All eyes, one would certainly hope, will be on Mount Maunganui, a beautiful city in the north of New Zealand this Sunday, February 4, as a South African ‘A’ Team, as some would like to call them will lock horns with the mighty Kiwis in their own backyard.
‘A’ not because this South African team is bereft of talent but stars; a contest which possibly won’t turn out to be one, with some pundits labelling the Blackcaps as outright favourites.
Well, one shouldn’t be surprised with this statement- realistically speaking.
The cream of South African cricket will be busy furthering their skills back home in the SA20 (South Africa’s version of the IPL) which will reach its business end with much interest being shown in the razzmatazz of this T20 league over the pride of national duty, financially and otherwise.
The likes of Kagiso Rabada, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen and Keshav Maharaj, the stars who form the core of the South African test team will be missing in action.
If one were to only go by the star and performance power the aforementioned names command, then surely the Proteas would have as much chance of beating New Zealand as finding a needle in a haystack.
Truth be told, the challenge will be tough with the New Zealand team at full strength boasting seasoned talents like Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Devon Conway, Tom Latham to name a few ably led by their wing commander Tim Southee.
But make no mistake- there is still hope.
Hope with immense grade A experience this Proteas’ side has with able veterans in their bowling department, the likes of Shaun Von Berg, Dane Peidt, Duanne Olivier and Dane Patterson who have almost 1500 first class scalps between them.
The batting also looks adept with the experience of Khaya Zondo, boasting more than 6000 first class runs married with the exuberance of effervescent youngsters like David Bedingham, Zubayr Hamza, Raynard Van Tonder, Edward Moore and Keegan Petersen to name a few.
The Men in Green and Gold will also have a rock leading them in Neil Brand who successfully managed to beat West Indies A with this same team back home a few months back.
To top this up, there is pride at stake with South Africa having never lost to New Zealand home or away in a test series since their readmission in the international fold.
Labelled as the underdogs and rightfully so, the Proteas will draw inspiration from their women counterparts. The Proteas women for the first time beat Australia home or away in a T20 international. That, however, is not all.
The Proteas shall draw inspiration from the evident renaissance of the West Indies, who very impressively squared the test series against Australia down under thanks Shamar Joseph taking 13 wickets in totality and most importantly, the decisive 7-for spell at The Gabba.
It’s a feat West Indies hadn’t been able to achieve in the last 27 years.
Is there a lesson in there for the South Africans?
With the vagaries of cricket being as unpredictable as the future of this world, the word impossible should mean nothing for captain Neil Brand and coach Shukri Conrad who would surely hope their chargers not only take the park this Sunday to fill the numbers but compete to win.
After all, there is immense pride at stake which has to garner performance galore.
Image source– Victeezy
