South Africa’s qualification for the World Test Championship has received strong criticism from the sections of the cricket community, but their coach is making no apologies for the perceived ‘easy run’.
The Proteas win over Pakistan was their seventh win in eleven Tests, and with one more match remaining in this cycle of the Championship, their percentage is high enough to not be caught by the remaining teams in contention.
Former England captain turned commentator Michael Vaughan slammed the imbalance of the system on Fox Cricket, believing that using the percentage to rank the teams, does not necessarily deliver the best two teams in the final.
After this week’s Test, the South Africans will have played just 12 Tests, the equal lowest number. That is 10 matches less than England (22) and seven Tests less than what both the last WTC finalists Australia and India (19 each) will have played – and the concern is that the quality has not been as tough.
“If you look at South Africa, they’ve got to the final by beating pretty much nobody,” Vaughan said.
“I don’t understand the table, I don’t understand the system we have in place.
“They have beaten Pakistan at home, beaten Sri Lanka at home.
“I am not against South Africa, but the system has allowed them to get to the final and they’ve drawn 1-1 against India at home and they haven’t played England or Australia – I just don’t like the system.”
But the Proteas coach Shukri Conrad isn’t concerned about the outside criticism but concedes his team has not been at their best in the recent Test series.
He added that the reality of qualification for the final only hit home after the team returned from Bangladesh.
“We’re just thrilled that we can be at Lord’s next year,” Conrad said.
“People abroad will be shouting that we had an easy draw. Well, I’m not going to apologise for that.
“I think the good thing about getting the results at home is that you play as a favourite. It’s easy to play as an underdog because you’re not expected to do it.
“We saw what pressure did to some of our players in this Test match.
“I didn’t think it was possible but with a bit of luck I thought that we’ve got it in us to scare some people.”
Temba Bavuma. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
The final will be held at Lord’s in England in June, but South Africa does not know who they will play.
Australia will finish in the top two with a win against India in Sydney, while a draw could allow Sri Lanka to sneak in if they can beat the Aussies 2-0 at home in the upcoming tour. India must win in the New Year’s Test to remain in contention.
It is also set to be disjointed preparations for the WTC final, with both teams facing 5-6 months without any Test cricket, as the Champion’s Trophy and several other white ball tournaments are to be held in between.
South African captain Temba Bavuma is not worried about losing momentum in between Tests.
“There will be a lot of downtime,” Bavuma said.
“There’s the IPL and all the other T20 leagues and some guys may go and play County Cricket (in England).
“So we will have to be switching off but at the back of our minds, we need to make sure that focus is there on what we will need to do come the Test Championship final.
“We are still yet to know who we will be up against, so we will be watching a little bit more of the Australia-India series, and Sri Lanka still have to play Australia too.
“It won’t be an anti-climax, but a nice build-up to it.”
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