Bloemfontein – Page 2 – Bulletproof Truth

SA improve, their fans don’t

“I feel like a different Temba showed up in the last three games.” – Temba Bavuma

Telford Vice / Cape Town

SOUTH Africa’s men’s team were deep in the doldrums as recently as last Friday. Their bruising from a Test series defeat in Australia was painfully fresh, and the less said the better about the shambolic end of their T20 World Cup campaign. As if to rub it in, the SA20 had arrived in a dazzle of hype and happiness to show South Africans how worthwhile cricket could be when quality players perform properly.

England, who were in town to play three World Cup Super League games, loomed ominously. They were without, for various reasons, Ben Stokes, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Mark Wood, while Jofra Archer would use the series to come back from a lengthy lay-off. But considering South Africa had lost five of their 11 completed ODIs last year, which included being their first series loss at home in any format by Bangladesh, the alarm bells rang loud. Especially with direct qualification for this year’s ODI World Cup not yet secured. A week on, and the scenario couldn’t be more different.

Perhaps because Bloemfontein and Kimberley are not on the regular international circuit — South Africa last played there in March 2020 and September 2018 — crowds were good. Or did that happen because both grounds are hundreds of kilometres away from the nearest SA20 venue? Turning out to watch South Africa was the closest the fans could get to the kind of excitement that was passing them by.

They were rewarded with five centuries, including two of the five highest individual innings scored in Kimberley, and three four-wicket hauls, among them Archer’s 6/40 on Wednesday — the best bowling performance in a Kimberley ODI. They saw a record chase in Bloemfontein and the biggest total yet made in Kimberley. Better yet, they witnessed some of the best ODI cricket South Africa have played in years to win the first two matches and keep their competitive edge in the dead rubber. Losing a point in the standings for a slow over rate in Kimberley has complicated the qualification equation, but not impossibly.

The first series under the new coaching regime of Shukri Conrad and Rob Walter was a resounding success. So much so that Temba Bavuma, whose match-winning 109 on Sunday clinched the rubber, came out swinging on Wednesday when a question at a press conference veered towards flat pitches and flatter bowling: “Maybe it speaks to the quality of the batting that was on display. Maybe that could be appreciated more than just having a go at the bowlers.”

Of the 17 bowlers used in the rubber, only Kagiso Rabada, Olly Stone and Sam Curran conceded less than a run-a-ball. But Bavuma’s point stands, not least from the perspective of a South Africa team who have tended to be long on skill and short on confidence. “It’s really becoming a lot clearer when we speak about guys going out and expressing themselves and looking to take on the game,” Bavuma said. “We lost today but, in terms of the [required] runrate, we were on par. That’s a big gain for us as a team. The more we chase scores like [the 347/5 the home side made to win on Sunday], the more we’ll have that belief and start solidifying how we want to play.”

A measure of the firming up of these ideas could be gleaned at the toss before the last two matches. Not only was Sisanda Magala — whose 3/46 had turned the first game in South Africa’s favour — left out for the second, so was Rabada. Rabada also sat out the third match, along with Anrich Nortjé.

Time was when South Africa wouldn’t dare rest key players with a series or a clean sweep on the line, especially not with important points at stake. But progress would seem to be being made, although Bavuma cautioned that “it’s only been three games; the journey is still long”, while acknowledging “it’s more of a mindset change; the skill has always been there”.

South Africa’s captain, his team’s top run-scorer in the series, was the best advertisement for the different approach. “It’s been enjoyable, not playing as if you’ve got the whole team on your shoulders — just going out, seeing the ball and trying to score,” he said.

“If, as a player, you are looking for the security that if you fail someone is going to continue to back you, I’ve never felt that. It’s just part of international cricket. But, in our team at the moment, if you play a certain way then guys are going to give you the rope that you deserve.

“I feel like a different Temba came out and showed up in the last three games. I’ll take the confidence from these games and try and make sure that flows into all the other games and formats.”

Bavuma discovered after that press conference that he had been signed by Sunrisers Eastern Cape for the remainder of the SA20. That he might not have had a gig to land had Tom Abell not left SEC early to captain England Lions in Sri Lanka couldn’t take the shine off Bavuma finally making it to the biggest party cricket. It felt like he had passed a test, proved a point, won a promotion.

A significant chunk of Bavuma’s cricketminded compatriots had taken it as a slap in the face when none of the six SA20 franchises bid for his services at the player auction in September. Closer to the truth was that a specialist batter with a career T20 strike rate of just 123.21 didn’t justify a hefty base price of R850,000, or almost USD49,000.

But it seems South Africans are determined to hitch their unhappiness to Bavuma, no matter what he does. His century was a superb innings by any estimate; a bold and polished statement of intent. You might have thought it would be worth celebrating wholeheartedly. Instead, too many subverted his achievement to whinge brattishly about a single newspaper’s poor choice to use a photograph of his dismissal, and not of any of his bristling strokes or his emotional celebration on reaching three figures, on its front page.

That the newspaper in question is published in Afrikaans and used to be part of South Africa’s white apartheid establishment fuelled this nonsense narrative. That its headlines and reporting on Bavuma’s feat shone with praise didn’t seem to matter. That another newspaper, published in English, identified him in a picture caption as a “Proteas batsman” also escaped notice. They’re called batters these days, and they might have mentioned that Bavuma was the captain.

Thanks to this cynical, artificial kerfuffle, the positivity that should have coloured the conversation in the wake of Bavuma’s century was drowned out by bullying right-wing attempts at remote censorship over what should have remained an obscure editorial decision.

If Bavuma and his team really have turned a corner, maybe they should take a step back and bring some of the fans with them.

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Battling Bavuma beats Murphy’s law

“The celebration wasn’t planned, but it was a reminder to myself and to everyone that I am still here, that I still deserve to be where I am.” – Temba Bavuma

Telford Vice / Cape Town

HOW many people called Murphy live in predominantly Sesotho and Afrikaans-speaking Bloemfontein? How many of them are lawyers? These were questions worth asking on Sunday, when Murphy’s law struck South Africa apparently at will during the second men’s ODI against England.

Having fielded Harry Brook’s bottom edge off Anrich Nortjé, Quinton de Kock had to leave the ground after 15 overs to have a thumb x-rayed. In the 41st Wayne Parnell put a big toe in the way of Jos Buttler’s screaming straight drive and needed treatment on the field to his gingerly unbooted, unsocked foot. Lungi Ngidi hurt a hamstring while bowling his last over, the 49th, and left the field immediately he was done.

Unsurprisingly South Africa took four-and-a-quarter hours to bowl their overs. They will have to hope Jeff Crowe, the referee, decides the delays forced by the injuries and other acceptable stoppages explain away the 45 additional minutes taken to complete England’s innings. If Crowe reckons otherwise, the South Africans will lose precious World Cup Super League points and be closer to going to the qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe in June and July.

There was another suggestion of Murphy’s law, that whatever can go wrong will go wrong, where those examples came from when Temba Bavuma was struck down by cramp having barnstormed his way into the 90s in breathtaking fashion. His severely restricted movement spelled his downfall in the 29th over of South Africa’s reply when he managed to shimmy well away from his stumps on the off side to make room to put Sam Curran through leg and guided the ball onto his wicket instead.

Bavuma’s 102-ball 109 was his first century in 34 international innings across the formats, among them three efforts of 50 or more — one of them 93 — and 11 dismissals for single-figure scores. His performance was more than the sum of those parts. It was a declaration of defiance in the face of often unfair criticism and patently racist abuse, a snook cocked at being ignored by the SA20 franchise owners, a balm for a soul stung by presiding over defeat by the Netherlands in Adelaide in November, and with that elimination from the race for a T20 World Cup semi-final berth.

Bavuma has plenty to feel bitter about. On Sunday life was sweet enough, post cramp, for this famously serious player to crack a joke in his television interview: “It’s good that I reminded myself how to count to a hundred.”

During his press conference that followed, Bavuma offered insights into some of the dark places he has been: “It’s been an emotional rollercoaster, a crazy last couple of months. Emotionally it can be draining, it can be taxing. As much as you try to block out everything that’s out there, it does find its way to get to you. The biggest thing is when it affects people around you. As a player I have my ways of dealing with it, not that it doesn’t affect me. It’s a part of where I am at the moment.

“As much as not all of us are athletes and not all of us play at international level, we all go through ups and downs; whether it’s in your career or your family life. The difference with us is that it’s in everyone’s eyes. Everyone wants a piece of you. You deal with it as much as you can and try to not be emotional. That’s hard, but you try to see things as plainly as they are. Blocking out the noise is something you’ve got to do, but that’s impossible. You’ve got to find a way to keep going forward. Don’t give up.”

Fresh interactions with Shukri Conrad, South Africa’s new Test coach who is deputising for white-ball counterpart Rob Walter while the latter packs up his life in New Zealand, have been an important part of Bavuma’s journey back into the light.

“It was for me to be vulnerable to the coach, telling him where I see myself and how I feel about everything,” Bavuma said. “It helps that I’ve worked with Shukri before. He helped me cut through all of the nonsense that was happening in my head. Mentally he made sure I was mentally there for the game and the series.

“The conversation with Shukri helped clear everything that was happening in my head. Being out of action for the last two weeks, being at home, being away from the game, helped me be as fresh as I can. Physically I’m probably not in the best shape, but mentally I’ve been good. People talk about reflection and I guess I’ve been through that process.

“[Conrad] never really said much. It was just him giving me an ear and hearing me out. It was more about validating the feelings I’ve had. The biggest thing is getting your mind into the right state to play the game. ‘Shuks’ is not a therapist, but what I enjoyed about the conversation was the honesty and the clarity he gave me.”

Bavuma has had 146 innings of one sort or another for South Africa. Never has he batted better than he did on Sunday — with urgency and innovation, and utterly in command of the crease. He greeted a third hundred in his 21 ODI innings with a bat-led leap into Bloem’s sweltering sky, then by thumping a gloved hand where his shoulder blades meet, just above his surname on his shirt, apparently to ensure everyone knew who had done what he did, and then by punching the Protea badge on his chest. The look on his face was of relief and triumph, which he deserved to feel. He didn’t deserve Curran crassly screaming in his face like a hopped up two-year-old denied an umpteenth sugar hit. “The celebration wasn’t planned, but it was a reminder to myself and to everyone that I am still here, that I still deserve to be where I am,” Bavuma said.

He featured in stands of 77 with De Kock and 97 with Rassie van der Dussen, both scored at better than a run-a-ball and both starring the captain as the more productive partner. He was, it seemed, the keeper of the momentum South Africa needed to maintain if they were to haul in their tall target of 343. When he got out the home side were scoring at 6.44 to the over, or within a smidgen of the required 7.34. That over was scoreless, and in the next Van der Dussen reverse-smacked Moeen Ali and was caught at backward point. For five overs from Bavuma’s dismissal the difference between the achieved and the required runrates widened to more than a run.

It was reeled back to decimal points by Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen, but it needed the sustained assault of David Miller’s 37-ball 58 not out, helped by the bottomlessly ambitious Marco Jansen, to get South Africa over the line with a stand of 65 off 47. They clinched the five-wicket victory with five deliveries remaining, claiming the highest successful chase in the 16 ODIs won by teams batting second in Bloemfontein and the third-highest in the 319 ODIs in which South Africa have fielded first.

The win clinched the series and represented England’s fifth consecutive loss in the format. The visitors might struggle to explain to themselves how that happened. Brook looked bound for three figures before he was sawn off for 80 with a catch at deep cover off Markram, Buttler was all class for his undefeated 94, Moeen Ali bristled with cool aggression for his 51, and Curran smoked 28 off 17. Buttler was in partnerships of 73 with Brook, 101 with Moeen, and 54 with Curran. The South Africans did their bit for England’s cause by conceding 34 extras. England looked unstoppable. Until they were stopped.

As things turned out, De Kock’s x-rays revealed no fracture and he was able to bat. Parnell put his sock and boot back on and bowled the 15 deliveries he needed to complete his quota. Ngidi toughed it out through his last over. Bavuma delivered his best innings yet when it mattered: under pressure. And South Africa won a game they might have lost.

Turn Murphy’s law around and you have Yhprum’s law: everything that can work will work. Sunday in Bloemfontein was the perfect example.

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SA bowlers go where batters don’t to earn ODI series lead

South Africa have scored faster than a run-a-ball only four times in their last 100 ODIs.

Telford Vice / Cape Town

BEFORE Friday, South Africa had last played a men’s ODI against England in Bloemfontein in February 2016. How had the teams’ games developed in the ensuing almost seven years, the good burghers of Bloem might have asked as they settled onto the grass banks and eyed the Barmy Army in all its awkward, incongruous Englishness.

The home supporters wouldn’t have liked the answer to the question that unfolded in the first innings. But they would have been relieved that not everything had changed: South Africa could still bowl their way out of trouble. Their win, by 27 runs, was unlikely for much of the match and needs to be followed by several others.

Four more victories will be required against England and the Netherlands in the coming weeks if Temba Bavuma’s team are to focus directly on the World Cup in India in October and November, and not on the qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe in June and July. Ifs and buts involving Sri Lanka and Ireland could complicate the equation, but not if South Africa keep winning.
They will have their next opportunity to do so on Sunday, also in Bloemfontein and also against England. But in a day game, which should mean a touch more life in the pitch early in the piece than was the case in Friday’s day/nighter.

England have played 115 ODIs since that 2016 game. They have scored faster than a run-a-ball over the course of an innings in all but six of them, and they last dipped below that mark in June 2016. Along the way they deservedly reached the 2019 World Cup final, where they were awarded the trophy despite a tie with New Zealand.

In South Africa’s 100 games, they’ve scored more than six runs an over just four times — all of them between February 2016 and February 2017. That’s as stark an illustration as could be found of these teams’ opposite directions of travel.

The trend continued on Friday. South Africa squandered a sound start on a perfect batting pitch to total 298/7. Conditions became less inclined towards run-scoring as the ball softened, but that didn’t adequately explain the home side taking almost seven overs to get to three figures after reaching 75/1 after 10. They scored just 28 more runs in the second half of their innings compared to the first, even though they had seven wickets standing going into the second 25 overs.

That was despite Rassie van der Dussen making 111 and sharing 110 off 101 with David Miller, who scored 53. Van der Dussen, a player built for storms rather than sunshine, was at his flinty best once the surface had lost its early willingness and begun begrudging runs. That didn’t suit Miller, but he endured in a stand that lasted from the 31st over into the 48th — prime time to launch a total well north of 300.

Except that South Africa, not for the first time, failed to launch. Some short deliveries climbed and others squatted, but champion batters find ways of overcoming those challenges. They don’t merely live with them. The South African who showed the greatest sense of urgency was Bavuma, whose 36 off 28 as an opener represented his team’s batting unit’s only strike rate higher than 100.

South Africa were able to hit only 120 of their total — just more than 40% — in fours and sixes despite Bloemfontein’s famously spacious boundaries being drawn in significantly. England got away with 43% of the innings in dot balls.

Jofra Archer, who played his first match for England since March 2021, sent down more scoreless deliveries than any of England’s other bowlers: 30. But his return of 1/81 was also his most expensive in his 18 ODIs. He went for 10 or more in four of his overs, and in one of them for 20. That said, Archer bowled well within himself, clearly feeling his way back into the game after so long out with injuries.

The accurate, slippery Sam Curran made life more difficult for the South Africans than the rest of England’s attack. He was rewarded with the wickets of Quinton de Kock, Van der Dussen and Miller at the handsome economy rate of 3.88.

The last thing South Africa needed after that was for England to hit the ground running in their reply, which is exactly what Jason Roy and Dawid Malan did in an opening partnership of 146 off 118 that seemed to set the tone for a thumping victory for the visitors.

There was poetry in Sisanda Magala breaking the stranglehold. In his second over, the 20th, his bouncer flummoxed Malan, who contrived to pull a catch to mid-off and go for 59. Magala, a proven performer at domestic level, has struggled with fitness issues and poor discipline on the international stage — he sent down three wides and two no-balls in each of the other two ODIs in which he has bowled. He was the last of the six bowlers Bavuma used on Friday. And the best.

Magala followed his removal of Malan by trapping Harry Brook in front with a sniping inswinger and having Moeen Ali caught in the deep with a brisk short delivery. His 3/46 from nine overs marked the first time he had taken more than one wicket in an ODI and the first time he had gone for fewer than a run a ball. It was also the first time his confidence has shone through so emphatically.

But while Magala was showing he belonged, Roy appeared to be winning the match. He stayed until the 30th over for his bristling, bustling 91-ball 113, the only time he has passed 50 in 32 innings of any sort save for a T10 half-century in Abu Dhabi in November. Roy’s 11th ODI century means only Joe Root, Eoin Morgan and Marcus Trescothick have scored more ODI hundreds for England, all with the benefit of significantly more innings than Roy.

Roy’s dismissal fell between those of Brook and Moeen, but while England still had Jos Buttler they had control of the game. That changed in 37th, when Anrich Nortjé speared a shortish delivery on the line of off stump. Buttler, cramped for room to guide the ball to deep third, was caught behind for 36. It was the second strike in Nortjé’s haul of 4/62, which was key to South Africa claiming all 10 of England’s wickets for 125 in 25 overs.

South Africa’s disastrous T20 World Cup, when they crashed out ignominiously by losing to the Netherlands, was followed by a flaccid Test series in Australia, where only rain in Sydney spared them a 3-0 whitewash. International cricket itself has been diminished and dulled by the booming positivity of the SA20, which has given South Africans rare reasons to be cheerful about just about anything.

Friday’s gritty win, South Africa’s first in three ODIs and for all England’s batting progress their fourth consecutive loss, will remedy that situation. But the good burghers of Bloemfontein and the Barmy Army alike went to bed knowing that could change on Sunday.

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Bavuma back from beyond

“I’ve said to the guys if they would still like me to be the guy to lead I’m happy to do it.” – Temba Bavuma

Telford Vice / Cape Town

THE forgotten man of South African cricket will remain the white-ball captain until someone tells him he isn’t — and with a new coaching regime in place he accepts that is a possibility.

South Africans’ last sight of Temba Bavuma as a captain was in the aftermath of his team’s catastrophic loss to the Netherlands in Adelaide on November 6, which dumped them out of the running for the T20 World Cup semi-finals. What has he been up to, considering he is not playing in the ongoing SA20?

“In the last two weeks I’ve really been taking it easy,” Bavuma said on Thursday in Bloemfontein, where he will lead South Africa on Friday in the first of three World Cup Super League (WCSL) matches against England. “I’ve had the opportunity to be with family and deal with issues. It’s been really relaxing.”

Bavuma will have to snap out of his idyll. England must be beaten at least once if South Africa are to qualify directly for the World Cup in India in October and November. The South Africans have won only five of their 16 WCSL games, and must earn at least three more victories from their remaining five matches to be reasonably confident of not having to go to a qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe in June and July.

Since that dark day in Adelaide, Shukri Conrad and Rob Walter have replaced Mark Boucher as red-ball and white-ball coaches and the success of the SA20 has proved South Africans are still cricket fans. Just less so when South Africa are in action. The men’s national team have become damaged goods.

Bavuma was not bought in the SA20 player auction, perhaps because his base price of USD50,000 was too high for a specialist batter who has a T20 strike rate of 123.21. In the open market, the fact that he is South Africa’s captain counts for nothing.

Like millions of his compatriots Bavuma has had his nose pressed against the window of the roaring success the SA20 has become. The tournament has been blessed with good weather, bumper crowds, high quality cricket, and no shortage of fun for all involved. It must seem strange for someone so central to the game in South Africa to be frozen out of the best thing to happen to cricket in decades.

“It guess it seems unusual,” Bavuma said. “It’s happened that way, and there’s nothing I can really do about it. As unusual as it is, people have to go on. I’m definitely one of those people who move on with things. Whatever happens, whatever comes your way, I’ll always try to keep a smile on my face irrespective of what’s happening.”

South Africa have had an average record under Bavuma, winning half of their 14 ODIs and 15 of their 25 T20Is. But the defeat by the Dutch was, in every way, their worst performance in living memory. It prompted rightful and immediate questions of whether he was reconsidering his position as captain.

“It was quite an emotional time,” Bavuma said. “I thought it was unfair to be asked that question right after walking off the field after a loss. Conversations were had with the relevant people. I’m still in it. I’ve said to the guys if they would still like me to be the guy to lead I’m happy to do it.

“I’ve never made it about me. It’s always been about the team. Whenever the team hasn’t performed well I’ve tried to shield the guys. When the team has done well, I don’t think you’ve ever heard me say it was about me. If the team wants to go in a different direction with a different leader I’m happy to step away.”

Walter, who is set to return from New Zealand in time to take over the team next month, and has entrusted Conrad to do the job in the interim, will make that decision.

“He’ll have his vision and he’ll need somebody to drive that vision,” Bavuma said. “At the moment the coach has entrusted me with that role. I’ll continue doing my best. Fortunately I’ve got a bunch of guys who support me. It’s business as usual.”

It will have to be business unusual if South Africa are to take an uncomplicated path to the World Cup.

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Archer’s arrows could hit South Africa’s World Cup cause

“There’s always going to be a level of expectation on Jofra because we all know what he’s capable of.” – Jos Buttler looks forward to unleashing Jofra Archer.

Telford Vice / Cape Town

“IT seems like there’s an echo in the room; it’s the same question,” Shukri Conrad said as he glanced at various parts of the ceiling during a press conference in Bloemfontein on Thursday. He had been asked, for the third time in not quite 13 minutes, about the importance of South Africa’s World Cup Super League series against England.

South Africa’s fate, as it stands, is still in their grasp. If they win their five remaining ODIs — three against England, starting on Friday, and the two rescheduled fixtures against the Netherlands — they will attain direct qualification. If they slip up in one of those games, they will need Sri Lanka to lose at least one of their three ODIs in New Zealand in March. If South Africa can only pull off three wins in the five fixtures, they will need more external favours — for Sri Lanka to lose two to New Zealand as well as Ireland to lose one on their away tour of Bangladesh. Any other combination will send South Africa to the qualifiers.

England are fourth in the standings, so well on course for the top-eight finish that would guarantee the holders — it’s difficult to call a team who were awarded the trophy by dint of a boundary count in 2019 the champions — a place in India.

The home side’s challenge won’t be made easier by the confirmed return of Jofra Archer, who hasn’t played for England since March 2021 because of injury. Archer, who estimated his readiness at “about 80%” on Wednesday, has been in decent nick in the SA20, where he has taken eight wickets at an economy rate of 7.57 in five games in which he has bowled 19 overs.

Archer isn’t the only member of England’s squad who has been able to tune up for the series by playing in the SA20. Jos Buttler is the leading run-scorer in a tournament in which Phil Salt has scored two half-centuries. Jason Roy, Olly Stone, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid and Reece Topley have also been in the mix, with varying degrees of success.

Of the South Africa squad of 16, only Temba Bavuma isn’t playing in the SA20 — he wasn’t bought at the player auction. Heinrich Klaasen has made three 50s in the tournament, Quinton de Kock two, and Aiden Markram and Marco Jansen one each. Anrich Nortjé has claimed 13 wickets at an economy rate of 6.07, with Lungi Ngidi taking nine at 6.39, Parnell nine at 8.43 and Kagiso Rabada seven at 7.40.

The is the first white-ball series South Africa will play after Mark Boucher’s departure in the wake of the T20 World Cup in Australia in October and November. Boucher has been replaced by Shukri Conrad in a Test capacity and by Rob Walter for white-ball cricket. Conrad will be in charge for the England series while Walter, who has been coaching in New Zealand since 2016, packs up his life and moves back to South Africa.

England are the only visiting team never to have lost an ODI to South Africa in Bloemfontein. They have won three of the four they have played there with the other tied.

When: January 27, 2023; 1pm Local Time (3pm BST, 4.30pm IST)

Where: Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein

What to expect: A flat pitch and plenty of running between the wickets on the biggest outfield in South Africa. That could be interesting considering a forecast high of 32 degrees Celsius.

Team news:

South Africa: In their most recent ODI in Bloem, in March 2020, South Africa deployed both Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi — and dismissed Australia for 271 on their way to victory by six wickets. The spinners kept the damage to under a run a ball, but the star on the day/night was Lungi Ngidi, who took 6/58. Might we see that kind of configuration again?

Possible XI: Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma (capt), Heinrich Klaasen, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi.

England: Phil Salt’s involvement is in doubt because of illness. If he doesn’t make it Ben Duckett will step into the breach.

Possible XI: Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Dawid Malan, Jos Buttler (capt), Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley

What they said:

“We know where we stand in terms of how many games we need to win. But we’d like to shift our focus. There’s an opportunity for us to clear up our identity and how we’d like to play. We’d like to use these games to do that.” — Temba Bavuma seems resigned to having to go to the World Cup qualifier.

“This will be his first international game for a long time, and there’s always going to be a level of expectation on Jofra because we all know what he’s capable of.” — Jos Buttler looks forward to unleashing Jofra Archer.

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Titans triumph in tight title race

“This was the most competitive long-format series in the history of our domestic structure.” – Pholetsi Moseki, CSA acting chief executive

Telford Vice | Cape Town

HOW big is 7.42 points in a soup of hundreds? Big enough to decide the champions of South Africa’s 2021/22 first-class competition. The Titans topped the standings by that margin when the last round of fixtures ended on Monday.

But, as late as Sunday evening, they were in third place. The leaders were the Warriors, who were a sliver of 0.44 points ahead of the Lions, with the Titans a further 2.14 adrift. As CSA acting chief executive Pholetsi Moseki was quoted as saying in a release on Tuesday: “This was the most competitive long-format series in the history of our domestic structure, with the teams fighting till the very last day of the series for the title.”

What happened between Sunday evening and Monday afternoon? Essentially, the Titans beat the Lions in Centurion and the Knights and Warriors drew in Bloemfontein. But there was more to it than that.

The Titans took the Lions’ six remaining wickets for 143 runs and then knocked off their nominal target of 62 to win by seven wickets. Central to that drama was Simon Harmer, who bowled more than a third of the overs the Lions faced in the match and took 6/84 in the second innings to finish the game with 9/168. The off-spinner’s sizzling summer haul of 44 wickets at 19.29 made him the competition’s leading bowler.

Mitchell van Buuren’s 103 not out had steadied the Lions’ first innings of 270. The Titans replied with 482, an advantage of 212, with Theunis de Bruyn scoring 143 and seamer Codi Yusuf taking 5/91. Van Buuren was also the Lions’ lynchpin in the second innings, in which he made 107.

In the other key fixture, in Bloem, — and based on Sunday evening’s scenario — victory for the Warriors would have seen them secure the title regardless of results elsewhere. Draws in Centurion and Bloemfontein would also have made the Warriors champions. Had the Lions won and the Warriors not, the Lions would have finished on top. If the Titans and Lions drew and the Knights won, the Lions also would have triumphed.

Rain prevented any play in Bloem on Sunday, so the visitors went into all or nothing mode and declared on their overnight score, which left them 61 runs behind. They had reduced the Knights to 82/8 in their second innings — a lead of 143 — when hands were shaken on the draw. Medium pacer Mthiwekhaya Nabe took 4/26 to finish the match with 7/71.

Patrick Botha’s 123 had served the Knights well in their first innings of 227, in which left-arm fast bowler Tiaan van Vuuren claimed 4/46. The Warriors slipped to 67/3 inside 20 overs before Rudi Second and Diego Rosier scored half-centuries in an unbroken stand of 99 that took them to what turned out to be their declaration total.

As for the also rans in the first division, Western Province beat North West by an innings and 132 runs at Newlands, and Boland and the Dolphins drew in Paarl.

Medium pacer Delano Potgieter had WP captain Tony de Zorzi caught behind in the fourth over of the Cape Town match with a solitary run on the board. But 128 by De Zorzi’s opening partner, Jonathan Bird, and 153 by Daniel Smith helped the home side total 576 despite Potgieter taking 6/87. George Linde claimed 5/69 and Kyle Simmonds, also a left-arm spinner, 4/24 as North West slumped to 202 all out. They followed on 374 behind and were dismissed for 242. No. 4 Senuran Muthusamy was last out for 101.

In the winelands, Keegan Petersen made 123 and Andile Phehlukwayo 107, and fast bowler Achille Cloete and leg spinner Shaun von Berg shared six wickets, in the Dolphins’ first innings of 422. Pieter Malan’s undefeated 219 — which confirmed him as the season’s leading batter with 601 runs at 120.20 in seven innings — allowed Boland to declare at 422/8. Fast bowler Eathan Bosch and off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen took three wickets each.

Northern Cape finished on top of the second division by winning three of their six matches and losing one. The leaders in the promotion-relegation standings after the 2022/23 season will move up to the top tier at the expense of the bottom team in the first division. Currently, the Knights are that team.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Does the A team plan come together?

“I sat in a South Africa A changeroom telling everyone this is the next-best XI. There was an injury in the Test team not a week later and no-one got the call-up.” – Stephen Cook

Telford Vice | Cape Town

Cricket is famously big on numbers. Think of a novel way of crunching them and some accountant in pads probably has been there, done that and plugged the equation into the game’s grand statosphere. But here’s one that will no doubt dip below the radar. And it features a century, no less.

When South Africa A next take the field in a first-class match, they will do so for the 100th time. Of the flood of facts cricket sends our way, that is sure to wash past us unnoticed. Who could care that a team few beyond the players and their coaches and parents think about will bring up a century of games?

Jimmy Cook, for a start. Aged 40, he captained South Africa A in the first of those 99 matches, against England A at St George’s Park in January 1994. The home side included Mickey Arthur and Eric Simons, and they faced Darren Gough and Peter Such. Here’s how Cook recalled the occasion in conversation with Cricbuzz: “I played one game [for South Africa A]. It was against England … or perhaps England A, or something like that. Down in PE [Gqeberha]. It was later in my career, and they probably wanted one or two experienced guys to go with the youngsters.”

Many would forgive Cook his fuzzy memory. In 1994, no-one quite knew what to do with this strange new thing called A team cricket. Was it a reward for stalwart servants of the game who had never cracked it at the highest level? Was it a testing ground for the next generation of internationals that offered something they couldn’t experience in domestic competition? Why was it called A team cricket when, clearly, it was played by B teams?

Almost 28 years on, not a lot would seem to have changed. On Thursday the A teams of South Africa and India completed a series of three four-day matches in Bloemfontein. The games weren’t on television — they were streamed online — and garnered scant media coverage. Without trying to be nasty to Bloem, a small, sleepy city deep in the belly of South Africa’s inland plateau, not many people there would have noticed if something was or wasn’t happening at the local cricket ground.

It didn’t help that all of the matches were drawn, and not in interesting ways. The first, when rain prevented any play on the fourth day, never reached the third innings. The Indians chased targets in the last two games, but neither side challenged for victory. Pieter Malan, Tony de Zorzi, Zubayr Hamza and Abhimanyu Easwaran scored centuries, and Lutho Sipamla claimed the only five-wicket haul. What, exactly, was the point?

“You can bring in younger guys, and if you have a South Africa batsman who’s out of form he can play in those types of games,” Cook said. “It’s probably a slightly higher standard than you would have in a provincial game, especially when the international players are not involved in the domestic stuff. It’s a worthwhile thing to have.”

To make his point, Cook recalled his initial glimpse of Aiden Markram: “I remember going to watch Stephen [Cook, his son] play for South Africa A, and that’s where I saw Markram bat for the first time. I said to Stephen, ‘This oke [bloke] has got South Africa written all over him.’ That was a valuable introduction for him. He could play at a slightly higher level and get used to it, and then come into the Test team and play so well.”

Cook the younger might want to have a word with his father about that. He and Markram opened the batting for South Africa A in two matches against India A in Potchefstroom in August 2017. Cook made 98 and 70 in the first game, and 120 and 32 in the second. Markram outscored him only once in efforts of 74, 19, 22 and 79.

Stephen Cook, who retired with 11 Test caps, played nine first-class matches for South Africa A between August 2010 and August 2017. He captained them in four of them. What changed in the 16 years between his father turning out for ostensibly the country’s second XI near the end of a career laden with runs, and him following in those footsteps as a 27-year-old still making his way?

“In South Africa, we’ve used the A side in different ways,” Stephen Cook told Cricbuzz. “At certain stages it’s been very much a developmental team and at other times it’s been a next-best XI. At times it’s flip-flopped between the two, and that’s probably led to people asking how good is the standard. Are those the figures and the performances we should be looking at? Are those the guys next in line?

“From a player’s point of view, being clear on what type of side is being selected is very important. Arguably, at times it has led to more frustration than anything else. I remember sitting in a South Africa A changeroom telling everyone this is the next-best XI, that we were the next cab off the rank. Lo and behold, there was an injury in the Test team not even a week later and no-one from the A team got the call-up. In that era it lost a lot of credibility as a next-best scenario, but now it plays a bigger role. Maybe that’s because of the bigger squads due to Covid, and we need to know the depth of what we’ve got. So I think our A team structures have been better in recent years.”

He felt the increased frequency with which the A teams of South Africa, India and Australia have played each other in recent years during their shared off-season was important, as was going on tour with an A side: “It’s really positive when you go and play in different conditions. The away series hold double the weight. In [August] 2010 I had three weeks in Sri Lanka. Playing in hot, sticky conditions on those turning wickets was great for my career development. We had a series in Australia [in July and August 2016], mainly to play pink-ball cricket.”

His spell in Sri Lanka came almost six years before his Test debut in January 2016, but the Australian experience paid prompt dividends: he scored 40 and 104 in a day/night Test in Adelaide in November 2016.

Relevance, Stephen Cook said, was key: “If you set up a purpose and there’s a reason behind it, then it’s fantastic. When there’s a feeling that we’re obliged to play an A side in the winter, then it can lose its lustre. That’s the danger. You need to make sure there’s something behind that cap.” Happily, there was in the South Africa-India A series, what with the start of the Test series between those teams looming in Centurion on December 26.

India’s home Tests against New Zealand coincided with the A rubber in South Africa. Consequently, the only member of the A squad who will stay on for the Tests is Hanuma Vihari. He played the last of his dozen Tests in January, and made a decent case for a recall by scoring 227 runs at 75.66 in his five innings in Bloem.

South Africa have been idle since their ill-fated ODI home series against the Netherlands, which started and ended — for Covid reasons — on November 26. Their Test team last played in June, and their most recent match in the format at home was in January, when the captain was still Quinton de Kock. Division one sides have played four rounds of matches in this season’s domestic first-class competition, but it won’t hurt Dean Elgar’s and Mark Boucher’s chances of getting their heads around what it will take to beat India that Sarel Erwee, Beuran Hendricks, Marco Jansen, George Linde, Glenton Stuurman and Prenelan Subrayen — who were all busy in Bloem — are in the Test squad.

The more cricket, the better. Even if, sometimes, it can seem pointless. Maybe that’s what A teams are all about.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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The long and winding road from province to franchise to province

“Would you think cricket is in a really good position now? Or was it better before? Whatever they’ve done in the franchise era, it’s been a giant failure.” – Wendell Bossenger

Telford Vice | Cape Town

OTHER than a flat, straight road that stretches across the belly of South Africa for 165 kilometres, nothing separates Kimberley from Bloemfontein. The earthy people, the welcoming atmosphere, the dusty air in these two places is the same. That, at least, is the outsider’s view. Locals couldn’t disagree more.

Kimberley’s heart is a hole that was dug, using only picks and shovels, 240 metres deep by 50,000 miners. They found 2,720 kilogrammes of diamonds from 1871 to 1914. Naval Hill towers incongruously — we are deep inland — over Bloemfontein. It is so named because it was where British naval guns were stationed during the Anglo-Boer War at the turn of the 19th century.

Arch-colonist Cecil John Rhodes would stop at the Halfway House in Kimberley on his ride between diamond mines and slake his thirst while still mounted on his horse. At the Mystic Boer in Bloemfontein, tops were popped off beer bottles by an expertly handled large knife, everyone smoked, including non-smokers, the pool tables were occupied by people who discovered this was the only place in the world where they were any good at the game — but only at 4am — and from backlit photographs on the walls long-dead Boer guerrillas peered down on the scene with baleful disapproval.

“The Half” has been there since 1872. It still is, old and improved without glorified land thieves and their horses. “Mystic”, established in 1997, became a Covid casualty last year. The people of Kimberley wouldn’t say so out loud, but they will see that difference as proof of their city’s superiority over Bloemfontein, which has long rolled its eyes at its smalltown neighbour 165 kilometres down the highway.

It seems all of this went over CSA’s heads when it decided, in 2003, that the cricket unions of Griqualand West and Orange Free State — the areas centred on Kimberley and Bloemfontein – would join forces to form a franchise based in Bloem. Griquas were grumpy enough to resort to legal action, which they lost. That was the most dramatic of the birthing challenges that marked South Africa’s move from 11 provincial teams to six franchises in the summer 2004-05.

But it’s not as if the team originally called the Eagles — now the Knights — were the only imperfect partnership. East London and Gqeberha, the new name for Port Elizabeth, are 285 kilometres apart along the east coast. But, in cricket culture terms, Border and Eastern Province are from different worlds. So the Warriors have never quite clicked across provincial lines. Neither have the Cobras — a gnu of Western Province, Boland and South Western Districts — the Titans, where Northerns and Easterns are supposed to get along just fine, nor the Lions, a cobbling of Gauteng and North West.

In each of those instances economically stronger provinces swallowed smaller siblings, who had to grin and bear the truth that the other guys didn’t think they belonged in their shared, passionless dressingroom; that they were there because the suits said they had to be. To the public, fake teams with made-up names that had no history to lean on were about as attractive as being stuck in traffic. Crowds at provincial matches started thinning once South Africa returned to international competition in 1991, but at franchise games they became thinner than cattle in a drought, which led CSA to throw open the gates at first-class games. All that did was confirm what was widely suspected: not only could you not convince people to pay to watch this kind of cricket, you couldn’t give it away for free. Even the cricketing gods have given up on the stuff — the first-class final between the Dolphins and the Titans at Kingsmead, the last franchise match that will be played, has seen only 10 overs bowled in two days because of the weather.

Provincial cricket has continued to exist and has even retained first-class status, but it is scoffed at as a sad relic of an outmoded past. Not for much longer. From next season the franchises will be gone and the provinces will again offer South Africa’s highest level of the domestic game. Why? Because more players need more opportunities in more teams, say the suits. A bidding process has decided which eight teams will be in the top division and which of the other seven will fight for the single promotion spot when that part of the system is activated in 2023-24. Partly, this has always been about money. The creation of the franchises drove the provinces into the amateur ranks, which shrank the coterie of professional players. When the franchises go out of business there will be 75 fewer player contracts on offer.

The cricketing logic that drove 11 provinces into six franchises was that it would mean only the best players emerged, that there would be no room for mediocrity. And that would make South Africa stronger in the international arena. The decision was taken in the wake of Australia winning five of their six Tests against South Africa in home-and-away series in 2001-02. All of Australia’s international players are drawn from six state sides. If it works for the Aussies it will work for us, was the thinking. Did it?

“Would you think cricket is in a really good position now? Or was it better before? That will answer everything. If I look at franchise cricket now and the players who are around, and where we are ranked in the world, and how good we really are compared to when the provincial system stopped, it’s not much of a comparison. Whatever they’ve done in the franchise era, with all their performance chains and systems, it’s been a giant failure.”

That’s Wendell Bossenger, whose name you might not know if you aren’t familiar with the snakes ’n ladders of South African domestic cricket. Bossenger’s senior career lasted from October 1996 to February 2011. He was a silkily skilled wicketkeeper, a versatile batter and a capable captain; an allround model professional and an asset to any team. But his team were Griquas. With vacancies for ’keeper-batters limited to one per team, and with the number of top teams reduced from 11 to six from 2004-05, leaving Griquas out in the cold, Bossenger was denied his shot at leaving a legacy that could easily have included an international career. Instead he kept labouring in relative obscurity, surfacing in two first-class games for the Eagles in 2006-07. He was part of CSA coaching structures, has worked with the Titans on a part-time basis, and is now based in George as a sales representative for a sporting goods company. “I’ve been a house husband for three years — Covid got me out of retirement,” he said.

After the 2003-04 season, when the provinces were shoved aside, South Africa were second in the Test and ODI rankings. They are now sixth in Tests and T20Is and fifth in the ODI standings. But what of South Africa’s rise to No. 1 in the Test rankings in August 2012, a place they held until January 2016 but for an interruption of three months by Australia?

“You can’t say players like [Graeme] Smith, [Jacques] Kallis and [Mark] Boucher came from the franchises,” Bossenger said. “That’s the old system. They managed to make [franchise cricket] look good, and once they faded away we were left with six teams where no-one’s really playing good cricket anymore.”

All of the players who featured in the 2-0 series win in England in August 2012, which put South Africa on top of the Test rankings, made their first-class debuts before the franchise era. The closest to the cusp were AB de Villiers, Vernon Philander, Morné Morkel and Dale Steyn, who all came up in 2003-04 — the last summer the provinces represented the big time. For those of Bossenger’s view, that was also the last summer South African cricket was of a high enough quality to allow players to step up into the international arena confident that they could handle what was coming their way.

“Shouldn’t we look to 11 teams to create as much depth as we possibly can in every position in every province? Yes, we would have a couple of really strong provinces. But, in general, we would have a lot of feeder provinces playing against each other. I played for Griquas, and my statistics were better than a lot of the guys who played in major provinces. So when I played against a big union I wasn’t out of my depth. Now I don’t think we have even enough guys to put a proper Test team together. It is disappointing watching now, having been part of an era where the standard was really good, which was built on an era before that when we had really strong teams. And we just said to them, ‘Half of you guys are not allowed to play [top level] cricket anymore. Go away and do something else.’”

Following the Australian template had “led us down a very bad path. We’re a completely different nation and mix of cultures. We need to get back to who we really are as a nation; our own DNA and identity. That’s really important. We don’t want to just hope we’re good. We want to know it.” Putting the provinces first again was “definitely the right way to go. Hopefully we can get the right framework for this thing to work again. I do believe there are still very clever people out there who can make it work, and we have a lot of good cricketers of all races and some good coaches who are really passionate about the game and work hard. You need to rebuild the system with that.”

Neil McKenzie, who began his first-class career for what would now be called Gauteng’s B team in January 1995 and ended it in the colours of the Lions in March 2015, concurs with some of Bossenger’s sentiments: “The provincial sides were highly competitive. South Africa’s international players were playing week in and week out. In terms of strength, our cricket was at its toughest then. The bowlers really came at you. When I first played Natal had Malcolm Marshall, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener, Ross Veenstra … At EP it was Brett Schultz and Eldine Baptiste. Northerns had Fanie de Villiers and Tertius Bosch, and they were considered a more beatable side; more a one-day team. You had to know your story playing against those attacks.”

Even so, McKenzie says the franchise era has given South Africa “good, proper cricket”. But he feels it was undermined by the subsequent exponential increase in the players’ commitments: “The IPL and the other T20 leagues weren’t around [before the franchises] and there wasn’t as much international cricket. You weren’t losing the big names. And the more world class players you’ve got in the system, they help more than any of the coaches. A guy batting with Hashim Amla, Graeme Smith or Jacques Kallis is going to learn more from one innings than he would from 10 net sessions.”

The IPL has coincided with South Africa’s summer only three times in its 13 editions, and even then only partially. But there are plenty of other T20 leagues that could get in the way of the national cause. South Africa played 427 matches from their return from isolation in November 1991 to the end of major provincial cricket. In the equivalent time after the advent of the franchises they played 474. In less than the past 13 years they’ve played 482. So the bigger the star the less they will be in action in domestic cricket, whatever its shape.

That’s nothing new. Kagiso Rabada played 26 matches last year: nine for South Africa and the other 17 for the Delhi Capitals. That he has appeared seven times for the Lions in 2021 has as much to do with the pandemic — a visit by Australia was called off — as CSA planning. McKenzie’s memory of the South Africa spearhead’s most recent match, against the Titans at the Wanderers last week, was vivid: “You had Rabada running in against [Aiden] Markram and [Dean] Elgar. That’s what you want.”

It is. But you can’t always get what you want. Kimberley has a hole. Bloemfontein has a hill. There’s no changing that, come old fashioned hotels, dodgy bars, provinces or franchises.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Knights, Warriors win, Migael Pretorius heads for Centurion

Raynard van Tonder’s 200 was his sixth century in 58 first-class innings, his fourth score of 150 or more, and his third double century.

TELFORD VICE | Cape Town

WHEN the latest round of first-class matches in South Africa started on Sunday, Migael Pretorius might not have been thinking too far beyond the next four days. When the round ended on Wednesday, he was probably trying not to think about making his Test debut against Sri Lanka at Centurion on December 26.

Fast bowler Pretorius was added to South Africa’s ranks on Wednesday in the absence of Kagiso Rabada, the victim of a lingering groin strain who CSA say has “not yet been medically cleared” to play in the Test series. With Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortjé, Beuran Hendricks and Glenton Stuurman also in the squad, Pretorius looks unlikely to crack the nod even if South Africa field an all-pace attack. But, having taken 20 wickets at 20.65 in five first-class matches this season, he has earned recognition.

Pretorius didn’t have too much to do with the Knights beating the Lions by nine wickets in Bloemfontein on Wednesday: he took 3/102 in the match. The tone of the contest was set in its opening hour, when Raynard van Tonder walked to the crease at the fall of the Knights’ first wicket. When he was dismissed more than seven-and-a-half hours of playing time later, Van Tonder had scored 200 — his sixth century in 58 first-class innings, his fourth score of 150 or more, and his third double century. Van Tonder hit 112 of his runs in fours and sixes, no mean feat on South Africa’s biggest ground in area terms.

But Ferisco Adams’ 96 was the Knights’ only other effort of more than 30 in a total of 472 in which the biggest partnership was the 111 shared by Van Tonder and Shaun von Berg, who faced 83 balls for his gritty 21. Leg spinner Von Berg increased his share of the spotlight by taking 5/93 in the Lions’ reply of 262, which would have been significantly smaller had Rassie van der Dussen not stood firm for an unbeaten 107.

The Lions followed on 210 runs behind, and this time opener Dominic Hendricks kept their heads above water until he was last out for 98. But, with Von Berg sharing the new ball and taking 4/68 — completing a match haul of 9/161 — left-arm fast bowler Duan Jansen claiming 4/44 on his franchise debut, and the visitors losing their last eight wickets for 85 runs, the Knights needed only 18 to win. They got there in six overs.

The Warriors beat the Cobras by 80 runs at St George’s Park despite the visitors taking a lead of 61 into the second innings. That happened because the Warriors crashed to 194 all out in two sessions with Rudi Second’s 55 — all but nine of them in boundaries — their only highlight and George Linde taking 4/52. Kyle Verreynne hit 80 of his 97 in fours to help the Cobras reply with 255. Marco Jansen and Jon-Jon Smuts took three wickets each.

There were more runs left in Second’s bat, 114 of them, and Yaseen Vallie’s 57 — and the 167 they put on for the third wicket — seemed to have established the Warriors’ dominance. But Vallie and Second were dismissed by consecutive deliveries, the start of a slide that would net eight wickets for 90 runs with Calvin Savage taking 4/81. The Cobras chased 265 to win but were dismissed for 184 with Smuts snapping up 3/47. Opener Janneman Malan, who scored 65, was the only Cobras batter to reach 20.

The other match of the round, between the Titans and the Dolphins at Centurion, was called off after the first day because one of the Dolphins’ players was confirmed to have contracted Covid-19. By then, Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar had scored half-centuries in the Titans’ first innings of 269/9, and Ruan de Swardt and Keshav Maharaj had taken 4/41 and 3/48.

Negative tests for Covid permitting, Markram and Elgar will open the batting for South Africa against Sri Lanka, while Maharaj is the only specialist spinner in the squad. Ngidi, Sarel Erwee and Keegan Petersen, who were involved in the match but didn’t get the chance to show what form they’re in, are also in the mix for the Test series.

Of the other players in the Test squad whose performances aren’t mentioned above, Beuran Hendricks took 1/77, Wiaan Mulder scored 26 and claimed 2/68, and Stuurman took 4/101 and made 30. CSA said Quinton de Kock and Anrich Nortjé were rested for this week’s matches while Faf du Plessis was granted time off to be with his family before South Africa’s busy summer resumes.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Has Shamsi turned into a Test spinner?

8/32 the best figures by a slow bowler in South Africa in 25 years.

TELFORD VICE | Cape Town

IT’S too soon to say Tabraiz Shamsi should replace Keshav Maharaj in South Africa’s Test team, but the left-arm wrist spinner did his cause no harm at St George’s Park this week.

Shamsi, who has played 44 white-ball internationals but only two Tests, took 8/32 for the Titans in the second innings of their match against the Warriors. Maharaj, South Africa’s first-choice Test spinner since 2016, claimed match figures of 3/187 for the Dolphins against the Knights in Bloemfontein.

Both matches were played on slow surfaces that took turn, but neither will be used in the Test series against Sri Lanka — which will be played at Centurion and the Wanderers from December 26. Those are the fastest pitches in the country, and spin is likely to be little more than an afterthought.

So Beuran Hendricks’ career-best 7/29 in the first innings for the Lions against the Cobras in Johannesburg, and the 3/56 he took in the second dig to complete match figures of 10/85, could be his ticket to more Test caps.

Shamsi’s haul bettered Dale Steyn’s 8/41 against the Eagles — the Knights former name — in Bloem in December 2007 as the best performance by any bowler in an innings for the Titans. Not since Stephen Peall took 9/76 for a Zimbabwe Board XI against Boland B in Paarl in October 1995 has a spinner returned better innings figures in a first-class match South Africa.

Unsurprisingly, Shamsi stood out in a match in which no-one made a century — Dean Elgar scored 66 and Heinrich Klaasen 68 among four half-centuries — and no other bowler took more than four wickets in an innings. The Warriors were dismissed for 124 in their second innings and the Titans knocked off their target of 63 in nine overs to win by eight wickets.

Back in Bloem, Raynard van Tonder’s 166 took the Knights to a first innings total of 424. Migael Pretorius, who made his career-best score of 62 in that innings, and Alfred Mothoa shared seven wickets to dismiss the Dolphins for 162, and a century stand for the Knights between Pite von Biljon and Farhaan Behardien, who scored 93 and 50, set the visitors a target of 471. They were bowled out for 243 with Pretorius taking 4/52 to complete a match haul of 7/102.

With Hendricks on fire at the Wanderers, the Cobras were shot out for 115, of which Kyle Verreyne scored 55 off 66 balls. Opener Dominic Hendricks was ninth out for 130 in the Lions’ reply of 324, a difference of 209 runs. The Cobras crashed to 22/3 in their second innings before Tony de Zorzi and Verreyne steadied them with a partnership of 136 and scores of 67 and 72. But they were both dismissed before George Linde took guard at 167/5 to score an unbeaten 69. That, and Nandré Burger’s 38 not out, helped the Cobras take the lead and stay at the crease until elbows were bumped on the draw.

Thursday’s results mean the Titans and the Knights have won both their fixtures while the Dolphins have slipped to their first loss. The Warriors have gone down twice, and the Cobras have lost and drawn.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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