West Indies and South Africa meet amid hopes of competitiveness

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.

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.

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.

This January, West Indies beat Australia in a Test for the first time in over two decades – for comparison, South Africa did not get a win in Australia in 2022-23 – but have not won a series against a World Test Championship (WTC) team since beating Bangladesh in 2022.

Just before that, they beat England in a series, something South Africa have not managed since 2012.

Pound for pound, the recent history of these squads suggests they don’t have much between them as they both enter yet another rebuild phase against the backdrop of continued T20 league expansion. In personnel terms, they are similarly matched too.

Both have batting line-ups with newcomers hoping to establish themselves: Mikyle Louis for West Indies, and Tony de Zorzi and Tristan Stubbs for South Africa.

Both sides have an experienced seamer – Kemar Roach and Kagiso Rabada – and some fiery youngsters in Shamar Joseph and Nandre Burger, although the latter was not named in the XI. And both are desperate for points in this WTC cycle.

At the least, that could mean we see the most competitive contest between these two sides in 30 years, which would be a very satisfactory outcome indeed.

West Indies XI: Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), Mikyle Louis, Keacy Carty, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Jason Holder, Joshua Da Silva (wk), Gudakesh Motie, Jayden Seales, Jomel Warrican, Kemar Roach

South Africa XI:  Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma (capt), David Bedingham, Ryan Rickleton, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Keshav Maharaj, Wiaan Mulder, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.