some may feel that those hours could be better used at a time when South Africa's batsman actually seem to be struggling rather than when they've piled on 455 runs. South Africa got through the Galle Test without being bowled out and are now headed to a venue reputed for being flat. But Kirsten's purpose is not solely technical.

His methods are rooted in process: do the right things more often and the outcome will be favourable. The philosophy can take some time to settle into but once it becomes a habit, its effective.

Kirsten will elaborate on that tomorrow night when he is due to speak at the Cinnamon Grand on the subject of "How to build a winning team." For 9000 Sri Lankan rupees (US$69) a ticket anyone can go and listen to the strategies behind the success Kirsten generated with two different Test teams from completely different cricket cultures and with completely different sets of personnel.

South Africa already know what some of those secrets are because they have been schooled in them. They have been times in the recent past where it looked like they had forgotten some of those. Their recent results run before Galle reads: lost, won, drawn, won, lost, won, lost. That is decidedly different from the seven-match stretch they had before that which looked like this: won, won, won, won, won, won, drawn.

Getting consistency back after a period of change is the real distance run, in which South Africa have started well. In-between they have to concentrate on the markers: another series, another match, another day of Test cricket, another session, another hour. To win most of those there has to be a mix between even-paced jogging and smart sprints which can be tricky to get right. At least South Africa will know that the engine has been turned on and is running smoothly.

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Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's South Africa correspondent