Proteas undergoing epoch change

It has been 20 years since South Africa re-entered international cricket when they played India in Calcutta on November 10 1991, in what was the country’s first ODI.

Two of the men who played in that match, Andrew Hudson and Allan Donald, are now intimately involved with the current Proteas set-up. Hudson heads up the selection panel and Donald is the team’s bowling coach. Donald’s former team-mate Gary Kirsten, who made his international debut in December 1993, was appointed Proteas head coach after his very successful stint with India. These men form part of the Proteas Genesis since re-admission, with no one left from those early days, still playing the game.

Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher are the last of those that played under Hanie Cronje, the trailblazers that set many firsts and redefined South Africa’s place in the world order. Kallis made his debut on January 9 1996, while Boucher first represented South Africa on January 16 1998. The two have written for themselves their very own chapters in the canon of Test cricket, with Kallis arguably being the greatest cricketer to have have represented South Africa. Boucher holds the world record for catches, and is the second most capped South African Test player of all time after Kallis. Once they leave the stage, which would appear to be two seasons from now, form permitting, it will represent the passing of the pioneer Proteas cricketer. Both men, very good friends to boot, will leave gaping holes in a team they have in part defined.

Kallis and Boucher, along with Graeme Smith and Ashwell Prince, are also the only men to have played under Shaun Pollock after he took over from Cronje following the betting scandal. The likes of AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Jacques Rudolph and Dale Steyn have only known one Test skipper in Smith, with the burly former Johannesburg resident now ushering in his second wave of new recruits, such as Vernon Philander and Imran Tahir with other fresh faces not far away.

Smith wisely has began releasing the reigns of control to younger men, such as De Villiers and Amla, so they can ready themselves for when it will be their turn to put their own personal stamp on the side.

The composition of the team as it is today has in a sense reached its nadir, comprising elements from what could be termed four different generations of cricketers. From Cronje, to Pollock, to Smith pre-and-post 2007, the eclectic mix of youth and experience will be very hard to match once the like of Boucher and Kallis disappear. We still have Smith for some time, but beyond that their won’t be any cricketers left whose task it was to forge South Africa’s identity instead of continuing it. Like South Africa, its a long mix, though it would be remiss to ignore that in terms of systemic change, the South African cricket scene is still finding its way, given the recent rumblings as Cricket South Africa, once known as the United Cricket Board of South Africa.

It’s a whole new world out there. The times, they are a-changin, no?