Proteas' culture shift a lesson for Australia

A crucial factor, as identified by a clearly disenchanted Steve Smith at the latest of his five consecutive post-Test defeat inquisitions, in South Africa’s success was the ability of their bowlers to regularly land the ball “on a 10 cent piece”.

But there might not have been a more accurate grenade lobbed throughout the Proteas’ absolute domination over two and a bit days in Hobart, or four and a bit in Perth before that, than the one landed by their captain Faf du Plessis at game’s end.

When the stand-in skipper who is piloting an injury-reduced team named the culture and camaraderie that so palpably exudes from his touring party that now stands on the cusp of an unprecedented series clean sweep as the defining element that drives it forward.

And it is the equally obvious absence of that quality in a disjointed, dispirited Australian outfit that has carried Smith’s team to a point unseen since the dark days that led to a coach’s sacking in 2013, and to a crossroads unthinkable when they celebrated their rise to number one in the world last July.

As du Plessis articulated with the crispness of a Quinton de Kock cover drive, South Africa’s team culture is important because they embrace it, live it and treasure it every day.

And have been since they endured their own horror run in Test cricket, seven months up until last January when they managed not a single win from nine starts in Bangladesh, India and at home and then undertook a prolonged bout of soul searching.

A review that was deemed unavoidable when the team failed to reach the final of an ODI tri-series in the Caribbean against Australia and the West Indies, and was broadened to shine the search light on coaching and support staff as well as those taking the field.

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And which has led the team, minus its captain and most mercurial player AB de Villiers, to undefeated series wins over New Zealand (Tests) and Australia (ODIs) both at home, and now a third consecutive Test series triumph in Australia.

A feat only once achieved over the past century, by the unstoppable West Indians of the 1980s and early 90s.

“You have to find something, whatever that is for different teams, we looked at a few things we wanted to change within our team and we did that,” du Plessis said in the glow of his team’s win by an innings and 80 runs in Hobart.

“The most important thing is you have to live it.

“The stuff that we spoke about there is not something we’re paying lip service to and it’s just words.

“Off the field we’re very happy, and we want to get better.

“It’s important to stay with it, and stay nice and humble and don’t think the world has changed now that we’ve won a few series.

“But to keep working hard and making sure we get better because we as a team want to go to special places.”

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It’s a not dissimilar thesis promulgated last summer by New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum and his ‘nice guys of cricket’, who preached an “authentic” and “organic” team culture that was never quite able to overcome their bigger, brasher neighbour on the field.

But the Proteas are an altogether more formidable foe.

In the immediate aftermath of South Africa’s historic 5-0 ODI whitewash last month, du Plessis spoke with heart-warming patriotism about the responsibility the national cricket team carries on behalf of its rapidly evolving nation.

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About how South Africans want, and quite rightly expect to see their own ambitions, their people and their place in the world reflected by a sport that is far from being the country’s most popular.

It’s an assignment the Proteas have taken on with a purpose and spirit that shines through at every interaction, whether it’s engaging with young fans at airports, clasping an Australian-born substitute fielder into the bosom of their squad or unabashedly talking about the love and respect they hold unconditionally for one another.

As du Plessis did when he joked he planned to “sleep with” man of the match Kagiso Rabada after the Perth win, and then confirmed he would offer similar treatment to another fast bowler Kyle Abbott who won the gong in Hobart.

As a group, and to a person, they are proud, they are passionate and they are so recognisably human.

By contrast, it appears that the fabric that currently binds the current Australia team is woven from a mixture of rhetoric and faded glories.

During this year’s 3-0 Test series whitewash to a Sri Lankan outfit that had lost a raft of star players and was carried by a 38-year-old spin bowler and a couple of Test newbies, the theme of post-match post-mortems was ‘disappointing’ and the stated need to get better.

As the subsequent ODI series in South Africa lurched to an unprecedented 0-5 scoreline the message ramped up to be ‘very disappointing’ as well as a need to improve.

And after the ignominy of defeat to the Proteas in Perth turned to the infamy of the Hobart Test that will forever be seen as one of those historic turning points in Australian cricket, the talk became even … um, talkier.

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Coach Darren Lehmann assessed bluntly that being bowled out for 85, the lowest innings total by an Australia team on home soil for 32 years, was “not good enough”.

A day later, and a couple of days before they then produced their most wretched batting collapse on their own turf to drop 8-32 inside 20 overs, Executive General Manager Team Performance Pat Howard repeatedly stressed the demand that the players exhibit “adaptability and resilience”.

But for all that frank acknowledgment of failure and worthy rhetorical commitment to change, nothing has altered to the naked eye over that time.

As a forensic examination of the batting woes over their five consecutive Test losses (of increasingly hefty magnitude) lays bare.

All out 203 and 161 in the first Test against unfancied Sri Lanka; 106 and then 7-113 in the second; 9-112 and 10-83 in the third; 10-86 after cracking first day in Perth this month; all out 85 and then a pitiful 8-32 in Hobart.

If it was the under-12s they might be forced to start walking home from games, or have their pocket money withheld.

Asked repeatedly how that push to be better might be achieved, how that inability to be resilient and adaptable might be redressed, Smith stared blinking into the television lights and spoke repeatedly of more disappointment, of things not working, of the need for … resilience.

It was difficult to avoid the feeling there was much that the captain - who has been the model of defiance and flexibility and hard work while so much has turned to muck beneath his feet – wanted to speak his mind but didn’t quite trust what he might say.

Or how it would be construed.

It was only when he was cajoled and coerced into how he felt, deep down, about the downward spiral in which his team tumbled since it took hold of the gilded mace as the world’s best Test team last July, that Smith provided a glimpse of his mindset.

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"I need players that are willing to get in the contest and get in the battle and have some pride playing for Australia,” Smith said when quizzed on what remedial measures he would bring if he were the team’s unchallenged supremo.

“That's what I need.

“At the moment it is not good enough, and I am quite sick of saying it to be honest.

“It's happened five Tests in a row now, we've lost five in a row and for an Australian cricket team that is humiliating and I am embarrassed to be sitting up here in this position.”

Smith hinted that, like other captains who have no direct role in selection, he might not always have been handed the team that he wanted, but acknowledged that in consultation with coach (and selector) Darren Lehmann they usually settle on the optimum starting XI for the prevailing conditions.

He decried the dearth of next-tier batters demanding to be picked by piling score on top of score, match after match, summer on summer, casting further doubt on whether the Sheffield Shield competition can continue to dine out on its once unarguable status as the world’s pre-eminent domestic competition.

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“I know that questions are going to be asked of everyone, we need guys in state cricket to really step up and jump out of the pack,” Smith said.

“I don't think there is anyone doing that, anyone that's averaging 55 or 60.

“No-one is really jumping out of the pack and getting big hundreds or three hundreds in a row, at the moment.

“What we've got going on is not working so it might be about getting some younger guys in and getting some experience at this level.

“I'm working hard on my game, trying to lead from the front as much as I can.

“But at the moment it isn't good enough.

“Myself and everyone that is going to wear an Australian cap for the next game need to be a lot better, and step up and start playing the way an Australian team needs to play.”

The way the South Africans have been playing since they subjected themselves to a harsh, honest session of self-appraisal and learned that culture can be as crucial as cricket.