Times Media
TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg
The good news for SA ahead of their one-day series in Sri Lanka next month is that they are a more successful team in sub-continent conditions than they are in England or New Zealand.
The bad news is that their record in Sri Lanka is their worst out of all the countries in which they have played ODIs.
In the similar conditions of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Emirates combined, SA have won 66 of their 117 games, or 56.41%.
That did not surprise Colin Ingram. “Ten years ago, we would be criticised for not playing well enough on slow pitches,” he said yesterday.
“But a lot of cricket is played on those kinds of surfaces these days and our players have become better in those conditions.”
However, on pitches that seem, on balance, to be more attuned to SA’s strengths - Australia, England, New Zealand and West Indies - their winning percentage drops to 53.15.
SA have won 42.11% of their ODIs in England and 40.91% of those they have played in New Zealand. But their success rate crashes to 28.57% in Sri Lanka, where they have been successful in only six of their 21 games.
Even more alarmingly, they have lost 13 of 16 matches against the Lankans on the island. The closest SA have come to winning one of their three bilateral series there was in 1993, when the first game was washed out and the teams each won one of the other two.
SA’s only other ODI victory against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka was achieved in Pallekele last July. Trouble is, the home side won the other four matches in the rubber.
But the squad has since undergone a significant overhaul, particularly in the bowling department.
Of the group of 16 that did duty in Sri Lanka last year, Farhaan Behardien, Ingram, Rory Kleinveldt, Chris Morris, Alviro Petersen, Robin Peterson and Lonwabo Tsotsobe are not in the mix this time.
In their places in the squad of 15 from which the XI to play the first ODI at the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo next Sunday will be drawn are Beuran Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn, Wayne Parnell and Vernon Philander.
That should put a significantly stronger attack at AB de Villiers’ disposal - including a genuine spin threat in Tahir. In nine ODIs in the sub-continent and the Emirates, the leg spinner has taken 23 wickets at an average of 14.21 and an economy rate of 4.22. By contrast, his four games in SA have yielded three wickets at 39.66 and 4.76 respectively.
SA will also need to buck up their batting in Sri Lanka. Although their players went to the crease 10 more times than their opponents’ in the 2013 series - 49 individual innings to Sri Lanka’s 39 - they registered only four half-centuries compared to the home side’s five 50s and a century.
But, to Ingram, those numbers don’t mean a thing because they ain’t got the swing of what he has seen for himself.
“Too much is made of SA’s record in Sri Lanka,” he said. “Maybe they just haven’t had good tours there. There were good signs when we were there - we made some big strides in the right direction.”
With next year’s World Cup looming, best they make a giant leap this time.
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