Keeping up with Keegan (Vol 4)

Keegan Petersen made his test debut against the West Indies in 2021. The 29-year-old, with 10 tests to his name and a highest score of 82, starred for his country against India last January in the red-ball game and will be determined to regain his place in the team.

In his final entry, he talks about the takeaways from Australia, what makes Kagiso Rabada his pick for ICC Test Player of the Year and why Dean Elgar’s still the right man.

Monday, 9 January – Steely draws and sticking to the process

The Proteas showed fight to draw the third and final test in Sydney. Up until the clash at the SCG, which was rain-affected, the Aussies had it fairly easy in the series. I say easy in the sense that they bowled for short periods of time and were never really in the field for very long. If they had to have bowled 100-plus overs, with South Africa three or four wicket down, we don’t know what Australia’s mentality would have been. We needed to expose them to that element to see what it would have brought out of their character.

A DIFFERENT WHATSAPP GROUP FOR EACH TOUR

While I regularly set my alarm for the early morning starts in Australia, to be honest I wasn’t involved with the team when they got on tour. There is a different WhatsApp group for every Proteas tour and, with me being back in South Africa focusing on my rehabilitation for a hamstring injury, I kind of gave the guys their space to get on with it.

Australia were full value for their 2-0 series win and David Warner was named Player of the Series. Warner is an amazing cricketer. To be able to score a double hundred against a quality bowling attack like ours at the MCG and earn Man of the Series when the odds were stacked against him, speaks volumes. People were doubting his ability and there was even talk that the 36-year-old may be considering retirement. You can’t deny that the guy could play and still can, so hats off to him because it’s a helluva effort.

‘LEADER’ ELGAR HAS THE CHARACTER AND FIGHT

From a Proteas’ perspective, Dean Elgar is someone who leads by example. Of course a lack of runs makes it difficult because, first and foremost, he is a cricketer before he is a captain. As a batter, I know it’s difficult because I have been there before. I can assume that the measure of captaincy also takes its toll on his batting but he is a tough character and everyone deals with things differently. Dean is a good player and a fighter. I believe he will fight through this difficult period and don’t be surprised if you see a Dean Elgar special in the next test when we resume our commitments against the West Indies at the end of February. He is just that type of character. Another strong character in the side is Kagiso Rabada, who has been nominated for ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year. I have been impressed by the year that he has had as the joint-leading wicket-taker. KG brings something different and is a phenomenal player. If you give him the ball in any scenario, he will make something happen. I believe that whatever accolades he earns he thoroughly deserves, and hopefully he wins the award.

MARCO JANSEN – AN EXCEPTION TO THE RULE

Meanwhile, Marco Jansen has been nominated as Emerging Cricketer of the Year. He showed before in the England series that he is becoming an allrounder and played one or two innings of influence. He has displayed that he can bat and everyone knows that he can bowl. He is the one variation we have in our bowling attack and he has done very well in the role he has been given. He is still only 22 and has an exciting future ahead of him in the game. When I was a 22-year-old, I was still playing for the Cobras in Cape Town. Looking back, the advice I would give my younger self is: “Stick to the process, there is a lot of frustration on the way but there is reward somewhere even if it might be in the distant future.” I have learnt that success doesn’t always happen so fast for everyone like it does for some individuals. You have your exceptions like Marco, who progress quickly at the top end of the game, but it doesn’t happen for everyone like that.

Going forward, in terms of our batting/bowling split we are kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. The question is which of the seamers do you drop because they are really firing right now. Ideally you want to play another batter but then it’s at the expense of one of the bowlers. There is no chance I would want to be a selector post-playing career. While the job puts hair on your teeth – and you are ready to take charge – you aren’t going to have many friends in that post, and I don’t know how the selectors do it!

MALI MAKETA CAN ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES

The test series in Australia was a baptism of fire for Malibongwe Maketa. It was a tough tour and his first there as interim head coach. However, I think he will be okay after the experience as he has been around the block long enough to be able to take a punch on the chin… For us to be successful going forward, I think it really comes down to application. For certain periods of the game, when the guys applied themselves, we showed that we could combat what the Australians brought. We need to extend those periods for longer and push the opposition bowlers into their third and fourth spells. Of late, we haven’t taken the game deep enough to know what our opponent’s breaking point is. Ideally we want to take them to those dark places and see how they then react.