Long gap a chance for SA to reflect on mistakes

Perhaps four-Test series are not meant for South Africa.

Before this trip to India, they last had the luxury of a lengthy contest six years ago, against England at home. A year before that was when they played four Tests away, also against England. Their only four-Test series against India took place 23 years ago, in the summer of 1992-93. This ongoing tour will update those statistics, but not really explain the big picture.

The Bangalore washout has effectively reduced this contest to a three-Test series - the kind South Africa are used to playing - except that this one comes with a bit more time. In an international cricket calendar which runs on a cluttered schedule, few teams can slow down the clock this way and how South Africa make use of the extra days will be crucial to their success.

The three-day match in Mohali meant South Africa had double the days they would have had - six instead of three - to prepare for Bangalore. They spent one of them on scuffed-up surfaces at the PCA, which was exactly what a team that had been puzzled by conditions they expected to prevail through the series should have done. What they did not plan properly for was the opposite: an absence of turn.

Rain in Bangalore meant that the surface was not as ragged as Mohali's. South Africa still played for turn - that is what they had been practising - and when there was not any, they were stumped.

So now, South Africa may be a little confused. Should they sharpen their skills against spin or no spin? Should they focus on the slowness of the surface or the way the SG ball moves through the air? Luckily, they probably have enough time to fit in all of that.

The gap between the Bangalore and Nagpur Tests was always going to be a week, but the four days lost to rain have made it 11 days between game time. That is both good and bad news for South Africa. The good is that they have even more time than they had after Mohali to practice. The bad news is that with all the rain around, there was nowhere in Bangalore they could practice.

Towards the end of day four, when it had been dry for several hours everywhere except the patch at short cover on the outfield that prevented play from getting underway, some South Africa players were spotted making their way to the nets. They will be back there on Friday, when they have scheduled an optional training session at the Chinnaswamy. The weather, though, which is set to stay wet, could thwart their plans.

South Africa may be better served heading to Nagpur earlier. Even though there may be less to do socially in Nagpur, there will be more to do in the middle. Unless of course, time in the middle is not what South Africa feel they need and want to spend their time on the mind instead.

Their approach so far has been to bat as though facing boogeymen, and try blasting their way to a big total. They have pushed their usual pattern of playing themselves in and persisting to the back of their minds as they perceived conditions to be something they are not. On reflection - something Hashim Amla said they will do but not overdo - South Africa will see that the surfaces have not been snakepits, and the spinners - barring R Ashwin, who has bowled beautifully - have not been snipers. Poor shot selection has accounted for more dismissals than individually great deliveries.

For South Africa, who have had praises sung about their technique and temperament in equal measure, their application will have disappointed them. So will the knowledge that they allowed themselves to be so heavily influenced by the surround sound that started the series. The hype was about home advantage (read: raging turners) and South Africa bought into it. Now they have to demand a refund from themselves.

The talk is not going to change. The Nagpur pitch has been baking under blue skies and Delhi, which will now almost certainly host the fourth Test, indicated weeks ago that they will prepare the pitch the BCCI wants. South Africa can be fairly certain that means it will be neither fast nor flat.

The reality is not going to change either. Nagpur is a must-win for South Africa if they are to win a series in India for the first time in 15 years. It is also a must-not-lose if South Africa are to extend their nine-year unbeaten series record on the road. In other words, a draw in Nagpur would also do because it would give South Africa a chance to salvage the series in Delhi.