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Anrich Nortje. (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE / AFP)
At SuperSport Park
- Five-wicket hero Anrich Nortje isn't bothered by milestones because he's unsure if he'll ever play enough Tests to reach anything significant.
- That's the reality of world cricket's imbalance, which sees only Australia, India and England play a lot of five-day cricket while the rest feed off scraps.
- West Indies stalwart Jason Holder also bemoans a lack of action, but concedes "it's beyond our control".
In another era, South African cricket (and the world for that matter) would've been licking their lips at the heights Anrich Nortje could reach in Test cricket.
His magnificent 5/36 - his fourth five-for - on the second day of the first Test between the Proteas and West Indies represented another exciting footnote in an international career that started relatively late (at least for a fast bowler) at 25.
He know boasts 69 scalps at an average of 26.41 that's been dropping rapidly.
Instead, we find ourselves in 2023 where the structural imbalance of world cricket means no-one can be sure if Nortje will even reach the 100-mark, simply because the Proteas don't engage in enough five-day battles anymore.
That's why the imposing quick doesn't bother worrying about milestones.
In fact, he's more preoccupied with whether he'll actually still get an opportunity to play the pinnacle form of the game in future.
"Playing four Tests in a year, you don't think much about milestones," said Nortje.
"You just think: 'Okay, there's a Test match somewhere'. I probably will never get to 50 Tests. That will take me another seven years. Some countries in the next few months, they play 20 games.
"It's hard."
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Over the next five-year cycle of the ICC's future tours programme, the Proteas will only play 28 Tests, of which only two series will be more than three-matches.
It's less than any main nation bar Zimbabwe and Ireland.
To illustrate just how the proverbial Big Three - India, Australia and England - are cannibalising Test cricket, consider that of the 173 Tests scheduled between 2023 and 2027, 121 will involved those sides.
Little wonder then Nortje only focuses on the now.
"You can't compare what the greats have done in the past, they played a lot of Test cricket. That was their main format. We play four games, eight games or 10 games over two years," he said.
"It's very limited, and when we do get the opportunity, it's nice to come out and focus on what we have to do."
In the opposite dressing room sits Jason Holder, who - at 31 - became only the second West Indian to achieve the feat of scoring 2 500 Test runs and harvesting 150 wickets after the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers.
But don't ever expect the genial all-rounder to ever reach 8 000 runs ... and perhaps even his 235 wickets.
"It's a tough one. The way world cricket is going, apart from the Big Three, everybody else is barely playing Test cricket," said Holder.
"We average maybe six to eight Test matches for the last three years. It's a slow gain, you've got to be in every single XI to really get yourself anywhere close to a 100 matches."
Holder has managed to get to 61 Tests, yet the imbalance is exemplified by his captain Kraigg Brathwaite, who made his debut 12 years ago and still only has 83 caps behind his name despite essentially being indispensable.
Meanwhile, England's Joe Root made his debut a full year later and has amassed 129 Tests.
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"We've seen a guy like Kraigg been around for a long time and he still isn't there. He probably played before a guy like Joe Root, but Joe has almost 130-plus Tests, showing how much Test cricket England play in comparison to us," said Holder.
"Again, it's beyond our control. We've got to deal with it and deal with what's in front of us."
That's why Nortje isn't having nightmares over missing out on landmarks.
"I'm not going to say I'm dreaming about when I'm going to get the next opportunity (for a milestone). I'm just focusing on the cricket and when you get here that's when the switch goes on."
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