Big Picture: A first for South Africa in over a decade
South Africa have not even had the time to take the mace on tour and they’re headed off on their next assignments, though it is not a part of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. They’re hopping across the border, without seven of the XI that won the WTC final less than two weeks ago (though Lungi Ngidi will join them for the second Test), to visit neighbours Zimbabwe, where they have not been for 11 years.
Indeed, the two countries haven’t met in a Test since December 2017, and that was an experimental affair. It was South Africa’s first (and to date, last) dalliance with pink ball Tests and lasted a little more than a day. Of those who played in that fixture, only Keshav Maharaj, Craig Ervine and Blessing Muzarabani will feature in this one – a sign of how much things have changed.
Maharaj will captain an inexperienced South African side after Temba Bavuma was ruled out, still nursing the hamstring injury that he batted, and battled, through in the WTC final. Three debutants – Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Dewald Brevis and Codi Yusuf – will start the first Test and there is the possibility of two others – Lesego Senokwane and Prenelan Subrayen – being used for the second as South Africa mine their depth with an eye on the future.
Ervine leads Zimbabwe and will do so during their busiest period. They have already played five Tests this year and are due six more, all at home, and will also host a white-ball series against Sri Lanka and the T20 World Cup Qualifiers.
The volume of matches has not caused a reversal in results, with Zimbabwe still struggling for wins, though they pulled off their first in four years when they beat Bangladesh in April.
Muzarabani, the other 2017 survivor, is their headliner but there’s lots of other talent on offer. They have a good mix of youth and experience across the team including the longest serving active international in Sean Williams and newcomers Brian Bennett and 19-year-old left-arm seamer Newman Nyamhuri.
Still, on paper, you’d be forgiven for reading this as a mismatch of the biggest kind. South Africa are world champions, with not as much Test cricket as they’d like to have, while Zimbabwe don’t even compete in the WTC, much as they would want to. But the countries share a border, and a vision for the 2027 World Cup, they will co-host with Namibia and this is the start of closer relations.
Zimbabwe are even rumoured to be planning a celebration for South Africa, to congratulate them on their WTC win and perhaps bask in some of the glory.