No cowards allowed at St George's Park

“I’m not getting in a battle with myself and Temba over who plays and who doesn’t.” - Faf du Plessis stops the buck.

TELFORD VICE in Port Elizabeth

FAMOUSLY, Africa is not for cowards. But Port Elizabeth, with its calm, clear ocean, uncluttered landscape and welcoming people, is an antidote to the continent’s extremes. Not right now. If you’re coming to St George’s Park on Thursday, bring air conditioning. And your own water. Maybe pack some electricity, just in case.

For the past two weeks this city on the beer belly of South Africa’s east coast has melted in the grip of the longest spell of intense heat and humidity the locals can remember. They do, however, recall when last a decent amount of rain fell into the Eastern Cape’s dams: five years ago, and counting. Water restrictions limit individuals to drawing no more than 50 litres a day from their taps. Like the rest of the country, Port Elizabeth has had to endure the scheduled rolling blackouts that an inept, corrupt national power utility has resorted to in a bid to keep some of the lights on some of the time while fooling none of the people none of the time that they are remotely competent. So fragile are some parts of the grid that they are spared the planned outages because they would be damaged by the repeated switching off and on. “Loadshedding”, as this ongoing crisis is euphemised, wasn’t the problem when residents awoke even sweatier than usual and to an ominous stillness on Monday morning. Some of those who hadn’t been able to sleep in Sunday night’s stifling air reported blue flames leaping from substations into the thick darkness. For most of Monday much of the city slow cooked without power, all the while not flushing the toilet to conserve precious water.

If an artist had to render an interpretation of Port Elizabeth’s wider predicament they might come up with the deconstructed drama presented at St George’s Park on Wednesday. The pitch for Thursday’s third Test was sheltered from the sun by a battened-down cover. What lurked beneath? A corner was peeled back to reveal a shocking incongruity: coarse, olive green grass at least as long as the bristles of a sturdy broom. Immediately adjacent was a scarred, pocked surface that looked as if it had recently hosted a small war. The match officials will have to keep watch for throws purposefully aimed to bounce on the scorched strip in order to hurry the ball towards the roughness essential for reverse swing. The hard-baked earth of the outfield lurked under a bristling crewcut. Bowlers and fielders will not be forgiven even the slightest error. Beyond that, bricks, metal, wood, glass and plastic seemed resigned to their premature destruction in the outdoor oven. Abandon all hope of escaping without sunburn, ye Barmy Army members who could outnumber South Africa’s supporters. The heat, the drought, the Third World realities … it was all there if you tilted a squint at the scene and used your imagination.

But nothing about it was as sharp as the shrapnel whistling around Faf du Plessis’ head in the wake of Temba Bavuma being dropped after he missed the first Test, at Centurion, with a hip injury. Du Plessis should also get the axe, some of Bavuma’s most brazenly nonsensical supporters have demanded through the froth of their racially motivated ranting. “You are used to it when you’ve played international cricket as long I have; media for you and media against you,” Du Plessis said on Wednesday. “To read too much into it, for and against … it’s really important for any player not to get sucked into it too much. The difference between players who play at this level for a short time and a long time is how mentally they can cope with the pressures that come with it. I’m not getting in a battle with myself and Temba over who plays and who doesn’t. My performances also need to [go] up in terms of scoring. Temba has been put in a position where he needs to score runs to get back into the team and if he does that, he will.”

The lunatic fringe of the Bavuma brigade are using South Africa’s febrile race politics to try to sow division in the dressingroom. Du Plessis had news for them: “We’re as close as we’ve been before. There is a real direction and purpose in this team. The outside noise will always be there. People in general, not just in cricket, it’s almost [as if the] good stories to read [are] that it’s not going well or there’s a few things in the camp that aren’t [as they should be]. I can tell you there are no issues. The team’s going well. For a very young team to have put in performances that we have in the last two Tests [in a series level at 1-1] shows really good signs. From where we were in India [where South Africa lost a Test series 3-0 in October], very low on confidence, we have shown huge steps in the right direction to become the team that we need to be. Myself and [coach Mark Boucher] have said a few times it does not happen overnight. Things like this will take time. We need to get some experience and in a year or two’s time hopefully this team … could challenge to be in the top three in the world.”

St George’s Park, like the rest of Africa and Test cricket, is not for cowards. Happily, Faf du Plessis and Temba Bavuma are brave.

First published by Cricbuzz.