Looking around the stands and the outer at Lords, there was no mistaking the quietly resurgent optimism. Consider their tragic history. The newly Rainbow South Africa has been playing international cricket for 33 years. They have frequently threatened. And yet they have won nothing at all. The latest disappointment was in the recent Women’s T20 World Cup, where as odds-on favourites they were brought down by New Zealand in the final. The Colliwobbles have nothing on the Proteas. How can a side which is always thereabouts manage to slip and stumble every single time when silverware impends?
Such questions are probably best left to psychiatrists and the like. But so it was that South Africa came into this contest as raging underdogs, despite having won all their previous seven Tests. Better yet: they were more match-fit than their opponents. And yet. Had it not been for Aiden Markram, South Africa would have been beaten yet again. Bavuma battled manfully for his 66, injured hamstring and all. Yet the other bats looked anything but secure, despite the billiard-table quality of the pitch. Any suggestion that Australia would meekly surrender this morning was put to bed very early. No: we have been well-beaten here. But we will make you earn it. There will be no freebies, today nor any other day. The attack was disciplined, the fielders keen and alert, and by the time Verreynne hit the winning runs half the side was out. Had not Australia exhausted their reviews there would have been another caught behind.
Yet all of that was merely to suggest that Cummins’ men would not turn it up. They haven’t turned it up in living memory. They will fight it out to the very last ball. And they did. Yet when the contest was there to be won, Markram and Bavuma did the needful. It is hard to escape the feeling that part of South Africa’s inglorious history may be sheeted to the clash of over-mighty egos. And it is this which is conspicuously absent these days. Temba Bavuma is the skipper, and what he says goes. Unity is strength, and it is this which has broken the longest hoodoo in the modern game.
Does the World Test Championship even matter? It does not rate highly on India’s radar, clearly. If it did, the final would be in Ahmedabad rather than St John’s Wood. They played in the first two finals at Lords, losing both, to New Zealand and Australia respectively. For South Africa this win means everything. Finally, a victory for the ages. And yet. A single match, played out of season for all save England, is not satisfactory. A tourney? If it were an eight-team final series this would not encourage anyone to exert themselves unduly. But a four-team series, played by the same rules as the IPL finals? That would be a fitting climax. No-one is guaranteed their spot. The Test series leading up to the finals would have moment and incentive. A short series of four finals would be a better test of mettle than a one-off match.
We can but hope. Expecting common-sense from cricket administrators is an exercise in creative optimism. Just occasionally, we are rewarded.