By picking for conditions, not reputations, South Africa engineered a rare and hard-earned run of subcontinent success
Firdose Moonda26-Nov-20253:10
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They say what makes South Africans unique is that they prefer it when things are tough. Start your World Test Championship (WTC) title defence with back-to-back tours of the subcontinent? Challenge accepted. Win a series in places you haven’t for 18 years (Pakistan) and 25 (India)? Sure. Do it without your captain in the first instance and your premier seamer in the second? Bring it.And while it’s true that South Africans love the bravado of all this, it also holds that none of it happened without careful planning and meticulous attention to detail as they worked their way back up international cricket’s rankings over the last six years.In that time, one of the key things South Africa have got right is selection. It may sound obvious but they’ve picked squads and XIs based solely on who they think can do a job in a specific location, against a specific team, not on reputation, and sometimes not even on form. It hasn’t always seemed obvious – Lungi Ngidi for the WTC final at Lord’s with no red-ball cricket under his belt for ten months, or Tristan Stubbs at No. 3 – but, to date, it has all worked. Over the last two months, better than ever.Related
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For South Africa’s trips to Pakistan and India, recalling Simon Harmer was a masterstroke. It demonstrated how well South Africa have moved on from the issues of the past to make the best choices for the present.Harmer left the country’s cricket in the Kolpak exodus of 2017, and has since had strong opinions about everything from the application of transformation targets to the security of a career in South Africa. Some of what he said has rankled, but most of what he did impressed. On the county circuit, Harmer has been prolific – he has been among the top ten wicket-takers over nine English summers and the leading bowler in three of those. Going to the subcontinent, a record like that could not be ignored.In the grand tradition of phoning a friend, Harmer called Temba Bavuma and Shukri Conrad after watching them lift the Test mace at Lord’s to make himself available again.”Seeing them win the World Test Championship as a South African was an extremely proud moment, especially knowing a lot of people in the change room and what it meant to them,” Harmer said at the post-match press conference after South Africa beat India by 408 runs in the second Test in Guwahati.”Never in a million years did I think that I would have another shot at international cricket” – Simon Harmer•BCCIWinning that title also showed South Africa that their methods work. The 2023-25 cycle was, on paper, not particularly challenging with no matches against England or Australia, and an India series at home. Instead, it was sparse, with six two-match series, and South Africa effectively forfeited one when they sent an understrength side to New Zealand to accommodate for the SA20. That meant there was huge pressure on every match, but coach Conrad had discovered a way.For New Zealand, he called on resources far and wide as he brought offspinner Dane Piedt back from his new life in the United States, and medium-pacer Dane Paterson back from what looked like the road to retirement on the county circuit. Paterson was key to the rest of South Africa’s success, which included series wins in the West Indies and Bangladesh, and then four matches in a row at home. Essentially, South Africa got to the WTC final by thinking creatively, and that would have given Harmer hope they would continue to do so on other assignments – especially as defending champions.Harmer was right. South Africa immediately knew that to win in the subcontinent, not only did they have to pick their best players of spin – Tony de Zorzi, who now has two Test hundreds, both in Asia, for example – they also had to have good spinners. And one thing Harmer had done was become a bloody good spinner. In England, he learnt how to bowl on sometimes unhelpful tracks, and to vary his pace. Ten years after he debuted and was then dropped in India, Harmer was able to show those skills again.”That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do – to be able to look back at the end of my career and say that I was the best version of Simon Harmer that I could be,” he said. “The steps I took when I was dropped from the national side to try and get better. Never in a million years did I think that I would have another shot at international cricket. Never in a million years did I think that I would come to India again. To be here, to win 2-0, to be Player of the Series, it’s pretty special and quite surreal.”South Africa drew their Test series in Pakistan before winning the one in India•AFP/Getty ImagesHe also probably never in a million years thought that he would be South Africa’s highest wicket-taker in India, or have the best bowling average for them in a Test series. But these once-in-a-lifetime things do happen. And there’s a romance to them and to thinking that may just be one-offs. Left-arm spin-bowling allrounder Senuran Muthusamy, for example, is highly unlikely to be picked as a specialist batter in home Tests when South Africa have Zubayr Hamza, Dewald Brevis and Lhuan-dre Pretorius waiting in the wings. Could he have played his best and last Tests on these subcontinent tours?Harmer will ask the same questions. How will we find his way into the South Africa XI when South Africa next play, 11 months from now at home? There, the surfaces will suit seamers, Kagiso Rabada will be back, and Keshav Maharaj is the first-choice spinner. But this is a South Africa team that say and act like they really are for each other – especially now that they have proven to themselves they can win without either Bavuma or Rabada (but maybe not without both at the same time) – and Harmer seems to have made peace with the uncertainty.”I’m quite happy to come and contribute, and I know it’s going to be a different story when we play in different places around the world,” Harmer said. “For now, I’m very happy to play a supporting role. I want to make South African cricket better. If that means that I only get selected in the subcontinent, I’ve got absolutely no issue with that. I want to contribute. I want this team to do well. I want this team to dominate Test cricket for as long as they possibly can.”South Africa’s series wins in Pakistan in 2007, in Bangladesh in 2008, and the drawn series in India in 2008 marked the start of what became their golden period. They went 15 series unbeaten on the road, and notched up victories in England, Australia and Sri Lanka on the way. This time the sequence is slightly different as victory in Bangladesh last year gave them their first win in the subcontinent in a decade, and they drew in Pakistan but won in India. The last of those is a generational achievement which comes at a time when India have never been more powerful – both as a team and as the game’s economic powerhouse.South Africa have announced their aim to make the SA20 the second-best league, but not to have the second-best national team•SA20Though India were beaten by New Zealand at home last year, that was their first Test series loss on their own soil in 12 years. Either side of that, they won the T20 World Cup in 2024, where they defeated South Africa in the final, and the Champions Trophy early in 2025, while their women’s side also beat South Africa in the ODI World Cup earlier this month.And if South Africa needed any more reminding of who controls the game’s global narrative, they need look no further than their own SA20. All six franchises are linked to IPL teams through ownership. Instead of push back, South Africa have embraced it, happily announcing their aim to have the second-best league in the global game, but not, the second-best national team. It has worked as the league has grown to the point where it is the highlight of the summer, especially this one that will have no home Tests as decided by the Future Tours Programme in 2022.Box South Africans in and tell them to find their way out, and they say the situation brings out the best in them. It allows them to show the full range of their ability to “make a plan”, as the South African-ism goes, which applies to anything that needs to get done and then is. Cricket seemed to stop making plans six years ago, when South Africa lost in India, and the administration imploded.It has taken time and trust in themselves and the people put in charge (and a word here for Enoch Nkwe, the head of National Teams and High Performance, who has created the structures under which the current success grows) to get up again. They have, and now they’re running along the toughest of paths and loving it.
