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Proteas had a fine season
13/04/2008 17:06 - (SA)
Kanpur - The Proteas have stumbled at the final hurdle, going down to an eight-wicket defeat in the final match of the Future Cup Series that finished in Kanpur on Sunday.
After conceding a first innings lead of 60 runs, the Proteas were only able to set India a target of 62 for victory and this was never going to be enough to trouble the home side even on a difficult pitch.
The Proteas nevertheless shared the Future Cup after drawing the three-match series 1-1 and they have completed a magnificent summer in which they played 39 matches against Zimbabwe, Pakistan, New Zealand, the West Indies, Bangladesh, India and England and only finished on the losing side on seven occasions.
Their performances were hailed by CSA president Norman Arendse and CEO Gerald Majola. In a special message to the captain, players and team management they commented as follows:
CSA president Norman Arendse: "Congratulations must go to both teams in a series that was played in the real spirit of cricket, tough but fair and showing respect for your opponents.
"The Proteas have proved conclusively that they can play excellent and competitive cricket on the sub-continent and all plaudits must go to Graeme Smith and his team".
CSA CEO Gerald Majola: "Although we lost the third and final Test, we did so playing committed cricket on a pitch where the odds were stacked against us.
"We were not beaten in the Test series, however, against a very good Indian team that has recently completed a most successful tour of Australia.
"The Proteas return home unbeaten in Test series played this season in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. All credit must go to Graeme Smith's captaincy, and the resilience and skill of the team and management.
"The Proteas have developed into a formidable unit that finished the season on top of the international limited overs log and in the top three of the Test-playing nations.
"This augurs well for the upcoming series against England and Australia. We are confident that the combination of established and emerging stars will see South Africa to victory".
Their summer could be summarised as follows:
They won eight of their 12 Tests with two draws and two defeats for series wins against Pakistan, New Zealand, the West Indies and Bangladesh plus the series draw against India.
They won 16 out of 19 ODIs for series wins against Zimbabwe, Pakistan, New Zealand, the West Indies and Bangladesh.
They won six out of eight Pro20 matches with the one disappointment being the failure to reach the semi-finals of the inaugural ICC World T20, suffering their only defeat against India, the eventual champions.
The big positive of the tour of India was the success of the batting top three. Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie gave the team good starts in the first innings of all three Test matches with McKenzie finishing the series with 336 runs which is the highest aggregate for South Africa in any series against India, either home or away.
Hashim Amla also had a brilliant tour and his innings of 159 in the first Test at Chennai before he was run out through no fault of his own marked the arrival of his game at a new level. He followed this up with 81 in the second innings.
AB de Villiers also took his game to a higher level with his undefeated double century at Ahmedabad and generally the batting is looking as strong as it has done at any time in the post unity period.
The public has got so used to fireworks from Dale Steyn that his 15 wickets in this series was almost an anti-climax but it was still enough to give him the joint No 1 world ranking with Muttiah Muralitharan after the Ahmedabad Test and a South African record for a Test series in India.
The bowling attack was not at its best at Kanpur but nevertheless as a unit they have consolidated the impression they have made all season with Makhaya Ntini producing his best form of the summer in India and Morne Morkel continuing to make ground as a newcomer at Test match level.
This squad has certainly given the indication that it has got what it takes to face the forthcoming away challenges in England, where South Africa has not won a Test series since unity, in July and August and in Australia at the end of the year.
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