"It was never meant to be easy," South Africa's Test coach Shukri Conrad said when reflecting on his team's long and winding road to the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord's. But was it always meant to be quite so hard?
Since August, South Africa have played seven Tests and every one has been a must-win. That's partly because the paucity of fixtures on their calendar in this cycle (six series of only two Tests each) means every match matters more than if they played more frequently, but it is also their own doing. Losing 2-0 in New Zealand in February with a second-string side because most of the frontline players were contracted to the SA20 was a low point and the most emphatic of the selection dilemmas they faced.
In every series, South Africa have been without at least one first-choice player as injuries weaved their way. That South Africa were able to put together XIs that won seven out of their 11 matches, so far, speaks as much to the depth in their system as it does to the willingness of Conrad, who is also the sole selector, to be bold. Some of his choices (from making Temba Bavuma captain ahead of Dean Elgar to picking Corbin Bosch to debut on Boxing Day) raised eyebrows but just about all of them paid off.
So much so, that South Africa can truly call what they have done to reach the WTC final a team effort. They have no batter in the top 35 Test run-scorers in this cycle and no bowler in the top 13 wicket-takers. Some of that has to with how little South Africa play but some of it tells the story of how they have benefitted from a range of contributions, each a tile in the mosaic that has become this cycle's success. Here are some of them.
Elgar's 185 v India
Ten months after being sidelined as Test captain, Dean Elgar announced the India home series would be his last. Though Elgar initially said his retirement was the result of a mutual discussions, once his contract expired, he told the Afrikaans newspaper Rapport that Conrad was "the reason my career was cut short," and he felt "stabbed in the back" by Cricket South Africa (CSA).
He managed to put those feelings aside for a final hurrah at his home ground, SuperSport Park, where he scored a career-best 185 to anchor South Africa's response to India's 245 all out. Though South Africa were never in trouble, Elgar's knock out them in a position of authority from which they could not lose. South Africa took a 163-run first-innings lead and won the match by an innings and 32 runs. They would go on to lose the next Test on an unsatisfactorily rated pitch at Newlands in Elgar's swansong which only makes the points they took from Boxing Day more important.
Enforced but inspired selection
The first of Conrad's crazy picks came out of necessity for the New Zealand series where he put together a group of has-beens, also-rans and newbies to try to defend South Africa's unbeaten record. They failed, but at least three of them would play important roles in the rest of the cycle: David Bedingham, who saved blushes on the tour with his maiden and to date only Test century, remains firmly installed at No. 5, Dane Paterson (more on that later) and to a slightly lesser extent Dane Piedt.
Two other selections worth mentioning are Wiaan Mulder, who was entrusted with the new-ball in Bangladesh and given the role of seam-bowling allrounder. He scored a maiden hundred batting at No. 7 in the second Test and Corbin Bosch, the dream debutant at SuperSport Park. Bosch took a four-fer and scored a crucial 81* off 93 balls to build South Africa's first-innings lead.
Maharaj and Piedt combine in Wi
After rain and a stubborn West Indies effort kept South Africa's attack at bay in Trinidad, it took a patient bowling performance in Guyana to keep South Africa's WTC final hopes alive. West Indies were 103 for 4 chasing 263 to win, when Piedt had Alick Athanaze, on 92, caught slog sweeping and South Africa had removed their biggest threat. Between them, Piedt and Keshav Maharaj ran through the rest of the middle and lower order and gave South Africa a 40-run win.
Rabada's subcontinent six-for
If there is a superstar in this side, it's Kagiso Rabada. He took his 300th Test wicket in Mirpur and has the best strike rate among all bowlers to have brought up that landmark.
While his contribution cannot always be measured in numbers - given how often he beats the bat and sets things up for others - he made his most meaningful contribution of the cycle in the first Test against Bangladesh, where South Africa had a 202-run first innings lead and hoped to limit the target. Rabada removed two of Bangladesh's top three inside three overs, took out Mushfiqur Rahim as he was beginning to look dangerous and then nipped out the tail to leave South Africa with a target of 106. They achieved that to win their first Test in the subcontinent in a decade.
The return of Verreynne
When Conrad first took over, he dropped the incumbent wicket-keeper Kyle Verreynne for Heinrich Klaasen, who felt had "done more." Klaasen played in two matches, scored 56 runs in four innings, and was promptly replaced by Verreynne, who spent his time out of the Test side, finishing the fifth-leading run-scorer in the first-class competition. These days Verreynne "keeps ribbing me about it when I put him on a sabbatical," Conrad said. "But he saw the growth in his game."
Since making his comeback, Verreynne has scored two crucial hundreds: in the first Test in Bangladesh when South Africa were 99 for 5 and at St George's Park, where his 105* off 133 balls propelled South Africa to a first innings total of 358.
A quartet of maiden Test tons
Verreynne's hundred was the first away century for South Africa, and just the fourth of the cycle, and there were concerns over whether the less-experienced batters could make the step up. Chattogram provided the answers. Tony de Zorzi, newly installed as an opener, Tristan Stubbs, newly slotted at No. 3, and Mulder, newly recognised as much as a batter as a bowler, all reached centuries in a dominant performance in Chattogram. South Africa declared on 575 for 6 and were set up for an innings win. There was one more maiden hundred to come: Ryan Rickelton scored an important century at St George's Park.
Bavuma's redemption
After injuring his hamstring last Boxing Day, and missing the New Year's Test and subsequent tour of New Zealand, Bavuma captained in West Indies and then hurt his elbow so had to miss both matches in Bangladesh. He remained with the squad on tour and had no red-ball match practice before the home summer but scored four fifty-plus scores including a third Test century in the series against Sri Lanka to lead from the front.
Bavuma is still struggling with both his elbows, which are protected by heavy strapping on both arms and the niggle is most noticeable when he is playing the hook or pull. Zoom in and you will notice Bavuma is not able to extend the bottom elbow fully and so can't get enough power behind the shot as he might like. He was out to those shots against Sri Lanka in Durban and Gqeberha but got a six when he tried it at altitude at SuperSport Park. He has also received on-field treatment (mostly painkillers) while batting and has shown no signs that he will miss more matches. In fact, quite the opposite.
"A couple of months ago (at the ODI World Cup), I was berated and ridiculed for playing in a game (the semi-final) where I was injured, whereas now in the past two series, I've been playing with half a decent elbow and I haven't heard those sentiments" Bavuma said. " So I guess for me, it's a learning. Maybe not just for myself, but for people outside of the team."
Conditioned Jansen's comeback
After the T20 World Cup, Jansen (and Gerald Coetzee) were put on 12-week conditioning blocks to deal with chronic injuries and work on their strength ahead of a long summer. While Coetzee has since been re-injured, Jansen has come back fitter, faster and more confident than before. His height gives him an obvious advantage and his seven-for to run through Sri Lanka at Kingsmead will be a highlight for years to come. He also took six at SuperSport Park but his big moment came with the bat. Known for his tendency to get nervous in big moments, he held his nerve alongside Rabada to score the runs that gave South Africa a famous win against Pakistan to seal the WTC final spot.
Paterson's five-fors
Told you we'd get here, and we have. After Paterson thought he'd play his comeback and final games in New Zealand, Conrad retained him for the rest of the cycle and gave him opportunity on a slow surface in Gqeberha, where his ability to nip the ball around came to the fore. Paterson took a first innings five-for, to ensure South Africa took a slender lead and finished the game with seven wickets. With several quicker bowlers still unavailable, Paterson was retained in the XI against Pakistan at SuperSport Park and took a second successive five-for to make good on Bavuma's decision to bowl first. At 35, with average speeds in the early 20s, Paterson has labelled himself "not a fan favourite," especially on social media but he is certainly the one getting the likes.
Perspective is everything
And so to the match that confirmed South Africa's spot in the WTC final. You already know how Aiden Markram responded to criticism of his white-ball format with red-ball runs, how Bavuma sulked in the bathroom and Conrad had a puff with Rabada and Jansen to discuss their batting plans, but there was something much more personal going on in South African cricket on December 29.
The team found out in the early hours of the morning that their current batting coach, Ashwell Prince's wife Melissa, a popular and loved figure in cricket circles for over two decades, had passed away. By the time news reached the wider cricketing community, around the time of the lunch break on day four, the Boxing Day Test was two wickets away from being lost. Suddenly, the cricket hardly mattered at all. Hearts broke for Prince and his three young sons, and the victory, while celebrated heartily, also carried a sombre undertone.
In South Africa, perhaps more than most places, sport is expected to be an elixir to myriad problems. As much as it has brought immense joy, South Africans also know it can never be the balm to everything. And with that in mind, the show goes on.