Why it's no use for Proteas hero Nortje to chase milestones in a dark age for Test cricket

At SuperSport Park

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." 

READ | Anrich the Ace blitzes the Windies with 5-star bowling, but Proteas' brittle bats come tumbling down

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