Denis Lindsay, the former Test wicketkeeper who is now an international match referee, is worried that South Africa might be on the back foot against Australia. "I believe we may have slipped into a degree of negativity," he admitted in an exclusive interview with Wisden.com. "You've got to be positive. In most sports it has been the people that have been positive that have won ... the mark of a good sportsman is to be absolutely positive in your own ability."

Lindsay, who's now 62, also reminisced about his own life in cricket. "Cricket has always been part of my life, right from a small boy," he said. "For me to watch cricket, it's easy, it's a pleasure."

He looked back at South Africa's 1966-67 series against Australia, which he dominated with 606 runs – a record for a wicketkeeper – and 24 catches, which was also a record at the time. Of his matchwinning 182 in the first Test, Lindsay recalled: "I always thought I was a better bat than a wicketkeeper. I really enjoyed batting. In that innings I was dropped behind, by Brian Taber, when I was 10. It's always nice to make runs ...

"I think that side [South Africa in the late 1960s] played very similar cricket to what Steve Waugh's playing now."

Lindsay rued the political situation that kept South Africa out of international cricket for so long. "It happened for the best, there's no doubt in my mind about that, but the length of time ... 25 years out of a country's life is a long time."

He is looking forward to the day that two black bowlers open the bowling for South Africa. "I would love to see that ... we are a side from Africa, after all."

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