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Like Friends and The Simpsons, South Africa's cricket team
have been on your screens doing their thing time and time again. The
only difference is that despite numerous episodes and re-runs, too many
to count, the team have not come out with a fairytale ending like Rachel
and Ross, or laughing like Homer and Bart.
When the sporting equivalent of a 30-minute TV episode is over, South
Africa have usually found themselves in the same place they were when
the opening credits rolled: somewhere close to the top but never
actually on top. Frankly, it has not been a bad place to be. Always
second- or third-best, although once much lower, it has allowed them to
command adequate respect and put them in a position to continually
challenge to be the absolute best.
That they had only been able to call themselves that for a few months
three years ago, illustrates how close but how far they have always
been. And here they are again. The scene setter has been broadcast, the
jingle has played, louder than on previous occasions, with an
innings-and-12 run win at The Oval, and the first ad break has been
taken.
This time it was spent playing a two-day tour match in Worcester while
the captain jetted home to welcome his new-born daughter into the world
and the rest having a fancy dress party in the lead up to the second
part of the show. While both those are circumstantial differences to the
norm, for South Africa to have a different outcome at the end of this
series to the one they are usually stuck with, something more
substantial has to have changed.
In cricketing terms, South Africa cannot do much more. With an unbeaten
record away from home that stretches back to 2006, a thundering victory
in the first Test and the big name players living up to their
reputations, only fine-tuning is necessary. Concerns such as Alviro
Petersen's lack of form on the tour so far, Jacques Rudolph and JP
Duminy's lack of time in the middle and assessing and adapting to
conditions at Headingley have been dealt with.
It is other terms that South Africa's real progress will be measured.
Having not won consecutive Tests in a single series since 2008 and not
won back-to-back matches in two years, maintaining momentum is one of
those things.
Historically, South Africa have not been able to do it. The last two
times they have played against the No. 1 side in the world, which was
then India, they squandered a 1-0 lead. In 2010, they won by an innings
in Nagpur only to lose in Kolkata, and in the return leg, South Africa were held 1-1 at home, again after opening with an innings victory. Overall, they have lost immediately after going ahead in three of their last four series.
Conversely, not allowing the momentum that has taken them to the brink
of No. 1 again to sweep them away is another issue that must be
addressed. Pressure presents itself in a different form because it is
the not anxiety of win-or-lose-everything, situations that have haunted
South Africa in knockout matches, but the expectancy of
win-and-gain-everything that has existed before and will come again.
Managing that will be the most challenging thing to will face the squad
over the next five days.
Pressure presents itself in a different form because it is the not
anxiety of win-or-lose-everything, situations that have haunted South
Africa in knockout matches, but the expectancy of win-and-gain
everything that has existed before and will come again. Managing that is
going to be the most challenging thing that will face the squad over
the next five days.
The person who has led the team throughout their seemingly endless hover
near greatness and maintained the stoic attitude needed to prevent
losing sight of the ultimate goal, knows that best. "Keeping emotions in
check is crucial," Graeme Smith said. "The mental energy that we have
in our squad is an important thing. You can feel the intensity among the
group at the moment."
A fresher attitude at the key stage of the series is the only tangible
thing Smith thinks makes this time different to all the others. They
have kept their performance graph a fairly straight line and their gazes
firmly fixed on that distant point in the future that has almost always
eluded them.
| "We've got most of our bases covered in terms of players but as a group of men, this is the best group of men that I have been around" Graeme Smith | |||
"Nothing has been too up or too down. We've trained as hard and we've
prepared as well as ever," Smith said. "We don't expect England to give
us anything for free. We know we are going to have to earn it and we
have the mindset where we can do that."
As insurance against making this match the ultimate as far as South
African cricket's future is concerned, Smith already went as far as
talking about the need to maintain good form rather than just achieve it
for brief periods. "We understand that the job is not done and it's not
done for a period of time, if we want to see ourselves at the top of
the rankings consistently," he said.
This is not South Africa's last chance to become world No. 1, neither is
the final Test of the series at Lord's because they go on to play a
three-match series in Australia in November. But it is as clear cut a
chance as they have had in recent times.
Smith knows it and so coloured his words carefully, making sure he said
the immediate goal was the next five days. He also provided extensive
evidence that South Africa are ready, not just to win one match and rise
to the top but, once they do that, to stay there. "We are training
every day to be the kind of team that can consistently go forward. We
need to walk that walk out in the middle and win those games now to
prove that to people. We would love to be holders of the No. 1 title and
be the team that can push forward."
What can dramatically aid that cause is what Smith identified as one of
the immeasurables that have made the team he is currently in charge of
different to any other. "We've got most of our bases covered in terms of
players but as a group of men, this is the best group of men that I
have been around," he said. It's a group he will be hoping are not keen
on repeats but who will be eager to break new ground from Thursday.
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's South Africa correspondent
Feeds: Firdose Moonda
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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