ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2015

South Africa in 2014/15 South Africa played only two Test series between September 2014 and September 2015, and only won one of them - and still ended up much further ahead in the ICC rankings than they had been 12 months previously. In September 2014 their lead over the second-placed team was only a single point, but by September 2015 this had extended to an unassailable, for the time being, 19 points. Yet the results of South Africa’s Tests over this twelve-month period were not all that special. True, in December and January they beat the West Indies 2-0 in a three-match series (with the third match ruined by rain); but then as now, West Indies were stuck in the nomansland of eighth place in the rankings, and such a result was no more than was expected. The drawn series against Bangladesh in July and August 2015 was a more surprising result, but - despite some definite improvements in Bangladesh’s performances - the only winner of this monsoon-season series was only ever going to be the weather. The home series against the West Indies began with a facile win at Centurion, with Hashim Amla scoring the third double-century of his Test career, A.B.de Villiers making 150, and Stiaan van Zyl joining in with a century on his Test debut. West Indies were hampered by an injury to Kemar Roach, but having reduced their hosts to 57-3 they must have hoped for something better than South Africa’s eventual 552-5 declared. In reply their batsmen were unable to master South Africa’s pace attack. Although world number one bowler Dale Steyn went wicketless in their first innings, he gained his revenge with six cheap wickets when the West Indies followed on, and a win by an innings and plenty was the result. The following game at Port Elizabeth was so wrecked by the weather that it was not possible to complete both teams’ first innings, but even then South Africa looked to be heading for a substantial first-innings lead until rain prevented any play on the scheduled final day. On to Cape Town for the last match of the series, and another comfortable win - this time by eight wickets - for the Proteas, aided by another big innings from de Villiers and seven wickets in the match both for Dale Steyn and, less predictably, for the debutant off-spinner Simon Harmer. Harmer’s performance hinted that the one weak link in the South African side over many years - the absence of real quality spin bowling - might soon be filled. But the later series in Bangladesh offered virtually no evidence one way or the other as to whether this was a realistic hope. Monsoon rains washed out the last two days of the first Test, and Cyclone Komen put paid to any chance of play after the first day of the second. The weather meant that there was no chance of South Africa maintaining their 100% record in Tests against Bangladesh (eight wins in their previous eight meetings - seven of them by an innings). But in what little play was possible, it was Bangladesh who emerged with the greater credit, above all for achieving a 78-run first innings lead at Chittagong. The 0-0 draw in this abortive series cost South Africa five ranking points, and gained six for Bangladesh; evidence, perhaps, that some further adjustments to the ranking mechanism are desirable to take account of matches, and series, in which outside agencies mean that there is little chance of either side taking a clear advantage. Because of the two teams’ relative ‘isolation’ in first and ninth places respectively in the rankings, their positions in the ranking list were not affected by these points gained and lost. But in short, it was not South Africa’s performances on the field that led to the substantial increase in their margin ahead of the field in the ICC rankings by the end of the 2015 season. Partly it was the result of the annual recalculation of the rankings in May, which eliminated older results and reassigned weightings (and at a stroke increased South Africa’s lead from six points to 22); but it also owed much to the dog-eat-dog world among the teams vying for places two to seven, which meant that no one side ever emerged to challenge South Africa’s top spot. 363