SA enter new era with renewed hope of emulating the glory days

The first job is done. South Africa won the opening match of their four-Test summer in such commanding fashion that it not only suggests some of the ghosts of 2019, when they lost to Sri Lanka at the same venues this series is being played at, are buried; but also that real progression has been made in the last year.

Take the simple comparison of their batting numbers. Between the Boxing Day Test of 2019 and the Boxing Day Test of 2023, South Africa played 25 Tests and had eight hundreds between them. Between last year's Boxing Day Test and the completed Durban Test against Sri Lanka, they have played nine Tests and have nine hundreds in the batting line-up. Eight of those nine hundreds have been scored by different players. A difference as stark as that can be played by a combination of factors, including players gaining experience and confidence and them finding consistency. For Test coach Shukri Conrad the real reason is resilience where runs aren't coming.

"When the conditions are tough, we needed to be better. We can't just roll over and fold like a pack of cards, like we've had the habit of doing," he said at the post-match press conference. "We saw it in Guyana when it went around around corners there, we were found wanting to a large degree. If it wasn't for Piedtie (Dane Piedt) and Nandre (Burger's tenth-wicket partnership of 63) partnership, who knows what that result could have been. For me, the growth is when the conditions are really tough, we're eliminating whatever potential risks there are and summing up those conditions better and doing the tough graft a lot better."

The opposite was evidenced in Durban. In muddy weather, with the ball moving around, South Africa were reduced to 117 for 7 in the 35 over after being put in to bat. They could have been 130 all out, and under serious pressure. Instead, South Africa made 191, thanks to Temba Bavuma's 70 and small but vital contributions from the lower order, and still had enough time to bowl in helpful conditions.

Bavuma's first-innings score will slip into the footnotes of his career, especially after he went to score a second-innings hundred, but it was the one of the performances that had the biggest say on the final outcome. It was quintessential Bavuma with very few flashy shots (apart from that ramp off Lahiru Kumara which is an image Bavuma should frame) and oodles of patience. It was not recognised as the player of the match performance, and Bavuma did not receive the award at all after Marco Jansen took the best figures by a fast bowler in Durban, but he did put a personal best in number and sentiment. He had not crossed fifty twice in the same match before this one, and he has never had such a decisive say in a crucial win.

"I thought this was his best Test match that he's played, given what's gone before," Conrad said. "He's come off a long layoff, and the way he's battled through stuff, that really epitomises Temba. He was exceptional in this Test match. That 70 went a long way to give us something respectable to build to. Temba was super special this Test."

But he wasn't the only one. Conrad lavished praise on the injured Wiaan Mulder for "suggesting that he walk in early because he still wants to contribute" on the second day and showing "mental and physical toughness I want to build this team around." And he showered Tristan Stubbs with superlatives after his second Test hundred in two matches. "He celebrated his hundred the way he celebrates when any bowler takes a wicket as well," Conrad said, referring to the signature Stubbs' leap. "And that makes him so special. He just loves playing cricket. He loves playing for South Africa. He's the heartbeat of this team."

The words being used to describe this South African team are very different to the vocabulary of eras gone by when being tough was a defining characteristic. Before the Test, Bavuma was asked about being "decent," and said both the players and the coaching staff see that as a quality they were with pride. Afterwards, Conrad called them "an authentic group," where "nothing is artificial," and explained their bond beyond the boundary.

"We continually encourage guys to be themselves, both on and off the field," he said. "Winning obviously helps. Let's not undervalue that. But they're just a great bunch of guys that get on with it. Just you do you and be you, and we'll make this whole thing work."

If that sounds more like relationship advice rather than team building, you may be glad to hear there was only a little more. Conrad described Stubbs as a "guy that you want your daughter to bring home," but then quickly went back to cricket-speak. The coach is under no illusions that sporting success is not judged on the cute and cuddly, but is cut-throat. "At the end of the day, we get judged on cricket results and performances, not the type of characters we are."

"We continually encourage guys to be themselves, both on and off the field," he said. "Winning obviously helps. Let's not undervalue that. But they're just a great bunch of guys that get on with it. Just you do you and be you, and we'll make this whole thing work."

So far, under Conrad, so good. The understrength team in the New Zealand series aside, South Africa have not lost a series under him and though the sample size is small at just four it is a sign that something is working. South Africa are no longer a team of superstars. Apart from Kagiso Rabada, they don't have any record holders or names that could appear in all-time XIs, and they don't seem to mind.

When Bavuma name-dropped comparisons between AB de Villiers and Stubbs ("He kind of reminds me a little bit of batting with AB, who was always intense, always reminding you what your plans are, making sure that you're in tune with what you're doing") and Jacques Kallis and Mulder ("I'm not saying he's Jacques Kallis, but I think he has the characteristics. He's got the skill to be able to emulate a little bit of what Jacques did.") it sounded more like he was making the point that eras change and things move on than an attempt to equate some of his younger players with the legends they look up to.

That team, the de Villiers-Kallis (and Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel) team became No.1 in the world in 2012. This team is trying to do the same thing. They have to win three more matches, with significant injury concerns in the bowling attack, to give themselves a chance. Whatever happens, one thing is clear: they are moving in the right direction.