Brandon King – Bulletproof Truth

South Africa’s slow days at Sabina

“The batters will have a good chat and reflect. Then hopefully we can come out and do a better job.” – Reeza Hendricks

Telford Vice / Cape Town

SOUTH Africa have played more than twice as many men’s matches across the formats in England, and almost twice as many in Australia, as they have in West Indies. But they have been significantly more successful in the Caribbean than in England or Australia.

That wasn’t the case at Sabina Park on Thursday. West Indies, who were headed for an IPLesque total when they reached 115/1 in 10.5 overs, were limited to 175/8. South Africa were never in the hunt in their reply, slumping to 96/6 after 14 overs and being dismissed for 147 in 19.5. The Windies’ victory, by 28 runs, was their biggest over South Africa in terms of runs in the 20 T20Is the teams have contested.

That result is an outlier. South Africa’s winning percentage in the Caribbean, 59.38, is higher than any other major team’s. It is also higher than South Africa have achieved in India (48.88%), Pakistan (47.37%), New Zealand (45.16%), Australia (41.32%), Sri Lanka (37.93%) and England (32.65%).

Doubtless the South Africans’ success in the Caribbean is tied to the fact that, because of apartheid, they never played there during most of West Indies’ pomp — they first toured the region in April 1992. But it remains true that they win more often on the islands than in most away countries.

Not on Thursday, when they were undone by canny opponents on a sluggish pitch. Consequently competitive performances by their players were few and far between. Thoughtful, skilful bowling by Andile Phehlukwayo and debutant Ottneil Baartman and Andile Phehlukwayo claimed 6/54 in the eight overs they bowled between them. Opener Reeza Hendricks, who was ninth out for a 51-ball 87, delivered the visitors’ only noteworthy innings.

“[Brandon] King played an unbelievable knock [of 79 off 45], but then our bowlers brought it back nicely,” Hendricks told reporters in Kingston. “I thought we did a great job to restrict them to the total we did. But the conditions changed a lot and that put us on the back foot. The pitch played alright in the first innings, but then it got a lot slower and assisted the spin bowlers, which made it challenging.”

The teams will return to the scene on Saturday for the second of the series’ three matches, and South Africa’s supporters will look for signs of lessons having been learnt. “The batters will have a good chat now and reflect on [Thursday’s] game,” Hendricks said. “Then hopefully we can come out and do a better job.”

Or maybe it’s just Sabina Park, where South Africa have the lowest winning percentage — 33.33 — among all of the dozen West Indians grounds on which they have played. So there is good news and bad news for their fans.

The last two games of the rubber, on Saturday and Sunday, will also be played in Kingston. But the vibrant Jamaican capital is not one of the nine American and West Indian host cities for the T20 World Cup, which starts with a game between the United States and Canada in Dallas next Sunday.

South Africa will start their campaign against Sri Lanka on June 3 in Nassau County, where they will also play the Netherlands and Bangladesh. The temporary venue has been purpose-built for the tournament, and its pitches have been prepared in Australia.

Conditions there will thus be unknown to all, which is perhaps no bad thing. Because sometimes the devil nobody knows is better than those everyone does.

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How to lose, South Africa style

“The important thing is for everyone to give their input and then trust the guys we’ve trusted to do the job for us.” – Rassie van der Dussen

Telford Vice / Cape Town

THERE is a West Indian way to hit a cricket ball, a method that taunts the limits of torque and machismo and is not at all uneasy on the eye. It’s about curves and crunches and curbing, just, the ambition to smack it clean out of the Caribbean.

That way held sway for 65 deliveries in the first men’s T20I at Sabina Park on Thursday. But canny bowling by South Africa reeled in West Indies’ 115/1 after those 10.5 overs and limited them to a total of 175/8.

Somehow that was enough to hold the visitors, who dithered, dallied and dwindled to defeat by 28 runs — the Windies’ biggest win in terms of runs among the nine successes they have achieved in their 20 games in the format against these opponents. And that despite Reeza Hendricks’ defiant career-best 87 off 51 balls.

Andile Phehlukwayo started rerouting the home side’s innings with a slower ball that claimed the important wicket of Brandon King, courtesy of Rassie van der Dussen hanging onto a steepling catch in the covers. King’s bruising 45-ball 79 — he scored more than three-quarters of his runs in fours and sixes — was the epitome of the West Indian way.

King owned 28 of the first 34 runs in the match that came off the bat. He scored 29 in an opening stand of 36 off 22 with Johnson Charles, and 50 of the 79 that flowed off 44 for the second wicket with Kyle Mayers.

At the point of King’s dismissal West Indies’ strike rate was 176.92. For the rest of the innings it was 98.36. The nerveless Phehlukwayo did more than his bit to make that happen by bowling Andre Fletcher with an inswinger and trapping Fabian Allen in front in the space of four deliveries in his fourth over. Debutant Ottneil Baartman did much of the rest, overcoming a second over that went for 11 runs to take 3/26.

Phehlukwayo and Baartman bowled with aplomb — their slower balls in particular — to inflict most of the damage as the Windies lost seven wickets for 60 runs in not much more than the second half of their innings.

Van der Dussen was also instrumental in the recovery, consulting with his bowlers at every opportunity and projecting an impression of cool, calm control. He looked like someone who was playing his 124th international across the formats. He didn’t look like someone who was captaining at this level for the first time. He also didn’t seem bothered that he had been left out of South Africa’s squad for the T20 World Cup, which starts in Nassau County, near New York, next Sunday.

“I don’t feel like I need to prove anything,” Van der Dussen had told a press conference on Wednesday. “I think it’s pretty standard what I’m about as a cricketer. Yes, the coach [Rob Walter] has to pick a World Cup squad and there’s only 15 guys who can go. He has to come up with combinations that he feels gives us the best chance. And as a greater squad and as a country, that’s what it’s all about.

“I’m not in a situation where I haven’t played a lot of cricket or even international T20s. As a captain, yes, that’s a new challenge for me. So I’ll try and instill what I think is important, what I think can help the guys go to the World Cup and put in a performance there. We’re all fighting towards the same goal, and I think the important thing is for everyone to give their input and then trust the guys we’ve trusted to do the job for us.”

Trust is a big word in South African sport. The Springboks, South Africa’s men’s rugby union team, who have won a record four World Cups, exude this precious quality in spades. Their cricket counterparts, who have yet to reach a senior men’s World Cup final in either white-ball format, not so much. So there was an ominous familiarity about the South Africans crashing to 107/7 in 15 overs on their way to being bowled out for 147 in 19.5.

They lost Quinton de Kock, Ryan Rickelton and Matthew Breetzke inside five overs with only 35 runs scored. Then Gudakesh Motie and his impressive composure gutted the middle order, removing Van der Dussen and Wiaan Mulder in his second over and Bjorn Fortuin in his fourth.

Hendricks, often unfairly denied his place in the XI in the past, might have pulled off a miracle had his support been more sturdy. It wasn’t, and he holed out trying to Matthew Forde with the penultimate ball of the match. The next, with which Forde cleanbowled Baartman, completed a slide of 7/70 in 54 deliveries.

There is a South African way to lose cricket matches. This was a prime example. They have two chances to sort themselves out, against the same opposition and at the same venue on Saturday and Sunday, before it matters.

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WI-SA series between IPL rock and T20 World Cup hard place

“I called my mum to let her know I’m in the squad. I didn’t tell her I’m going to West Indies because she gets very, very emotional.” – Nqaba Peter

Telford Vice / Cape Town

DON’T bother trying to stop us even if you have heard this one nine times before: King Charles is likely to open the batting for West Indies in their men’s T20I series against South Africa that starts in Kingston on Thursday.

Brandon King, that is, and Johnson Charles. They’ve opened in nine of the 14 instances they’ve batted together in both kinds of white-ball internationals. So why not again in a rubber that is stuck between the rock of the ongoing IPL and the hard place of the impending T20 World Cup?

The series is made for that kind of joke. Here’s another: what do you get when two stand-in captains lead their teams at a ground the T20 World Cup won’t visit? You get King, Rassie van der Dussen and Sabina Park. Still another: what do you call players who are in the West Indies and South Africa squads for the series but haven’t cracked the provisional nod for the T20 World Cup? You call them on Saturday, because that’s when the T20 World Cup squads will be finalised.

We said there was room for jokes. We didn’t say they would be funny.

Please see below for the players who are not in action in Jamaica, largely thanks to the IPL. Among them are much of the cream of these two crops, which is hardly surprising considering the Indian tournament is the most important in the world of T20 cricket. Yes, that does take into account the T20 World Cup.

So, with Sunday’s IPL final bearing down on us like an approaching avalanche of, mostly, sixes, this series could be swept from memory even before it ends. But it will never be forgotten by King and Van der Dussen, who haven’t captained any of their senior national teams before. Fabian Allen, Alick Athanaze, Matthew Forde, Kyle Mayers, Hayden Walsh, Van der Dussen, Matthew Breetzke, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi and Nqaba Peter, meanwhile, will know Friday’s game is their last chance to sneak into the T20 World Cup.

It’s a long shot. Both camps would be loathe to make changes with the tournament starting seven days after the series ends, but it’s the only shot those players have.

Those already bound for the T20 World Cup will see the rubber as a chance to tighten whatever nuts and bolts are not yet secure. And to familiarise themselves with the conditions that will prevail for most of the tournament.

Spare a thought, then, for players who are not in the IPL spotlight nor primed to step onto the T20 World Cup stage. For them, this series is no joke.

When: May 23, 25 and 26, 2024; 2pm Local Time (9pm SAST, 12.30am IST)

Where: Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica

What to expect: Thunderstorms have been forecast for all four days of the series’ duration, but shouldn’t get in the way of the cricket too much. The six men’s T20Is played at this ground have yielded a century and three 50s, and a four-wicket haul and seven of three wickets — four of them by seamers. That would suggest it’s a bowler’s venue.

Team news:

West Indies:

Rovman Powell, Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford and Alzarri Joseph are not involved because of their IPL commitments, but Joseph could be included if Royal Challengers Bangalore don’t reach Sunday’s final. Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran have been rested. Fairytale fast bowler Shamar Joseph looks set for a T20I debut.

Possible XI: Brandon King (capt), Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Roston Chase, Kyle Mayers, Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd, Mathew Forde, Akeal Hosein, Obed McCoy, Shamar Joseph

South Africa:

The visitors’ IPL absentee list is also lengthy: Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen and Keshav Maharaj. Kagiso Rabada is also missing with a leg infection. Might leg spin sensation Nqaba Peter earn his first international cap in any format?

Possible XI: Quinton de Kock, Ryan Rickelton, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen (capt), Matthew Breetzke, Wiaan Mulder, Andile Phehlukwayo, Gerald Coetzee, Anrich Nortje, Nqaba Peter, Lungi Ngidi

What they said:

“This series is a vital part of our preparation [for the T20 World Cup]. Match practice is something that you cannot replicate in training. We are coming from a training camp [in Antigua], and this is an opportunity to put those plans and skills in place.” — Brandon King is eager to get cracking.

“I called my mum to let her know I’m in the squad. I didn’t tell her I’m going to West Indies because she gets very, very emotional.” — Nqaba Peter bowls his mother a googly.

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The truth behind Klaasen’s ton

“We fixed a little technical thing in the nets yesterday after about 50 balls of inside-and-outside edging.” – Heinrich Klaasen

Telford Vice / Cape Town

HOW many at JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom on Tuesday knew John “Beaver” Marks attended the rousingly named Communist University of the Toilers of the East in Moscow? Or that he lost one of the provincial presidencies of the African National Congress to a noisy young lawyer called Nelson Mandela? Or that he died — of natural causes, no mean feat all things considered — in the Russian capital in August 1972 after devoting most of his 69 years to the struggles of the working class?

Few, it’s safe to say. Even fewer would have cared to know such things. South Africans of all racial, class and political stripes are in chronic denial about the facts of their past, present and future. How many at the third ODI between South Africa and West Indies would have known that the public holiday, which enabled a 10am start, was called Human Rights Day?

Or that for some this will always be Sharpeville Day? On March 21, 1960 in Sharpeville, 85 kilometres from Potch, police opened fire on a peaceful protest against apartheid’s pass laws, killing 69 and injuring 180. Many were shot in the back. Incredibly, alarmingly, disgustingly, world cricket needed 10 more years to do the decent thing and ban South Africa’s teams from the international stage.

And that despite those teams never including anything but white players, and who would not play against opponents who weren’t entirely white. In those diabolical terms only seven of the 22 players who took the field on Tuesday would have been eligible.

What would the denizens of those dark days have made of the fact that the first player to help Lungi Ngidi celebrate his spectacular diving semi-snowcone catch in the deep to remove Kyle Mayers was Aiden Markram? Or that when Rob Walter walked onto the field after South Africa had won by four wickets with all of 20.3 overs to spare to square the series, the figure he engaged in conversation was Temba Bavuma — the man who will soon lead South Africa against the Netherlands and at the World Cup? Or that when Markram, who stood in as captain because Bavuma had tweaked a hamstring, was asked to pose for a photograph with Shai Hope and the trophy, he immediately beckoned Bavuma to come and share the picture? Or that the black, brown and white members of South Africa’s squad wore black armbands to pay Walter their respects on the occasion of the death of his father?

These matters might seem peripheral or even irrelevant to Heinrich Klaasen taking guard at 73/3 in the 11th with 188 still required, and cracking cover drives and pulverising pulls with gusto in an unbeaten 119. Klaasen hit 90 of his runs — more than 75% — in fours and sixes, and reached three figures off 54 balls. Only AB de Villiers, twice, and Mark Boucher have scored faster ODI centuries for South Africa. On top of that, it will do Marco Jansen’s progress to fully-fledged allrounderhood no harm that the 103 he shared off 62 with Klaasen was the major stand of the innings. If the perfect runchase exists, South Africa’s on Tuesday may be it.

“Yesterday at training I was hitting everything with the outside half of the bat or the inside half of the bat,” Klaasen said in his television interview. A day later he seemed to hammer everything out of the heart of his willow. How had he addressed the issue?

“We fixed a little technical thing yesterday after about 50 balls of inside-and-outside edging,” Klaasen told a press conference. “I tried to stay still and calm, especially my hands. After that everything seemed to hit the middle a little bit better, and I took that confidence into today’s game. It was one of those days when the first couple went into the gap. The rest was simple. I felt like I got a couple of loose deliveries, which I capitalised on. That set my tempo for the innings.”

Hope, who knows a thing or two about ODI batting having scored four hundreds and a half-century in his last 17 innings in the format, concurred: “Every single ball he struck just seemed to find the gap. I know those days as a cricketer. Everything seems to hit the middle of the bat and you find the boundaries with ease. When he came in I thought we were ahead of the game. We needed just two more wickets at that stage and we pretty much could have wrapped it up.”

Klaasen’s performance followed Markram’s star turn with the ball, in which he took 1/30 from his full quota of overs. Markram wasn’t alone in his tidiness: of South Africa’s six bowlers, only Ngidi went for more than a run a ball. Consequently, the Windies’ momentum faltered after Ngidi ended Brandon King’s 72, scored off as many deliveries, via an edge onto the stumps in the 22nd. That was part of a slide of 5/77 from the 19th to the 35th.

Between all the feats, facts and figures, leave room for the most important truth of them all: Tuesday’s game wouldn’t have happened without the sacrifices so many South Africans made in the past. Klaasen, Bavuma, Markram and the rest of that side of the dressing room divide would never have played for their country of birth, much less captained the team or scored centuries for them. The West Indians might never have been allowed into the country, much less onto the field. If they somehow made it as far as the boundary they would have been at best arrested, at worst shot.

We should acknowledge every day, but especially on Sharpeville Day, that without big politics there can be no big sport.

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