Don’t forget those who came, saw, but were not given a chance to conquer

Sunday Times

TELFORD VICE, Colombo

“K,” was how Kyle Abbott began answering the last question of his impromptu press conference on the outfield at Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in Colombo on Tuesday. “Y, L, E,” he continued.

“New word - A, B, B, O, double T.” The reporters, Sri Lankan every one, took careful notice of how to spell his name.

By the time the second test started on Thursday, Abbott’s stock had risen all the way to the top of the towering manual scoreboard at SSC, which had him opening the batting. It listed his partner as Hashim Amla, with Quinton de Kock at No. 3 and Dean Elgar allegedly coming in after AB de Villiers, JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis ...

Ah, alphabetical order you sneaky thing. Except that Wayne Parnell would have been surprised to read he was in the side while Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn would have been shocked not to see their names up there. The XI, meanwhile, was a man short: only 10 Saffers were listed on the board.

Parnell was not among them. He played in the tour match before the one-day series and in one of the three ODIs, but his test series will be remembered for his hairstyle: a ponytail tied high on the crown of his head that contrasts edgily with his beard. Might Parnell be rocking some kind of samurai-meets-steampunk concept cut?

Also not chosen on Thursday were Dane Piedt and Stiaan van Zyl, who like Abbott had come all the way to Sri Lanka to not get a game. What would that do to them?

“Mentally you get used to being a member of the support staff and not the playing staff, and you could end up losing a bit of competitive sharpness,” said Adam Bacher, who knows of whence he speaks.

Bacher was relegated to “catching splinters” for much of a triangular tournament in Australia in 1997-98, so much so that he talked his way into playing in a schools match after going two weeks without time in the middle before the third test in Adelaide. He also missed SA’s last three tests in England in 1998 after breaking his collarbone in the field in the second match of the series at Lord’s.

Players needed to keep an eye on the politics of sitting out, Bacher said.

“Despite all the negative personal issues that being on the sidelines can have, it is very important to show the team that you are completely behind them no matter how frustrated you become.

“Negative or selfish tendencies will very quickly be picked up by management or the team, making your future appearance within the team a little less certain.”

Parnell and Abbott know the thrill of playing for SA, but Piedt and Van Zyl must be disappointed not to have made their debuts in the wake of the hype over their selection.

All they have known since is the dubious privilege of wearing non-players’ dayglo bibs. Enthusiasm can get you through only so many practice sessions, especially in the cloying heat of Sri Lanka, before banal reality sets in: it doesn’t get any better than this.

So there must be admiration for the snap, crackle and pop that Abbott and Piedt brought to their interaction with a gaggle of children at SSC on Tuesday. Each of the kids - rather, their parents - had paid 5000 rupees (R873) to be part of a coaching session with SA and Lankan players. The money raised will help Sri Lanka’s team go to the blind World Cup in SA in November.

Abbott supervised a lively catching session while Piedt was locked in an enthusiastic discussion on the intricacies of spin bowling with Mandani Tennakoon, a 15-year-old off-spinner. “I wasn’t really thinking about a future in cricket, but that was so inspiring that now I might change my mind,” she said.

Perhaps those South Africans who came, saw, but were not given a chance to conquer achieved something in Sri Lanka after all.