South African Cricket fans need to be patient with youngsters and become a safe space for them to succeed.

"Eventually, all that patience may yield long term results."

South Africa is a country with arguably one of the biggest talent pools among countries that play cricket. We can talk about the standard of the quality some other time but, on talent alone, South Africa is up there with the best. It obviously depends on the individual and a few other factors as to what that talent turns into. Some talented cricketers will make it as cricketers and some wont. Such is the nature of an ever-evolving sport. These days, talent alone may be sufficient if you are an U11 or an U13 player. However, the older one grows and looks to go professional, talent alone becomes quite useless.

For a number of years, South African fans and supporters have called for youngsters to be groomed and given a chance so they can carry the team forward once the senior players have retired. In every squad selected, everyone’s wish has always been to see one or two young batters get the opportunity to be in and or around the squad.

Maybe an opportunity to bring in more youngsters was missed when the team still had players like Kallis, Hashim, AB, and a few others. This can be seen from how things went just after all those players retired. Being able to introduce young players when the team still has guys performing consistently also helps in avoiding a situation where the team must go into a full-blown transition. This is perhaps what happened to the Proteas’ top 6. The struggle for a consistent top 6 still continues.

With all that being said, I have been wondering for a while now. Are we as South African cricket fans a safe space for youngsters? Do we have the patience for youngsters? Unfortunately, whenever I try to answer these questions based on my interactions with other SA cricket fans and through just observing on social media, the answer to both these questions is no. We generally like calling for youngsters to be given opportunities but we are often oblivious to what picking a youngster possibly means for the team. One can see this with how people react when someone like Dewald Brevis does not get a game, when he performs and when he does not perform. You find that one person will have contradicting reactions to the 3 scenarios, and it often leaves me mind boggled.

When it comes to picking young players, one can simply not have his cake and expect to eat it. This is something most fans and supporters do not understand. Eventually, youngsters will start coming through the ranks in numbers and it is important that we, as fans, become a safe place for them to grow and be nurtured. South African cricket fans are not a patient crowd but being a safe space for youngsters will require a lot of patience.

Picking youngsters comes with its own challenges the same way picking older guys who have been around longer has its own challenges. Youngsters will often be given a longer rope which means more patience is required. Furthermore, very few players mature at an early age so when selected, young players may need to be given a lot of room to make mistakes as they are also still trying to understand their own game. This also leads to a bit more inconsistency.

An example of the lack of patience that exists in South African cricket fans is how a lot of fans wanted Stubbs to be dropped from the T20 World Cups starting XI of which he was. We can talk about the result some other day but if we are going to call for a youngster to be picked, we will need to keep an open mind. Picking a youngster is not just a matter of today and now but a matter of taking care of your future in the process. This starts with backing your youngsters and showing them that you believe in them and what they bring to the attack. Stubbs had a few poor innings and already many were even starting to question his pedigree even though he did well in domestic cricket and a few times in international cricket. Even with guys like Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Wiaan Mulder, Quinton de Kock and a few others. The lack of patience among SA cricket fans was always out there for everyone to see. Many today will clap hands whenever Lungi lands his slower ball and gets a wicket but when a younger Lungi got his slower ball wrong, each time his selection was questioned. A Quinton de Kock would play his natural game every match and score hundreds but the day his “natural game” refuses to click and he loses his wicket for a duck, his commitment to the team would be questioned.

There are a number of examples I can make but then again, the aim of this piece was never to attack fellow South African cricket fans but rather to plead with everyone who loves South African cricket to be patient. Please be patient with Dewald Brevis, please be patient with every young South African cricketer coming through the ranks. Players like Kallis did not become greats overnight. It took someone like Sachin Tendulkar 75 innings to score his maiden ODI ton and someone like AB de Villiers 36 innings to score his, while someone like Kohli took about 12 innings to score his. All incredibly talented athletes with soaring ceilings. Some youngsters will take longer than others to find their feet in another format while others will longer than others to find their feet across formats.

Apart from just being patient with individual young players, we might find ourselves in a situation where the team is dominated by young players and that would require us to be patient with the team as a whole. Eventually, all that patience may yield long term results.

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