Siya Latest: Proteas : Undisputed Number 1!

On Monday we witnessed South Africa jump ahead of England in the rankings after their 51-run win at the home of cricket Lord's.

What makes this achievement so sweet is that the Proteas had to work so hard for it. England fought from the 1st Day of the 1st Test till the last wicket was taken on the last day of the Test series. The media gave this team no chance before the series. They said the Proteas had not played enough cricket before this Test series. Beating England at home 2-0 in a Test series is an incredible feat. The win ended England's impressive streak of seven consecutive Test series wins at home and extended the Proteas' run of six years without defeat in Test series overseas.

For the 1st time in a long time all the pieces of the puzzle came together for this talented team. South Africa has always produced wonderful Test cricketers but they just could not dominate the world of Test cricket.

Great Coach
Gary Kirsten has been planning for this series from the moment he signed his contract as national coach and his preparation should not go unappreciated, despite his greatest efforts to avoid the limelight. He got the team mentally ready for battle by taking the team to Switzerland for a team building session with adventurer and motivational speaker Mike Horn. This is the one area that the Proteas have struggled with in the past. When times got tough in this series our players did not buckle under pressure.

Great Team
The formula for success is a simple one for the Proteas. It is based on a very strong batting line-up with seven specialist batsmen which has been made possible by AB de Villiers keeping. Our top 4 got BIG 100s. This balances up the test team perfectly.
On top of that South Africa have the best pace attack by far in world cricket at the moment. Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander have been just awesome. Jacques Kallis has also chipped in with the odd crucial wicket. Imran Tahir, although not quite the best spinner around, gives variation to the attack. The South African fielding unit is rock-solid as well. There is no chink in the South African armour. They held onto their catches when it mattered most. England dropped 8!

Hashim Amla: Man of the Series

Next Challenge
The toughest challenge now will be staying as the number 1 Test team. Everyone will lift their game against us. The next challenge for this Proteas Test squad is a trip to Australia who are ranked 3rd in the ICC Test Rankings. Becoming number 1 was tough, staying number will be even tougher.