At first glance, the sequence of South African Test series contains a mistake: 1966-7 vs Australia, 1969-70 vs Australia, 1991-2 vs West Indies, 1992-3 vs India,.... Hang on, a young reader might think; where are all the fixtures between 1970 and 1991? Where indeed? The white supremacists in power at the time not only destroyed the lives of millions of their own subjects but also the international careers of a much smaller number of white cricketers. Barry Richards, Mike Procter, Graeme Pollock, Eddie Barlow, Vincent van der Bijl et al either managed just a handful of Test appearances, or none at all while their nation was consigned to the sporting wilderness.
It took many years but eventually the political and economic pressure achieved its goal. Nelson Mandela was released from jail and the odious apartheid system was dismantled. It had been a cricket tour which had really brought home the deplorable nature of the SA political regime and so it was cricket which really signalled the start of a new era in international sport. In November 1991, Clive Rice led South Africa in a 3-match series against India, their first ever official one-day internationals. World Cup participation followed swiftly, and then on 18th April 1992 came the first Test match involving South Africa for 22 years.
The West Indies were the team to find a window in their cricketing calendar to offer South Africa their first five-day action in more than two decades. Kepler Wessels, now representing the country of his birth rather than Australia, skippered the side at Bridgetown, winning the toss and electing to field. To be honest, the visitors were hardly a formidable outfit. Allan Donald was in his prime as a fast bowler and a young Walter Cronje was on his way up.
The Windies spluttered to 262 all out on the first day, Richard Snell taking 4-83. Wessels and Andrew Hudson shared a century second-wicket stand, and Hudson spent almost nine hours at the crease for a career-best 163. Unusually, for all their pace credentials, the most successful West Indian bowler was part-time spinner Jimmy Adams. He also top-scored in the second innings, followed by Brian Lara and 'extras'!
South Africa needed only 201 to record an historic victory on their return to the fold. Wessels and Peter Kirsten steered them to 123-2 before Courtney Walsh (4-31) and Curtly Ambrose (6-34 in 24 overs) engineered a major collapse to 148 all out.
It wasn't a winning start, but in the twenty intervening years, South Africa have been there or thereabouts at the top of the Test rankings. While the official table only began in 2003, they spent much of the late '90s and early noughties vying with Australia for the unofficial status of top dogs. Following that defeat in Barbados they didn't lose a series for four years. They enjoyed another purple patch between 1998-9 and 2001-2 but the Aussies proved to be their nemeses. Only after beating them in December 2008 did South Africa become the recognised cream of the crop.
Stars such as Donald, Shaun Pollock, Jonty Rhodes, Darryl Cullinan, the disgraced Cronje, Herschelle Gibbs had come and gone but the winning side has become very familiar to us in recent years. Graeme Smith's team have only just pushed their way to the front, but in Amla, AB De Villiers, Steyn, Morkel, Kallis and Boucher, they have an experienced nucleus of a world-beating side. It's just a trophy they need to prove it, to cap some memorable performances since returning to international cricket twenty years ago today.
