WHILE most of the Proteas Test players are still in India, most of the Australian players are fully focused on the World Test Championship final that is about three weeks away.
For a host of different reasons, the Proteas players cannot simply withdraw from the Indian Premier League as easily as the Australian players have, including fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who did not return to join the Delhi Capitals last week.
However, one would imagine that the Australians are covering vital ground in terms of preparations for the final, while key South African players are still in T20 mode in India.
With the glaring differences in preparation between the two sides, the concern is more on the Proteas batting unit, compared to what is an experienced bowling attack led by Kagiso Rabada.
The SA team will only assemble in Arundel on May 31, which means that, apart from Kyle Verreynne and David Bedingham, who are currently playing county cricket, some of the Proteas batters will have had just a little over a week to prepare for the final.
Former Proteas opening batter Alviro Petersen, having been in the 2012 squad that won the Test mace in England, told Independent Media that South Africa’s preparation is not ideal heading into what is the biggest Test match of their careers.
“Well, it’s certainly not ideal,” said Petersen.
“South Africa’s batting line-up, that’s what concerns me, considering you’re playing in England.
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“Compare that to Australia, Australia’s two top batters in the Test format, you’re probably looking at Steve Smith and Marnus (Labuschagne).
“They’ve played county cricket in the last couple of years, for Glamorgan and for Sussex, and that will stand them in good stead.
“Whereas if you look at South Africa, South African players haven’t really played a lot of county cricket.
“They’ve probably played a couple of games here and there.
“So, from that point of view, they will have to get up to speed with the conditions.”
Key Australia all-rounder Cameron Green already has two centuries in the County Championship, while Beau Webster is also in England getting accustomed to the conditions, while the rest of the Aussie squad have assembled in Brisbane to prepare for the final.
On the other hand, in the Proteas batting unit, only Verreynne has played more than one county game this season, while Bedingham played a single match before suffering a toe injury.
Petersen believes that England are Australia’s second home, considering that they play the Ashes up north and have a number of their Test players with county experience under the belt.
“That’s Australia’s second home because they play the Ashes there and play county cricket there.
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“They know exactly what to expect so it will be a home game for them, and South Africa will have to get up to speed with the conditions and also the ball that will be used there, which will be the Duke.”
The former opener believes that coach Shukri Conrad made an educated call when announcing that Ryan Rickelton would open with Aiden Markram at Lord’s, while displacing Tony de Zorzi from the opening position, which he played for the majority of the WTC cycle.
However, Petersen is still concerned about the two openers’ readiness for what lies ahead.
“The coach will obviously have a feel of the players inside the camp, so he’s probably happy with going with the same and saying, ‘Listen, the last time this guy opened he scored a double hundred, so maybe that’s his position’. So, you can understand that,” he said.
“My biggest concern is that Markram and Rickelton haven’t played county cricket in terms of number of games and seasons.
“Going through that, in that sometimes on the same day, the ball, it could be flat in the morning and after lunch, it starts moving… that sort of thing.
“So, players need to go through that to really understand what it is. The dismissals are different.
“In South Africa, there might be a lot of caught behinds, whereas in England, it’s more bowled, LBWs and some caught behinds.
“I hope there’s an understanding of that, there’s a discussion, and that they’ll have people around there with a lot of county experiences that will say, ‘Listen, this is what you can expect this time of the year’.
“Batters coming in the middle-order, it’s not like in South Africa where, especially in Newlands where it’s flat, you come in and there’s not a lot of movement there… There will be movement.”
