Johannesburg — If Dean Elgar hopes to become just the ninth South African to play 100 Test matches, he’ll have to stay fit and find or stay in form until October 2025.
South Africa are scheduled to play two Tests in Pakistan that month, Elgar’s 21st in a period starting with this summer’s three-Test series in Australia. And that illustrates just part of the problem for the Proteas as they seek to remain relevant as a Test nation, while trying to balance achieving results with giving players the opportunity needed to find their feet at international level.
The series with England provided an example of the kind of thing Ben Stokes’s team can do and South Africa can't. Opener Zak Crawley came into that series under pressure, and that pressure continued up until his fluent 69 not out that sealed victory in the final Test and in the series at The Oval earlier this week.
Stokes could boldly declare that it is his philosophy to give players an opportunity for as long as possible and to ignore the outside noise generated by ex-players and the voracious press corps in that country. Would Crawley be afforded a similar chance were he in the South African team?
Aiden Markram stands as an example that that wouldn’t be the case. Yes, Markram has struggled for form in the last year, and he is arguably a more talented player than Crawley, but simply can’t be given the kind of chances that the young England opener had because the stakes for the Proteas are so much higher given the limited exposure to Test cricket.
Part of the issue for Markram, is that while he wasn’t scoring, others in the Proteas batting unit weren’t either.
“You can back guys who aren’t scoring if there are guys around them who are and if you are winning Test matches. You want to back players, but if you are not scoring runs as a batting group then those low numbers are going to stand out, and that’s exactly what happened with us,” said the Proteas out-going coach Mark Boucher.
Boucher, who will step down as the Proteas’ head coach after the T20 World Cup in Australia next month, said the Test format needed to be cherished, as its current version was more exciting than at any other stage.
Asked if he was worried about the format’s future, he provided a typically blunt response: “Yes.
“To lose sight of Test cricket and lose games (on the schedule) is not great. I'm a purist. I love Test cricket, it's the truest form of the game and one we really need to look after and take care of,” said Boucher, who with 146 caps for his country played the second-most Tests for the Proteas, behind Jacques Kallis, with 165.
“The head (administrators) in the game need to get together and find a way to play more Test cricket. It’s very seldom that you get draws now, and that is exciting. The game has moved forward maybe because of T20 cricket, guys are playing more shots, it’s attacking, it's a nice game to watch, the more we see it the better it will be for everyone.”
Seeing more Test cricket won’t be the case for everyone, most notably South Africa, who after this summer’s series in Australia, will play 10 two-match series in a row until they host England in 2026/27.
The International Cricket Council as much as any other entity is responsible for the decrease in the number of Tests as it has placed a greater emphasis on limited overs tournaments, scheduling one men’s white ball competition in each year until 2031.
Not only does that leave less room for Test cricket, but it also devalues those tournaments, perhaps something that will only become clearer in the next few years.
In the meanwhile South Africa will struggle to create batters who are able to step into the Test arena. All Elgar could offer was that he hoped someone like Markram, who has played 33 Tests, could make a comeback into the Test side, and the only way to do that would be through playing domestic first class cricket.
“I think Aiden still has a bright future in Test cricket, he just needs to get numbers behind him,” said the Proteas Test captain. “He is still too young and too talented not to be playing at this level. I know he’s still very hungry to play this format. But runs are our currency as batters. When he gets the opportunities to play four-day games he’s got to nail it, like he’s done in the past when he’s gone back to four-day cricket.”
The problem there of course is that Markram is an increasingly important limited overs player, not just for his country, but his franchise in the IPL as well. He’ll be representing the Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA20 tournament in January, go straight into the England One-Day series thereafter and then head back to the IPL in March. When will he be able to fit in any four-day cricket to try and reclaim a Test spot?
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