JOHANNESBURG - Cricket South Africa (CSA) has called on fans to show patience with captain Faf du Plessis, interim team director Enoch Nkwe and the Proteas squad as they regroup and build a new era following the retirement of many of its senior core of players.
“It was always going to be a difficult challenge taking on the top team in the world – certainly under their own conditions – in India at a time when we have introduced a new team structure,” said CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe.
“In the past two years, we have had to bid farewell to some of the great names of international cricket, such as AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn, who between them played nearly 450 Test matches for the Proteas. You don’t replace that kind of experience overnight and we need to give a new generation time to settle.
“These things take time and I am confident that we will already see improvement in our next Test series when England are our visitors during the festive season. I am sure that our supporters will rally behind them on home turf.
“These are, in fact, exciting times for South African cricket with new names and faces coming to the fore. Our talent pipeline has produced Aiden Markram, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Zubayr Hamza over the last few years and our development system is clearly in good shape.”
With the Indian team having written themselves into the history books, with their 11th consecutive Test cricket series win at home, CSA acting director of cricket Corrie van Zyl has also urged for patience with the new-look Proteas outfit.
““We need to appreciate the quality that is in this Indian side,” said Van Zyl. “This is an Indian team that has been together for some time now and is well accustomed to playing in their home conditions.
“I strongly believe we, as the Proteas, have the players to win games and the youngsters will come right. The team is constantly trying to find ways to win.
“We believe in them, and we know they are going to make the right decisions to do the best they can to win Test matches.”