Clayton Murzello: Rabada adds to SA's 'refreshment'

South Africa's Kagiso Rabada appears to give thanks for his success on Day Five of the first Test against Australia at the WACA ground in Perth. Pic/Getty Images

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

Not sure whether the presently cock-a-hoop South Africans needed Winston Churchill's above words to fire themselves up after pace spearhead Dale Steyn limped off the WACA ground in Perth on the second day of the opening Test against Australia recently, but it's a quote which their young pacer Kagiso Rabada swears by.

Rabada (21) bowled with fire and guided his team to victory at the WACA, which on several occasions has been the temple of pace bowling. Here's a kid who loves a fight, yearns for a challenge and doesn't believe in leaving grit behind in one corner of the dressing room. He's just the kind of cricketer the Aussies admire, but hate to play against.

Not many South African supporters would have imagined a Test victory at Perth after Steyn's right shoulder let him down. The Proteas were already, before Steyn's injury, at sixes and sevens through the absence of AB de Villiers (not on tour due to an elbow injury) and Morne Morkel (back). They also had to swallow the bitter pill of their best batsman Hashim Amla getting out for a duck in the fourth over of the Perth Test.

The kind of resilience and ability to mix the rough with the smooth displayed by the Proteas were remarkable. Their 177-run victory also opened up the possibility of the Aussies losing the series like they did at home in 2008-09. And if they do, this South African team deserve to be in the same bracket as teams which took adversity/disadvantage by the scruff of the neck and won.

Several of those teams come to mind. Let's start at home. In 1970-71, the Bombay Ranji Trophy team were left without five stalwarts (Ajit Wadekar, Dilip Sardesai, Ashok Mankad, Eknath Solkar and Sunil Gavaskar) who were picked in the Indian team to tour the West Indies. Twenty-six-year-old Sudhir Naik was made captain of a young side that went on to win the Ranji Trophy. How did Naik motivate his team? "I told them that they are exceptionally talented and capable of playing at this level. Five were playing for India because they were senior and performed well, but we are not inferior in any way. We have all performed at club and inter-office cricket and I stressed that the standard in our local tournaments was even higher than the Ranji Trophy," Naik told me.

Bombay met a formidable Maharashtra team in the final led by the astute and experienced Chandu Borde. The batting star was discussed a fair deal in the pre-match meetings. "I said to the team that Borde may be a veteran and great batsman. We respect that, but don't be overawed by his presence; believe in yourselves.

I kept telling Padmakar Shivalkar during that season that he is the best left-arm spinner I had faced. I also promised him that I wouldn't take him off if he got hit," said Naik, whose captaincy was later praised by greats like Vijay Merchant and Prof DB Deodhar.

Naik's views remind me of what the late Dilip Sardesai used to say about Mumbai's reserves: "They were as good as the regulars, if not better."

The 1972-73 and 1994-95 Australian teams in the West Indies too shrugged off upheavals to eventually get their hands on the Frank Worrell Trophy. In 1972-73, swing bowler Bob Massie was down with intestinal flu, while Dennis Lillee's troublesome back restricted his participation to just one Test. Adding to the bowling woes was the fact that top spinner Ashley Mallett chose not to tour. But Max Walker and Jeff Hammond stepped up and bowled tirelessly for a series victory that took 22 years to emulate. Of course, the Australian run machinery didn't malfunction.

Coincidentally, Mark Taylor's bunch which was the first Australian team to win a Test series in the Caribbean after 1972-73, too were crippled by injuries at the start of the tour. Craig McDermott hurt his ankle while climbing over a wall in Guyana and Damien Fleming, who bagged a hat-trick against Pakistan on Test debut the year before, injured his shoulder in Trinidad. Taylor had to turn to young guns Glenn McGrath and current ICC umpire Paul Reiffel to man the pace bowling attack, which also profited from having Brendon Julian around as McDermott and Fleming went home.

Back to South Africa. Faf du Plessis continues as caretaker captain till de Villiers returns, Steyn is out of action for six weeks and Morne Morkel's return for the next Test is not yet imminent. Hobart will be a different kettle of fish than Perth and who can ever rule out a strong Australian comeback?

But then, du Plessis has Rabada, who is never short of that great quality - confidence, and confidence can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. In his book Winning Ways, cricket's most famous sports psychologist, Dr Rudi Webster writes, "Players without confidence often fail because they expect to fail, and players with confidence usually succeed because they expect to succeed, not because of any superior skill."

South Africa must not choke now.

mid-day's group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com