It was the Australian side of Steve Waugh and Mark Taylor that orchestrated the impression that England’s cricketers were a bit soft, but that is not a notion the South Africans have bought into and it is not something they expect to encounter on this year’s eagerly anticipated tour.
Test series’ between England and South Africa have always been notoriously tough and uncompromising encounters and the success the English have had in recent seasons means the tour of 2012 will be just as hard as all the other encounters over the past 18 years. “They’ve proven in the last two years that they’re a very methodical, well-drilled team,” South African captain Graeme Smith mentioned ahead of his side’s departure yesterday.
“I expect them to be well prepared, they’ve played a lot of cricket and will be battle hardened. They play the game hard, no-one wants to give an inch and that’s how the Test series will be played.”
Smith captained the last team to win a Test series in England and knows better than any current Test captain what it takes to achieve success in that country. The No1 ranking is the grand prize that’s at stake, and for Smith a second consecutive series win in England would go some way towards cementing his spot as one of Test cricket’s great captains. He led the side to a 2-2 draw in 2003, his second tour as captain, a trip made memorable by the double centuries he scored at Edgbaston and Lord’s.
In such a short series, the first Test takes on enormous importance and it may be argued that the English have cleverly scheduled it for a venue where South Africa have had little success in the post-isolation years. South Africa has lost all three of their Test matches at the Oval in that period. In years past the Oval Test has always been the last match of the series, which Smith feels is the reason SA has struggled there.
“It’s always been the last hurdle where we’ve always struggled to maintain the level of play that we’ve produced through other games. I’d like to think that going into this Oval Test we’re really fresh and set up well for what we are going to encounter.”
While concerns have been expressed in some corners about there being only two warm-up games before the first Test, Smith and coach Gary Kirsten believe that, if properly used, those matches will provide sufficient opportunity for the side to prepare. “We talk about processes, but what does that mean? We make sure we prepare as best we can to give ourselves the best chance of success and I can assure you that no stone will be left unturned come the 19th July and the start of the first Test,” said Kirsten.
That first Test will also be Smith’s 100th, making him the sixth South African to achieve the landmark. However, he didn’t want that achievement to become a distraction for the side’s ultimate goal.
“I chatted to Gary about the milestone this morning as he was the first person to do it. It seemed an unachievable thing for a South African cricketer at the time,” Smith said about Kirsten’s 100th Test, which was played in Auckland in 2003. “I’m extremely proud to have played 100 Tests for South Africa and I still have the same motivation as I did when I went on that first tour to England.”
The side left for Switzerland last night for a three-day teambuilding camp with renowned explorer Mike Horn, where mountain-biking, hiking, glacier-climbing and other outdoor adventure activities are on the agenda. “It’s not just about the England tour, it’s a precursor to what we’ve got to do for the whole year,” said Kirsten.
“We see real value in this event. The importance of team unification and a strong team spirit especially when you’re playing against a quality side is very important.”
The team will arrive in England on Friday and head straight to Taunton for their first tour game against Somerset.