Middle Part Boys

"Cricket is a funny game sometimes". Laura Wolvaardt uses the line so often at presentations and press conferences that it became a running gag among journalists at the Chennai press box covering the one-off Test between India and South Africa. On Monday, she used the line again at the post-match presentation.

India were never going to be an easy team to beat. They had won their last two Tests back-to-back, against England and Australia, who play red-ball cricket more regularly than South Africa. They were playing in Chennai, a paradise for spin, a skill India are very, very good at.

On the eve of the Test, Wolvaardt fielded questions about South Africa's preparation heading into the Test, because they had barely got any. Red-ball cricket isn't a part of their domestic season. There wasn't a conversation happening within Cricket South Africa about it, at least not to her knowledge. Either incorporate red-ball cricket into the system or leave it altogether, she had said, explaining how tough it was for her team to get ready for a format they're not used to.

On the final day, Wolvaardt was at a press conference again. South Africa had lost by 10 wickets but had avoided an innings defeat. It doesn't sound like much, but it counted for a lot. The way their batters showed up, grinding it out for close to three whole days, was a story of courage that will be spoken about while referencing the team in the years to come. Wolvaardt, seeing the batters go about their job the way they did, was almost sure they would save the Test.

But cricket is a funny game.

It might have looked like a grim battle in the face of a near-hopeless cause, considering a win was out of the question after India had piled on 603 in the first innings. But South Africa kept them at bay until the eleventh hour. India ended up on the winning side by the end of the final day but the South African resistance, on the back of centuries from Sune Luus and Wolvaardt centuries, was perhaps the big story of the match.

A first-innings fight that began after lunch on day two came to an end, rather quickly, on the morning of the third day, but that only set the stage for a bigger fight. Luus and Wolvaardt, batting like Test pros on a turning Chepauk surface, stonewalled India to the point of frustration.

As a token of appreciation for South Africa's defiance, a few journalists covering the Test gave Wolvaardt a signed copy of the team's second-innings scoresheet. "I'm going to frame this," she said.

While South Africa did not have enough time to work on their skills with bat and ball for these conditions, they put in a lot of mental prep behind the scenes leading up to the series, as highlighted by their batting coach Baakier Abrahams. Abrahams had joined the side only a few weeks ago, but he was clear about the values he wanted to inculcate into this South African side.

"The guiding was just around how they set the values and how we actually want to play," Abrahams had said after Day three. "What is the culture we try to inculcate and what are the characteristics we are looking for in some individuals when they are faced with these type of conditions and situations... the partnerships really were where we want to go towards as a cricketing nation. To watch them and implement that - because those are characteristics that they told me they would like to become as a team, you hold them accountable to that - is really empowering to see them taking ownership of that."

Wolvaardt, who was in the thick of the action with the bat for nearly one-and-a-half days, explained how South Africa went about their rearguard.

"We sort of broke it down into little 20-minute intervals and we said, 'okay, after 20 minutes, we're going to have a little sip of water, so let's work hard until then.' It was literally just about taking it one ball at a time and not even looking at the scoreboard - just to try and bat for as long as we could."

With this performance, South Africa will hope CSA consider scheduling multi-day games in domestic cricket. It's all about taking baby steps for Wolvaardt.

"... [E]ven if it's just having a few inter-squad games or camps, or, maybe a full-fledged four-day league - that's is a little bit far away - but just to practice it a bit more. Just to come into an international Test match in India with absolutely no experience in the format is tough. Captaincy-wise, it's tough as well. Batting-wise we've just been learning as much as we can as quickly as we can, but there's obviously still a lot of things that we need to sharpen up on in this format."

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India's resilience was tested, too. They were ultra-confident on the first day but looked sapped for most parts of the second, third and fourth days. But there was a smile that never faded. Sneh Rana, who bagged her career-best Test figures, never looked like she'd lost hope. She bowled an astounding 65.3 overs across two innings. Catches were dropped off her bowling, and South Africa hung on grimly. But Rana never stopped smiling. "Body is very fresh," she joked at the presentation when asked how she was feeling after four days in the gruelling Chennai heat.

Rana and India also had wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh helping them keep their energies up throughout the game. "[Ghosh's] chirpings... they can be about anything," Rana said at the press conference. "They just need to pep you up. Fielding for third straight day in these conditions and bowling 200-plus overs is not an easy job. How to keep ourselves fresh is what we were talking about. Plenty of jokes around."

India are a step ahead of South Africa in their red-ball journey but not so long ago, they were in a similar position to their opponents. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur had called for more Tests and hoped for red-ball matches to return to domestic cricket. India played two Tests in December 2023 and several senior players also played in the multi-day inter-zonal competition in April-May this year.

Unlike the Tests against England and Australia, which were one-sided, India were challenged on this pitch even after they posted a big total. "It wasn't easy...they [South Africa] really batted well," Harmanpreet told the broadcasters. "They never gave us an easy win. We had to work really hard for this."

Chennai is a relatively new venue for India, who had played most of their matches in the last year or so in Mumbai. Harmanpreet had highlighted the importance of playing at different venues with the ODI World Cup set to be played in India next year. That's another thing ticked off their list.

Harmanpreet could not credit her spin unit enough. They bowled 179 overs across three days with South Africa's batters wearing them down.

"When we came this morning we knew they were only hundred [105] runs short," Harmanpreet said. "We kept speaking to our bowling unit that we needed to be a bit careful when we're bowling and not give them easy boundaries.

"The way they [spinners] bowled in the last two Tests, they showed that trust that they can keep bowling and keep creating those chances for the team. It was a bit tough. I was a bit greedy to give them the ball again and again because they were creating chances."

South Africa have a Test scheduled against England at home later this year. India, meanwhile, do not have any Tests scheduled for the rest of the year. Whether they get to play one soon or not, players from both teams have been clear about their opinions on playing the longer format: they like it and want more of it.