South Africa’s glorious revival is a fitting end to a year that gave Test cricket new life

It was never going to be straightforward. South Africa’s cricketers in a pressure game? Perhaps only amphetamines are as reliable in spiking the heart rate. After a truly heroic collapse on a wearing Centurion pitch beginning to misbehave like an unruly toddler, number 10 Kagiso Rabada strode to the crease with 49 still required and hopes of smooth progress into the World Test Championship final fading.

A resurgent year for the Proteas meant that a win in either Test of a two-match affair against Pakistan would be enough to book their spot at Lord’s in June; enjoying the comforts of home and a visiting side in the grips of their latest off-field chaos, any other nation might have been counting their chickens. But, alas, this is South Africa, cricket’s chokers, still waiting 30 years on from readmission for their eggs to hatch.

So as Rabada joined Marco Jansen, familiar fears of defeat snatched from the jaws of victory spread – 96-4 had become 99-8, an implosion that included captain Temba Bavuma walking for a caught behind that he, it quickly transpired, hadn’t hit. The relentless Mohammad Abbas, whirring in unchanged all day from one end of the ground, was poking and probing, proving his three years out of the Pakistan Test set-up a folly.

But Rabada had the cool head and elegant strokeplay to evoke the great left handers and break the tension. An obscene crash over cover; a bludgeon down the ground; a glorious punch on the up, wide of mid-off. “There were little visions of Brian Charles [Lara] at times,” coach Shukri Conrad effused to ESPN Cricinfo, puffing a cigarette in a quiet corner of Centurion after a most satisfying climax.

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With his batting partner taking them to within striking distance, it was left to the beanpole limbs of Jansen to strike the final blow, a crisp back cut for four taking South Africa home and into the WTC showpiece. “With a lot of pressure on, it’s the one innings that I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Rabada said of a dreamy 26-ball unbeaten 31.

And so a year that began with the sounding of the death knells for Test cricket in the country ends with a triumphant pealing after securing a place in the Lord’s showpiece. It was only in January that Cricket South Africa (CSA) felt compelled to release a statement stressing their commitment to the format having named a virtually third-string side to tour New Zealand after a clash with their SA20 franchise tournament.

“We reassure the fans that CSA has the utmost respect for the Test format as the pinnacle of the game we love,” it said. Retiring opener Dean Elgar, the last link with the great South African side that rose to number one in the world, described the situation as “sad”; former Australia captain Steve Waugh said it was a “defining moment in the death of Test cricket”.

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New Zealand, unsurprisingly, won the series 2-0, but South Africa haven’t lost a match since and top the World Test Championship table. No doubt, their route into the final has been kinder than it might have been. This strange tournament may be helping to make the longest format of the game great again but there is no question that it is oddly constructed. In this latest cycle, South Africa have not had to face any of India, Australia or England away from home; they have played just 11 games to England’s 22.

But Bavuma’s men have become a team more than the sum of their parts and overcome significant adversity. Bavuma averages north of 50 as captain and has been a steadying figure on and off the field. Across 2024, eight batters made centuries, including three maiden tons for Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs and Wiaan Mulder in Chattogram. While Rabada remains as a spearhead, the seam attack for the first Pakistan Test might have included three of Lungi Ngidi, Gerald Coetzee, Nandre Burger and Mulder if not for injury; lead spinner Keshav Maharaj was unavailable, too.

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“It is a big one, not just for myself but the team and the coach as well,” Bavuma said on Sunday. “We have always said we weren’t given much of a chance. As a team we have overcome a lot. We haven’t been super dominant or ruthless, but we have always found a way.”

South Africa are more aware than most at the allure of greener pastures elsewhere given the number of players that took up deals in British country cricket, and it is a grand shame that Quinton de Kock concluded his Test career at the age of 29. At a time where a great many riches are available around the world to T20 bashers, players like Stubbs and newbie Corbin Bosch are showing that those skills are translatable to red ball cricket. Between 2023 and 2027, South Africa will not contest a Test series over more than two matches having prioritised the SA20 and other associated short-format tournaments.

Yet this reinvented South Africa have overcome this challenging landscape and will line up at Lord’s with a shot at silverware at last. It is a story to hearten other nations at low ebbs, and a fitting finish to a year that has served as bellows to the embers of Test cricket – as unpredictable, competitive and compelling as ever.