Answers needed after SA A disappoint in India

“We need to look at the whole South Africa A structure and system.” - Russell Domingo

TMG Digital

TELFORD VICE in Cape Town

IT’S the curse of teams like South Africa A that few outside their dressingroom remember they exist. Until, that is, they perform poorly.

And perform poorly South Africa A did on the tour of India that ended last week, winning only one of their six matches.

Now their coach, Russell Domingo, wants to shine a light on how the team that is supposed to provide the next generation of senior internationals can better give a better account of themselves.

India A won the first four-day game by an innings and the second was drawn. Then South Africa A lost three of their four matches in a one-day quadrangular also involving India A, India B and Australia A.

There were no centuries and only one five-wicket haul — Duanne Olivier’s 6/63 — to report for South Africa A from the four-day series.

Khaya Zondo’s 117 was the lone hundred in the one-dayers and Dane Paterson’s 5/19 easily the best bowling performance.

How did South Africa A crash and burn so spectacularly?

“It was actually a lekker tour,” Domingo said. “The guys didn’t play as badly as what the results make it look like.

“In the first ‘Test’ we fought back and nearly hung on for a draw; we lost with seven balls to spare.

“In the second ‘Test’ we were in quite a good position but there was quite a lot of rain around.”

India A were 181/4 in their second innings — a lead of 207 — when that match ended.

Despite the results Domingo felt that “as the tour progressed the side’s performances seemed to get better”.

But he thought the South Africans started at a disadvantage.

“India A have played 10 four-day games in the last four months and our guys are coming off a winter break and straight into cricket against guys who have just toured England and played against the West Indies,” Domingo said.

“Those are the challenges you face with the A side, where guys aren’t playing enough cricket together as a group.

He pointed out the “the timing of the tours and the scheduling and the lack of cricket that the A side are playing and the step up from franchise cricket” as important factors in what was going wrong.

“The more games these guys are exposed to the better, and at the moment there’s not enough. The next A tour is scheduled for July 2019, I think.

“How do these guys get better as a team when they’re playing so few games and the teams they’re playing against are going on tours and playing so many more games?

“We need to look at the whole South Africa A structure and system.”

South Africa A have played 10 games in 2018, less than half India A’s total of 28.

But the Saffers are a touch better off than the Aussie A side, who have had nine matches this year.

“There’s obviously concern because the A side’s performance over the last two years hasn’t been fantastic,” Domingo said.

And he can say that again: South Africa A have won only nine of the 31 matches they’ve played, and lost 19, since July 2016.