Johannesburg — Future Proteas Test batters will continue to struggle because domestic cricketers are not playing enough first- class cricket, according to the Central Gauteng Lions head coach, Wandile Gwavu.
With Division 1 teams starting their summer schedule next week, Gwavu, who was named coach of the year in 2020, offered a stark warning about the Proteas’s future Test prospects, particularly as they pertain to the national side’s batting, which has been a significant weak point in the past few years.
“I am concerned about the fewer games that we are playing,” said Gwavu, whose team finished as runners-up in the Four-Day competition last season and won the One-Day Cup. “Any batter will tell you that the more they bat the more they learn and as a result they will improve. In terms of batters, the talent is there but the skill can be better, but it will only get better the more they play cricket.”
He said that domestic players were not playing enough cricket and that the limited playing schedule made it almost impossible to judge a batter’s readiness for Test cricket. “To play for the Proteas, it's almost become easy, in that out of five or six Four-Day games, if you perform in three games, you’re in the reckoning for the Proteas team, which is fortunate or unfortunate; I’m sure players don’t mind that.
“But in my opinion, before you play for the Proteas you should have dominated franchise cricket for more than a season, even two seasons. It needs to be a consistent run, for you to go on to face guys like Stuart Broad or James Anderson.”
This season’s Four-Day competition is split into two parts, with three rounds of fixtures in November and the remaining four rounds taking place in February/March. That creates an imbalance, according to Gwavu and doesn’t provide enough opportunities for players to test themselves in different conditions. The Lions, for instance, play four matches at the newly named DP World Wanderers, and another match in Potchefstroom.
“I still believe if you want to get quality Test players, then you’ve got to play more than seven matches — you’ve got to play home and away. We are one of the few countries where conditions differ from province to province. So now out of seven matches we may play four at the Wanderers, then say you have a fifth match in Pretoria, and that’s five matches on the Highveld and as a batter you average 60 or 70, then you get picked for the Proteas and then in your first Test you play in Sri Lanka ... that’s the reality in terms of planning.”
Following South Africa’s recent Test series defeat in England, where the batting failed horribly — admittedly in tough conditions — in the last two Tests, out-going Proteas coach Mark Boucher was at a loss to explain the batters’ shortcomings other than to point to a lack of experience and technical shortcomings.
If players aren’t getting enough first-class experience that will continue to happen with future Proteas Test players, even with the limited number of Test matches the South African team will be playing in the next four years.
“It is challenging. First-class cricket is my favourite format,” said Gwavu. “I’ve always been a Four-Day coach and here at the Lions we prioritise it, because I believe if you want to learn about cricket fundamentals, that’s the format that will allow it, and you can fit 50-over and T20 cricket into that.”
A sign of the times is the fact that the Lions’ pre-season consisted of no two- or three-day matches. Instead, the team has played 17 T20 matches ahead of the new season that starts with the T20 Challenge for the eight Division 1 teams on Monday.
“When you start the pre-season, you’d normally play a few three-day games, but now you want to prioritise whatever format that you’re going to be starting off with.
“We will have two weeks of preparation for the four-day competition (in November), so we will be banking on the time we’ve spent on the field in the T20 games (to help with the four-day preparation).”
@shockerhess
IOL Sport