It began, as it so often does for South Africa, with sparks of hope. The Test team was winning again and the ODI side was playing with such conviction that this, surely, was going to be the year that the Proteas won a limited overs trophy. Meanwhile, the launch of a new Twenty20 league was expected to generate fresh enthusiasm for the game as well as extra revenue.
In the event, the Champions Trophy turned out to be another embarrassment for South Africa, while the Test team lost its only major series of the year - a four-match contest in England. The Twenty20 Global League was postponed when it failed to find a broadcaster or sponsor, leaving Cricket South Africa with a new scandal on its hands.
Easy games at home against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe allowed the Proteas to end the year bubbling with confidence once again, particularly with their star players all returning from lengthy injuries. With new talent making the step up to international cricket, the future still looks bright on the field, but there are increasing concerns away from it.
Timeline:
Kolpakalypse: The year was less than a week old when Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw confirmed that they had signed Kolpak deals with Hampshire and were effectively lost to South African cricket. While the likes of Stiaan van Zyl, Simon Harmer and Hardus Viljoen had already made the move at the end of 2016, Abbott and Rossouw were the first top-tier players to prefer a stable life in England ahead of national contracts.
AB: It was January when AB de Villiers spoke vaguely about taking a break from Test cricket. First he was missing the New Zealand series. Then England, where he was badly missed in a batting line-up that struggled to adapt to conditions. There were suggestions that he was picking and choosing the games he wanted to play. When de Villiers announced in August that he would be fully available from the middle of October again, there was a sigh of relief. It still left time for him to end South Africa's Test year not only in the side, but leading it and keeping wicket as well.
ODI team gets on a roll: After winning their last six ODIs in 2016, South Africa extended that run by whitewashing Sri Lanka at home in a five-match series and then winning the first ODI in New Zealand. Twelve consecutive wins equalled their own record from the mid-noughties, before the Black Caps ended the party. Nevertheless the winning streak led to a surge in confidence about South Africa's ability to finally win a big tournament.
More heartache at the Champions Trophy: It was meant to be different this time. AB de Villiers believed that winning the tournament in England would set South Africa up for World Cup victory there in 2019. He was focusing all his efforts on the goal. But it ended like it always seems to - with an iconic moment of chaotic disappointment, this time in a photo finish between David Miller and Faf du Plessis at the same end of The Oval pitch. It was de Villiers's final match as one-day captain - in August he accepted that du Plessis was the better leader for the job.
The women lift the spirits: The good news story of the year for South Africa was the women's run to the semi-final of the World Cup, where they came within a whisker of upsetting eventual champions England. South Africa's women only became professional comparatively recently in comparison to their main rivals, but rose above that disadvantage to compete with the very best. Their performance in England looks like the start of something special.
Dishevelment in England: A four-Test series in England followed for the men, but it brought no great solace. After starting slowly at Lord's in the absence of Faf du Plessis, who was back home for the birth of his first child, the captain's return sparked a fine comeback at Trent Bridge. But from there the Proteas wilted, with Vernon Philander's illness and injury robbing them of their chief weapon in seaming conditions. By the end of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, South Africa had unraveled.
The head coach saga: What began as a line at the end of a CSA press release in January ended up occupying a large chunk of the year. Over the course of six months, Russell Domingo was strung along, backed by the senior players but left unsure whether he would keep his job. For a good while he did not know if he wanted to - he only re-applied at the last moment. After keeping everyone in the dark and essentially undermining Domingo's efforts over a three-month spell in England, CSA eventually confirmed Ottis Gibson as South Africa's new coach.
A clean sweep of Bangladesh: The visit of Bangladesh in September and October was hardly an event, with the tourists apparently unwilling and unable to compete. While the competition was poor, the games did allow the Proteas an early opportunity to put a disappointing time in England behind them, and new coach Gibson enjoyed a carefree honeymoon.
Twenty20 Global League scandal: The issue that dominated South African cricket away from the field. It was big and ambitious, and in the end nothing more than a pipe dream. It cost CSA a chief executive, and when it was postponed just weeks before it was meant to begin, it cost them R184-million and the trust of their players. The fallout will continue well into 2018 after a governance review cited numerous "lapses", and the lost money will be felt in CSA budget meetings for years to come.
The Titans dominate, again: The T20GL's postponement left a gap in the calendar, so CSA brought the Ram Slam forward. With all of the Proteas available the competition was much improved and both attendances and viewership rose. But with the Protea-laden Titans proving unbeatable - aside from a couple of games where they rested most of their first XI - the tournament was too one-sided to truly capture the imagination.
Two-day, day-night fiasco: One of Haroon Lorgat's parting gifts to South African cricket was the scheduling of the first day-night Test in South Africa, and the first four-day Test since 1973. The fixture was cooked up as a replacement after India made it clear that they would not arrive in South Africa until the new year, and unfortunately South Africa's opponents were not up to the task of day-night cricket against one of the world's most fearsome attacks. All the talk in the lead-up to the game was about creating history. Zimbabwe duly made it by losing inside five sessions.
Best performer: Dean Elgar
The number of Test runs was impressive enough - 1128 from 12 matches at an average of 53.71 - but it said nothing of the context. Aside from the two Tests against Bangladesh, South Africa spent the year playing in all of the world's most seam-friendly conditions. They prepared spicy decks against Sri Lanka, then went to New Zealand, then played on some of England's sportiest pitches for many a year. As an opener Elgar had the toughest job in the team, and was the standout performer.
Worst performer: JP Duminy
It was the year when reality bit for JP Duminy. He retired from Test cricket in September, which was not unexpected given that he had finally been dropped from the squad during the tour of England. More disappointing were his performances in the one-day game, where he averaged just 26 in 17 ODIs. There may yet be an international future for the 33-year-old, who looked to have regained his enthusiasm for the game by returning to franchise cricket, where he took over the captaincy at the Cobras.
Promising player: Aiden Markram
The 23-year-old is yet to face a serious opponent in international cricket, but his performances thus far have suggested that when he does, he will be up to the task. The opener's first three Tests yielded 380 runs at 95, while he scored 66 on ODI debut against Bangladesh. Markram has also dominated franchise cricket whenever he has played this year, and was handed the captaincy of the Titans at the start of this season. While his Proteas commitments look set to cut into that job, this is clearly a player who is mature beyond his years who will evolve into a fine leader of South Africa in the years to come.
Looking forward to 2018
On the field there is much to look forward to in 2018, with exciting tours by both India and Australia in the first three months of the year. South African fans should enjoy it while it lasts though, because the rest of the year holds engagements with Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Pakistan - assignments that are less likely to get the pulse racing.
It might help if CSA can get a vibrant Twenty20 Global League up and running, although those prospects look increasingly thin. In truth it is more likely that the organisation will continue to yield unwanted headlines off the pitch - not only is the fallout from the T20GL's postponement set to continue, but CSA are now agitating for conflict with their own players. 2018 could be very rocky indeed.
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