Dale Steyn talks to SPIN about the World Cup and the future

In an exclusive with Spin’s Nick Sadleir, the world’s best bowler reflects on South Africa’s failed World Cup campaign and looks to the future.

South Africa had looked the best team at the 2011 World Cup but they failed to defend 221 in their quarterfinal against New Zealand in Dhaka, despite having seemed in cruise control at 100-odd for two.

The favourites were bowled out for 172 runs – yet another calamitous end to a promising World Cup campaign.

“After we lost that quarterfinal we were blown. We certainly didn’t feel like we had just lost another game of cricket,” Steyn told SPIN in India where he is leading Deccan Chargers’ bowling attack at the IPL. “In the changing room I didn’t know whether to cry (some guys were crying their eyes out), break something, scream or shout. I was broken. Since the T20 WC a year before all of our focus had gone into building for this tournament and we knew we were good enough to win it.”

What has transpired is that New Zealand, a team with a justified reputation for fighting above it’s weight planned to jump at any opportunity to get into the potentially vulnerable minds of South Africa’s less experienced middle order and that was exactly what they did when Faf du Plessis ran out AB de Villiers to reduce the Proteas to 121 for five.

12th man Kyle Mills (who came on with drinks just after the run-out), captain Dan Vettori and sidekicks Scott Styris and Tim Southee could clearly be seen on the broadcast pictures letting du Plessis know that he had just run out his side’s best player. And they didn’t go easy on him. Du Plessis, in the heat of the moment, retaliated with aggravation by pushing Mills away from him.

“That night we were out-competed. We weren’t out-skilled or outplayed, they just came out there looking like they wanted it more than us. We relied on our ability to beat them but their competitiveness took it to us,” reflected Steyn.

“That fight that they had with AB and Faf showed that they had planned to take it to us and speaking to some of them now, they have admitted as much. All the other games we played we relied on our skill to get us through and it did but here was a game where we weren’t up for the fight.”

That fight was the moment that brought about yet another famous South African choke. Vettori and Mills were fined a percentage of their match fees (as was du Plessis) but the proffessional foul probably won their side the crunch match.

Does it matter so much that the Proteas have failed to fire on the World Cup stage?

Should it plague the side so much that they have failed to win key knockout games?

Is it not enough of an accomplishment that have always been fierce competitors in all forms of cricket?

“After the World Cup I feel like there is maybe too much emphasis on World Cups. It sounds so bad that I say this but why should some games mean so much more than others?” questioned Steyn.

“We have such hectic schedules and surely all games should matter as much as each other but World Cups are what people remember.  The first cricket I remember caring about was 1992 with Jonty’s famous dive etc. I thought this is the pinnacle and I couldn’t wait for another four years so that I could watch some cricket that mattered again.”

“But now you have the T20 World Cup, the ICC Champs Trophy, the IPL, the Champions League and the ICC Test Championship to come. Never mind our important international series. So nowadays it seems more like if you screw up in one big tournament it doesn’t matter so much as there is another one every six months,” mused Steyn in his usual honest and friendly way.

When I asked Steyn why the team let the choker tag get to them so much instead of laughing it off he said, “I think that even if we had won this World Cup, people would still call us chokers when we next fail. Straight away they will throw it up again. It shouldn’t irritate us so much but it does get to me sometimes. There are only so many times you can be called an idiot before it really ticks you off – like a nickname at school that is funny in the beginning and then really upsets you.”

“It depends on the mood that you’re in but you usually aren’t in the mood to be teased when you have lost a game you should have won. I normally don’t let it get to me but sometimes it does – At the Johannesburg airport leaving for IPL recently an 18-year old kid turned chirped it to me and I went right up and put my face in his face and said to him ‘do you want to say that again’ – he was literally trembling after that.”

And such is the way South Africa have handled this choker bogeyman. A calm and composed guy, Steyn is an aggressive fast bowler and you wouldn’t expect him to take flak from a lippy teenager but it may be the Proteas’ own doing that the word hangs over their heads like Damocles’ sword.

It is a no-no to mention it at press conferences – it sends the players into a tizzy and I can’t help but think that such an issue wouldn’t affect a side like England, where an extensive cricket media is not afraid to challenge players on any issue and players seem better practiced at facing the music. In South Africa we tip-toe around the issue in much the same way we skirt around the sensitive issue of race.

Whoever is South Africa’s next ODI captain needs to be able to talk about this ridiculous C-word and not look like he is going to punch every irritating journalist who mentions it.

For fear of acting like the moronic schoolyard name-calling bully (and pissing off the people we rely on for interviews) I have usually avoided using the word. But when I wrote a match report for a leading SA newspaper on a drawn Test in the UAE where South Africa, having been in complete control of the Test, again failed to bowl Pakistan out in five sessions to administer the coup de grace.  The report was given the headline “Proteas Choke Again” and the sub-editor even slipped the C-word into my first paragraph. One can’t really blame him because using words like those sells newspapers and goodness knows how hard it is to sell newspapers these days – it is just the way the media works.

The next day I was told that certain members of the team’s management were looking for me to ask whey I used the “choke” word (even though I didn’t use it, strictly) and it dawned on me then that this national side may be setting themselves up to fail by being so obviously troubled by such nonsense.

Dealing with the media is never easy but the fact that someone like Steyn really believes that people would still call the side chokers at the next tournament  if they had won this one (for they surely wouldn’t) shows that this nickname has affected the Proteas more than it should have.

South African cricket is due a shake-up and has an unusually long six month break from international competition to reorganise before a bumper home season against Australia (starting on 13 October) and Sri Lanka and then a tour to New Zealand in February next year. In a month or two CSA will likely announce ex-coach Corrie van Zyl’s replacement and a new ODI skipper.

Unless he decides he doesn’t want it, the coaching job will go to Gary Kirsten, whose commitments with World Champions India ended after the recent World Cup. The current assistant and bowling coach, Vincent Barnes, is on record as having said that if he is not offered the post then he will likely consider other options on his table. In his seven years in the Proteas set-up, Barnes, 51, has served as deputy to Eric Simons, Ray Jennings, Mickey Arthur and Corrie van Zyl. Other names on CSA’s short-list are said to Richard Pybus, an ex Pakistan coach, and Dave Nosworthy, who has successfully coached the Lions and Titans in SA and incidentally was the man who discovered Dale Steyn when the youngster kept knocking over Nathan Astle’s stumps as a net bowler during the 2003 World Cup.

On the question of who will replace Graeme Smith as ODI skipper, CSA and its players are keeping their cards close to their chest. It makes sense that a new coach would be appointed first and that he would have a say in the matter but Steyn was generous enough to give us some of his views on the subject, “It’s not area 51 – we are actually allowed to talk about it” he said.

“I guess it will be one of Johan (Botha), AB (de Villiers) or Hashim (Amla). All three are very capable. Johan has done it well winning in Australia and every other time he has been asked to stand in.  But I suppose there may be a bit of pressure on his place as Robin Petersen and Imran Tahir have been on form. The good thing that comes out of it is that we have options in the spin department and all three did well in the World Cup.”

“In Johan’s favour is that he has been making lots of runs in the IPL, batting at three and keeping the fastest bowler in the world (Shaun Tait) out of the team. So he is standing up and showing that he can be in any side – be it as a batsman, a bowler or a captain. He is a serious serious contender for the job.”

Whether or not Steyn hinted to us that Botha is the obvious choice was a bit cryptic but my interpretation is that he did just that.  Another matter plaguing CSA revolves around the alleged mismanagement of funds by its board. The recent court-ordered reinstatement of its ousted president Mtutuzeli Nyoka has paved the way for an external audit and it is fair to say that no-one knows what will happen next. Steyn’s approach is simple: stay out of it.

“I don’t try and focus any energy on things that I have no control over – my job is just to play cricket. The saga over CSA finances gives a bad reflection on the side but it’s nothing to do with us. I must say it is quite funny to see that instead of the side being in the headlines for losing games, it is the board making headlines for how they handle the money. It isn’t a good thing but it doesn’t phase me.”

The IPL will be over soon, ending over four months in the subcontinent region for the fast bowler who took only a four day break at home after the World Cup. Steyn plans to use some of the break to take the kind of holiday that cricket schedules have never allowed him.

“I am going for the holiday of my life in June, a whole month in the United States,” he tells me.

But it is what he plans to do afterwards that might take you by surprise, “My girlfriend (actress Jeanne Kietsmann) has some work in the UK after that so I am getting together with some county sides, just to train with them” he revealed

“It’ll be sunny and warm in England while it is cold and rainy in Cape Town and I can see my girlfriend and do some good training by bowling in the nets around London.”

Steyn learnt much of his trade while playing at Essex and Warwickshire and it may well ruffle some feathers that he plans to spend time training with counties in England, especially as the Proteas are due to tour the country next summer. But what county in their right mind would turn down an offer from him to give batting practise to their squad? It is no doubt a smart way to train the off-season without enduring the rigours of competition and all the travel that goes with it.

Steyn will then play for the Cape Cobras in the Champions League, which will likely take place in late September in either India or South Africa before the Proteas do battle with the Baggy Green – “It’ll be nice to then be playing at home for a while – we have some rankings to climb and we haven’t won a Test series in South Africa since 2008 when we beat beat Bangladesh.  We lost to Australia when they came to us after we won that famous away series and then we drew our last two home series (against England and India). We want to make it tough for teams to come to SA so we need to actually win not draw our home series.”

South African cricket may be at a crossroads but having personnel of the calibre of Dale Steyn will ensure that they remain as good as any other side on the circuit.

Ntini bows out

Makhaya Ntini’s career was always about more than just cricket.  He was the first black cricketer to play test cricket for South Africa and although he failed to pick up a wicket in his final game which saw South Africa lose to India, he received a fitting farewell from the 50,000 strong crowd at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.  They’d come to show their appreciation to “the darling of South African cricket”.

During the innings break, a tribute video was played out on the big screens. The video contained images Ntini taking and celebrating wickets as well as heartfelt messages of support from fans, thanking Ntini for instilling belief in them, for being their hero and for showing them skin colour doesn’t matter.

Fine cricketers come and go but Ntini’s impact goes some way beyond the game.  It’s hard to overstate how big Ntini has been both to cricket and to race relations in South Africa.  He was and is more than just cricket.  There was always going to be a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of the first black African cricketer to play test cricket for South Africa but Ntini shouldered this responsibility with dignity, ability and grace.

Ntini wore the South African national cap in 101 Tests, picking up 390 wickets at an average of 28.82. His record was better in the One-day Internationals (ODI). Ntini finished with 266 scalps from 173 ODIs at 24.65.

“I want to thank everyone for their support. I love my fans. Thank you very much for everything. I won’t talk for long so here I say goodbye,” said Ntini  in a rare show of emotion at the post-match presentation.

Despite his almost celebrity status, Ntini never behaved like a celebrity.  A down to earth, humble and modest man and a real ambassador for the game.  He will be greatly missed, not just by his countrymen but by everyone involved in the game.

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A wonderful series ends

Three-Test series between top sides are a nonsense but India have given South Africa a great tussle and the fairest result prevailed as little could separate the two sides. But what would you have given to see a fourth Test at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth and a fifth at the Wanderers in Johannesburg? This series was super but it really had the makings of a classic.

It seemed unfair that Mahendra Dhoni lost yet another toss in Centurion and, after a week of record rainfall, the Indians were sent in to bat and dismissed for 136 in just over a session. It was an unfriendly welcome to a cloudy South Africa and the Proteas won the first of three Tests by an innings and then some.

In Durban, Graeme Smith again won a tasty bowl-first toss. India struggled to a meagre 205 all out but wicked spells from Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh saw the hosts fold for 131 all out in just over a session on the second day. India were back in the series and went on to win that Boxing Day Test by 87 runs, albeit with some thanks to a handful of controversial umpiring decisions.

The honours were even when the sides arrived in the fairest Cape and the Newlands faithful couldn’t have wished for a more closely fought battle. Dhoni asked the hosts to bat first, bowled them out for 362 and then managed 364 themselves. Of course, Jacques Kallis and Sachin Tendulkar made first-innings centuries, both saving their sides from mediocre tallies.

The terrific sold-out crowds watched the sunshine on the glorious Table Mountain and every 10 minutes a train choofed its way between the Railway Stand and the brewery. It was as wonderful as it always is.

As it always does, the cricket played with our hearts – nearly even tore them out. South Africa were winning when India were 28 for two and then India were when it was 106 for two. But the Gods had decided that no side should win this match and although India were reeling at 280 for eight, they somehow managed a lead.

All the while the good people who love this beautiful cricket stage got drunk in the pavilion, sunburnt on the grass embankment and fought for shade in the President’s Pavilion. They danced in neon pink leotards, proudly wore fake Hashim Amla beards in 40-degree Celsius temperatures and hurled verbal abuse at the verbally abusive Shantha Sreesanth.

When South Africa collapsed to 130 for six as they went about setting a second-innings target the heartbreak was palpable. It was India’s game to lose and Jacques Kallis partnered his good mate Mark Boucher to try and inch the Proteas up to 200-odd. But Boucher had been in a slump of form and Kallis had sustained a rib injury that was so painful he could hardly walk.

No doubt full of painkillers and anaesthetics, Kallis struggled on. Grimacing with each upper-body movement, playing dead on the floor when he couldn’t stand, he seemed an unlikely hero to deliver his side from crisis. When he got up after five minutes motionless on his back receiving treatment, I was the first to shout as loud as I could: “Come on, Jacques!” Another voice followed mine and then another and then a thousand others as we all felt a part of his brave endeavour. Country before rationality: never mind your health, Jacques – stay in, score runs, we need you.

Cometh the hour and in the fashion of Smith at Sydney or Edgbaston, the Samson-like batsman delivered the most Herculean of efforts and somehow amassed an unbeaten and chanceless century as South Africa batted for far longer than they should have done had they had any realistic aspiration of winning this match. They were all out with the last ball of the day, posting an unattainable target off 340 runs in the last day.

Boucher, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel had been hopeless with the bat of late but between them they gave their side 115 runs and delivered the series away from the Indians’ grasp and to complete safety. That Smith didn’t have 10 overs at an exhausted and demoralised India on the fourth evening seemed criminal but that is the nature of Test cricket these days – ensure you 100 percent can’t lose before you try to win.

Ten overs with the new ball on day four would have meant 20 overs with a new one at the end of day five and things may have turned out very differently. Instead the Indians batted out a tame draw and again South Africa let their opposition off the hook. It may have appeared an injustice to such a good series but nobody likes to lose and nobody deserved to win.

For so many of us it just doesn’t get better than the Newlands Test. The excitement we feel between the end of the Durban Test and the end of this one can possibly be compared to that of an Indian bride in the week leading up to and then the five days of her arranged wedding: she waits in anticipation of who the winner will be and is then overwhelmed by the enormous party where she can’t remember the names of all the familiar people that gather.

Some guests are excited, others sad, but they all attend as a matter of duty and pride. The hardest to describe is the feeling she experiences at its ending as she walks away exhausted and confused – vaguely aware of everything that happened but unable to fully remember it all.

And what will happen next? Well, nothing for nine months and then South Africa play their next Test series against Australia and everyone who gives a damn will have something else exciting to look forward to.

Unlike a limited-overs game that ends and we go home and put it somewhere in the back of our minds – a Test match is a beast that does not sleep until hands shake. It doesn’t end until it ends. When we wake up at three in the morning and see Sehwag smashing boundaries, when we park our cars or leave the ground, when we go to the loo and hear an eruption that is audible four kilometres away, it is still on. They talk about an absorbing day of a Test match but what they mean is an absorbing day in a series of five absorbing days that don’t end until the last player leaves the field.

But it is all over now. The party is over and the guests can go home. They will be back next year though – just about all of them anyway. From the ice cream salesman who shouts, “A lolly to make you jolly” and can tell you who won every schoolboy fixture this season, to the old couples who are so proud of their season tickets, to the enthusiastic fan under the Oaks whose tee-shirt exclaimed, “Sex, Drugs and Boerewors Roll”. They will all be back and so will I.

Afridi-inspired Pakistan storm to ICC World Twenty20 final

Shahid Afridi and Umar Gul were the heroes as Pakistan beat favourites South Africa in the first ICC World Twenty20 semi-final at Trent Bridge.

Pakistan (149/4) beat South Africa (142/5) by seven runs before a raucous, largely Pakistani crowd. For the tournament favourites South Africa, it was their first real test of the whole event. This was the fourth time the Saffers have been knocked out in a world event semi-final since re-admission.

Each side took the initiative by turn in in an epic, tense game. Having won the toss and batted, Pakistan raced from the blocks, with another brutal cameo from Kamran Akmal (23 off 12) setting the pace. Pakistan were 47/1 after the Powerplay and after Afridi, who again came in at No 3, had hit Botha for four consecutive boundaries in the 11th over, Pakistan were 86/2.

Yet Pakistan managed just three more boundaries in the rest of the innings, as South Africa appeared to seize back the initiative. With Afridi (56 off 34) hoisting the first ball of the 13th over, from J-P Duminy, to AB de Villiers and the Pakistan middle-order coming off second best against Dale Steyn (1/28) and Wayne Parnell’s (1/26) death bowling. Parnell, apparently able to bowl yorkers at will, bowled his last two overs, to Younis Khan and Abdul Razzaq, for just ten runs.

Despite Jacques Kallis’ 64 off 54, South Africa were stalled by two key wickets from Afridi (2/16), who bowled Herschelle Gibbs and AB de Villiers in consecutive overs to leave the Saffers 50/3.

By the time, star bowler Umar Gul came on to bowl the 14th over, South Africa already needed 77 off 42 balls. After taking several balls to tune his radar, it was another brilliant display from Gul, whose control and ability to bowl yorkers excelled even Parnell’s. His three overs went for 19.

With the big-hitting Albie Morkel sat on the bench while Kallis and Duminy slipped further behind the run-rate – Morkel only made it into the middle for the 18th over – South Africa seemed to have misjudged the run chase.

The only concern for Pakistan fans seemed to be Younis’ miscalculation in bringing on left-arm spinner Fawad Alam for an over that went for 15. It was a weird decision that left Umar Gul unable to complete his allocation of overs and meant that teenager Mohammad Umeer bowled the final over.

By then, though, South Africa needed 23 off six balls and even a six from JP Duminy (44 off 39) could not get them close enough.

Hansie Cronje: forgive and forget, urges new biopic

World cricket should forgive the late Hansie Cronje, according to a new biopic of the disgraced South African captain.

The film, produced by Cronje’s brother Frans, is due to be released in the UK in May.

Cronje was banned from cricket for life in October 2000, after admitting taking money from bookmakers to influence the course of matches. The former South African captain was to die in a plane crash just 18 months later. Though inappropriate links with illegal Indian bookmakers were shown to have touched most of the world’s top teams in a series of investigations at the turn of the Millennium – and the captains of both India and Pakistan also received life bans – it is Cronje who remains the name most associated with the scandal.

SPIN first brought news of a feature film about Cronje’s rise and fall back in our first issue in April 2005. After a difficult production process, ‘Hansie’ was released in South Africa last Autumn. Frans Cronje – older than Hansie by  two years – was a first-class cricketer himself and later head coach of Natal Dolphins before turning to film production. Ahead of the film’s release, he came to London to meet SPIN for an exclusive interview.

SPIN: Having been so close to your brother’s story for so long, does the film’s completion feel like closure for you?

Frans Cronje Fortunately, I didn’t feel I needed to use the movie to get closure on Hansie’s death. I got closure because I had to go and identify his body the day after he died. Seeing Hansie’s body there, I realised it wasn’t Hansie. Our life is spiritual, not physical. Your physical body is just a body for the spirit to live in. And that helped me a lot. And I saw Hansie a week before he died and he seemed  to be the old Hansie; he had his smile back and he’d made peace with himself and with God and the people around him, which was really important.

I’m a film producer. That’s what I do. Our company’s mission is to tell stories that inspire. The primary reason for making the movie is because I thought the story was inspirational and it would bring hope and that people could learn something –from the good and bad in Hansie’s life.

Do you understand why people are still so condemning of what your brother did, compared to some of the life-and-death things that went on in South Africa?

If you go back to the Bible, sin is sin. Wrong is wrong. There’s no such thing as big sin and small sin. What Hansie did was seriously wrong. You don’t take money for something that is illegal – betting in India is illegal. Speaking to players and trying to get them to take money is corruption. He and I realised the severity of what he had done.

But it wasn’t just that that made Hansie feel really bad for what he had done. The ’’90s in South Africa was the most amazing period. Everything happened in one decade. Hansie was one of four or five guys who could have become president – people held him in such high esteem, along with [World Cup-winning rugby captain] François Pienaar. Obviously, Nelson Mandela was the general, but he had a few deputies and Hansie was one.

Despite its apparently dark centre, the film has a positive message…
Here was someone who through his own mistakes ended up in the pigsty – but the important thing is: how did he manage to rebuild his life? You could do a film that ended at the King Commission because that’s where a lot of journalists did: ‘He’s fallen from grace and that’s it’. But that wasn’t it. He lived for another two years after that; he was still a person. We didn’t want to make a movie about match-fixing although I think the Indian bookies and mafia bosses are portrayed really well and I think that’s one of the strengths of the movie.

Because sport is so passionately followed in South Africa, was Hansie  more readily forgiven – or more readily condemned?
I think he was more readily forgiven for the type of person he was rather than for being a sports person per se. The people who supported him at his peak did so because of the kind of person he was rather than because he was a cricketer. The same with François Pienaar – even though he won the Rugby World Cup in 95, he’s influential now because he was a charismatic leader. And I think that’s the same for Hansie. There were many better cricketers than Hansie but he has a special talent for making people feel special and bringing the best out of them. A year after he died, Hansie was voted No 12 in the 100 greatest South Africans poll. As a sportsman only Gary Player was rated more highly.

Many in English cricket would be less forgiving…
I’m hoping that the former players in England who have been very critical of Hansie will go and see the film – and not with pre-conceived ‘unforgiveness’ – and maybe get a better understanding of Hansie the person – and also maybe a better understanding of themselves.

I find it intriguing that other ex-players who have messed up things in their lives themselves – maybe not in match-fixing but in other areas of their personal lives – can be so critical of Hansie. Let’s look at our own lives before being critical of others.

The full interview with Frans Cronje appears in the May issue of SPIN, published on April 10 (Good Friday)

‘I pick the team but the captain is the leader’

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South Africa coach Mickey Arthur has been speaking exclusively to SPIN about his coaching methods.

Arthur, who has recently been approached in connection with the vacant England coaching job, has just signed a new three-year contract with South Africa. He told SPIN “I’m very happy with South Africa. I love every minute of the job I do. I’m thoroughly enjoying it at the moment.”

But with Tom Moody and Graham Ford having counted themselves out of the running, the ECB’s short-list is getting ever shorter. And Arthur, who, with skipper Graeme Smith, has made South Africa the No 1 ODI team in the world, may become an increasingly attractive proposition.

Arthur’s team has registered series wins in England and Australia over the last nine months. Beyond caretaker coach Andy Flower and ex-India boss John Wright, Arthur is one of the few remaining candidates.

His interview, with SPIN’s Wayne Veysey, provides some intriguing clues as to how he would run the England team. It appears in full in the April issue of SPIN, on news-stands now, or available from the SPIN shop. The following is an extract.

SPIN: Who is the boss? The captain or the coach?
Mickey Arthur: I’m a big believer that the captain is still the leader. They both lead in their own jobs: the captain on the field and the coach off the field. All off-field activities in terms of preparation are my area. Then Graeme takes over the team meeting the night before a game and I will back him up. So we know exactly where we stand. 

On tour we will meet virtually every day to decide what we’re going to do and who is going to say what. It’s vital that we don’t contradict each other. Coaches can over-complicate issues. Coaches can be too technical. What I have done is try and create the environment for our players to perform by giving them stability in their jobs and consistency in what we tell them.

How should a captain- coach relationship work?
They must sit down and formulate the brand of cricket that they want the team to play and to pick the personnel to implement the brand. Graeme and I thrashed out our thoughts on cricket and we felt exactly the same. I’m a firm believer in the captain and coach having the same philosophy and sharing the same methods so not to confuse the players. We both wanted our team to take the game forward, to play without fear. Previous South African teams had been too tentative in their approach.

How do you motivate the team’s batsmen?
I like the guys to take responsibility as a group. In every Test we ask the top six to get 300 runs in the first innings. That is their job. It takes the ‘I’ out of the group. As a top six they are working as a team. When players have clarity, you get accountability and performance. There are a lot of slogans in the dressing room and they get a document saying, ‘I am responsible for these runs.’

And the bowlers?
We encourage the bowlers to strive for 20 wickets. They are each given specific roles. We have three attacking bowlers – Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini and Morne Morkel. As a unit they are all different. Dale is skiddy and swings it out at pace; Morne is tall and gets bounce; Ntini comes in at you from wide on the crease. They are different forms of attack. 

The holding roles are done by Paul Harris and Jacques Kallis. They are a bit more defensive. I need a spinner and Kallis to hold the game. Dale is our spearhead. He is the go-to man. At most times we are looking for him to strike. Ntini and Morne to a degree have the same responsibility.

Should the coach select the players?
I am one of four selectors. I sit on the panel and so does Graeme. I’m asked for my opinion on the squad. I don’t have a vote on the squad but I feature very strongly in discussions. Once the squad is selected, I become the sole selector at home and abroad. At home you are always with the convenor [chief selector]. 

Abroad, I become the sole selector. Graeme and I have a lot of discussion but ultimately we are always on the same page. We have never had conflict. Because we share the same philosophy, selecting becomes an easy thing.

How far ahead do you plan?
All good teams look ahead. We have our eye on succession planning. We identified JP Duminy two years ago as our next best batsman. He has been travelling with us for two years in Test cricket as a member of the squad and been playing one-day international cricket. It has been no fluke. We deliberately brought him through two years with that in mind. 

We have got a young quick bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe who is the future. In terms of all-rounders Albie Morkel could be a Test all-rounder. I think he could be. Imran Tahir could be the missing piece. He could enable us to play two spinners on the sub-continent.

And finally… Are you interested in becoming England coach?
I will never say never. But I have just signed a three-year contract and I’m very happy with South Africa. I love every minute of the job I do. I’m thoroughly enjoying it at the moment.

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