Bjorn Fortuin – Bulletproof Truth

Next challenge awaits vindicated Bavuma

“In cricket you learn something new every day.” – Temba Bavuma

Telford Vice / Cape Town

TEMBA Bavuma has gone where only 20 other men have by scoring a Test century in the wake of making a pair. The list features four South Africans, three of whom were captains at the time of their hundreds.

But none of them have been like Bavuma, whose sites of struggle stretch far beyond the boundaries of cricket grounds into the hearts and minds of the game’s followers — many of whom are openly or latently racist. Indeed, it’s difficult to see how Bavuma’s comeback in these terms isn’t the greatest in South Africa’s history.

In the first Test against West Indies at Centurion, that started on February 28 — Bavuma’s debut as South Africa’s Test captain — he was trapped in front second ball and was caught behind for a golden duck. Alzarri Joseph claimed his wicket both times.

Bavuma has had nine noughts among his 97 innings. He has been dismissed without scoring in consecutive innings once before — against Sri Lanka in January 2017 — but that was in two matches. So the pair, which came more than four months after his team shambled their way to defeat against the Netherlands in Adelaide on their way out of the T20 World Cup, prompting him to relinquish the captaincy of that side, would have hit him hard.

His 185 runs in six innings was enough to top South Africa’s averages in a lost Test series in Australia in December and January. The 109 he made to power his team to a series-deciding victory in a home ODI series against England in January and February looked like evidence that he had turned the corner.

Two ducks in three balls in Centurion said otherwise, but Bavuma was not done. At the Wanderers last week, he fell leg-before to Jason Holder for 28 before scoring a career-best 172 — the match-winning performance delivered under the pressure of taking guard at 8/2 with his team only 77 ahead.

After the match Bavuma said he had recovered from the shock of the T20 World Cup exit, which had left him visibly devastated: “I’m past it now. It’s happened and I’ve moved on from it. I’m here now and my mind is in a different space.” That’s not to say the experience, however excoriating, wasn’t valuable: “There were things that I learnt in Australia, and when I returned from the tour I sat down and thought through them. I looked at where I needed to improve my game and I hope the results were there for everyone to see in the England ODI series and the hundred I made. In cricket you learn something new every day.”

Like what it feels like to gain entry to an elite band of players. Jackie McGlew faced a total of three deliveries for no runs when Brian Statham had him caught behind and trapped him in front at Lord’s in June 1955. South Africa’s captain, Jack Cheetham, had his elbow broken by Fred Trueman in the second innings, retired hurt, and was ruled out of the next Test, at Old Trafford. McGlew was handed the captaincy and scored 104 not out in the first innings.

At Kingsmead in December 2011, when South Africa were led by Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis edged Chanaka Welegedara to second slip and, via the batter’s helmet, swept Rangana Herath to short leg. He lasted three and seven deliveries. Kallis bounced back with a career-best 224 at Newlands.

Faf du Plessis was South Africa’s captain when he made nought and nought off one and six against Pakistan in Centurion in December 2018. Shaheen Shah Afridi had him caught in the gully and at long leg. Du Plessis’ counterpart, Sarfaraz Ahmed, also bagged a pair. In the first innings of the next match, at Newlands, Sarfaraz scored 56 and Du Plessis made 103.

Bavuma’s next challenge is to lead South Africa in their series of three ODIs against the Windies that starts in East London on Thursday. He will do so without Wiaan Mulder, who has a side strain, and Keshav Maharaj, who ruptured his Achilles tendon during the Wanderers Test and is set to undergo surgery on Friday. Wayne Parnell and Tabraiz Shamsi have replaced the injured players.

“It’s a massive loss, and it’s actually not nice to talk about it,” Bjorn Fortuin, the only other specialist spinner in South Africa’s squad, told a press conference on Tuesday about Maharaj’s removal from the equation. “Nevermind his natural ability with the ball and bat, he’s got lots of experience and leadership qualities.”

Fortuin, who has played three ODIs compared to Maharaj’s 27 and Shamsi’s 41, accepted conditionally the opportunity created by Maharaj’s misfortune: “The spot that has been opened puts responsibility on me. That’s a high standard that has to be met.”

But Fortuin was confident the positivity that helped South Africa prevail against England and West Indies, under the new coaching regime of Shukri Conrad and Rob Walter, would again be significant.

“Everyone has that feeling of a clean slate,” Fortuin said. “It feels like a fresh environment. Everyone’s trying to enjoy cricket again. It’s fresh faces and fresh ideas, and not a lot of baggage from the past.”

But here’s a fact from the past that Bavuma would be proud to be part of: all four times a South Africa player has responded to a pair by scoring a century, his team have won.

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Wanderers Test strewn with subplots

“We got away with a good result at Centurion. But if the truth be told we weren’t particularly good.” – Shukri Conrad

Telford Vice / Johannesburg

WHEN Shukri Conrad and Temba Bavuma talk, things happen. After they had a long chat in Bloemfontein in January, during the ODI series against England, Bavuma scored a century for South Africa for the first time in 34 innings and more than a year across the formats. And there they were again in the Wanderers nets on Tuesday, seated side by side and having a natter.

Bavuma made history against West Indies in Centurion last week. The wrong kind of history: he spent only three deliveries in front of the stumps and scored no runs across both innings. No player has had such an insignificant impact in his first Test as captain. South Africa won by 87 runs inside three days, but could their supporters look forward to a bigger contribution from the captain in the second Test at the Wanderers, which starts on Wednesday?

Conrad, a veteran coach but in his first Test series in charge of South Africa, dismissed the notion as if it were an abject long hop: “Would the same question have been asked if it was someone else? Players get pairs. I’d hate to think it’s because it’s Temba, and because of the spotlight that’s been on him over the last couple of months.”

Since the start of his career in December 2014, Bavuma has faced more balls and scored more runs than anyone except Dean Elgar among South Africa’s active players. But he is a frequent target for abuse, much of it racist. It doesn’t help that Bavuma presided over his team’s meltdown at the T20 World Cup in Australia in October and November.

So even though enquiries over Bavuma’s batting were relevant and justified, there was perhaps little wonder why they seemed to touch a nerve. “In his first Test as captain he gets two good nuts; maybe one tactical mistake in terms of where he lined up to a certain bowler,” Conrad said. “It’s no deep conversation. Batters get pairs. They’ve got to move on. They’ve got to deal with it. It doesn’t make him special or otherwise. There’s been no special conversation around that.”

Whoever says what to whom, how Bavuma goes will be a keenly watched subplot in the wider drama as West Indies go in search of what would be only their second win in 17 Tests in South Africa. Victory would seal their first drawn series in the country after four defeats.

An unusual looking pitch, for the Wanderers, adds to the intrigue. Bare patches at the Golf Course End have prompted the home side to pick Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer at a ground where all-seam attacks are not uncommon. South Africa haven’t bothered with a specialist slow bowler in four of their last six Tests at this emphatically South African ground. They did pick a spinner in the most recent of them, against India in January last year. But Maharaj bowled a solitary over in each innings and R Ashwin sent down 10 and 11.4. Seam accounted for 91.22% of the deliveries bowled in the match.

So it’s pertinent that spin success has been more prominent at the Wanderers this season, although it might not seem so considering the slow poisoners took only 33 of the 190 wickets that have fallen in the seven first-class matches played here since October 2021. But among them were innings figures of 6/69 by Bjorn Fortuin and Harmer’s match haul of 14/151. Spinners either took or shared the new ball four times in the 22 innings those matches comprised. In March 2021, Maharaj claimed 13/176 at the Wanderers.

Thus a different scenario is set to unfold in this Wanderers Test compared to the last, especially as the major separating factor between the teams will likely be which of a brittle pair of batting line-ups holds up better under pressure.

Despite their win in Centurion, the South Africans did not dominate. Despite their loss, the West Indians were not outplayed. That bodes well for the coming contest.

When: March 8 to 12, 2023; 10am Local Time (1.30pm IST)

Where: The Wanderers, Johannesburg

What to expect: A thunderous, sometimes difficult pitch and a lightning quick, small outfield. But, this time, also for bare patches on the pitch that should assist spinners. Look out, too, for thunder and lightning from above, especially in the afternoons.

Team news:

South Africa: Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj have come in. Keegan Petersen, Senuran Muthusamy, Marco Jansen and Anrich Nortjé are out; the latter because of a minor groin issue.

Confirmed XI: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma (capt), Ryan Rickelton, Heinrich Klaasen, Wiaan Mulder, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada

West Indies: The XI at Centurion gave a decent enough account of themselves to be retained, but given the likely conditions the visitors are mulling picking left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie. If they do, Shannon Gabriel could sit out.

Possible XI: Kraigg Brathwaite, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Raymon Reifer, Jermaine Blackwood, Roston Chase, Kyle Mayers, Joshua Da Silva, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Gudakesh Motie

What they said:

“Yes, we got away with a good result at Centurion. But if the truth be told we weren’t particularly good. The West Indies were good and the pitch was tough, but that doesn’t then mean we just roll over, as we did the other day and have done in the past.” — Shukri Conrad on South Africa’s demolition for 116 in 28 overs in their second innings.

“It goes to show that, with a little more application, especially from the batters, myself included, we could do well in these conditions. It gave the belief that we could do it.” — Kraigg Brathwaite preaches what he hopes his team will practice at the Wanderers, based on their performance in Centurion.

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SA seal series on perfect pitch

“I don’t have my picture on this badge. All of us are trying to make the people at home proud.” – Tabraiz Shamsi slaps some perspective upside the heads of his more cynical compatriots.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

YOU won’t find Godfrey Dabare’s name on the scorecard or in most of what is written about the second T20I. That’s a pity and a disservice. Because the Premadasa’s groundskeeper did his job at least as well as any of the players who strutted their stuff all over his hard work on Sunday.

The T20 concept has much going for it as a spectacle and as the innovative edge of the game. But too many of the surfaces on which it is played have been prepared by hidebound conservatives who are plainly terrified of how big this thing could get.

Perhaps that happens at the behest of the suits and their de facto bosses in television, whose idea of a good broadcast product is what amounts to a three-hour highlights package stuffed with fours and sixes. So groundskeepers end up squeezing every ounce of character out of their pitches, leaving the players — bowlers in particular — to make do in the cricketing equivalent of a vacuum.

Not Mr Dabare. In all three of the ODIs, which like Friday’s first T20I were also played at the Premadasa, turn was evident but not outrageous and the bounce was better than at many subcontinent grounds. There wasn’t much pace to speak of, but that only made for a more interesting contest between bat and ball.

The same was true for Friday’s first T20I, and conditions on Sunday — which featured a strip hitherto unused during South Africa’s visit — took a step further in that direction. The turn was significantly sharper, the bounce a touch steeper, and ball met bat sooner than previously.

Together those factors, and an outfield big enough to not allow batters to blindly hammer their way out of pressure situations, conjured an engaging duel between batters and bowlers, and demanded creative decision-making. The hidebound conservatives will point to Sri Lanka collapsing for 103 in 18.1 overs as evidence of a pitch that had been tweaked too far in the bowlers’ favour. Closer to the truth is that the Lankans batted poorly — two of Aiden Markram’s full tosses became return catches — and that Tabraiz Shamsi had to bowl with fine control and bristling aggression to make the most of what had been laid at his feet.

“It’s on the odd occasion that you get boundaries this big and wickets that are more sporty and not just flat,” Shamsi told an online press conference. “But the powers above need high-scoring games and we’ll just have to come up with more tricks and try and be one step ahead of the batsmen. Dasun Shanaka was on the same page at the presentation: “We were targetting 130, 140; we knew it was going to turn. The batsmen should have concentrated more. Rather than going for big shots we should have gone for singles and rotated the strike.”

Sri Lanka lost their first wicket before they had registered their first four, and none of their partnerships made it past 21 or lasted more than 18 deliveries. In T20I innings in which they have been dismissed, this was their 10th lowest total, their fourth lowest first innings, and their lowest first innings at home. It was also their lowest total against South Africa, who have bowled out teams for fewer runs only five times and just twice in the first innings.

It was a performance centered on spin. Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortjé sent down only four overs in which they took 1/37. Dwaine Pretorius didn’t bowl at all. Nortjé’s two overs went for a respectable eight runs, but Rabada had an off night in overs of 15 and 14.

No matter. Not when you have spinners who take 9/63 in 14.1 overs, or at less than half the quicks’ economy rate. Markram’s 3/21 are his best figures in the format. Sunday was also the first time in the four T20Is in which he has bowled that he has been allowed all of his allotted overs, and the first time he has sent down a scoreless over. Bjorn Fortuin’s economy rate of 3.00 is his career best. Only three of the overs of spin went for more than a run a ball, and two of them were bowled by part-timer Markram.

Shamsi, in particular, was in incendiary form — all ripping turn, blow-torch glares and triumphant roars — for his 3/20. You could feel his passion a hemisphere away. “You’re not just playing for yourself; you’re playing for your teammates who are suffering with you, and also people at home who are praying for you,” he said. “I’ve always been an emotional person and I’ve never tried to hide that. I give my all for this team.”

Keshav Maharaj’s growing reputation as a captain grew still more. Dinesh Chandimal’s pulled catch to mid-on to end the second over brought together left-handers Kusal Perera and Bhanuka Rajapaksa. Consequently slow left-armer Fortuin, who had taken the new ball, didn’t bowl his second over until the 13th — or after three of the four southpaws in the home side’s top six had been dealt with. Fortuin took both his wickets and limited the damage to eight runs in his last three overs. Without Maharaj’s canny leadership, that might not have happened.

Hang on, those tiresome conservatives will say. How did South Africa’s batters fare given the conditions? As if they had grown up on pitches like these, which couldn’t be further from the truth. If you believe that you probably also believe no pitch should offer turn or bounce or anything else that might get in the way of the numbingly relentless accumulation of runs in white-ball cricket.

Quinton de Kock held the reply together with a solid 58 not out off 48 balls. He and Reeza Hendricks shared 62 before Markram helped him add 43 to clinch the series for South Africa with a game in hand — their third consecutive success in rubbers in their format. All the visitors’ batters were challenged by the Lankans’ skillful bowlers, and they met those challenges as best they could. Had the home side put up a bigger total, things would have been different. But that’s how proper cricket works. And proper cricket is what this was and should be called.

So it’s time South Africa were paid proper respect by those among their compatriots who have sought to demean them in snide and cynical ways; sometimes to aim low blows at transformation efforts that have been instrumental in the team’s success, other times to try and heap criticism on figures like Mark Boucher and Graeme Smith.

“It’s South Africa’s team — it’s the people’s team,” Shamsi said. “I don’t have my picture on this badge. It’s our country and all of us are trying to make the people at home proud. We’re going to make mistakes but we are frikkin’ sweating here in the sun to try and get results.”

And results they have duly got. Along with themselves, they should congratulate Godfrey Dabare. Take a bow, sir.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Only one win, but it means more

“Those guys who have been feeling the hurt and the pain of being left out of the T20 World Cup squad have been getting quite a bit of love from the guys.” – Aiden Markram

Telford Vice | Cape Town

IS disappointment able to leap tall buildings, cross an ocean, traverse time zones, and hurdle a hemisphere? The first T20I at the Premadasa on Friday was a chance to probe an issue that loomed in the shadow of Thursday’s unveiling of a South Africa squad for the T20 World Cup that only its selectors could love.

Unsurprisingly, the visitors’ entire XI was drawn from the squad. How would they respond to the wails from home about the omission of Faf du Plessis and George Linde, and the odd idea that seaming allrounders were preferable to their spinning counterparts on the slow pitches of the UAE and Oman? Would the disappointment reach them and undermine their efforts?

You could have carved those questions into Colombo’s muggy monsoon air. They remained unanswered as the South Africans found their way, thanks largely to a stand of 65 off 35 balls by Aiden Markram and David Miller, to 163/5. Only two of the first 14 overs yielded 10 or more runs. Only one of the last six did not. South Africa’s total was slightly better than average for this ground, but teams that had put up bigger scores had lost seven times in the previous 39 T20Is played there.

So there was work to be done to turn back the tide of unhappiness that had rolled biliously all the way from Africa to lap at Sri Lanka’s shores. And, to their credit, the South Africans did it by strangling the Lankans’ reply to 135/6. It’s only one win and it comes in the wake of a shambolic batting performance in the deciding ODI at the same venue on Tuesday. But the circumstances made this success more significant than most isolated victories.

Lost in the angry noise from South Africa are thoughts for feelings of Beuran Hendricks, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lizaad Williams and Sisanda Magala, who also did not crack the nod for the T20 World Cup but are cheek by jowl with those who did and will be for the rest of South Africa’s time in Sri Lanka.

“It’s never a nice thing to be on the receiving end of bad news with regards to selection for a World Cup,” Markram told an online press conference. “Those guys who have been feeling the hurt and the pain have been getting quite a bit of love from the guys, who are trying to take care of them and support them. They still appreciate the value that they have in the squad as a whole going to a World Cup.

“In our environment we’ve been brilliant at that. Squads are a lot bigger in Covid times, and taking care of players who aren’t playing but are on the tour and away from home is as important as winning games.”

Quinton de Kock, back from his break for the ODI series and no stranger to the ills of bubble life, set the mood in the field on Friday with frequent yells of “Ai-yoh!” — seemingly the exclamation of choice of Asian wicketkeepers, particularly of the Lankan variety, whenever they are near a live stump microphone and the ball is not unquestionably middled.

Keshav Maharaj embellished the positive narrative when he trapped Bhanuka Rajapaksa in front to become only the second man to take a wicket with his first ball at this level in the format while also serving as captain. The only other player to tick all those boxes is Paras Khadka, who did so in Nepal’s inaugural T20I against Hong Kong in Chattogram in the 2014 World T20.

Bjorn Fortuin answered critics of his selection for next month’s tournament by taking the new ball and with it 1/24. Only Maharaj, who claimed 1/19, was more economical on Friday. What those critics don’t get or don’t want to get is that Fortuin hasn’t been given Linde’s place in the squad. Closer to the truth is that one of those seaming allrounders — Wiaan Mulder or Dwaine Pretorius — has kept Linde out. Let’s not forget that Fortuin is brown, and thus a target for racist reaction to whatever he does and does not do.

As they did in the third ODI, South Africa deployed three spinners, who bowled 13 of the 20 overs. Unlike on Tuesday, none of the slow poisoners was Markram, still officially a part-timer with the ball. So spoilt was Maharaj for choice that Kagiso Rabada and Tabraiz Shamsi — the top-ranked bowler in the format — did not complete their overs.

Less edifying for the visitors was the fact that they put down five catches. In mitigation, not one of them was straightforward and some veered towards the impossible.

Sri Lanka will look on Friday’s game as a failure to capitalise on the pressure they put on their opponents in the first half of their innings. But Dinesh Chandimal will be quietly satisfied. Having been overlooked for series against Bangladesh, England and India this year, it seemed his white-ball career had run its course. Perish the thought. Not only did he win selection to the T20 World Cup squad, he celebrated by scoring a career-best 66 not out off 54 balls.

Maybe disappointment can’t be exported, but no boundary is secure enough to stop the spread of happiness.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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David becomes Goliath

“I had time and we were in a bit of trouble.” – the stirred, not shaken, David Miller.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

SOUTH Africa will thank David Miller’s lucky stars. He was 19 when he edged Josh Little only for Lorcan Tucker to drop a chance he should have held. But, for the most part in the second T20I at Stormont on Thursday, there was no taming the lusty left-hander. The luck of the Irish didn’t stand a chance against Miller in this mood.

The visitors were 38/4 when he took guard in the seventh over. Midway through the innings, when he had scored 15 off as many balls and hit only one four, they had shambled to 58/5. What happened next, and kept happening, was difficult to believe.

The second half of South Africa’s innings yielded 101 runs. Miller made 60 of them. The last five overs sailed for 68. Miller owned 45 of those. And to think he faced only 29 balls in the last 10 overs — or one delivery less than half the bowling. Little bowled a fateful last over, which went for 24: all of them from sixes, all four of them hit by Miller.

Little bowled with aggression, decent pace and appreciable seam movement, and he deserved better. He had been immaculate in his first two overs, which cost only 14 runs. True to that form, he kept the damage down to four in his third over — which ended with the chance offered by Miller.

How differently matters would have unfolded had Tucker claimed the catch. Instead, Miller hammered an undefeated 75, 54 of them in fours and sixes, off 44 balls. “I had time and we were in a bit of trouble,” was how Miller, who talks in terms inversely proportionate to how he plays, summed up his innings.

Miller’s performance — and only Miller’s performance — took South Africa to a defendable total of 159/7. Much of the rest of their batting was wretched, as epitomised by Temba Bavuma and Janneman Malan, who fell in the first over to Paul Stirling’s innocuous off-spin.

Quinton de Kock looked like restoring sanity before he was trapped in front for 27 by Simi Singh. Wiaan Mulder hung tough for 36 then miscued a booming on-drive and was caught at cover off Craig Young. So in Miller South Africa had to trust.

All the visitors needed in the wake of his blast was to impose themselves early in Ireland’s reply. Bjorn Fortuin, playing his first match of the Ireland leg of a tour that started in the Caribbean last month, obliged by inflicting Kevin O’Brien’s third duck in three innings. Beuran Hendricks, another new face — he last featured for any team in the third T20I against Pakistan in Centurion in April — induced a top-edged bloop to De Kock in the fifth over to remove the important Andy Balbirnie from the equation.

Inevitability was in the sun-splashed air by the time Tabraiz Shamsi, the No. 1-ranked bowler in the format, skipped in to start the eighth over. He removed Stirling and George Dockrell in his first dozen deliveries, in which he conceded seven runs, claimed Shane Getkate with the second ball of his third over, and banked a haul of 3/14.

Fortuin, who also went for seven in his first two overs, dismissed Tucker and Singh in his third, finished with 3/16 and reminding South Africa that their spin depth is better than ever. Hendricks, their only left-arm fast bowler currently in the mix, added Young’s wicket to his quiver to take 2/28 and do his chances of more gametime no harm.

Ireland were knocked over for 117 in their last over, earning South Africa the series and rendering Saturday’s match irrelevant.

None of which would have happened without Miller, who hasn’t always played to his potential. He scored 52 runs in five T20I innings against West Indies and 24 and 28 in the ODI series in Ireland. But he lived up to his billing on Thursday, leaving many to wonder what might have been. Or what might yet be …

First published by Cricbuzz.

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SA spin a titanic tale

“I don’t need to keep harping on about how good a team they are. I think everyone knows.” – Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie on South Africa.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

WHAT does South African spin bowling have in common with the Titanic? Both sank in 1912. The wreck of the giant ship was found off the coast of Newfoundland in 1985, but spin remained submerged under fast bowling on the sharp tip of Africa. Until, perhaps, now.

Bert Vogler, Aubrey Faulkner, Reggie Schwarz and Gordon White took 50 wickets at an average of 19.06 in the 11 Tests they played together for South Africa from January 1906 to March 1910. All were wrist spinners. By August 1912, when White played his last Test at the Oval, their international careers were over.

With that any serious consideration that spin could win matches for South Africa, particularly at home, disappeared without trace. Hugh Tayfield, who took 170 wickets in 37 Tests from December 1949 to August 1960, was an exception. That likely wouldn’t have been the case had South Africa not chosen solely white Test teams until 1992.

In the 1970s and 80s Lefty Adams claimed 122 wickets at 15.47 in 27 first-class matches for the brown version of Western Province. By then the international fight against apartheid had led to South Africa’s expulsion from the international arena — which might not have happened had the then Springboks picked players of Adams’ hue. So Alan Kourie, who took 421 wickets in 127 first-class games for the white Transvaal team in much the same era as Adams, also never got a look in. Adams and Kourie were left-arm masters of flight, guile and mind games, rather than turn. Not so Denys Hobson, a leg-break and googly wizard for the white Western Province side who took 374 wickets in 175 first-class matches, also in the 1970s and 80s.

But there were exponentially more fine fast bowlers where that handful of superb slow poisoners came from, and they were central to the idea of winning cricket matches in South Africa. Eras have changed but the lineage is unbroken: since readmission the baton has been passed from Allan Donald to Makhaya Ntini to Dale Steyn to Kagiso Rabada, and many others. Krom Hendricks, Dik Abed, Ben Malamba and Vincent Barnes would have been among more who would have been given their places in the parade were it not for an establishment that refused to accept their blackness and brownness.

And here we are, 109 years after the Titanic and South African spin bowling vanished, and Temba Bavuma’s squad for their ODI series in Ireland includes four frontline slow bowlers: Tabraiz Shamsi, Keshav Maharaj, George Linde and Bjorn Fortuin. That’s still fewer than the number of quicks in the ranks, but only by one if we don’t count the seaming allrounders, which we shouldn’t do.

Maybe it’s not what it looks like. In these Covid times, squads are bigger — South Africa’s numbers 20 — and the visitors have come directly from the slow surfaces of the Caribbean. And they may be unsure of Irish conditions having last played there in July 2007. But it’s surely worth wondering whether South African attitudes towards the value of spin have changed.

Shamsi said in an audio file released on Friday that conditions for the three-match series in Malahide, which starts on Sunday, might make the question moot for now: “It definitely has a lot more in it for the fast bowlers compared to the Caribbean. We had a good training session [on Thursday], and the boys spoke about the good seam movement the pitch is offering.”

Consequently, Shamsi, who went to West Indies as the top ranked spinner in T20Is and lived up to that billing by taking seven wickets at an average of 11.42 and an economy rate of 4.00 in the five games, expected to shoulder different responsibilities against Ireland: “My role might be more minimal than it was in the West Indies. But I’m comfortable with that. I’ve realised there’s two ways of winning matches for the team. It’s not just about ‘Shammo’ taking wickets all the time. I have to adjust my game — maybe try and hold the game.”

Did the Irish think South Africa and spin were on better terms, or was their slew of slow bowlers a matter of circumstance? “They’ve got quite a big squad and they’ve just come from the Caribbean, where historically it’s been quite spin friendly,” Andrew Balbirnie, the home side’s captain, told an online press conference on Friday. “But they have plenty of options. They’ve got a really impressive squad and they’re just on the back of a two-series [Test and T20I] win in the Caribbean, so they’re full of confidence and they’ve got an abundance of bowlers to pick from. I don’t think they’ve played in Malahide before and they haven’t been to Ireland since 2007, so there may be a bit of uncertainty about what they’re going to get.”

Would coming from West Indian pitches be a help or a hindrance for the South Africans? “It can work both ways,” Balbirnie said. “They’ve had a long time there, and they’ve found form. They’ll be confident no matter what conditions you put in front of them. They’re a team who play all around the world quite regularly, so they adapt pretty well and pretty quickly.”

Did he fancy a bit of Shamsi? “He’s a good bowler, but they’re all good bowlers. I don’t need to keep harping on about how good a team they are. I think everyone knows.”

Just like everyone knows when the Titanic sank, and that its last port of call was in Ireland: at what was then Queenstown and is now Cobh, on the south coast of County Cork. Like Shamsi said, there’s more than one way to spin … a tale, as well as a ball.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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“We had no right to get so close.” – Heinrich Klaasen

Telford Vice | Cape Town

MAYBE the plan was to deny Babar Azam a chance to dazzle again by not putting up a big enough target. And it worked in that South Africa were dismissed for 144. Only three times in the 77 T20Is in which they have batted first have they been bowled out for fewer runs.

So, unlike on Wednesday, when Babar went after the bowling in a cold fury to score 122 off 59 balls, an innings that defined T20I batting itself, on Friday he was content to lean on his bat and allow the runs materialise as if by osmosis.

Linda Evangelista, the model, famously said she wouldn’t get out of bed for less than USD10,000. You could imagine Babar thinking to himself as he pottered away at the same Centurion crease from which he had brandished his light sabre so brilliantly on Wednesday, you didn’t get the runs. Why should I bother?

Perhaps he should have. Pakistan were 92 for the loss of Babar’s wicket — heaved to deep third off Lizaad Williams — in the 10th over when Fakhar Zaman flubbed a catch to backward point off the same bowler to end his 34-ball 60. Nine overs later they had lost six wickets for 37. They needed 16 off the last eight balls when Sisanda Magala overstepped. Then he overstepped again, and showed his frustration by flicking off the bails at the non-striker’s end as he walked back to his mark. It was South Africa’s eighth no-ball of a series in which they also bowled 16 wides. Pakistan? A solitary no-ball and two wides. Magala got away with a single from the first free hit, but Mohammad Nawaz hit the second a long way into the darkening sky beyond square leg for six. Six were required off the last over, bowled by the plucky Williams, and Nawaz settled the issue when he launched the fifth over square leg for six.

“If you are going to lose games, that’s probably the way you want to lose them,” Rassie van der Dussen told an online press conference. But Heinrich Klaasen had already ventured nearer the truth in his television interview: “We had no right to get so close.” That was fair comment from the captain of a team that had lost five wickets for 13 runs in the space of 20 balls. Hasan Ali and Faheem Ashraf shared six wickets, but the real story was that the South Africans kept hitting the ball in the air and hoped the Pakistanis wouldn’t catch it. They did.

And that was only one of the problems experienced by a side that struggled in all departments at different stages of a rubber they started without five of their best players — who are involved in the Indian Premier League — and that lost their captain, Temba Bavuma, and their most in-form batter, Van der Dussen, to injury before the series started. Bavuma never played. Van der Dussen missed the first two games,

But absences, for whatever reason, are not excuses. So concerns will swirl. Friday’s result confirmed Pakistan’s first series win in the format in South Africa, which followed only their second ODI success. Of the dozen matches they have played against Pakistan in all formats since the last week of January, they have lost nine. In the past 13 days alone they have suffered the slings and arrows of two of the finest white-innings yet played: Babar’s 122 and Fakhar’s 193 in the second ODI international at the Wanderers. Under Mark Boucher, who was appointed coach in December 2019, South Africa have won 12 of 32 completed games.

Boucher openly questioned his team’s mental toughness during an online press conference on Thursday, saying, “It’s almost like we get onto the field and we take a step back.” He was particularly concerned with South Africa’s attitude in the field. The players seemed to have taken that to heart, and they were rasping with noise and aggression when Pakistan’s innings started on Friday. So much so that Klaasen, standing up to Bjorn Fortuin bowling to Babar in the third over, was heard to say on the stump microphones, “Don’t swear at him. You mustn’t swear at him.” Who was or wasn’t swearing at whom wasn’t clear, but what was certain was that Fortuin and Babar were having words. Happily, the moment fizzled out.

Pakistan’s victory was seconds old when their squad lined up on the outfield under a crescent moon, ready to perform the Maghrib prayer. Iftar would, of course, follow. Never would a date taste so sweet.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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South Africa improve, but not enough to win

“Ja, but our standard is high.” – Heinrich Klaasen refuses to feel better about a narrow loss.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

SOUTH Africa’s players huddled so tightly together on Lahore’s outfield on Thursday that you would have struggled to smuggle a team sheet between them. Heinrich Klaasen spoke earnestly, hands slicing through evening air heavy with dew to punctuate his points. His players listened intently. David Miller made a significant contribution to the conversation. Klaasen handed a cap to debutant Jacques Snyman, who received it as if he had been given the keys to the car of his dreams.

Eyes locked. Shoulders overlapped. Heads nodded to the unmistakable rhythm of agreement. Even from the other hemisphere you could feel the unity. There was heat in that huddle, which was more a hug.

For South Africans weary of turning on their televisions to see what new hell has befallen the side in Pakistan, they were the picture of a team as opposed to a collection of individuals. It helped that none of them had played in the Tests, and so didn’t bring baggage from Karachi and Rawalpindi, where South Africa were almost as good at beating themselves as Pakistan were at winning. Of the XI who had played in South Africa’s previous T20I, against England at Newlands in December, only Reeza Hendricks, Lutho Sipamla and Tabraiz Shamsi were in the team. Another good thing: England won that series 3-0.

Even so, South Africa took 200 T20I caps into Thursday’s match: 10 more than Pakistan, which you wouldn’t have thought considering the noise made, far and wide, about a looming mismatch. All this bunch of South Africans needed to convince, most importantly, themselves that they belonged on the same field as opponents who had already been written up as victors was for something to go conspicuously right, preferably early in the piece …

Second ball of the match. Babar Azam bunts it to the on side and sets off. The bowler, the left-arm spinning, right-arm throwing Bjorn Fortuin, hares after it. He sprawls to make a scragging stop and, seeing a fraction more than one stump, throws from a prone position. Bails balloon, stumps splay. Babar is short of his ground by a metre and more. Roll credits.

It doesn’t go more conspicuously right than that. But, of course, the credits didn’t roll then. First Mohammad Rizwan scored 104 not out, his second unbeaten century in five days and an innings as bristling with aggression as his previous hundred was built on discipline. And the lack of firepower in South Africa’s attack, denuded of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortjé, was exposed. Pakistan play without the arrogance that sours the impression other teams make, but they are perhaps the most alpha male of all sides — they will bully bowling that doesn’t stand up for itself. Only Shamsi, who turned the ball sharply in his first match of the tour, escaped with an economy rate of less than a run a ball. Junior Dala was at the other end of the equation, sailing for 25 off two overs. Happily, although Rizwan was dropped twice in the 90s, the overall standard of South Africa’s fielding was a notch or three up from what the Test team delivered.

Seven totals higher than Pakistan’s effort of 169/6 had been scored in the first innings of the previous 11 T20Is in Lahore. And all but one of the six times the team batting first had won a day-night T20I there, they had made more than the home side’s total. How big a factor would the thickening dew be in the second innings? Enough to fog up Aleem Dar’s glasses and thus furrow his brow, for a start.

Hendricks faced only a dozen deliveries in an opening stand of 53 dominated by Janneman Malan, who hit eight fours — mostly muscled to the on side — in his 44. But Hendricks saw Usman Qadir’s leg break hit the top of Malan’s off stump and his googly crash into the top of Snyman’s middle stump. Then Miller flashed at a delivery from Faheem Ashraf that faded across the left-hander, and nicked it. At 83/3, and needing more than 10 from each of the last eight overs, South Africa’s challenge was waning.

Klaasen joined Hendricks to rekindle it with a stand that reached 32 before Klaasen picked out the man on the square leg boundary. But before that he was party to something previously unknown. Given out leg-before to Qadir’s googly, Klaasen offered up a prayer to the third umpire. Missing leg, the gizmo said. And with that Dar’s record of never having been proven wrong in T20I referrals was erased at the 12th attempt.

Hendricks ran himself out for 54 by dashing for a single that was never there after losing sight of a ball he had edged into his pads. It needed a dive from the swooping Rizwan to complete the dismissal. Surely that was the end of the South Africans?

It looked that way when they headed into the last over needing 19. Two singles accrued before Dwaine Pretorius hammered Ashraf over long-on for six. Another single left the equation at 10 off two. Fortuin, hobbling on a twisted ankle, found the wherewithal to fashion a four over his shoulder. One ball. Six to get. Fortuin lined up the midwicket fence, but didn’t get enough bat on it and the ground-hugging ball was fielded at deep backward square.

Even though the South Africans showed more fight on Thursday than in Karachi and Rawalpindi, Pakistan deserved their win, not least because of the brilliance of Rizwan and Qadir. No-one needs to tell the visitors it’s a long way from going down with credit in a T20I to competing in a Test, but South Africans could see something on their televisions they haven’t spotted for a while: light at the end of the tunnel.

South Africans besides Klaasen, that is: “Ja, but our standard is high. One or two things with the bowling didn’t go according to plan, so we’ll reassess that. And then those four or five overs in the middle [of the innings when Qadir went for two runs off each of his first two overs], when we really made life very difficult for ourselves. Because we could have chased between seven and 10 in the last over and got over the line easily. It is pleasing to see we are playing good cricket, but it’s frustrating and disappointing by our standards. We know exactly what we want and what we need to do to be a successful team.”

He sounded so South African. He sounded utterly real. He sounded like the captain of a team, not a collection of individuals.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Stay off the couch, Boucher warns players

“There’s no sport on TV, so there’s not much TV to watch.” – Mark Boucher reveals apparently limited viewing habits.

TELFORD VICE in Cape Town

GARAGE? Cleaned. Workout? Done. Now what? For many South Africans, the lockdown forced by the global coronavirus pandemic means finding ways to fill hours that would normally be spent commuting, shopping and socialising.

Mark Boucher, South Africa’s coach since December, is different from most of his compatriots in many ways. But the virus is nothing if not democratic. “I’ve cleaned up my garage and tried to stay fit,” he said in an audio file released by Cricket South Africa on Tuesday. “I made plans to get away, take the family somewhere and maybe play a bit of golf and go to the bush. That hasn’t been possible. We’re biding our time. I’ve got a just under two-year-old, so he’s been keeping myself and my wife pretty busy running around the place. There’s no sport on TV, so there’s not much TV to watch.”

Maybe Boucher isn’t keen on watching news broadcasts that seem stuck, 24/7, on the only story that matters. South Africa became part of the saga last month when their tour to India, comprising three ODIs, was called off after the first game was washed out because of concerns over the spread of the virus. “That was unfortunate because it would have been nice to judge ourselves, as a young side, against [India],” Boucher said.

But he and his players count themselves among the more fortunate members of the worldwide cricket family: “I don’t think it’s really disrupted our plans. We were quite lucky in the fact that we were always going to be having a break at this time. It may be a chance [for the players] to get rid of a few niggles their bodies have picked up. The key is going to be to rest for the first two or three weeks and refuel yourself mentally as well as physically. We have put in some programmes on how to keep yourself fit and strong around your household. They need to keep their discipline. They will be tested after the lockdown period.”

Boucher said that went not only for those currently in the national squad, but for the “30 or 40” who could be involved at senior and A team level when cricket resumes. There is good reason for him to be taken seriously, what with Sisanda Magala, Jon-Jon Smuts, Tabraiz Shamsi and Lungi Ngidi sent on a camp to improve their conditioning last season. Magala and Smuts were denied chances to play for South Africa because they fell short of the required standard. “Because of all the new fitness clauses we’re going to be putting into contracts, you need to be fit,” Boucher said. “We’ve seen in the recent past that players who aren’t fit enough don’t get selected. Players are professionals and they need to do what they need to do.”

Those who put in the work and perform would be rewarded regardless of any other factors. Boucher has already proved that, with the help of the selectors. Rassie van der Dussen, Dwaine Pretorius, Pieter Malan, Dane Paterson and Beuran Hendricks all made their Test debuts in the series against England, who were also the opponents for the first taste of ODI cricket afforded Smuts, Lutho Sipamla and Bjorn Fortuin. Against Australia, Pite van Biljon made his T20 bow and Janneman Malan, Kyle Verreynne and Daryn Dupavillon all cracked the nod in the ODIs. In age terms the dozen players range from 21-year-old Sipamla to Van Biljon, who is 33.

The steady stream of new personnel needed careful management, as Boucher explained: “You don’t give six or seven youngsters an opportunity. You give one or two of them an opportunity and you get some senior players around them. No senior player in the franchise system is being overlooked. I’m not too worried about age at the moment. If you perform at franchise level you should be able to get a chance if we rest a few players.”

Boucher said his message to players coming into the team was: “You’re going to get given opportunity. We are resting a senior player. It is his position that he holds. So when he does come back, no matter what performances you’ve put in, he rightfully owns that position.”

The results of all that tinkering were mixed. South Africa won seven of their completed matches in 2019-20 and lost their other eight. They went down in the Test and T20 series against England and drew the ODI rubber, and Australia won the T20 series. Going into the ODIs against the Aussies, South Africa had won only four of their dozen completed games. They reeled off a hattrick of successes to soften the blow of what remains a losing campaign.

“It was disappointing, especially against England,” Boucher said. “We didn’t perform like we wanted to. We asked some questions and we got some answers — some good, some bad. We’ve got a lot of work to do with our Test cricket, a lot of rebuilding with our team. The exciting thing for me was to see the guys grow in white-ball cricket. We gave quite a bit of opportunity to youngsters, and they started to gel together as a team and not rely on one guy to carry them through. Our performance against Australia was the light at the end of the tunnel, but there’s still a hell of a lot to do.”

At least, there will be a lot to work on once cricket is again part of Boucher’s reality. “There’s not much you can do as a cricketer. We’re just waiting to see when we can get involved physically. We’ve done enough talking.”

First published by Cricbuzz.

Pakistan tour on cards

If security is stable South Africa will play three T20s in the country.

TELFORD VICE in Cape Town

SOUTH Africa could soon be on their way to Pakistan, where no team representing their country has set foot in almost 13 years. A mooted tour there in March would form part of the preparation for the T20 World Cup in Australia in October and November.

Cricbuzz has learnt that a delegation of security experts from South Africa is to visit Pakistan to gather intelligence on the country’s suitability for a visit by the national side. If the situation is deemed stable enough the Proteas will arrive after their tour to India, which ends on March 18, to play three T20s.

South Africa, who were last in Pakistan in October 2007 for two Tests and five one-day internationals, have played seven Tests and 26 ODIs in the country. No international teams went there for more than six years after a terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore on March 3, 2009 — which killed eight and wounded nine, including six Lankan players. Tours resumed in May 2015, when Zimbabwe played two T20s and three ODIs. Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh have also since visited, all without incident.

South Africans have been to Pakistan in recent years, but only as individuals. A World XI that played three T20s in Lahore in September 2017 included Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, David Miller, Imran Tahir and Morné Morkel. Rilee Rossouw, JP Duminy, Cameron Delport, David Wiese and Colin Ingram have featured in Pakistan Super League matches in Karachi and Lahore.

Before any trip to Asia or anywhere else comes into focus, South Africa will have to find a way past World Cup champions England in three ODIs starting at Newlands on Tuesday. Quinton de Kock will be at the helm for the first time as the appointed captain, and his squad includes exciting prospects like medium pacer Lutho Sipamla, left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin, opening batter Janneman Malan — brother of Test opener Pieter Malan — and wicketkeeper-batter Kyle Verreynne. The absence of Du Plessis and Kagiso Rabada, who have been rested for the series, will only add to the newness of De Kock’s team.

Batter Jon-Jon Smuts, Fast bowler Lungi Ngidi and left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi came through a fitness camp well enough to keep their places in the squad, but fast bowler Sisanda Magala didn’t make the grade. “It’s been a tough assignment and the guys have really put in the work with the ambition to get into the green and gold in mind,” a release quoted acting director of cricket Graeme Smith as saying. “That’s the kind of commitment and grit we’re looking for in our national team. I’m pleased that Lungi, Tabraiz and Jon-Jon have been declared fully fit to join the ODI squad and I’m confident that Sisanda will be in that circle soon enough. He has put in an immense amount of work over a short period of time and we want to ensure he has the tools to deal with the high demands of international cricket when the opportunity arises.”

Magala, who took 11 wickets in nine games for the Cape Town Blitz in this year’s Mzansi Super League, will remain with the national squad and could yet play in the T20 series against England that will follow the ODIs.

First published by Cricbuzz.