Exclusive: "Test centuries is the currency," says former proteas opening batter Alviro Petersen

The Proteas Test Team of 2012

The last time South Africa lifted the ICC Golden Mace was over a decade ago when Graeme Smith led South Africa to the number one spot in the Test rankings following a series victory against England in England.

Fourteen years later, South Africa have a chance to lift the trophy once again as they qualified for the World Test Championship final set for Lord's next year.

This came following the team's nail-biting two-wicket victory over Pakistan at SuperSport Park in Centurion last week.

SportsBoom caught up with Proteas opening batter, Alviro Petersen, who was part of the Test team that lifted the mace in 2012.

"We've always set out that that's what we wanted to do. It was one of our goals so to achieve it, obviously, was remarkable," Petersen told SportsBoom, reflecting on the triumph that they earned in 2012.

Test centuries Are The Currency

Petersen added that he can see similarities between the 2012 team and the one that is currently being led by Bavuma.

The 44-year-old outlined that the current Test team is consistently scoring Test centuries, a similar trait to the 2012 team that dominated Test cricket all over the world.

"The one thing that's important and that I have noticed is that this year in 2024, the team has scored some hundreds," said Petersen.

"Previously there were a lot of people mentioning it including myself, when it comes to Test cricket, hundreds, Test centuries is the currency. This year, they have scored ten of them so there are no surprises that they are where they are at the moment."

The Impact of the final

The fact that the team has qualified for the final has sent shockwaves in world cricket because, after all, the Proteas do not have star players as they did a decade ago with the likes of Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn and Hashim Amla to name a few.

Bavuma's team's achievements have set the record straight that South African cricket is still producing quality cricketers despite the various negatives that have been surrounding the sport in the recent past.

Petersen can foresee this achievement benefitting South African cricket in a host of different ways.

"It's great for South African cricket. There are two parts to it. One, it's cricket in South Africa. From that point of view, it's really important because people will now see that there are some achievements that go by," he said.

"From a player point of view, it's all about processes, following processes but from a supporters and fans point of view, it's all about results. That's the reality. You have to marry the two. Where you see results like the fans have seen now, with that comes expectations but secondly a lot of praise for the team.

"A lot of people say Test cricket is dying and that sort of thing. It might be dying from a support point of view, people coming into the stadium but yesterday I think it was a great advert for Test cricket.

"It was nail-biting, everyone was involved towards the backend of that game and that's what you want, that's what Test cricket is about. We saw with Pakistan they were outplayed for two days but that doesn't mean you're going to lose the Test match you just need two good sessions and they've done that.

"And at some point, they could get a 200-run lead when Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel were out there, and South Africa could have been blown out of the water. It's the ebbs and flows of Test cricket (that make it exciting).

"Hopefully that will encourage youngsters to want to play the longer format now. Hopefully, we get a lot of youngsters wanting to work on technique. Technique right now is starting to go out of the window because of T20 cricket and just trying to smash the ball. There's a lot of positives."

Tony de Zorzi's shortcomings

Despite South Africa's success, there is still room for improvement for the Test team. One of those is Tony de Zorzi's recent form.

The opening batter has not had many contributions at the top of the order after his maiden Test century in Bangladesh a few months ago.

Having been an opener himself in his playing days, Petersen has highlighted that De Zorzi needs to play straight in order to be successful in South African conditions.

The 44-year-old also sympathised with De Zorzi, citing that batting in South Africa as an opening batter is no easy task.

"You have to understand that playing in South African conditions, you have to firstly know where your off stump is and secondly you must be able to play down the ground," he said.

"What I've seen with Tony, quite a few times he's looking to play square of the wicket. That's a simple thing when it comes to playing in South Africa as an opener and a top-order batter.

"In saying that, facing the new ball is not easy so I sympathize with him. I've been there and facing the new ball, even if the wicket is flat, the ball is still going to do something in South African conditions.

"He probably might feel under pressure even though he is not under pressure from within the team. But a lot of people will now ask questions just like they did with Aiden Markram."