Curator Chris Scott and fourth umpire Marais Erasmus at the Wanderers © Cricinfo Ltd

A few days ago I wrote about the novelty of spectators wandering on the field during the lunch break in Potchefstroom. I assumed that was because it was a low-key tour game. What I wasn’t expecting was for fans to have the same freedom during the Test match at the Wanderers.

Coming from Melbourne, where if you so much as place a toe on the field you’ll be heavily tackled by security guards who resemble frustrated rugby players, it has been fascinating to watch the fans stream over the Wanderers on the opening two days. The centre-wicket square is fenced off but the public can walk right up to each end of the pitch and inspect it at their leisure.

The fourth umpire Marais Erasmus is stationed next to the pitch to ensure there’s no funny business. A Cape Town lad, he remembers strolling over the outfield at Newlands when he first went to a match there and he thinks it’s a good tradition to give fans a first-hand insight into the game.

“Yesterday I was asked [by a fan] about the two other strips that they [the teams] have the bowling practices [on],” Erasmus said. “The guy said he always thought, because he’d only watched it on TV, that it [the centre pitch] was only one place where they kept playing on every time.”

Chris Scott, the Wanderers curator, is the man who makes the call on whether the fans are allowed on the field but bad weather is likely to be the only reason he’ll deny them access. As he and Erasmus chatted during the lunch interval, hundreds of people set up mini-cricket matches and took photos of themselves next to the pitch, soaking up the Test match atmosphere at the Bullring.

“I believe it should happen,” Scott said. “It’s part of growing up with cricket. People love and remember playing on the Wanderers at lunchtime. From time to time people will leave a bit of junk on the field but I’ve got staff here and we all walk off and we pick it up and take it away.”

In a game that has become so heavily regulated that it sometimes appears only an afterthought to attract crowds, Scott’s approach is refreshing. It’s good to know there’s at least one place in the world where the fans still matter.

	Hoosain Ayob oversees net bowlers in Soweto © Getty Images

As the Australian players guided children through skills drills in Soweto, a tall, authoritative figure hovered on the fringes and kept an eye on the action. He looked so much like the actor James Earl Jones that when I introduced myself I expected him to tell me in a deep, sinister voice that he was my father. Instead he told me that he was Hoosain Ayob.

He's not a household name in cricket circles but he probably should have been. A first-class player who had the misfortune to thrive in their isolation years, Ayob was in 2000 voted as one of the top six South African fast bowlers of the century, alongside the likes of Allan Donald.

Rather than feeling any resentment for having been denied an international career, Ayob has spent his post-playing years working tirelessly to develop the game at grassroots level. He spent a decade as the ICC's director of development for Africa, spreading the sport from Malawi to Libya, and now is a development co-ordinator in Gauteng.

He works in the Soweto district, one of the poorest regions in South Africa, where one of the big challenges is keeping talented children in the game. Somewhere in the area could be a Test star of the future but the difficulty is getting the brightest prospects into the academies.

"What we have found with our children is the transport problem that they face," Ayob said. "Some of them can't manage. Gauteng has organised transport but for the kids on their own to make that trip is very difficult. We have academies but there's a limited number. You need more of the kids otherwise you lose them."

At least the children are playing cricket in the first place. When Ayob began pushing cricket in Soweto in 1981, it was an uphill battle. Only in recent years has it become easier to attract grassroots interest.

"Role models like Makhaya Ntini and now JP Duminy give the children the opportunity to feel like they could also make it," Ayob said. "Years back parents never worried about watching the game on television. Now it's common around the grounds you see a lot of black faces."

There were plenty at the Bramfischerville Oval during the Australian players' visit. Ayob's job might be far from done but as he passed an analytical eye over the talented Sowetan youths learning from Ricky Ponting's men, clearly thrilled with the game's progress.

"Once there was no cricket in this area," he said. "Now more and more people are turning to cricket."

If you don't have a car, taxis are the most reliable way to get around Johannesburg, usually. Following the late-night trip back from Potchefstroom I was waiting in the lobby of my colleague's hotel, on the lookout for the taxi that the reception had called to take me to my own accommodation.

As the minutes ticked by, there was no sign of the cab. Not to worry, said the hotel porter. A security guard named Stevie was doing his nightly rounds and he was heading in the right direction and would happily give me a lift. I knew there would be a fee required but the alternative was sleeping in the lobby, so I gladly took him up on the offer.

As he pulled out of the hotel driveway I noticed that something wasn't quite right. The driver's side window had been smashed out and replaced by a plastic sheet, whose most alarming characteristic was that it was not transparent. When you're turning across traffic, it's good to have at least a vague idea of what's coming your way.

Fortunately, we made it onto the main road without incident, although Stevie appeared to be having some trouble staying awake. To his credit, his eyes stayed open at the crucial moments and he was knowledgeable enough to get me to my hotel without needing directions.

But I got the distinct impression that Stevie, the sleepy security guard, would not be overexerting himself on the security side of his job tonight. Not when there's a handy sideline in unofficial taxi-driving to be had. All in all, I hope my next cab turns up on time.

	How about using that bloke who bowled well during the lunch break? © Getty Images

"Patrons are reminded that they are not permitted on the playing arena at any time." That's the usual message that is broadcast over the PA system at cricket grounds around Australia, regardless of whether it's an international match, a state fixture or a tour game.

So it was rather unexpected to hear the announcement as the players left the field for lunch on the second day of Australia's warm-up game - a first-class match - against the South African Board President's XI in Potchefstroom. The PA system delivered a message telling the fans they were allowed to run amok on the oval during the break, though perhaps not in those words.

Being a Saturday, several hundred fans had turned up and they didn't need to be told twice. Soon there were dozens of mini-cricket matches being played by kids in the outfield and some of the bowling looked just as dangerous as anything offered by the two proper teams on a flat pitch.

Other spectators went for an inspection of the pitch, although they were stopped from getting on the centre square by a group of security guards holding up a protective tape. It meant the day was actually fun for the spectators and it was a refreshing change at an international venue.

Is there no escape from the AFL? Understandably the football code dominates the sporting pages in southern Australian newspapers during the winter but even in summer an inordinate number of back pages are splashed with stories of off-season football dramas, when cricket should be the sport of the moment.

You'd think that travelling halfway around the world to South Africa would be enough to escape the clutches of Aussie Rules. But at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom, the Australian cricketers were greeted by a familiar logo on the advertising boards where several signs promoted "AFL South Africa", making the venue seem as much like a rural football oval as an international cricket ground.

It seems that Aussie Rules is one of 11 recognised sports on the roster at the North-West Academy of Sport located in the city. AFL teams have plundered the Gaelic football leagues in Ireland in recent years to find athletic players who can switch codes, and the league is keen to stretch its tentacles to South Africa as well.

But while several of the Australian players were keen to find out the scores in the pre-season football competition back home – my team Carlton beat Ricky Ponting's North Melbourne while the first day of the tour match was being played – there's not much chance AFL will be dominating the sports pages of tomorrow's Potchefstroom Herald.

The Australian players love Potchefstroom, even if some of them struggle to pronounce it. If a suggested name change goes ahead and it becomes Tlokwe, that won't be any easier to get their tongues around. But one thing that is easy for the squad is getting to the place. They fly in to Johannesburg, board a team bus, and are there in a couple of hours.

For the average visitor it's not so simple. Especially if said average visitor is also a distinctly average driver. Trains and buses aren't really an option, so the easy solution would in theory be to hire a car. But even in my hometown of Melbourne I have the ability to wind up further from my destination than when I set off, just by getting wrong-laned or misreading a street directory.

It would not be out of the question for me to leave Johannesburg for Potchefstroom and lurch up to the Lesotho border with an upside-down map, an empty tank and a nagging suspicion that something was wrong. In the end I managed to find a local reporter making the trip and hitched a ride to Potchefstroom without bother and quickly discovered that there isn't much hassle in the town itself.

A low-key university city a fraction smaller than Geelong or Cairns, it's a million miles from Johannesburg, figuratively if not physically. Its strong Afrikaner history has to some degree made way for the new South Africa, which is clear when you travel along Walter Sisulu Avenue and Govan Mbeki Drive.

The city's big claim to fame is as a sporting centre. Potchefstroom's plethora of grounds and facilities attract top international athletes, rugby players and cricketers, and it's where Australia were based in the lead-up to the 2003 World Cup. It's also where they play their only warm-up match on this Test tour. They picked the right place for a low-key build-up.