Thank goodness the summer is over

AND so ends the summer of our sweet content. With a curtailed tour of India, a first Test series defeat in five years, the retirements of twin pillars of the Proteas – Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis – and another ICC event disappointment.

Let’s just say the summer is over and thank goodness for it.

For a dozen players it is not about to get any better. Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, David Miller, Albie and Morné Morkel, AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn have all been to the Indian Premier League before and know all about the rigours of life on the roller-coaster of riches, but chose to go back.

Joining them will be the man wanting to stay out of court, Wayne Parnell, the one who needs to hone his skills on slower pitches, Quinton de Kock, who needs to start showing readiness for next year’s World Cup, Kallis, the firebrand who will be happy to survive the six-and-a-half weeks uninjured, fast bowler Marchant de Lange, and the left-arm pace bowler who will enjoy a first taste of the big-time, Beuran Hendricks.

And there is not much rest for those staying away from the extravaganza either.

A genteel world away, Smith will turn out for Surrey, Alviro Petersen will try to get into the form of a senior opening partner at Somerset, Ashwell Prince will end his career at Lancashire and Kyle Abbott will make a case for a Test place at Hampshire.

Back home, Lonwabo Tsotsobe will undergo ankle surgery while Rory Kleinveldt nurses a knee niggle and it seems the only people doing what should really be done over the winter are Hashim Amla, Imran Tahir, Vernon Philander and coach Russell Domingo. They are taking some time out, exactly what’s needed after a season of mixed results and change.

The Proteas came under intense scrutiny and criticism. The Test side were under the microscope for the manner in which they tried to fill the gap left by Kallis and their use of the lower-order allrounder. Number seven remains a problem.

The ODI team showed progress but they need to be careful not to peak before the World Cup. The T20 side, although becoming the first team not to choke at a major tournament in recent memory, were harangued for losing because some did not like their strategies.

South African cricket needs to sit down and think about where it is going, how it is going to get there and who will be put at the helm. A new Test captain must be appointed and by implication, a new culture adopted.

By the time the next assignment beckons, against Sri Lanka in July, Domingo will be 12 months in the job. He may not want to revisit the place he took the team on his first tour so soon but it will be a way to measure where his team stands. De Villiers’ ODI team lost 4-1 on the island last July.

The Test side have not played in Sri Lanka in eight years and the last time they did, they lost. In fact, that was also the last time South Africa were defeated in a Test series on the road. They are the most successful travelling Test outfit among all their opponents.

If they can spend the winter plotting a way to return with that record intact, South African cricket could put itself on a path to enjoy a sweet summer of contentment in 2014-15.