The
2012 tourists came to England
in the hope of a victory that would see South Africa becoming the top-ranked
Test nation, and they duly achieved that with an emphatic two-nil victory in
the series.
Graeme
Smith, who had considered giving up the Test captaincy but was dissuaded by
coach Gary Kirsten, played in his 100th Test and equalled Allan Border’s previous
record of captaining his country 93 times in Tests.
Preparations
for the tour unusually included a few days cycling and rock-climbing in the Alps rather than net practice. The tourists had five
preparatory side matches - but there was disappointment that only three Tests
had been arranged yet five one-dayers and three T20 internationals, which
were badly affected by weather and ended without either side in the lead.
Unavailable:Graeme Smith recovered from an ankle injury
in time to tour.
Tour Party Announced :13 June 2012.
Not selected : Ashwell Prince
One-day squad named:25 July 2012.
AB de
Villiers (capt), Hashim Amla (vice-capt), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Dean
Elgar, Imran Tahir, Ryan McLaren, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Justin Ontong,
Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe
A T20
squad was picked in August.
Time between selection and departure from South Africa
19 days
(13 June to 2 July)
Travel
Members of the Test squad not in Zimbabwe for a tri-series joined
in a conditioning programme under fitness and conditioning coach, Rob Walter. Alviro Petersen was playing for Essex
for the first two months of the season
The touring party left O R Tambo Airport, Johannesburg, on Monday 2 JulyTo get ready for the
tour, instead of traditional net practice, they spent four days at Chateau
d'Oex in Switzerland
as part of a team-building exercise with adventurer Mike Horn. The players
arrived in London
on Friday 6 July. Imran Tahir was asked to train with Abdul Qadir in Lahore rather than participate in the Switzerland
exercise.
Graeme
Smith returned to Cape Town after the first Test Smith on 23 July to be
present at the birth of his child before flying back to Amsterdam and then to
Leeds on Sunday 29 July.
Wayne Parnell,
Faf du Plessis, Justin Ontong, Dean Elgar and Ryan MacLaren went to Ireland with South
Africa A for three matches before joining the senior squad
in England.
Time spent in England
69 days
(6 July - 13 September)
On-tour selection panel
Gary Kirsten (coach), Graeme Smith (captain), and the touring selector.
Reinforcements
T
Tsolekile
L
31
second WK
In the opening week of the
tour wicket-keeper Mark Boucher was hit in the eye by a bail and had to
return home injured. He was escorted by Proteas
team manager, Dr Mohammed Moosajee, returning on a flight to Cape Town International Airport
on 12 July: The injury caused
his retirement from international cricket and subsequently from all forms of
the game. On 11 July Thami Tsolekile was named as his replacement and he joined
the tourists on 13 July.
J A
Morkel
T
31
LHBRFM
ODI
Marchant de Lange strained
his lower back and needed six weeks of rest and recuperation. Albie Morkel,
already in England playing
for Somerset,
joined the touring group with Tsolikele on 13 July
F du
Plessis
T
28
RHB(LB)
Albie Morkel then turned an ankle and would be out of
the tour for ten days so Francois du Plessis was called up. He was about to
go to Ireland with the South Africa A team, which was deliberately touring
Ireland so that reserve players would be available at hand, and joined the
squad on Wednesday morning 1 August.
Fixtures/Results
ϯTaunton
Somerset
(2-day)
Drawn
Canterbury
Kent
Drawn
KENNINGTON OVAL
ENGLANDFirst Test
WON inns 12 r
ϯ Worcester
Worcestershire
(2-day)
Drawn
HEADINGLEY
ENGLANDSecond Test
DRAWN
ϯ Derby
Derbyshire
(2-day)
Drawn
LORD’S
ENGLANDThird Test
WON 51 r
ϯ Bristol
Gloucestershire
(50 overs)
Won 3
w
§ Cardiff
England(1st ODI)
No
result
§ Southampton
England(2nd ODI)
Won
80 r
§
Kennington Oval
England(3rd ODI)
Lost
4 w
§
Lord’s
England(4th ODI)
Lost
6 w
§ Trent Bridge
England(5th ODI)
Won 7
w
⊕ Chester-le-Street
England(1st T20)
Won 7
w
⊕ Old Trafford
England(2nd T20)
No
result
⊕ Edgbaston
England(3rd T20)
Lost
28 r
† not first-class
§one-day international
⊕ Twenty 20 international
Time spent in England
before First Test:
13 days
(6 July- 19 July)
Test appearances on tour
3-Amla,de Villiers,Duminy,Imran Tahir,Kallis,M Morkel,A N Petersen,Philander,Rudolph,Smith,Steyn.
• South Africa
scored 637 - 2 declared in the first Test at The Oval, with centuries by
Amla, Smith and Kallis.
•Hashim Amla (311*) added 259 with Graeme
Smith, and 377 with Kallis (182*)
•Steyn (5-56) ensured that England were dismissed without requiring South Africa
to bat again.
•Alviro Petersen scored 182 at Headingley,
his highest score, after scoring a duck in the first match.
•Graeme Smith added 120 for the first wicket
with Petersen in the first innings and 120 with Rudolph in the second.
•Philander was Player of the Match at Lord’s
with innings of 61 and 35 and taking 5-30 with the ball.
•Steyn, Morkel and Philander with 15, 12 and
11 wickets respectively, led South
Africa’s bowling attack.
•Amla finished with an aggregate of 900 runs
in the nine matches he played against England across three formats.
Tour Summary
P
W
L
D
Aban
Test Matches
3
2
0
1
-
Other first-class matches
1
0
0
1
-
†Minor
matches
4
1
0
3
-
§ One-day internationals
5
2
2
1
-
⊕ Twenty 20 internationals
3
1
1
1
-
All Matches
16
6
3
7
-
Return to South Africa
The team boarded a flight direct from London to Colombo on 14
September 2012 to participate in the ICC World T20 Championships in Sri Lanka.
Coach Gary Kirsten had missed the final T20
International returning to South
Africa to spend time with his family. He
joined up with the ICC World T20 squad on Sunday September 16 in Colombo.
The South Africans arrived back at O.R Tambo
International Airport
in Johannesburg from Sri Lanka on 4 October.
Time away from South
Africa74 days
(2 Julytill 4 October)
Published
accounts
Neil Manthrop’s blog :http://www.supersport.com/cricket/blogs/neil-uk-diary