In all the hype with the World Cup in our country, many forgot our national cricket team, the Proteas was playing in the Caribbean against the West Indies.
The Proteas kicked the tour off with two victories in the T20 games, then romped to a 5-0 series win in the One Day Internationals and finished the tour on a high with a 2-0 series win in the three match Test series.
Sounds impressive, and at times it was. But was it enough to soften the disappointment-blow during the recent World T20 and what does this series win mean to the Proteas going forward?
We all know the West Indies have troubles of their own regarding, sponsorship, player injuries and the overall lack of management from the West Indies cricket board. Therefore, a series whitewash isn’t such a huge achievement.
There were personal milestones that was reached, such as Mark Boucher becoming the first wicketkeeper to reach 500 dismissals in Test cricket and Jacques Kallis passing 11 000 test runs. There were batsmen like AB de Villiers and bowlers like Johan Botha that showed just how valuable they are.
But what does it all mean? Have Corrie van Zyl finally made his mark? Have Graeme Smith learned the meaning of the word “team” and have we found new blood to go forward?
The Proteas is coming home and have a month to revitalize their cricket minds before they take on Zimbabwe in a home series and then tour the Sub-continent to play Pakistan.
I guess we will only know then how the team benefited from this series win.
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