Now for unfinished business in NZ

Johannesburg - “We’ve got a bit of unfinished business in New Zealand from the 2015 World Cup,” AB de Villiers said on Friday night.

There’s a lot more to that statement than South Africa’s cricket side just seeking revenge when they head to New Zealand. The semi-final loss to the Black Caps that chilly Tuesday night in March two years ago, had a acute effect on De Villiers and the Proteas.

For many weeks - months even - they were lost as a cricket team. Dale Steyn said as much last August. “After the World Cup, we just kind of stopped, we didn’t know what we were trying to achieve... why do we want to win games? Do we want to win a series? What does it all mean?”

To deal with that existential crisis, the players and coaches took themselves away to what has now become a rather infamous ‘bosberaad,’ to address honestly and openly what they needed to do to become better people and cricketers.

The result of those frank conversations has been profound. The ties that bind the players seem tighter and even when they’ve lost key personnel, whether through injury in the case of Steyn at a vital juncture in the opening Test against Australia earlier this season, players to Kolpak contracts, and a superstar who will choose when he wants to play Tests, they have continued to perform consistently and at a very high standard.

The tour to New Zealand comes at an intriguing time for the team. The future of coach Russell Domingo is very much in doubt, they are still trying to piece together elements of the one-day team and although the Test side looks stable, there is as skipper Faf du Plessis noted Friday night, an opening for a third seam bowler, while Temba Bavuma needs to find form with the bat.

Everyone is expecting a significantly harder challenge from the Black Caps than was the case from Sri Lanka. “They are a street-smart team, they always have been. They find ways to compete and to stay in the game,” said De Villiers.

World Cups aside, South Africa have an excellent record in New Zealand recently. The Proteas have won the last two bilateral One-Day series’ between the two teams in that country and four years ago, they were far more dominant than a 1-0 series win indicates in the Tests.

“We have a decent record there and there’s lots of guys who have good experience going there,” De Villiers added.

What will set New Zealand apart from Sri Lanka is that, like the South Africans, they are feeling very confident about themselves. They’ve won Tests series’ against Pakistan and Bangladesh and recently triumphed in a three-match ODI series against cross-Tasman rivals Australia.

The Kiwis have strengthened in some important areas since their last meeting against South Africa in two Tests back in August 2016. Jeet Raval has proved to be a steady companion for Tom Latham at the top of the order, while in Colin de Grandhomme they’ve added to their already prodigious seam bowling depth.

New Zealand have always had to box clever when it comes to playing resources and of course if something were to befall Tim Southee or Trent Boult, they would be massively hampered but they’ve also unearthed some very good young fast bowling talent in Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry in recent years that will help them to mix it with the South Africans.

“They have a really good bowling attack who understand their conditions really well. Tim Southee and Trent Boult are two very, very successful bowlers,” said Test and T20 skipper, Faf du Plessis.

A key component of New Zealand’s attack in recent years, Neil Wagner is currently unavailable due to a fractured finger and may miss the first Test in Dunedin starting March 8.

Nevertheless, Du Plessis explained that his side will need to plot carefully. “It’s about understanding the conditions we’ll be playing, which are similar to England. The ball may swing a bit more than it does in South Africa. It’s about making sure we are very strong in our preparation.”

South Africa’s first hurdle will be overcoming the jet lag ahead of the opening international match, a T20 at Eden Park in Auckland on Friday. “I’ve never had to deal with that )jet lag) before,” said Du Plessis, “because we’ve always had a week to 10 days before we’ve played the first game.”

However Domingo won’t be using that as an excuse. “We have to make sure that when we do play we can’t be making excuses about time-zones and jet lag. We have to give it absolutely everything. We want to start the tour well, so it’s an important T20 for us.”

SA Squad for T20 International and ODIs

AB de Villiers (ODI capt), Faf du Plessis (T20 capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Dane Paterson, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi.