Similarly placed West Indies and South Africa meet amid hopes of competitiveness
Wed, Aug 7, ’24
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A rivalry that started with intensity in a one-off Test in 1992 has fizzled out into a one-sided affair with South Africa victorious in 22 out of 32 matches against West Indies, and vanquished in just three. They have never lost a Test series (the emphasis being on multiple matches in a tour) to West Indies, and last lost a match to them 17 years ago. But this is not the South Africa that bossed the away-from-home arena in the mid 2000s; and with inexperience laced through the visitors’ line-up, hosts West Indies will believe anything is possible in this series, ahead of the first Test in Port of Spain.
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It was only six months ago that South Africa lost a Test series to New Zealand for the first time, and though that was with a makeshift squad, it suggested something about the shifting sands of long-format depth. South Africa, whose provincial players only have seven red-ball matches a season, have chosen to invest the bulk of their resources into the kind of cricket that brings in, rather than costs, money. West Indies, on the other hand, continue to spend money developing the first-class game.
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Despite having a domestic system that costs more than anywhere else in the world to run because of their island geography, West Indies play red-ball cricket at the Under-17 and Under-19 levels, and at the academy level too; but whether they are reaping rewards remains up for debate.
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