Depleted SA brace against winds of change

Enough of South Africa's current Test squad are based in Cape Town to understand a thing or two about wind. JP Duminy, Stiaan van Zyl, Dane Piedt and Temba Bavuma were born there, Dale Steyn and Faf du Plessis have moved there as adults and even the captain Hashim Amla plays his franchise cricket there.

So those seven wise men should know that in Cape Town, wind is not the thing that makes trees sashay to its soothing sounds or the cooling comfort on a sweltering summer's day. That's breeze. Wind is the thing that blows people into street poles and takes roofs off houses; it's the thing Graeme Smith spoke about when South Africa took the Test mace off England almost three-and-a-half years ago.

"We need to have a strong enough base so that when the wind blows, we can handle ourselves," he said in August 2012. Now, that wind has arrived.

After a period in which South Africa had created enough of a cushion at the top of the Test rankings not to be toppled even during transition, that lead has been cut so short that any margin of defeat to England will dethrone them. The base will have to be stronger than ever before, even though it has been already been weakened.

Retirements aside, South Africa's seniors, are currently out of form like Amla, du Plessis and Duminy, or returning from injury, like Steyn. AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel have kept the sails fluttering but it will take more than them to steer the ship. Unless the others step up, this could be the wind that blows the house down.

No pressure then. Sort of, says Amla.

"In international cricket there is always somebody under pressure. It's not like 'Oh suddenly we are under pressure.' It's just how it is in international cricket because every game has a lot of consequences attached to it," Amla said.

This time, those consequences will be bigger than before. Not only are South Africa fighting for their status as a group, but individual members of the squad need to make a statement starting with Amla himself.

Although he took over as captain in mid-2014 his first real test came on the recent trip to India and he didn't score top marks. On surfaces designed to suit the Indian spinners, Amla ran out of ideas for what to do with his own. Add the lean run with the bat and the result is that his captaincy is being questioned.

This series is a way for Amla to answer them. He needs to show the composure so admirable in him when he bats can be transferred to the way he leads as well. He will have to show creativity at the right moments, caution at the right moments and most importantly, confidence all the time. Whether Amla can get that right in a line-up lacking for self-belief will be interesting.

De Villiers was the only member of the top seven who managed a half-century in India, Bavuma was the only one who did it in last weekend's round of domestic games. The rest are so vulnerable, South Africa have brought in a specialist consultant in the form of Lance Klusener to teach the tail to show more stomach. Yes, that's right. Since the batsmen can't find runs, they are teaching the bowlers to do it.

That only means any more failures with the bat will surely see the axe fall somewhere and at the moment, the openers' spot seems the most likely. Dean Elgar inspires more confidence than van Zyl, but both need to do more to cement a spot.

"Opening the batting is the hardest job in Test cricket and South Africa is the most difficult place to bat in the world because the wickets offer a lot of assistance to the seam bowlers so opening the batting is not easy," Amla said. "We were very fortunate over the years to have Graeme [Smith] being such a successful opening batter and with him we had guys like Alviro Petersen and Neil McKenzie to back him up. Now that we don't have Graeme and AP has retired, it's a great opportunity for anybody to put their hands up and say, 'I want to be the opening batter for years to come.'"

It is also an opportunity for someone - either Kyle Abbott or Kagiso Rabada - to prove the assembly line producing South African seamers is still strong. Someone else, likely Dane Piedt, could try to add certainty to a specialist spinner's spot that has rotated between three different players in the last few months.

But the onus of fulfilling the biggest opportunity lies with everyone in the South African squad. It is the opportunity to chart their own course now that the wind has come and threatening to blow them in another direction.

"Performance will tell us when you have moved from one phase to another," Amla said. "For the last four years we've wonderful Test performances and you could easily say that phase was when South African cricket was at the peak and that's how we got to No. 1. Now both teams are in similar phases with quite a few [new] faces in the team; guys who are hungry to establish themselves and a few experienced guys as well. Both teams are searching for a bit of hope. Both teams are looking for a way to start their resurgence. That's why I think it will be a good series."