Out of jail

I need to see momentum.

South Africa will be relieved with their get out of jail scramble during the 1stTest in Guyana but they now need to show their true worth.

Exactly the same thing happened during South Africa’s disastrous tour of Sri Lanka late last year and I was expecting them to take chunks of momentum into the next Test in Colombo after defiant batting secured a draw in the initial Test in Galle. How wrong was I?

They were simply outclassed in every sense and the tour quickly spiralled into a deep decline. Lessons were learnt and promises were made. Never again was that going to happen.

I spent a bit of time with the team during their warm-ups on the morning of the final day in Guyana and there was a definite air of determination present as they prepared for battle. They all knew what a loss would mean and that they would then be spending the next 3 weeks playing catch up cricket to get plans back on track.

They had a job to do and succeeded, a draw was achieved. They need to take some credit for that but in the first encounter they have been outplayed by the home boys.

Let’s be totally honest. They were shocking during the rain affected day 3 when only 36.5 overs were available. They were caught on the hop and a scoreline of 4 for 44 was proof after an hours play. The game was whizzing past them quickly with no-one able to put the brakes on.

To all and sundry it appeared to be symptomatic of not participating in a tour warm-up game prior to the 1st Test. They were underdone and looked complacent after watching the Windies pile up a huge total. A flat track and what they thought was a mediocre attack was surely going to add up to runs galore. Wrong!

The West Indies were galvanised after all their problems off the field before the clash.

Another area of contrast between the teams was the movement through the air that the West Indies bowlers managed compared to the gun-barrelled straight deliveries from the visitors. Standard swing and reverse swing was the order of the day and South Africa have got some serious swatting to do in that regard before the next Test. A lead in game would have unravelled those mysteries.

The series is off and running and before you know it the Trinidad Test will be upon us. South Africa will be up against a far stronger and more dangerous West Indies team.

Lessons have been learnt. They won’t make the same mistake twice.