The last time South Africa played a Test at home, they weren't world champions.
Other things also hadn't happened: Spain hadn't won the Football World Cup for a second time, Zohran Mamdani wasn't the mayor of New York and Katy Perry hadn't been to space.
At the time of that last home Test in January 2025, those three things seemed more likely than South Africa lifting a mace six months later, at Lord's. They were going to play big, bad Australia, who were the defending champions and had the better of just about everyone in their sights to get there. South Africa had only played two-Test series and had only beaten West Indies and Bangladesh away and Sri Lanka and Pakistan at home.
That those last four matches were tense, dramatic, and ultimately successful was no-one outside of this country's idea of a big summer because, like it or not, it's only considered that when one of the Big Three is in town. In the next three months, South Africa will host two of them. Nevermind that Cricket South Africa have actually forecast a financial loss from Australia and England, the drawcard of playing cricket's oldest nations should be too good for spectators to resist, especially as South Africa come up against them as champions. The team, for one, hopes so.
"It's our first time playing Test cricket since we're the WTC champions here at home," Temba Bavuma, South Africa's captain said on the eve of the first Test. "We'd like to celebrate that moment with our local fans. Hopefully the people in Durban come out in support tomorrow."
In an interview with Cricinfo pre-series, Bavuma also said that not having Boxing Day and New Year's Tests last summer (which was always the plan as per the FTP and with the idea of doing venue upgrades for the 2027 men's ODI World Cup) "didn't go down well," especially because it meant the mace holders would not play a home match for a year and nine months. And though there are sections of die-hards who did express disappointment about there not being any home Tests, the bulk of the noise about it came from outside. In the country, a Boxing Day start for the SA20 proved hugely successful and the party continued well into the new year.
So let's get one thing straight, South Africans do enjoy cricket and the question this summer, with eight home Tests, is whether they enjoy watching Test cricket live at the ground. Kingsmead, which is the only venue out of the three with a Friday start, should guarantee weekend cricket - unless Newlands 2024 happens again - but expectations are low. It hosted the season opening ODI against Australia, which was on a public holiday on September 24, and was about half full with just over 12,000 people. At the time of writing ticket sales for day one and three are just over 7,500, with over 8,000 sold for Saturday. There are good reasons it's not more.
The school term is on, the economy is stagnant at best, unemployment is high and the weather is great. The last of those will make you wonder why the stands aren't full, but just a kilometre away are golden sands and warm ocean water and that can be too good to pass up.
Beach days are not the only distraction. On Saturday, at 6pm, the MTN8 Final - a football knockout cup - will be played less than two-and-a-half kilometres away at the Moses Mabhida Stadium between Orlando Pirates, one of the country's two most popular sides, and Mamelodi Sundowns, reigning African champions. It's a sellout, with over 50,000 people expected to be in attendance. 'See', people will say, 'South Africans don't care about cricket.'
Perhaps they are half right. Though officially the country's second-most popular sport after football, cricket is still a fairly niche sport in a country of 66 million people, the majority of whom were shut out of the national game under Apartheid law. And if not in numbers, then at least by vibe, rugby has overtaken it. South Africans plan their weekends around Springbok matches. Of course, the fact that the Boks are four-time World Cup Champions helps which must mean a WTC mace could have similar effects.
Speak to casual fans and they'll put their apathy down to South Africa always choking at World Cups, nevermind that this is an entirely different format, which if anything is an indicator of the importance placed on the ODI World Cup and how desperate South Africa is to see their cricket team lift that trophy. For that, they have to wait another year and how they will react if the 2027 tournament doesn't go their way is a story for another day.
Now, the home fans have the opportunity to see what almost every opposition including Australia describes as a "world-class" team in action against the side that has historically brought out both the best and the worst in them. They also have the chance to see Australia for the first time in eight years. Whether they will take to it could well be seen as a measure of how successful Test cricket can continue to be in countries outside of the Big Three, especially as a WTC expansion is on the cards, but that feels like unfair pressure.
It could well be as simple as that the cricket-watching culture in many cities of South Africa is different to what it is in places like Australia and England and that people check scores and news updates in-between going about their day. It would be a shame if the success of the South African Test team is measured on the size of the crowd but imagine if the latter does right by the former. By the end of this month, we will find out.