The SA women’s cricket team salute the crowd A dark cloud has covered South African cricket for the last three years, for a host of different reasons. Seen here: The SA women’s cricket team salute the crowd. © Shaun Roy/BackpagePix
Gqeberha – South African cricket is in a better space as the 2022/23 season comes to an end.
A dark cloud has covered SA cricket for the last three years, for a host of different reasons.
It all started going south when the Proteas exited the 2019 World Cup in the round-robin stage.
That was shortly followed by the controversial decision to hire Mark Boucher as head coach ahead of Enoch Nkwe and Geoffrey Toyana, who were not only more qualified, but also more experienced as professional coaches.
The SJN hearings followed shortly after, further opening up old wounds.Then sponsors pulled out, and CSA’s competency in running the game was questioned more than ever before.
Through all that, somehow, the 2022/23 season comes to an end with the support for the sport in the country having been revitalised.
It all started with a tough but necessary decision to forfeit the ODI fixtures against Australia in January, in order to ensure the availability of the Proteas for the inaugural season of the SA20 League.
With Proteas players available alongside some of the world’s best T20 cricketers, the fans filled up the stadiums and reminded the world just how much cricket is loved in South Africa.
Towards the end of the SA20, the women’s T20 World Cup kicked off, and coach Hilton Moreeng’s team did the country proud by becoming the first South African senior side to reach a World Cup final.
Captain Suné Luus and her team turned things around after their campaign started off on a negative note when Dane van Niekerk was left out of the team for failing a fitness test that many found irrelevant to performance in the field.
On February 26, the Newlands faithful came out in numbers for a sold-out final as each Proteas supporter understood just how significant the occasion was in the context of women’s cricket in the country.
Besides falling short to a strong Australia women’s team, the journey to the decider revived the love and passion for cricket in the country.
It also educated South Africa about just how important their support is for women’s cricket in Mzansi and for the sport in general.
Then the England men’s ODI team came to South African shores for a three-match series, bringing with them their World Champions tag.
The fans filled up the Mangaung Oval and Diamond Oval during the series as the new coaching regime of Shukri Conrad and Rob Walter commenced.
Temba Bavuma stood out in that series with a century in the second match, and the team wrapped up a 2-1 series victory and secured important Super League points.
A month later, Bavuma and his team, this time in their whites, blew the West Indies away with a whitewash in the Test series, ending the World Test Championship on a much-needed positive note after the horrid tours of England and Australia earlier in the season.
The appointment of Aiden Markram as T20I captain was also warmly received, as was his return to the Test side.
To close the season off, Markram’s knock of 175 at the Wanderers on Sunday ensured a 2-0 series victory over the Netherlands, taking South Africa to eighth in the Super League and all but securing their spot in the 50-Over World Cup, pending the result of the Ireland-Bangladesh series in May.
As the season ends, despite the many improvements that are still needed, the sport looks in a much better place than it was at the start.
@imongamagcwabe
IOL Sport