Proteas in Pakistan for the first time in a generation

Pakistan batsman Babar Azam celebrates his century during the fourth ODI between England and Pakistan at Trent Bridge on 17 May 2019 in Nottingham, England. (Photo: Stu Forster / Getty Images)

By Craig Ray

17 Jan 2021

As the South African squad tour Pakistan for the first time since 2007, they’ll be getting priceless advice from coach Mark Boucher, who was a member of the last Proteas team to tour there.

First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.

An entire generation of Proteas players are stepping into the unknown as South Africa tour Pakistan for the first time since 2007. Coach Mark Boucher’s experience might never be more valuable.

The Proteas’ first tour to Pakistan in almost 14 years started inauspiciously after Emirates airlines suspended flights to and from South Africa on Thursday. That led to the cancellation of the Proteas’ Friday evening flight to Dubai, where they were supposed to connect onwards to Karachi.

In the end, Cricket South Africa had to charter a plane and, despite leaving a few hours later than expected, the Proteas were on a direct flight to Pakistan without the layover in Dubai.

That little episode was a reminder that a tour to Pakistan is no everyday occurrence and it will be littered with challenges. An entire generation of South African players have never set foot in Pakistan to play cricket.

Of the current touring party, only former skipper Faf du Plessis has an inkling of what’s to come after a short stint with Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League. Boucher at least played some Test cricket there.

Boucher was 20 when he was summoned as an emergency replacement for Dave Richardson in 1997. Over the next decade Boucher played five Tests and 10 One-Day Internationals in Pakistan and was a member of the last Proteas team to tour there in 2007. His experience, even if it was a long time ago, will be a valuable source of information for the team in the coming weeks.

South Africa plays Tests in Karachi and Rawalpindi followed by three Twenty20 Internationals, all in Lahore.

Quinton de Kock of South Africa celebrates reaching his century during the third Momentum ODI match between South Africa and England at SuperSport Park on 9 February 2016 in Centurion, Pretoria. (Photo: Gareth Copley / Getty Images)

Relative stability sees international cricket’s return

An unstable political climate, which culminated in a terrorist attack on a touring Sri Lankan team bus in 2009, forced the International Cricket Council to halt tours to Pakistan. Over the following decade Pakistan played “home” international matches in the United Arab Emirates.

But after a period of relative stability, the suspension has been lifted and Pakistan is hosting matches again. The Proteas are in for an eye-opening experience, with the added stress of living in bio-bubbles as a result of Covid-19.

“I’ve never been to Pakistan and I’ve had a lot of mixed feelings and heard a lot of indifferent things about Pakistan,” Proteas opener Dean Elgar said on the Maverick Sports Podcast. “It’s going to be a real challenge, especially with the bio-bubble situation. It’s a massive adaption for all of us and something we need to wrap our heads around, which I think I have done.

“Players were consulted about the trip to Pakistan and through the South African Cricketers’ Association we were fed information after they sent a recce team to Pakistan. The feedback we got from former Proteas player Stephen Cook, who went on the recce as a players’ representative, was that the security was the best he’s seen.

“There will be seriously high-powered armoured vehicles, guns, snipers on the roof and so on. Their reputation has been hurt in the past, so they have to pull out all the stops. I think it helps that Imran Khan, a former cricketing great, is prime minister of Pakistan. There is some apprehensiveness and anxiety among the group. But by nature, South Africans are extremely resilient and we will adapt quickly.”

Pakistan batsman Babar Azam celebrates his century during the fourth ODI between England and Pakistan at Trent Bridge on 17 May 2019 in Nottingham, England. (Photo: Stu Forster / Getty Images)

Playing in Pakistan

Away from the security issues, the type of surfaces the Proteas will encounter in the Test matches will be different from anything they have seen. There is a reason that Pakistan has produced a barrage of great seam and swing bowlers such as Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar. Their pitches assist the quicks and aid swing – especially reverse swing.

“I’m old enough to have watched cricket from Pakistan in the past, so I have an idea of what to expect. Bouch has experience of playing there, so his feedback will be invaluable to us,” Elgar said.

“Pakistan is known to develop fast bowlers, so there must be something about the wickets there. Reverse swing will be a factor and for an opener you’ll have to score quickly before the ball starts reversing. We have a relatively young batting line-up, so we will have to learn quickly. There are techniques such as taking stance outside leg stump, or off stump, or batting outside your crease to negate the swing a little.

“It will be a massive challenge – I know that – and if the rest of the squad don’t realise it, they need to seriously wake up. It is going to be one of the toughest challenges we have ever faced.

“We will have to think on our feet... It’s not going to be like India or Sri Lanka, where the ball turns excessively, although there will be an element of that.”

Boucher was forthright in his assessment of what is to come.

“It’s tough cricket. It’s different to the other subcontinent countries that you go to. Usually when you go to India, the ball turns a lot,” Boucher said.

“In Pakistan, we haven’t been in games where the ball’s turned a lot. It’s conducive to fast bowling, actually. Reverse swing was very big in those days. The rules and regulations are a lot tighter nowadays on the ball and getting it to reverse, so I don’t know that you are going to see a lot of that.

“The areas that you score in are different, the bowlers bowl straighter lines, the ball starts to reverse, which is something a lot of our batters probably would never have seen, especially in a young group. So, there is a lot of adapting to those conditions you have to do as a batter. But it’s one of those places where you’re up against a good bowling line-up, and if you apply your mind to batting and spend some good time at the crease, there’s a lot of runs out there.”

Runs, wickets and catches. These things don’t change, but over the next month the Proteas will learn that despite things being the same, they will also be vastly different in Pakistan. DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper which is available for free to Pick n Pay Smart Shoppers at these Pick n Pay stores.

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