2021 ICC men's T20 World Cup – Page 2

SA’s week of woe ends with win

“There’s a World Cup to be won. How can you not be passionate?” – Tabraiz Shamsi

Telford Vice | Cape Town

EVEN the pandemic couldn’t stop the South Africans from shimmering on Saturday, and not only because of Sharjah’s hellish heat. They lined up for the anthems not socially distanced, as the ICC says they should and as the Sri Lankans did, but properly shoulder-to-shoulder with arms linked. Their faces, as they sang, were of utterly serious men.

The heightened passion was also evident in the field, where they threw themselves around with the commitment of commandos and nailed the stumps more often than not with their throws. And between the wickets, where their running bristled with aggression.

It was always going to be thus. At least, it was after Tuesday, when Quinton de Kock set in motion a series of unfortunate events by refusing to play against West Indies in Dubai on Tuesday because CSA’s board had instructed the team to take a knee. By Thursday De Kock had relented, and on Saturday, like everyone else, he kneeled.

And the Sri Lankans remained standing — as they have been ordered to do by their board. Because, say the Lankan suits, politics and sport should not collide. This in a country where, mind, government demands the right to approve the selectors’ decisions before they can be made public. At least their players know better than to defy a board directive.

At a press conference after the match, Tabraiz Shamsi was asked if the South Africans were pleased to have De Kock, their leading run-scorer in the format among current players, back in the XI. “Of course,” Shamsi said. “A player of that quality, everybody would be happy to have someone like that in their team.”

The De Kock saga lit a blaze of emotion in South Africa’s team, which was burning bright by the time the flames leapt Sharjah’s snug boundaries on Saturday. The Sri Lankans were smouldering themselves, and fought fire with fire. Having already lost to Australia they knew another defeat would put a potentially insurmountable obstacle on their path to the semi-finals. The same was true for the South Africans, who also were beaten by the Aussies. So Sharjah’s forecast high of 34 degrees Celsius on Saturday was cool compared to the steepling temperature in 22 hearts and minds. Accordingly, the teams delivered a white-hot contest.

On the same pitch on Friday, West Indies defended 142 to beat Bangladesh. A day later, Sri Lanka, set the identical task, held that line until there were two balls left in the match, when Kagiso Rabada took the first opportunity to settle the issue by splintering a four through third off Lahiru Kumara.

The game should have been won when Wanindu Hasaranga claimed a hattrick across the 15th and 18th overs. He would have had four in four had a delivery that was headed for Rabada’s stumps when it rapped his back pad not pitched outside leg stump. Thanks to Hasaranga, South Africa crashed from having seven wickets in hand to score 47 off 31 balls to needing 31 off 16 with all of their recognised batters, bar David Miller, dismissed.

Those resources proved enough, with Miller and Rabada meeting the challenge of scoring 15 off the last. Rabada edged a single of the first ball to hand the strike back to Miller — who sent consecutive sixes soaring into the stratosphere to tilt the balance back in his team’s favour.

Not that Rabada was any sort of liability, having launched Dushmantha Chameera over extra cover for six in the previous over. “It’s a joke in the team; he’s always got the shot of the day, no matter what the situation is,” Shamsi said of the fast bowler’s batting. “And, again, he pulled out a special six. There’s no need for us to be surprised anymore, because he does it so often.”

After Miller’s second blow, with the ball still on its way to the next emirate, Rabada advanced on his partner, roaring at him in a fashion that would have excited the match referee had they been opponents. That Miller was hobbling with what looked like a hamstring problem didn’t stop Rabada from punching him, in celebration, harder than perhaps he should have.

Doubtless Miller didn’t mind, given the circumstances. By then it had been quite a day in quite a week. Shamsi had claimed 3/17 to take his tally of T20I wickets for 2021 to 32 — more than any other bowler has captured in a calendar year in the format. Dwaine Pretorius had struck thrice in the space of seven of his deliveries to burnish his burgeoning reputation as a death bowler. His third success, achieved with a tidy catch by Anrich Nortjé at deep midwicket, ended Pathum Nissanka’s flinty 58-ball 72. Nissanka endured through eight partnerships.

“If anyone is going to win the award of scholar of the team, it would probably be Dwaine Pretorius,” Shamsi said. “He does so much analysis, he does so much work behind the scenes. He wants to make sure that he’s well-prepared and he’s come up with his gameplans with our analyst and the coaching staff.”

Even so, it would be the batters who would have to do most of the winning for South Africa. Their performance was far from perfect, glued together by Temba Bavuma’s run-a-ball 46 and reliant on bit parts until Miller and Rabada took over the show with their 15-ball unbroken stand of 34. But the fact that they held their nerve to get the job done under pressure spoke of a team who have looked their erstwhile demons in the eye, and laughed.

“With this new team we’ve won these kinds of moments more often than we’ve lost them,” Shamsi said. “You can’t predict which way it’s going to go, but you have confidence in the guys you have in the team. The way Temba steered the batting with Aiden [in a stand of 47, the biggest of the match], and then for KG and David to come and do what they did was really good to see.”

Shamsi’s feelings sizzle close to the surface at the best of times. After some of the worst of times, they seemed closer still.

“We’re here to try and win a World Cup for the country,” he said. “There’s a World Cup to be won. How can you not be passionate? If we didn’t believe that we can win this World Cup we’d probably be sitting at home and watching on our television sets. We’re here to win.”

We get it. Could he spell out how South Africa had done enough to win on Saturday?

“I’m not sure anyone could explain that.” When you’re dealing with emotions, it’s best not to try.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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‘No racists in SA team’

“You’ll see a lot more energy than you have in the last two games. It has brought together.” – Keshav Maharaj on the Quinton de Kock crisis.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

“NO-ONE is a racist within our team.” In other weeks, that might seem a strange thing to say to reporters at a press conference. But, after Tuesday this week, it’s a necessary disclaimer for anyone who has been in South Africa’s dressing room.

After the squad arrived at the ground on Tuesday to play West Indies in a T20 World Cup match in Dubai, Quinton de Kock revealed that he would refuse to play in defiance of a CSA directive for all members of the team to take a knee before the game — which De Kock had not done previously.

Forty-five fraught hours later, during which the narrative veered in various directions — including the labelling of De Kock as racist — he changed his mind and said, in a statement, that he would kneel. Whether he does will be seen before the first ball is bowled in South Africa’s match against Sri Lanka in Sharjah on Saturday.

For now, we have Keshav Maharaj standing up for the character of his fellow players. “No-one is a racist within our team,” Maharaj said on Friday. “We all support one another and respect everyone’s cultural, religious and spiritual differences.”

As everyday as that will sound to people who don’t live in racially riven societies, it isn’t in South Africa — the world’s most unequal country. The rabid support for De Kock in the face of widespread criticism of his action and inaction was proof enough of that.

“It’s been a tough week, but the boys are adult enough to adapt to the situation,” Maharaj said, and sought to try and turn poison into positivity: “The spirits were really high at training today. There was that buzz and that drive back in the team after a long two days. Our focus is back on the cricket.

“We’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from the way we’ve reacted to various situations that have been thrown at us in the past. This has made us bond and gel even more strongly. You’ll see a lot more energy than you have in the last two games. It has brought together.”

Maharaj is brown. Had his relationship with De Kock been affected by the implications of what happened and didn’t happen on Tuesday? Did he feel as if he could still knock on the door of the man who he entrusts with keeping wicket to his bowling?

“I don’t have to knock on Quinny’s door,” Maharaj said. “We’re always in the team room together and chatting. I think he’s in a good space. It’s been a tough week for him, but he’s a very mature character. We’re having dinner tonight.”

You have to wonder who will get the bill.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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The prodigal returns. Now what?

“I understand the importance of standing against racism, and I also understand the responsibility of us as players to set an example.” – Quinton de Kock

Telford Vice | Cape Town

LOOK who’s back. Forty-five hours after he cast South Africa’s T20 World Cup campaign into chaos by pulling out of an important match in defiance of a reasonable directive from his employers, Quinton de Kock recanted.

He did so in a written statement of 682 words in which he said he is now willing to comply as instructed: “If me taking a knee helps to educate others, and makes the lives of others better, I am more than happy to do so.”

That’s a u-turn from the stance De Kock took on Tuesday in the wake of CSA’s board running out of patience for the players to settle on a uniform gesture to signal their support for the global fight against social justice, and ordering them to take a knee. The globally accepted practice hasn’t been acceptable to all of South Africa’s players, and it’s not difficult to see who. All of their black and brown players take a knee. All of the players who remain standing, some with fists raised, are white.

South Africa were under pressure to beat West Indies in Dubai on Tuesday in the wake of losing to Australia in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. But, rather than kneel for a few seconds — like all of his teammates did, apparently as effortlessly as most of the other players at the World Cup have done — then get on with the game, and then revisit the matter with the suits, De Kock not only refused to do so but also withdrew from the XI. He left his team in the ditch. Happily for them, they didn’t need him to win by eight wickets.

Forty-five hours on, what had changed? Not a lot, if we take De Kock’s statement at face value. But that would be to fail in our duty to interrogate what he wrote.

“I understand the importance of standing against racism, and I also understand the responsibility of us as players to set an example.” Unless De Kock had come to this realisation since Tuesday, he knew that going into the match. And still did what he did. And didn’t do. Something doesn’t add up.

“I did not, in any way, mean to disrespect anyone by not playing against West Indies, especially the West Indian team themselves.” Not especially the millions of South Africans of all races — the people his playing shirt says he represents — he caused, as he admitted, “hurt, confusion and anger”?

De Kock, who is white, wrote that he has brown half-sisters and a black stepmother. Ergo, “For me, black lives have mattered since I was born. Not just because there was an international movement. The rights and equality of all people is more important than any individual. I was raised to understand that we all have rights, and they are important.”

That could be derided as “some of my best family members are black and brown”. It could also raise questions about how someone who, because of the healthy dose of melanin in his family, should be in tune with what hurts black and brown people. So how can he not get the significance of refusing to take a knee? He should have known that what he didn’t do made him a standard-bearer for racists and racism.

Disappointingly, De Kock used his promising indication of social consciousness and the importance of respecting rights to justify his hotheaded — dare we say kneejerk — reaction to the board’s decree: “I felt like my rights were taken away when I was told what we had to do in the way that we were told.”

But it seems he has come down off that ledge: “Since our chat with the board [on Wednesday] night, which was very emotional, I think we all have a better understanding of their intentions as well. I wish this had happened sooner, because what happened on match day could have been avoided.”

On June 26, Lawson Naidoo, who chairs CSA’s board, told Cricbuzz: “Ideally I’d like to see the Proteas take a strong stance as a unified team” on social justice gestures, and that he would “try and persuade them that they need to adapt what they’re doing, because visually it doesn’t come across well. It sends out a message that there are divisions of approach.”

That was four months — 122 days — before the game against the Windies. How much more time did the players need to get the board’s drift? Or did they think, as powerful figures, they could simply ignore the alarm from on high?

There was more from De Kock in that vein: “I didn’t understand why I had to prove it with a gesture, when I live and learn and love people from all walks of life every day. When you are told what to do, with no discussion, I felt like it takes away the meaning.

“I won’t lie, I was shocked that we were told on the way to an important match that there was an instruction that we had to follow, with a perceived ‘or else.’ I don’t think I was the only one.”

You’re an accountant for the world’s biggest toothbrush company, representing thousands of households’ incomes. Unsurprisingly, you are an ardent believer in maintaining good dental hygiene. Your boss hands you one of the firm’s finest and instructs you to stand on the pavement outside your office and brush your teeth in public for 30 seconds. No toothpaste will be involved, so you won’t spit onto your shoes. You know it’s fakery. But, hey, it’s harmless, she’s the boss, everybody else agrees to do it, and you believe in this stuff, anyway. Besides, you have a major task waiting on your desk, a job you know you have to do properly for the sake of the company and all your fellow employees. Do you tell the boss to go to hell and embark on a one-person strike?

“Those who have grown up with me and played with me know what type of person I am. I am not a racist. In my heart of hearts, I know that. And I think those who know me know that.”

How could De Kock know he isn’t racist? As a white person in a white supremacist society, he cannot know what it is to be a victim of racism. Only the black and brown members of that society can know that. De Kock no doubt knows how not to behave in a racist fashion consciously, but he has no control over what he does unconsciously. Like every other white person, particularly in South Africa and regardless of the end of apartheid, he was born into racism and onto its right side. We were, in effect, born racist. There’s nothing we can do about the accident of our birth, but we can do something with the knowledge of the power of that accident.

That means years of work, some of it involving white people discussing and dissecting with other white people the myriad problems white people have created in the world — and doing something about them. At the very least, it means taking a knee when the black, brown and white world is watching us. To not do so could itself be seen as a racist act. Worse, to not do so is to arm racists’ deadly dangerous ideas. As we speak, many of them are vilifying De Kock on social media in the most disgusting ways for daring to spike their guns by changing his mind.

“I know I’m not great with words, but I’ve tried my best to explain how truly sorry I am for making like this is about me.” Wrong again, but in the right way. De Kock is weirdly wonderful with words. Sometimes he doesn’t use many of them, but we can be sure he says what he means and he means what he says. That makes him a media officer’s nightmare — they know he is going to tell us how he really feels. A press conference with him is an exercise in talking to a real person.

Clearly, De Kock had help crafting his statement. But that’s still his voice ringing through, from the gut and free of cliché. There are holes and clangers in these 682 words, but more than anything else they attest to his authenticity. De Kock isn’t claiming to be a flawless person. He is trying to explain his actions and inactions, and to apologise. He can consider all of that done. But there’s one more thing.

“I love every one of my teammates, and I love nothing more than playing cricket for South Africa. I just want to thank my teammates for their support, especially my captain, Temba. People might not recognise, but he is a flipping amazing leader. If he and the team, and South Africa, will have me, I would love nothing more than to play cricket for my country again.”

Don’t love that so much. Love the people you play for more, and show them that love. All of them.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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De Kock pledges to take a knee

“For me, Black lives have mattered since I was born.” – Quinton de Kock

Telford Vice | Cape Town

EIGHTY-EIGHT cricketers have appeared in T20 World Cup matches since Quinton de Kock refused to play for South Africa against West Indies in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. At least 66 of them have taken a knee. It has taken De Kock 45 hours to explain why, in defiance of a CSA directive, he did not.

In a release on Thursday, De Kock apologised for the fuss he had caused, defended his inaction, recommitted himself to the team — and said he would kneel in future. Here is his statement, unabridged:

“I would like to start by saying sorry to my teammates, and the fans back home.

“I never ever wanted to make this a Quinton issue. I understand the importance of standing against racism, and I also understand the responsibility of us as players to set an example.

“If me taking a knee helps to educate others, and makes the lives of others better, I am more than happy to do so.

“I did not, in any way, mean to disrespect anyone by not playing against West Indies, especially the West Indian team themselves. Maybe some people don’t understand that we were just hit with this on Tuesday morning, on the way to a game.
“I am deeply sorry for all the hurt, confusion and anger that I have caused.

“I was quiet on this very important issue until now. But I feel I have to explain myself a little bit.

“For those who don’t know, I come from a mixed race family. My half-sisters are Coloured and my step mom is Black. For me, Black lives have mattered since I was born. Not just because there was an international movement.

“The rights and equality of all people is more important than any individual. I was raised to understand that we all have rights, and they are important.

“I felt like my rights were taken away when I was told what we had to do in the way that we were told.

“Since our chat with the board last night, which was very emotional, I think we all have a better understanding of their intentions as well. I wish this had happened sooner, because what happened on match day could have been avoided.

“I know I have an example to set. We were previously told we had the choice to do what we felt we wanted to do.

“I chose to keep my thoughts to myself, and thought of the pride of playing for my family and my country.

“I didn’t understand why I had to prove it with a gesture, when I live and learn and love people from all walks of life every day. When you are told what to do, with no discussion, I felt like it takes away the meaning. If I was racist, I could easily have taken the knee and lied, which is wrong and doesn’t build a better society.

“Those who have grown up with me and played with me, know what type of person I am.

“I’ve been called a lot of things as a cricketer. Doff [dim]. Stupid. Selfish. Immature. But those didn’t hurt. Being called a racist because of a misunderstanding hurts me deeply.

“It hurts my family. It hurts my pregnant wife.

“I am not a racist. In my heart of hearts, I know that. And I think those who know me know that.

“I know I’m not great with words, but I’ve tried my best to explain how truly sorry I am for making like this is about me.

“It is not.

“We had camps. We had sessions. We had zoom meetings. We know where we all stand. And that is together.

“I love every one of my teammates, and I love nothing more than playing cricket for South Africa. I think it would of been better for everyone concerned if we had sorted this out before the tournament started.
“Then we could have focused on our job, to win cricket matches for our country.

“There always seems to be a drama when we go to World Cups. That isn’t fair.

“I just want to thank my teammates for their support, especially my captain, Temba. People might not recognise, but he is a flipping amazing leader.

“If he and the team, and South Africa, will have me, I would love nothing more than to play cricket for my country again.”

South Africa’s next match is against Sri Lanka in Sharjah on Saturday. Expect De Kock to be in the XI. And to take a knee.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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The Quinton de Kock crisis: how did we get here?

“I would like to see the players have a uniform approach to taking the knee. But I’m not going to instruct a player to take a knee.” – Andrew Breetzke, SACA chief executive

Telford Vice | Cape Town

QUINTON de Kock’s refusal to play in South Africa’s T20 World Cup game against West Indies in Dubai on Tuesday in defiance of a CSA instruction has put the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) in crisis mode. As the players’ trade union, SACA represent De Kock. But they also speak for all the other players, who duly took a knee on the outfield in accordance with a CSA directive that was decided on at a board meeting on Monday night and communicated to the squad five hours before the start of Tuesday’s match. For reasons he has yet to articulate, De Kock pulled out of the match rather than kneel.

Coincidentally on Wednesday, SACA chief executive Andrew Breetzke testified at the Social Justice and Nation-Building hearings into allegations of racism in the game in the country during the past 30 years. He was asked about the De Kock affair, and said: “The disappointment of where we stand now is that this issue probably should have been dealt with a while ago, and not by the board at an ICC event where it’s front-of-house and is a crisis, which we have to manage.

“Some players have not taken the knee since June. It should have been dealt with then and we wouldn’t have a crisis now. From a SACA perspective I would like to see the players have a uniform approach to taking the knee. But I’m not going to instruct a player to take a knee, on the same basis. I’m hoping we can have a good solution to this and the work that’s currently being done, that I’m involved in.”

The issue has been brewing since November last year, when the players said in a statement they were “exploring the significance of taking the knee and a raised fist” in explaining why they would not kneel in an imminent home T20I series against England. In December, a CSA release quoted then interim board chair Zak Yacoob as having “expressed concern about the implications of this statement”.

Since their tour to the Caribbean in June, South Africa’s players have given themselves the options of taking a knee, raising a fist while standing, or standing to attention. That has fuelled the impression of rifts along racial lines in the side: all of the black and brown players have knelt while all of the players who have remained standing have been white. Rassie van der Dussen and Kyle Verreynne have been the kneeling exceptions among the white players.

That is a regression from Centurion on July 18 last year, when all involved in the 3TC game knelt. Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Anrich Nortjé, Aiden Markram and Van der Dussen were among those players and are part of the T20 World Cup squad. Only Van der Dussen has continued to take a knee.

It seems push finally came to shove for CSA on Monday. Asked by public intellectual Eusebius McKaiser during a podcast aired on website TimesLIVE on Wednesday what value the gesture had if recalcitrant players were compelled to perform it, CSA board chair Lawson Naidoo said: “Voluntarism would have been the ideal situation. That’s why we allowed the players the time and the space to try and come to that conclusion themselves. They were unable to do so, and therefore it was necessary for the board to make this intervention.

“It is not an ideal situation. But it was a tough decision that needed to be taken and one that the board unanimously agreed to. The symbolism is much stronger if it’s done voluntarily, but we’re in a situation where visual images carry a lot of weight globally and on social media and the like. The visual images we saw on Saturday [when South Africa played Australia in Abu Dhabi, where the three options were still in effect] reverberated around South Africa as well and came in for significant criticism because they portrayed a team that was not united as one.”

That prompted the board to act, albeit without the squad’s buy-in. “We didn’t consult with the team,” Naidoo said. “There were reports that the team had continued discussing this matter and were unable to arrive at a consensus position that they could all agree to. The issue was raised by some directors on the board. What I did then, having just arrived back from the UAE [where he attended Saturday’s match], was to consult urgently with all of the directors.

“I spoke to each of the directors of the board at some length [on Monday night] to discuss the issue of what they felt was an appropriate response. It was unanimously agreed that, given that the team were unable to resolve the issue internally, this was the moment for the board to intervene and to issue the directive that was ultimately agreed upon and which was communicated to the senior management early [on Tuesday] morning.”

Whatever the wisdom of the board’s move, and its timing, it will be left to people like Breetzke to douse the resultant fire. Employers make all sorts of demands of employees that, if challenged in court, could be declared unlawful. We’re a long way from that point, but we’re also past the stage where the saga could be discussed amicably between the suits and the players.

That, Breetzke implied, was a pity: “This Proteas team has probably had more culture and diversity engagement than any other Proteas team. Specifically under the leadership of Temba Bavuma and Dean Elgar, they have had the hard conversations. I’m aware of that; I’ve had that engagement with them around diversity in the team and the players’ understanding of BLM [Black Lives Matter] and taking the knee, and the players’ understanding of what it means to be in a team with diverse cultures and races.”

Bavuma is in the same boat as Breetzke. It was left to him to explain De Kock’s decision at a press conference after Tuesday’s match. That his team had beaten the Windies handsomely to stay ahead of the curve in the tournament was all but ignored in the deluge of questions on matters that had been taken out of his hands.

“I feel sorry for Temba Bavuma, because he has done incredibly good work in managing that team culture around diversity,” Breetzke said. “His press conference was excellent in terms of dealing with the issue. I would be critical of CSA because this isn’t a new thing. It’s been around a while. I don’t think it should have come up at the World Cup.”

All the while predominantly white teams from other countries have shown no objection to adopting the globally recognised gesture of support for the fight against racism. That a side from a place that has spent centuries beleaguered by colour-coded oppression, which continues to play out in every aspect of their society, should have to be forced by an order from above to be seen to join that fight in the most superficial way is an indictment of their lack of honesty and willingness to confront the black, brown and white elephant in the room.

It was all too much for De Kock, who put his knees where his mouth is. Or will be once — or even if — he enlightens us about his decision. He can afford that choice. As a special player who has been able to realise his potential because he was born the right colour in a country that still puts whiteness on so many pedestals, his path to cricket’s biggest stages has not been blocked. He could thus follow AB de Villiers and run away to join the travelling T20 circus. But at what cost to his country, his team and his own psyche?

It’s not the first time South Africans have been undone by their misplaced sense of exceptionalism and it won’t be the last. But it could be the first time one of their own would seem to consider himself more special than all the rest.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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The rainbow nation is black, brown and white. But mostly black …

“My beliefs are shaped by my own experiences, my own background. And so is the other person’s. I can’t force anyone to see things the way that I do. Neither can they force me.” – Temba Bavuma

Telford Vice | Cape Town

SOMEHOW, despite the noise beyond the boundary, despite the disruption in the dressing room, despite the self-imposed omission of their premier batter that caused all the fuss, South Africa won. And won well under the pressure of what losing might have meant.

Having paid the price for batting poorly against Australia in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, Temba Bavuma’s team pretty much had to beat West Indies in Dubai on Tuesday to retain a serious chance of reaching the knockout rounds of the T20 World Cup.

No doubt the South Africans tried to think of every which way things could go off the rails, and planned accordingly. But they wouldn’t in their wildest dreams have thought they would have to wonder how to overcome Quinton de Kock’s refusal to play.

De Kock made that decision in the wake of CSA’s board issuing a directive that all South Africa’s players would be required to take a knee before the start of games for the rest of the tournament to show unified support for the global fight for racial justice.

So losing wouldn’t only have impeded South Africa’s progress. It would also have been a victory for racism. Thus you could say there was more at stake on Tuesday than there has been in all of the other 1,222 matches this team have played since 1889. No pressure …

When Heinrich Klaasen, De Kock’s replacement behind the stumps, fluffed a catch in the sixth over that should have earned Anrich Nortjé Lendl Simmons’, the sky darkened. When it took until the 11th over to separate Simmons and Evin Lewis, who shared 73 for the first wicket, you could feel witchery stirring.

But South Africa’s black, brown and white bowlers held the Windies to a slightly sub-par total of 143/8. Bavuma was run out after the sixth ball of his team’s reply with a sniping direct hit from André Russell at mid-on; black excellence on legs. The bristling, brown Reeza Hendricks added 57 with Rassie van der Dussen, who shared an unbroken stand of 83 with another white knight, Aiden Markram — whose 26-ball 51 not out shimmered with pale poise. South Africa is far from the rainbow nation some like to think it is, but there was light and shade about their eight-wicket win.

Nortjé, who had yorked the dangerous Russell in his white-hot burst of 1/14, was the originally announced press conference victim. But, given the circumstances, that changed. This needed someone capable of explaining a mess not of his own making. So Bavuma arrived.

What did he make of De Kock’s decision? “As a team we’re surprised and taken aback by the news. Quinton is a big player for the team. Not just with the bat, but the role he plays from a senior point of view and from an experience point of view. And not having that at my disposal as a captain was obviously something I wasn’t looking forward to.

“In saying that, Quinton is an adult. He’s a man in his own shoes. We respect his decision. We respect his convictions. I know that he’ll be standing behind whatever decision that he’s taken. From the team’s point of view, we still have to get the job done. There was still a game of cricket there for our country. And it was important, as much as everything was happening, that we found a way to get into the right mental space and take it home for our country.”

Bavuma said he discovered De Kock had bailed on his team after they reached the dressing room on Tuesday: “There wasn’t a great deal of time for us to discuss this matter. It was a matter of us digesting what we’ve been told and finding a way for us to move forward.”

How did it make him feel that the simple, harmless, basic act of kneeling in support of a more important cause was beyond some people?

“I don’t think it’s as simple as just taking a knee. I think we have to appreciate the fact that we live in a country like South Africa that has its own past that is diverse — diverse in its views, diverse in the way people see things, their backgrounds. Decisions that we take, things that we support, are based on our own convictions.

“As much as we’re a team — we wear the same shirt, we play for the badge — outside of that, we still live our own lives, and those lives are different by the very nature of how we live in South Africa.

“Over the last while I’ve learned to appreciate that a lot more; to try to widen your own perspective as an individual and not expect people to see things the way that you see things. My beliefs are shaped by my own experiences, my own background. And so is the other person’s. If there is a disagreement in terms of beliefs, that’s why we have those hard conversations.

“Through those conversations you’ll be able to get the ability to accept the other person’s decision. I can’t force anyone to see things the way that I do. Neither can they force me.”

Now what? “We have to keep focusing as much as we can on the team, most particularly about matters on the field. You guys are going to judge us by how well we bowl the ball and how well we hit the ball. I don’t think you’re going to be looking at the fact that we were martyrs or we stood for whatever cause we stood for. [My role] being the leader of the side is to make sure that our eye is on the ball.”

Kieron Pollard also shares a dressing room with De Kock — for the Mumbai Indians. No knees are taken there, or anywhere in the IPL. But West Indies have knelt in every match they have played since July last year. “It’s something that we feel strongly about as a team and as a people, as well, and we will continue to do it,” Pollard said. “Each and every one has their own opinions on it, but once you’re educated and you understand …”

Hours earlier, on commentary, Darren Sammy and Pommie Mbangwa caught the mood in this exchange during the first over:

Sammy: “My mother used to always say that you’ve got to stand for something, or you’ll fall for anything. It’s good to see players united; it’s something that has affected so many people across the world. It will be a conversation in this World Cup.

Mbangwa: “I daresay, Darren, that cricket will take a back seat, and I know it’s a big statement for me to make in a cricket World Cup, which absolutely everybody would like to play in. I speak because the team concerned is South Africa, with a history of exclusion and racism. And for this as an issue to still be here, and to rear [its head] here … well, it’s huge. The South African board’s statement … essentially says [there is a] lack of support for people of colour within the side, within the country and the world as a whole. Excuse me for being political, because some will say it is political, but I cannot shed my skin. I hope — I hope — that the discussion, at the very least, can be about how to be united about something that everybody agrees on. This is also in the hope that there is agreement in that regard.”

Sammy: “Some things I don’t understand. Why’s it so difficult to support this movement, if you understand what it stands for? That’s just my opinion on what my kind have been through. There have been other issues affecting the world, but I don’t understand why it is so difficult.”

Mbangwa: “With regard to Quinton de Kock, freedom of choice is fair enough. I don’t know [and] I don’t want to speculate on what the personal reasons exactly are because I haven’t got those. But I hope the discussion can actually be had. Thank you for letting me have my say. I’ll move on to the game.”

Ah, the game. Who can say whether the right team won it, but they did so for the right reasons.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Redemption song duet for SA, WI

“We’re here to win the World Cup, otherwise why would we be here?” – Kagiso Rabada

Telford Vice | Cape Town

FEW would have expected batters to dominate in the T20 World Cup, given the pitches in the UAE and Oman. But even fewer would have expected South Africa and West Indies to be utterly dominated at the crease in their opening matches. So the two line-ups will hope to sing a redemption song when they clash in Dubai on Tuesday.

Australia’s attack bristled with quality on Saturday, but not enough to justify limiting South Africa to 118/9. Similarly, while England’s bowlers pack a sizeable collective punch, they wouldn’t have expected to dismiss the West Indians for 55 in 14.2 overs. Batting conditions weren’t straightforward, as evidenced by Australia needing all but two deliveries of their 20 overs to reach the target.

But Bangladesh’s 171/4 in Sharjah on Sunday looked good until Sri Lanka replied with 172/5, and no-one would have predicted Pakistan’s 10-wicket triumph in Dubai on Sunday immediately after India had posted 151/7.

So while the sluggish surfaces are clearly challenging batters, and will continue to be so throughout the tournament, the only option is for them to meet that challenge. Or at least to do so better than South Africa and West Indies managed on Saturday. Wheeled out, unfairly, on Monday to explain all that, Kagiso Rabada had a hearty laugh when it was pointed out to him that his team’s batters had at least performed better than the Windies’: South Africa’s total was more than double that of their next opponents’. Rabada deserved a chuckle — his 19 not out batting at No. 9 was his team’s second-highest score.

That West Indies’ major suffering against England was inflicted by spin will no doubt inform South Africa’s approach. In a combined 6.2 overs, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid took 6/19 — usually when their victims were looking to attack recklessly strokes. It would not be stretching a point to posit that Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj are easily as good, if not better, than the English slow poisoners.

Unpacking the South Africans’ fragility at the crease is more complex. They shambled into the sunset thanks to a strange mix of freakishness — Quinton de Kock was bowled by a delivery that bounced high above him after he had edged it into the ground — fine bowling — Josh Hazlewood’s away-swinger that had Rassie van der Dussen caught behind was a thing of beauty — comedy — Keshav Maharaj fell over and was run out as a consequence of neglecting to wear full spikes — and questionable strokes — Heinrich Klaasen closed the face of his bat and blooped a leading edge to backward point. Consequently, the Windies would be forgiven for thinking the South Africans could help them get the job done.

South Africa’s bowlers will be confident of building on Saturday’s performance, which was well supported by their fielders. While the West Indian bowlers and fielders didn’t have a fair chance to measure themselves having been given so few runs to defend, they would have taken heart from removing four of England’s top five inside seven overs and with only 39 runs scored.

All involved in Tuesday’s game will know Bob Marley’s stirring 1980 anthem for justice and freedom, “Redemption Song”, and they could do worse than take to heart its central message: “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds.” Batting is a mind game at the best of times, even more so on pitches that ask tough questions. Finding the answers won’t be easy, but there’s more than enough talent, skill, experience and belief in both teams to pass the impending examination.

When: South Africa vs West Indies, Super 12 Group 1, 14:00 Local, 12:00 SAST

Where: Dubai International Stadium

What to expect: What do you say about conditions when you’re dealing with teams who succumbed to the lowest totals of the first four matches of the second round? Maybe that they can only improve, or at least get closer to the 150 which would seem to be the par score in this tournament.

T20I Head to Head: South Africa 9-6 West Indies (2-1 in World T20 games)

Team Watch:

South Africa

Injury/Availability Concerns: None of consequence. Given the amount of strapping on his hand on Saturday, Temba Bavuma looked like he was heading into the boxing ring. But the thumb he broke in Sri Lanka in September seems to have mended well. The tight groin that took Tabraiz Shamsi out of the warm-up game against Pakistan last Wednesday wasn’t a factor on Saturday, when he bowled all four of his overs.

Tactics & Matchups: Quinton de Kock’s aggregate of 255 in the five-match series between the teams in Grenada in June and July was easily the highest: no-one else reached 180. But, having reeled off three half-centuries — two of them unbeaten — in four innings for South Africa and Mumbai Indians in September, he has since failed to reach 30 in his last six T20 innings. His team need him to come good on Tuesday. Thing is, he averages 14.25 facing Dwayne Bravo and 28.20 against Andre Russell in this format.

Probable XI: Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Reeza Hendricks, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortjé, Tabraiz Shamsi

West Indies

Injury/Availability Concerns: Happily, fitness issues are not among the Windies’ problems. But they are no doubt still trying to cover the bases left uncovered by Fabian Allen’s withdrawal with an ankle injury last Wednesday. That said, Akeal Hosein proved himself a capable replacement on Saturday.

Tactics & Matchups: That Chris Gayle is capable of wreaking havoc is hardly a secret. It’s also clear that, at 42, he is in decline: he has scored only one half-century in his last 27 T20I innings, and it’s been more than five years since he made the second of his two centuries at this level. But the good news, for the West Indians, is that he is unusually effective against South Africa than any other opponents — his strike rate of 177.94 in T20Is against them is higher than when he is facing any other country’s bowlers.

Probable XI: Lendl Simmons, Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle, Roston Chase, Dwayne Bravo, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Kieron Pollard (c), Andre Russell, Akeal Hosein, Obed McCoy, Ravi Rampaul

Did you know?

Reeza Hendricks needs seven more runs to become the seventh South Africa player to reach 1,000 runs in T20Is. Roston Chase’s claims for selection are only strengthened by the fact that he had a batting strike rate of 144.33 and a bowling economy rate of 6.92 in this year’s CPL.

What they said:

“We need to rock up with proper intensity and play close to our best. That’s what we’re here to do. We’re here to win the World Cup, otherwise why would we be here?” — Kagiso Rabada

“Chris [Gayle] has been a wonderful servant for West Indies cricket. We still expect great things from him, but he also does a lot in terms of addressing the room and helping the younger players. Sometimes we tend to just look at performances, and we tend to think that the numbers don’t match up.” — Roddy Estwick

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Respect, but not enough runs

“If you’re selecting six batters with an allrounder at No. 7 and you’re scoring 118, I don’t think you can blame the plan.” – Temba Bavuma

Telford Vice | Cape Town

IT had to be Australia. Of all the opponents who could have burst South Africa’s bubble, count on the Aussies to do so in the way that hurts the most. Disciplined bowling, spectacular fielding and sheer belief helped take the sting out of the shambolic batting that had gone before, but not enough to stop the yellow pain of a fresh wound from sinking into green hearts.

How deeply? We shall see. The South Africans had lost just one of their previous 10 T20Is going into this World Cup. Australia had won only two of their most recent 10. In their previous 21 T20Is, only one of them contested on the world stage, these teams didn’t spin the kind of gnarly narrative that has coloured their clashes in the other formats. This match was a step in that direction. Doubtless there will be more — perhaps as soon as the knockout rounds of this tournament.

Not for the first time, the essence of a tense game between South Africa and Australia was captured in a runout. At Edgbaston in the 1999 World Cup semi-final it was Lance Klusener, Allan Donald and all that. This time it was Aiden Markram sending back Keshav Maharaj in the wake of an overthrow. Maharaj, already an odd sight because of a voluminous chest guard that looked like a spinnaker billowing under his shirt, joined the circus by slipping and crashing to earth on his back — leg up in goose-step fashion — as if he had happened on a banana peel mid-pitch.

Two balls after that Pat Cummins dared spear a delivery at Kagiso Rabada’s throat. The missile was intercepted by a shoulder, which dulled its threat. The resultant ricochet found the grille of the helmet. Cummins had the good grace to enquire after Rabada’s health — especially touching considering, given the circumstances, he was unlikely to have to face him — and thumbs went up all round even as the medic hustled onto the field to conduct the obligatory concussion test. But the shock of the moment was felt in the other hemisphere: if even Rabada wasn’t going to be respected, what price anyone else?

Yet the South Africans refused to be disrespected. Their powerplay score of 29/3 was their lowest in 34 T20Is stretching back to February 2019, and they paid the price with a total of 118/9, their second-lowest in ICC T20I events. That should have been that — come on Aussie, come on, come on. Instead the winners needed all but two balls of their reply to nail down victory. As late as the 16th over, with 38 required off 27, both batters at the crease — Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wade — had yet to face a ball. Four deliveries earlier, Markram had sprinted like a cheetah and flown low like a fish eagle to take a magical catch in the deep and remove Steve Smith.

But it’s a bad idea to play properly for only half the game. South Africa were 23/3 inside the first five overs and they lost 5/35 in the last seven. Markram batted through six partnerships for his 40, but that was more than double any of his teammates’ efforts. What difference might 30 more runs have made? Or 15? Any takers for 10 more? “One-hundred-and-eighteen was definitely not a par score,” Temba Bavuma told a press conference. “It’s hard for me to say [how many more runs South Africa needed] because we really didn’t bat well; barring Aiden, who was the only one to have any score of substance. It definitely didn’t go according to plan from a batting point of view. I think anywhere around 150, 160 would have been competitive.”

Was the tactical approach the problem? Or maybe the occasion? “If you’re selecting six batters with an allrounder at No. 7 and you’re scoring 118, I don’t think you can blame the plan. I can’t remember a time in the last while when our batting has collapsed like that. It’s not every day that all of your top seven, excluding Aiden, fail. I wouldn’t put it down to anxiety, it was more about execution.”

Bavuma, who laboured under a strike rate of 95.06 in the warm-up games, started to confound his critics by lashing Mitchell Starc through mid-off and point for consecutive boundaries in the first over. Four balls later Glenn Maxwell found a touch of turn to bowl him all ends up. Another four balls later, Josh Hazlewood conjured the perfect first delivery — it snuck away from Rassie van der Dussen just enough to take the outside edge. Quinton de Kock looked mired in another time zone. The 12th ball he faced, from Hazlewood, clipped the bottom edge, spat off the thigh pad, smacked into the pitch, bounced high over De Kock’s head — and came down onto his stumps. The sound made as leather plunked into wood apologetically was surely that of a bubble bursting.

South Africa have played Australia 11 times in major white-ball tournaments. The South Africans won the first of those matches, at the SCG in the 1992 World Cup, as well as the most recent before Saturday’s game, at Old Trafford in the 2019 World Cup. Sydney was the scene of the returning prodigals’ first ever World Cup match, and therefore shimmered with importance. Manchester marked the end of their worst ever World Cup, and mattered nought. Famously — or infamously — the Edgbaston showdown was tied. Saturday’s result means Australia continue to dominate this rivalry: they have won eight tournament tussles with South Africa.

The teams’ only other meeting in the format at this level was in Colombo during the 2012 World T20. Of that Australia XI, David Warner, Maxwell, Wade, Cummins and Starc were in the thick of it on Saturday. None of the South Africans who featured in that game are still playing. One, JP Duminy, is now among the coaches in the dugout. Another, Dale Steyn, is in the commentary box.

While many of the names and places have been changed, thus protecting the innocent winners and the guilty losers alike, the truth of a visceral fixture has been restored in this format, where it wasn’t what it has been in Test and ODI cricket: when South Africa play Australia, get the hell out of the way. Or sit down and watch.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Full steam ahead for SA

“The hand held up nicely.” – Temba Bavuma

Telford Vice | Cape Town

WITH fitness questions over Temba Bavuma and Tabraiz Shamsi South Africa settled, South Africa should be at full strength for their T20 World Cup opener against Australia in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Bavuma, who broke a thumb in Sri Lanka in September, played his first cricket in 50 days this week in his team’s warm-up matches against Afghanistan and Pakistan. Shamsi limped off with a groin problem after bowling four deliveries against Pakistan on Wednesday.

But Bavuma told a press conference on Friday that both had been cleared to play: “On my side, the fitness is good. I managed to get through the two games unscathed. The hand held up nicely. So I’m all good to go. Shamsi as well — I understand he’s also good to go. He did pass his fitness test today.”

As the top-ranked T20I bowler, Shamsi is crucial to South Africa’s chances in a tournament that will be played on pitches that would have been slow even before the completion of the IPL sapped life from the surfaces.

Bavuma will want to move up a gear after scoring 77 runs at a strike rate of 95.06 in the warm-up games, in which he opened and batted at No. 4. “Not having played cricket for quite a while probably contributed to that,” he said of his relatively slow batting. “Adjusting to the conditions and, I guess, trying to formulate a game plan was also part of that. Being out of the game for quite a while, that was probably the main contributor.”

South Africa have lost eight of their 21 T20Is against Australia, most recently in a home series in February last year — when the Aussies won 2-1. Bavuma didn’t play in that rubber and he has yet to take on Australia in the format, but he had a handle on how they would approach Saturday’s match: Their bowling attack is quite strong — they are the type of team that look to strike up front and really try to get into the middle order. We want to make sure we play the powerplay as well as we can so we don’t allow them to get into the middle order with their slower bowlers.

“With the bat, they are quite top heavy with guys like [Aaron] Finch, [David] Warner, [and Steve] Smith at the top. We are looking to strike up front and put their middle order batters under pressure. The earlier we can get those guys in, the more we can put them under pressure.”

The teams have met only once before in an ICC tournament in the format, in Colombo in the 2012 World T20. Australia held South Africa to 146/5 and won by eight wickets with 14 balls to spare.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Managing baggage key to SA’s T20 World Cup hopes

“Yes, there’s a lot of chat about the past and this and that. But it’s about controlling what we can think of in the moment.” – David Miller

Telford Vice | Cape Town

YOU could see a bedpost over David Miller’s right shoulder and, over his left, sunshine streaming through a lightly curtained window. There was no baggage in the view he offered from his hotel room in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, but you knew it was there. It had to be.

South Africa have been to 22 ICC tournaments and won only one: the International Cup — nowadays the Champions Trophy — in Bangladesh in 1998. Often they have arrived as favourites and, too often, left having done as much as their opponents to beat themselves. Now that they’re at tournament No. 23, the T20 World Cup, how would they manage all that baggage?

“I genuinely don’t like to overthink the past in the sense of taking on baggage and stuff like that,” Miller said. “The famous old saying is that you’re only as good as your next game. They normally say as your last game, but Hashim [Amla] always said to me as your next game.

“Yes, there’s a lot of chat about the past and this and that. But it’s about controlling what we can think of in the moment. I know it’s clichéd, but it really does help if you reset the clock and just prepare really well, and control each game as it comes.

“It’s difficult to win a World Cup. Only one team can win. So things have got to go your way. Yes, in the past things haven’t gone our way. But it’s not something we’re shying away from. We realise it’s a great opportunity to change our lives as players and as a team.”

Baggage there certainly is. How could there not be? South Africa’s players know that, even though seven of their squad of 15 haven’t been to a World Cup, a Champions Trophy or a World T20. Listening to some of those players in the past days, you would be forgiven for thinking South Africa had sent a squad of baggage masters to the tournament.

Here’s Aiden Markram last Monday: “We’re not bringing too much baggage into this World Cup. Everyone here is pretty free-spirited and not too fazed about being at a World Cup, in a good way. Everyone’s very calm so far. Obviously we’ll try not to make the same mistakes that we did in 2019, but this is a different format and completely different conditions, and we’ve got a completely different side.”

Here’s Temba Bavuma last Thursday: “In terms of previous South African teams and the pressure or label that’s been put on them in these sort of events, we’ve had those conversations as a team. We’ve accepted that those types of pressures will always be there until we bring back some sort of silverware. It’s not something that we have to carry on our shoulders, especially this bunch of players.”

And here’s Kagiso Rabada on Monday: “I don’t even actually like to talk about that — baggage or whatever. What’s happened in the past has happened in the past. I don’t want to talk about it too much. We have a challenge that’s in front of us. No-one has tried to lose games in the past, and we’re coming in with the same mentality. Whether we have baggage or not, it’s not worth talking about.”

Bavuma is among those who have no firsthand knowledge of South Africa’s pain, but Markram was part of the 2019 World Cup side — which lost five of eight completed games; the South Africans’ worst performance on that stage — and Rabada played in the 2016 World T20, the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2019 World Cup.

Miller has played 30 matches in ICC tournaments since 2013: two editions each of the World Cup, the Champions Trophy, and the World T20. With 350 T20 caps, 90 of them earned at international level, he is easily the most experienced member of a squad in which only Quinton de Kock also has 200 or more T20s and 50 T20Is in the bank.

“There’s been a lot of chat about an inexperienced team, but I see it as a great opportunity where we’ve got a huge amount of experience, actually, in our team,” Miller said. “We’ve got x-factor players, guys who’ve travelled all the way round the world, and played in many different competitions. Even inexperienced international players have played a lot of domestic cricket. If we can just try and bring everything together onto one page, be nice and clear, controlling what we can control game by game, I think we’re going to go a long way into the competition.”

It’s not an easy argument to make because it isn’t clear how much experience is enough. South Africa’s squad have 1,900 games worth of T20 experience between them, 418 of them internationals. That sounds like a lot until it’s measured against Australia, who Bavuma’s team take on in Abu Dhabi on Saturday in their first match of the T20 World Cup. The Aussies have played a combined 2,403 T20s and 590 T20Is. Aaron Finch, David Warner and Glenn Maxwell have each turned out in more than 300 T20s — though none have seen as many as Miller — and eight of their players have 50 or more T20I caps.

But T20 or even T20I experience isn’t everything. Amla, a bona fide great of the modern game, played only 44 games in the format for South Africa and 164 all told. Miller shared a dressing room with him in 138 of the 349 internationals he graced, and in many others for the Dolphins.

“What I’ve learnt from him is to not let failure get you down,” Miller said. “Consistency in performance is what we’re striving for, but off the field trying to be a consistent person as well is what we need to strive for. That’s what I’ve really enjoyed about ‘Hash’ and his influence — being nice and calm, being there as a pillar of strength, the silent assassin; getting the job done but more so being consistent as a person. It’s been a good journey with him. I still keep in touch with him and will continue to do so during this World Cup if necessary for any advice.”

Sadly, for all his towering feats and rock solid character, and like every other former or current South Africa player, Amla will not be able to tell Miller how to win a World Cup. Amla played in nine ICC tournaments, all of them ending less than satisfactorily for his team.

As Miller’s online press conference drew to a close, his doorbell rang. Perhaps it was someone from room service bearing a silver platter of advice from those who have been there and done that successfully when an ICC trophy has been on the line. Or a bellhop to take care of the baggage.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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