ACS Overseas FIrst-Class Annual 2012

South Africa in 2011/12 South Africa held its own during 2011/12 as the world’s second-ranked Test side, ending the season a whisker behind England. Many South African supporters would, indeed, argue that their team was already the best, and in terms of the number of top-ranked batsmen and bowlers it contains, this is probably so: yet its credentials are undermined by a recurrent failure to make this apparent superiority count. At the end of the 2011/12 season, it was over three years since South Africa had won a series against any of its leading rivals. Since defeating Australia in Australia in 2008/09, the Proteas had played England at home, Australia at home (twice), India home and away, and Pakistan away. Not one of these series had ended in victory. The series victories that were achieved during this time came against West Indies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand: enough to keep South Africa near the top of the rankings, but not quite enough for first place. A home series against Australia, which was drawn 1-1, left many fans ruing the fact that fixture congestion and the demands of one-day cricket meant that it was limited to only two matches. The quality of the cricket and its dramatic nature served only to heighten this frustration. In the first Test, the hosts’ cause appeared hopeless after they were routed in their first innings for only 99, a deficit of 185; but they struck back to such sensational effect that Australia were reduced to 21/9 and New Zealand’s unwanted Test record of 26 all out, set as long ago as 1954/55, was under imminent threat. A fighting last-wicket stand dragged the total to 47 but the momentum had irrevocably switched to South Africa, who won by a comfortable eight wickets. A close finish was, indeed, the only thing this match lacked from the fan’s point of view. And this deficiency was remedied by the second Test, which progressed in a more orthodox manner but ended in high drama as Australia, chasing a challenging 310 to win, squeaked home by two wickets. After this, the second series of the South African season, three Tests against Sri Lanka might well have seemed an anticlimax; especially as South Africa romped to an innings win in the first Test. But in the second Test, the Sri Lankans came back in style, largely thanks to the left-arm spin of H.M.R.K.B.Herath, and recorded their first win in South Africa. Any Sri Lankan hopes of a series victory were soon dashed, however, by a crushing defeat in the third Test during which the hosts lost only four wickets in the game. South Africa ended the season by dominating a three-Test series in New Zealand; with better weather, the 1-0 win could easily have been 3-0 (see the New Zealand section). Reference has already been made to South Africa’s array of top talent and any team containing such names as G.C.Smith, H.M.Amla, J.H.Kallis, A.B.de Villiers, M.V.Boucher, D.W.Steyn and M.Morkel could never be less than formidable. All these great players duly made their contribution in 2011/12, yet the story of the season was the sudden emergence of V.D.Philander, who marked his debut with eight wickets including 5-15 in Australia’s spectacular second-innings collapse. And this was only the start: by the end of the tour to New Zealand his record from his first 7 Tests stood at 51 wickets, average 14.15, with 6 ‘fives’ and 2 ‘tens’, and statisticians found themselves looking back to the days of G.A.Lohmann or C.T.B.Turner to find anything like it. In domestic cricket, the SuperSport Series was closely contested, and at the turn of the year no side had really asserted itself. Knights were top, still undefeated at that stage, whereas Titans, the eventual winners, had three defeats as against only two wins from their six matches. The fact that this indifferent record was enough for second place is testimony to the closeness of the competition to this point. But while Knights, like the defending champions Cape Cobras, could manage only one further win in the remainder of the season, Titans pulled away, winning three of their last four matches, with the other game rained off. In the final round of matches Titans put an emphatic seal on their victory with a crushing innings-and-325 win over last-placed Dolphins. 375