'A suspicious Michael Vaughan, a determined South Africa and a hopeful Pakistan'
Sami Chaudhry
Position, Cricket Analyst
January, 03, 2025
The inventor of cricket, former England captain Michael Vaughan, has a strong objection to how the South African team reached the final of the World Test Championship when they have played almost no cricket against ‘anyone’.
By this ‘anyone’ he means ‘England, Australia, India’, which are the source, axis and center of all cricket, known as the ‘Big Three’, whose financial monopoly in the ICC was apparently successfully (actually unsuccessfully) tried to break, but no one could break the idea that it is still there today.
So, on an Australian channel (Fox Sports), commenting on the preparations for the Australia-India match, when the former English captain and a former Australian spinner look excited about South Africa reaching the final, it is not difficult for the average viewer to understand what these commentators, who speak the language of the three big names in cricketing power, actually want to say.
Michael Vaughan's most prominent grievance was how South Africa reached the final after playing just 12 Tests (while his own English team failed to reach the final after playing nearly two dozen matches?).
But in expressing this grievance, he ignored many of the harsh financial realities that have been embedded in the structure of world cricket for many years.
It is a strange dilemma that on the one hand, Australia and India are playing 'one' series of five Test matches in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, while on the other hand, South Africa will only be able to play four matches in the same period, despite playing 'two' separate bilateral series against the two teams.
At one point, when the ICC suddenly became deeply concerned about the future of Test cricket, the great Australian writer Gideon Haig wrote that instead of getting into detailed philosophical debates about it, if the ICC could just restore India-Pakistan Test cricket, people would leave the Ashes behind.
But now the role of the ICC in world cricket is only as much as the manager who makes the bill for tents at foreign weddings has in these real events, when the initial model of the World Test Championship, after India's opposition, was left only on the table where each team was obliged to play against the other team.
Then what thoughts were Michael Vaughan and the likes of cricket lost in?
While South African coach Shukri Conrad has reacted strongly to these ridiculous objections, the XI he has announced for the second Test is an indication that even after the ultimate goal of reaching the final, he is not sitting idly by, but is already taking the first step towards preparing for the next championship cycle.
Koena Maphaka will now be the youngest South African player to debut for his Test team.
Although his lightning pace and accuracy created some problems for the Pakistani top order in the T20 and ODI series, his real test will be at the final stage of international cricket, which will test his abilities over five consecutive days and two innings.
Despite the grass on the Newlands pitch, there are some areas that could make the role of spinners decisive on the third and fourth days. Salman Agha has also predicted the same thing and is seeing his role as an all-rounder increase in this match.
Mohammad Abbas’s swing in Centurion brought Pakistan back into the competition in such a way that the team, which was heading towards a clear one-sided defeat at one point, finally fought a fight that made the host Proteas sweat under their teeth in their home conditions.
Pakistan’s last year in Test cricket has been particularly disappointing, but at the beginning of the new year, where everyone was celebrating a holiday, Shan Masood’s team tried to learn the tough competitive demands in a long practice session.
With the consistency with which Pakistan cricket has been moving in one direction since Kaya Kalp against England in October, it will not be surprising if Pakistan starts the new year at Newlands with a victory that has been in pursuit for some 18 years.
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#Sports #Cricket #Pakistan_Cricket_Team
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