Fakhar Zaman – Bulletproof Truth

Going up, going down as T20 World Cup semis loom

“If one of us is not doing well another one picks up the slack.” – David Miller

Telford Vice / Sydney

SOUTH Africa look locked and loaded for the men’s T20 World Cup semi-finals. Pakistan are on course for an early trip home. Another win for Temba Bavuma’s team at the SCG on Thursday would all but confirm both of those looming realities.

The South Africans were on the verge of beating Zimbabwe in Hobart on October 24 when the game was washed out. They responded by winning against Bangladesh in Sydney last Thursday and against India in Perth on Sunday, and finding different ways to do so into the bargain. Mohammad Rizwan’s side have undertaken the reverse journey. Having squandered a bulletproof position to lose, to India, the greatest T20I yet played at the MCG on October 23, Pakistan then crashed to Zimbabwe by a single run in Perth four days later. No doubt still shellshocked by what happened at the MCG, the Pakistanis were ripe for the picking by the ambitious, feisty Zimbos.

In their most recent match, in Perth on Sunday, Pakistan dealt emphatically with the Netherlands; limiting them to 91/9 and polishing off the target with 6.1 overs to spare. But the damage of those two early defeats, particularly the way they went down to India, clearly runs deep.

The South Africans are quietly building up a serious head of steam. They had to work harder to beat India in challenging conditions, in the second half of the doubleheader in Perth on Sunday, than they might have thought after they held Rohit Sharma’s team to 133/9. But even getting home with two balls remaining couldn’t dull the salient truth that they are the only team to beat India at this tournament so far.

All of which says South Africa should win at the SCG on Thursday. Except that they’ve never beaten Pakistan in this tournament …

When: Thursday, November 3, 7pm Local Time (1.30pm IST)

Where: Sydney Cricket Ground

What to expect: A 40% chance of showers in the evening, which is pretty much the standard Sydney forecast. That means it probably won’t rain. Despite the SCG’s historically sluggish runrate in T20Is — only the MCG’s was lower in Australia going into the tournament — three of the top five totals in the T20 World Cup, including both 200 toppers ahead of Wednesday’s games, have been recorded here.

Head to head: Pakistan have won 11 of their 21 T20Is against South Africa, including all three games when the teams have met in previous editions of what is now called the T20 World Cup.

Team watch:

Pakistan:

Injured/Unavailable: Fakhar Zaman’s ongoing knee problem will keep him out of the match. He is likely to be replaced in the XI by Mohammad Haris, one of Pakistan’s travelling reserves.

Tactics/Matchups: With Zaman out the performance of Shan Masood, already Pakistan’s most consistent batter in the tournament, becomes even more key to their chances.

Possible XI: Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Haris, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah

South Africa:

Injured/Unavailable: No outstanding issues.

Tactics/Matchups: Although it can seem as if South Africa’s entire game revolves around booming fast bowling and Quinton de Kock, players like Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram, David Miller and Wayne Parnell have emphasised their worth during the tournament.

Possible XI: Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma (capt), Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortjé, Lungi Ngidi

Did you know?

* The last time South Africa beat Pakistan in either kind of World Cup Mark Boucher and Saqlain Mushtaq were in the XIs. They prevailed by three wickets at Trent Bridge in June 1999.

* Teams batting first have won all four T20 World Cup matches played at the SCG, and all by convincing margins — India’s 56-run thumping of the Netherlands is the smallest.

What they said:

“I don’t think anyone is thinking about the India game, because as a professional you can’t dwell on the past — especially when you lose. Everyone was positive after that game.” — Naseem Shah tries to explain away the lingering effects of losing the tournament’s biggest game.

“In the past year we’ve found ourselves in tricky situations and managed to get over the line. The guys have managed to find their roles. If one of us is not doing well another one picks up the slack. It’s difficult to do well in this format because there are a lot of variables, but we’ve managed to do well as a team.” – David Miller on South Africa’s increasing versatility.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Lemonade, losses and lies: behind the Boucher brouhaha

“If I had to worry about public opinion I probably would have hanged myself a long time ago.” – Mark Boucher

Telford Vice | Cape Town

THERE’S a reason the breadless sandwich never caught on. And the perforated umbrella. Same applies to the square-wheeled bicycle. Similarly, the team South Africa were able to field against Pakistan is in the league of ideas whose time have yet to come.

As if sacrificing five key players to the Indian Premier League (IPL) after two of the seven matches wasn’t handicapping enough, they lost their captain to injury for the last four games and their most in form batter for two of them.

You can measure your depth in such circumstances but you cannot expect victory. So played seven, won two is a fair and predictable reflection against a side bristling with threats like Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi. Take those players out of Pakistan’s XI and see how they fare.

Even so, it’s Mark Boucher’s job to make lemonade from the lemons he has been given. And they aren’t bad lemons. Aiden Markram reeled off a hattrick of half-centuries in the T20Is, where Lizaad Williams took seven wickets and added plenty of zest, and George Linde burnished his allrounder credentials. But the lemonade they made, now that’s another matter.

“Although we lost as a team there were some fantastic individual performances we can be very proud of,” Boucher told an online press conference on Friday after Pakistan clinched a T20I series in South Africa for the first time. “We can see the next group of players are a little bit rough around the edges. They perform well in certain pockets of the game. But in international cricket you’ve got to have more of an allround, polished game in order to win.

“We’ve lost a couple of series. There’s been reasons for that. I’m not going to make any excuses. We’ve still got to try and win with whatever side we put out on the park. It has been quite tough but there’s a lot of positives. I’ve got a fair idea of the enlarged squad we can look at. I’m pretty sure every player in that squad will be able to match international standards.”

All well and good, but this goes deeper than that. South Africa were in trouble long before Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortjé left for the IPL, and before Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen were injured.

There’s a narrative seeping through South African cricket that this is chiefly Boucher’s fault. Since he was appointed coach in December 2019 his team have lost eight of 11 series across the formats. That is an unimpeachable fact, but the bigger truth is that South Africa have been on the skids since the 2019 World Cup. Including that tournament, they have won only 16 of their last 45 completed matches. Or two of 14 series, if we include the World Cup.

And who has been the coach who has presided over those victories, South Africa’s sole successes in almost two years? Boucher. You won’t hear that, or any objective view of the performance of Ottis Gibson and Enoch Nkwe, the coaches who came before him, in the deluge of dishonesty that is being poured, disingenuously, over Boucher’s head. That wouldn’t fit the conspiracy theory that he was appointed solely because Graeme Smith is his big mate, and is being exposed as unfit for the job. Indeed, Boucher is the worst thing to happen to South African cricket since forever. It might be worth asking these people who really killed JFK, or who stands to gain the most from vaccinating the global population against Covid-19. Then again, maybe not. They would shout only one answer: “Boucher!”

The flags were flying at half-mast from these faulty ivory towers again on Friday, when Boucher’s press conference — publication of which was originally embargoed to 9.30am (IST) on Saturday — was pushed back to 8.30pm (IST). This was done at the request of reporters writing for Sunday newspapers, who hoped to have something fresher for their publications than comments that would be stale by the time their papers hit the streets. But no sooner had the embargo been changed than the reason for that happening was fictionalised on social media as some sort of official attempt to shield Boucher from criticism. The post was taken down, though without apology or explanation. And an untruth made it halfway around the world before the truth got its pants on.

The hate — and it is nothing short of hate — directed Boucher’s way is entwined with South Africa’s poisoned race politics. He is white, as is Smith. Most of the criticism coming their way emanates from black and brown quarters. South Africa have been poor in all three disciplines against Pakistan, but it seems only Boucher is to blame. Charl Langeveldt and Justin Ontong, the bowling and fielding coaches, have somehow escaped having their abilities questioned. Both are brown.

Other South Africans regards themselves, wholly erroneously, as the start and end of the game’s authentic establishment. They do so in much the same way as the MCC used to think it owned cricket. They are, in their own lunchtimes, gatekeepers pushing back against barbarian tendencies. They look straight past the losses South Africa have racked up under Boucher — maybe because it’s difficult to see straight when you’re rolling your eyes at the noisy infidels — and will not abide any questioning of Smith’s suitability as director of cricket. They are white.

Boucher is caught in this colour coded crossfire. “If I had to worry about public opinion I probably would have hanged myself a long time ago,” he said. “The pressure is going to be there no matter what. When you get to this level you must expect that. If you can’t handle it maybe you get out of the kitchen.”

So it serves him well that he is two steps ahead of both his haters and his hero worshippers: no-one is harder on Boucher than Boucher. “I take a massive amount of responsibility, and I should,” he said. “I don’t shy away from it. I’m extremely hurt at the moment, as is the rest of my management and coaching staff. We’ve put in a lot of hard work. But there’s no panic for me yet. I do understand we have been given some trying circumstances, and we will continue to put in the hard work. I’ll go back home now. I’ll sit around with my family for a while. After a week or so I’ll get back into it and be training with the guys and try to get them better.”

Boucher should use some of his break to find a better answer to why Kyle Verreynne isn’t getting more gametime despite the batting unit’s struggles. Verreynne was part of both the ODI and T20I squads but he played in only one ODI, and scored 62. In his two innings before that, for the Cobras in first-class matches, he made 216 not out and 109. To explain his omission with “he was selected as a back-up wicketkeeper”, as Boucher has done, is not good enough. It’s also unacceptable that the absence from the attack of Andile Phehlukwayo, who played in all four T20Is but bowled only four overs, is ascribed to a lack of confidence. How does it help his confidence that he is on the field but not bowling? Questions like these need to be asked and answered honestly, not through prisms of prejudice.

South Africa will gather again on May 28 for a three-day camp before they depart for the Caribbean to play two Tests and five T20s. Dates have yet to be confirmed, but by then the IPL will be out of the way and all existing injuries should be resolved. “We always earmarked this West Indian trip as when our full squad needs to be together and when we start learning how to play with each other, and learning different aspects of each others’ games.”

They should teach each other to juggle. That’s something else you can do when life gives you lemons.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Collapse contest seals series

“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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3rd T20I preview: Van der Dussen, Fakhar should return

Will Rizwan bounce back? Will South Africa cast a spell over him again?

Telford Vice | Cape Town

MOHAMMAD Rizwan doesn’t suffer first-ball foolery often. It’s befallen him only four times in his 77 innings for Pakistan across the formats, and just once when he has been entrusted with opening the innings. That happened in the second T20I at the Wanderers on Monday, when George Linde induced a stroke that saw the ball follow the curve of an upturned pudding bowl as it blooped to mid-off.

So ended a streak of 10 innings in the format — half of them for the Multan Sultans in the PSL — in which Rizwan had passed 40. He scored a century and six half-centuries, four of them higher than 70, in those trips to the crease. The South Africans would have needed no reminding of his T20I prowess: he has made his hundred — a 64-ball undefeated 104 in Lahore in February — and two half-centuries in four innings against them in the past three months.

To get Rizwan first ball was thus a shock to both teams’ systems. It told Pakistan they were not as strong as they would like to think they are, and South Africa would have proved to themselves that even the most in-form opponents are only human. Rizwan’s dismissal set the tone for Pakistan to shamble to 140/9, their lowest total in seven T20Is. South Africa hauled it in with six overs to spare to level the four-match series at 1-1.

Will Rizwan bounce back? Will South Africa cast their spell over him again? It’s a question that hangs over the third T20I in Centurion on Wednesday like the Highveld’s famous thunderstorms. Happily, the angry clouds are not forecast to put in a significant appearance. But even if Rizwan is kept quiet again, Babar Azam will welcome being back at a ground where he scored 103 and 94 in the ODI series inside the past two weeks. So will the rest of the side. Pakistan won both of the ODIs at Centurion, where they have earned eight victories in 17 matches in all formats. Nowhere in South Africa have they won more games, though they have played fewer matches at all the other major grounds except the Wanderers.

The likely return of Fakhar Zaman is another reason for the visitors to be bullish. He missed Monday’s game because of a rash on his leg, but word from the Pakistan camp on Tuesday was that he should be good to go. Fakhar’s 193 in the second ODI was one of the greatest innings yet seen. That it graced the Wanderers and not Centurion is neither here nor there. Besides, in his next match, the third ODI at Centurion, he made 101.

But while Pakistan’s confidence in staying competitive in the series is justified, no-one should expect South Africa to cower. Having made a mess of things in the first T20I at the Wanderers on Friday, when they conceded 60 runs in five of the last six overs of Pakistan’s innings and were limited to 37 runs in the last five overs of their innings, they regrouped impressively three days later. And they did so with the same XI.

Aiden Markram, who scored 51 and 54 in the first two T20Is, hasn’t known the feeling of making consecutive half-centuries for 31 innings stretching back more than two years. That he sauntered off on Friday and Monday looking like a player who knew he had left plenty of runs out there was an ominous sign for those who will have to bowl to him on Wednesday.

Heinrich Klaasen’s efforts of 50 and 36 not out are evidence of decent form, and the Pakistanis can consider themselves fortunate that Janneman Malan’s flying starts have resulted in crash landings at 24 and 15. Lizaad Williams is the series’ leading wicket-taker and Tabraiz Shamsi the most economical bowler. Suddenly, laments for the five stars who have gone AWOL at the IPL and the injuries to Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen are difficult to find. Better yet for the home side, the latter is over his quadriceps strain and should feature on Wednesday.

Good luck picking a favourite from all that, but we do know there’s a lot of cricket still to be played in the up to 80 overs that remain of these entertaining teams’ engagements this summer. So far, every ball has been worth watching.

When: Wednesday April 14, 2021. 2.30pm Local Time

Where: Centurion

What to expect: Another hard, fast Highveld pitch and outfield on a perfect late summer’s day.

Team news

South Africa: Faith was kept in the XI that lost the first game, and they won the second. No changes are thus required, but the recovered Rassie van der Dussen is likely to replace Wihan Lubbe.

Possible XI: Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Henrich Klaasen, Pite van Biljon, George Linde, Andile Phehlukwayo, Sisanda Magala, Beuran Hendricks, Lizaad Williams, Tabraiz Shamsi.

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman should return at the expense of Sharjeel Khan. Other than that, it’s difficult to tinker.

Possible XI: Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Haider Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Qadir, Mohammad Hasnain.

What they said

“I’m actually glad he came down the wicket first ball. We tried to play on his arrogance a bit – that’s not to say he’s arrogant in a bad way – but just to try and force a false shot out of him. Maybe for two balls we were going to try and keep mid-off up and see if he’d give us a false shot. Luckily he did.” – George Linde on South Africa’s successful plan to counter Mohammad Rizwan at the Wanderers on Monday.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Depleted SA see firsts flow Pakistan’s way

“It’s not about individuals it’s about a team.” – Mark Boucher on South Africa’s injury and IPL-hit resources.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

YOU want firsts? We’ve got firsts. For the first time in the series the contest was decided long before the match was over. For the first time in six bilateral series — and only the second time in 14 — the visiting team won an ODI rubber in South Africa.

For the first time a team from the subcontinent celebrated a second series win in South Africa: as they did this time, Pakistan won the ODIs 2-1 in November 2013. For the first time a Pakistan batter scored more than one century in a series in this country. Fakhar Zaman’s aggregate of 302 was also the first time a Pakistani piled up that many runs in a rubber here. For the first time since Shane Warne any bowler from anywhere proved they had mastered the flipper. And Usman Qadir was a debutant in the format, no less. For the first time in South Africa’s 628 ODIs spin was deployed for nine of the last 10 overs of their opponents’ innings. For the first time in the series, and thus in his international captaincy career, Temba Bavuma won the toss.

For the first time in an ODI series South Africa made seven changes between games. For the first time South Africa played an ODI without any of the five stars who have left for India. That’s measured from March 3, 2019, when the newest of them, Anrich Nortjé, made his debut in the format: 22 ODIs ago. David Miller has missed 60 of a possible 194 ODIs, Quinton de Kock 30 of 153, Kagiso Rabada 15 of 92, and Lungi Ngidi 15 of 43. Between them they have won 371 ODI caps since Miller, the stalwart among the five, played his first.

We cannot know whether South Africa would have won had they been able to pick their best XI instead their best available XI. But there is no doubt they would have fielded a stronger, more experienced, more match ready XI. The quadriceps strain that omitted Rassie van der Dussen, the home side’s most dominant batter in the first two matches, when he scored 123 not out and 60, didn’t help. Neither did the last three overs of Pakistan’s innings bleeding 56 runs, not least because Jon-Jon Smuts, Aiden Markram and Andile Phehlukwayo struggled to control their deliveries in the drizzle.

Six of South Africa’s seven changes were forced. Pakistan made four, but three of them were tactical. They were able to pick a team they thought could win. South Africa had to come up with a side that might, with a bit of luck, stay in the game. Consequently Pakistan played like Pakistan — aggressively, enterprisingly, bravely — while the South Africans were reduced to a frayed facsimile of the team they had been three days previously and two days before that.

None of which is meant to diminish Pakistan’s achievement. Their opponents’ problems are not theirs, and they can only beat who is put in front of them. They deserved their success and the adulation coming their way from all quarters. Wonderfully well led by Babar Azam with Misbah-ul-Haq the sage in their dressingroom, they embraced the challenge of overcoming the conditions and the South Africans, and they did so in ways that burnished their reputation as one of cricket’s most exciting teams to watch. Besides, it isn’t as if the South Africans who were selected on Wednesday disgraced the jersey. As Mark Boucher told an online press conference after the match: “It’s not about individuals it’s about a team.” Keshav Maharaj was tight and tigerish, and took three wickets for only the second time in his eight ODIs. Not until Kyle Verreynne and Andile Phehlukwayo were separated in the 44th over, ending a stand of 108 off 100 balls, could the visitors be sure of victory.

But those are pricks of light in the gloom. The T20I series starts at the Wanderers on Saturday, and it seems Van der Dussen will be reduced to spectating. Worse, he looks likely to have Bavuma for company. South Africa’s captain hurt a hamstring while batting, and couldn’t make it down the 48 stairs from the dressingroom to the field for his post-match television interview. “Rassie has between a grade one and a grade two quad strain, which means he is probably out for 10 days from yesterday [Tuesday],” Boucher said. “I’d be stupid to try and push him to play in these T20Is. He’s still staying with the squad and hoping that he will have a quick turnaround, but it doesn’t look likely that he’s going to be able to get on the park. Temba’s quite a tough guy, so when you see him hobbling around … And it’s only got worse in the changeroom. I think he might have done something fairly bad. He seems to be in quite a bit pain. But these are the cards we’ve been dealt. We’re going to have to find a way.”

It’s Boucher’s job to find that way, and his players shouldn’t expect a few days of gentle introspection in their Covid-19 bubble while he does so: “We need to play at a higher intensity. We need to be more desperate in the field especially. One or two of our senior players need to start winning games for us. I know they’re trying really hard, but senior players need to stand up in tough conditions and pressured moments. That hasn’t been happening as often as we want it to happen.”

That’s the right thing to say in times like these. But it’s complicated. Heinrich Klaasen, with 16 T20I caps, becomes one of the remaining senior players and is a strong candidate to be named stand-in captain for the series. And on his mind, no doubt, will be the fact that he could score only 16 runs in the three ODIs. He’s a resilient and resourceful player, and he will need those qualities to meet this challenge should it come his way.

So South Africa would be justified in hoping the Indian Premier League (IPL) appreciates the size of the sacrifice that has been made on its behalf. Not only have Boucher’s team been denied the services of five of their best players for the deciding match of a series, they will also have to do without them in the four T20Is. Do not blame the IPL for that. Rather welcome the exposure of the myth that international cricket comes first. What comes first is money.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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3rd ODI preview: And so to the decider, without De Kock et al

“He has to be our enforcer. He has to do the job of Anrich Nortjé.” – Charl Langeveldt on Daryn Dupavillon. No pressure …

Telford Vice | Cape Town

With the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) looming large in world cricket’s consciousness, you would be forgiven for forgetting about an ODI series out of sight and mind on the sharp tip of Africa. That would be a mistake, because the rubber has been a tonic for a format that too often is an unloved middle child that has all of its siblings’ lesser qualities and none of what makes them exciting.

Unlike in Test or first-class cricket, you don’t need to dismiss your opponents to win. Unlike in T20s, you don’t need to bat like blazes to stay in the contest. Who needs 100 overs of nurdling and dot-ball bowling? That’s the serious design flaw of the 50-over game, and there are a myriad examples to bolster the argument. But sometimes that narrative is challenged, as South Africa and Pakistan have done in the past few days.

At Centurion on Friday, Pakistan prevailed off the last ball of a match that featured centuries by Rassie van der Dussen and Babar Azam. At the Wanderers on Sunday, Fakhar Azam’s brilliant innings was ended seven runs short of a double century by a wonderful throw all the way from the boundary by Aiden Markram. And by Fakhar believing the ball was going to the other end, and thus slowing down and turning around when he should have been running for all his worth. Was Quinton de Kock guilty of deception — and thus deserving of punishment — when he pointed dramatically at the non-striker’s end as Fakhar ran towards him? No, said the umpires. And that’s that, as far as officialdom is concerned.

Fakhar seemed to accept that he should have run harder, but also that he had been duped. Or deceived. His reaction would seem at odds with cricket’s laws, which say “it is unfair for any fielder wilfully to attempt, by word or action, to distract, deceive or obstruct either batsman after the striker has received the ball”. Tabraiz Shamsi has made the case that De Kock was not trying to fool anyone but instead ensuring that, in a frenetic final over, the other end of the pitch was covered by a teammate, lest the ball end up there. But the unvarnished laughter of the South Africans as Markram’s throw hit the stumps in front of De Kock with Fakhar short of safety could only be translated as: “He fell for it! Can you believe that!” The South Africans looked like schoolboys sniggering at a drunkard passed out on a street corner, trousers around ankles.

Sadly, given that context, De Kock is not in the script for act three of this drama, which plays out at Centurion on Wednesday. Neither are David Miller, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortjé. All have left the series hanging in the balance to play in the IPL. Nortjé has been the series’ star bowler, taking seven wickets at an average of 16.28 and an economy rate of 5.70. Quietly, almost, Rabada has been the cheapest bowler of the rubber at 4.70. Miller scored 50 in each game. Nortjé, on current form, will be the most difficult of the five to replace. That job will fall to Daryn Dupavillon. What will be expected of him? Bowling coach Charl Langeveldt answered the question emphatically during an online press conference on Tuesday: “He has to be our enforcer. He has to do the job of Anrich Nortjé.” It’s a big ask considering Dupavillon has played only one ODI. More happily for the home side, Van der Dussen, who followed his unbeaten 123 on Friday with 60 on Sunday, is still around. At least, he was until a quad strain ruled him out on Wednesday morning.

The Pakistanis may, for once, smile at the petty politics that keeps them out of the IPL: all the better for their chances of winning the series. As they are a keenly competitive and creative team it would be no surprise should they, in response to the confusion caused by De Kock, employ some tricksy tactics of their own in the field.

Even so, the South Africans are likely to take some beating. They have earned a reputation for flakiness in tournaments, but of their 17 bilateral ODI series since the 2015 World Cup they have lost only three and drawn another. Just one of those losses has been at home.

When: Wednesday April 7, 2021. 10am Local Time

Where: SuperSport Park, Centurion

What to expect: A decent pitch, a fast outfield, and a moderate threat of an afternoon thunderstorm. Grounds like this live for contests between teams unafraid of getting into a scrap. Happily, that’s what we have in both dressingrooms.

Team news

South Africa: Expect as many as seven changes. The IPL contingent will need to be replaced and Keshav Maharaj seems set to come in for Tabraiz Shamsi, who was South Africa’s most expensive bowler on Sunday and has taken only one wicket in the series. Jon-Jon Smuts could come in for Van der Dussen.

Possible XI: Aiden Markram, Janneman Malan, Temba Bavuma, Jon-Jon Smuts, Heinrich Klaasen, Kyle Verreynne, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Daryn Dupavillon, Lutho Sipamla, Lizaad Williams.

Pakistan: With Shadab Khan out thanks to a toe injury he suffered on Sunday, courtesy of a 151 kilometre-an-hour yorker from Nortjé, Pakistan will change their XI for the the first time in the series. Another leg spinner, Usman Qadir, will crack the nod. Haidar Ali could win selection at the expense of Asif Ali, who has scored 21 runs in two innings. Hasan Ali, the top wicket-taker in Pakistan’s successful home Test series against South Africa in January and February who has since been sidelined by Covid-19, should play his first ODI since the 2019 World Cup. Mohammad Hasnain could make way for him.

Possible XI: Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Danish Aziz, Haidar Ali, Usman Qadir, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf.

What they said

“We’ve started well and then they’ve come hard at our first-change bowlers, and that’s a thing we need to improve if we’re going to win World Cups. Sometimes it’s not about taking wickets but getting the runrate down and being consistent. We’ve talked long and hard about it. The strategy is to bowl start well and bowl well in the middle period. That will take care of the end [of the innings].” – bowling coach Charl Langeveldt on South Africa’s approach in the decider.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Famous five off to far pavilions with series in the balance

“I wasn’t expecting that type of onslaught from … the batter. I’ve forgotten his name.” – Temba Bavuma in the immediate aftermath of Fakhar Zaman’s 193.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

YOU can take Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortjé out of South Africa, but can you take the hope that South Africa’s team will win their ODI series against Pakistan out of the public consciousness? It’s an odd question but these are odd times, what with those players about to leave the side that has borrowed their country’s name in order to join their Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises.

For some, this is the moment when the IPL tail is confirmed to be wagging the dog of international cricket. For others, it is proof that T20 leagues — the IPL in particular — are the game’s best and brightest future, and that the notion that teams like South Africa represent the highest level is as outdated as grand amateurism.

For still others, the famous five leaving behind unfinished business to go off to the far pavilions of a domestic tournament in India reflects the fragility and failings of South Africa’s wider society. Would this happen in places where players are paid better, have more faith in the systems that govern them, and are afforded administrators worthy of respect? Or is this what privilege looks like? You can opt out of a reality — albeit for a few weeks, but a massively lucrative few weeks — that many of your compatriots are stuck with forever. So you do. But who among us wouldn’t do the same?

There is anger in South Africa that these players are leaving early, but not within cricket and its immediate environs. In official circles CSA’s agreement with the BCCI to release its players for the tournament has been raised, and Covid-19 blamed for the skewed schedule. Here in the press, variations on that theme are aired. But ask people who have been sold, and have bought, the myth that they are represented by a cricket team and you will find seething unhappiness. We should understand why, but we should also feel sorry for these unfortunates. They think people like De Kock, Miller, Rabada, Ngidi and Nortjé are playing for them when the truth is they are playing for money. They’re professionals. Not patriots. Nobody lawyers, accounts, doctors, plumbs, engineers, codes or reports for their country. They do so to exploit aptitudes and, if they’re lucky, to follow passions. And in so doing to pay their bills and bank some wealth. Cricketers are no different.

It doesn’t help ease the vexation that the five stars — and they are all bona fide stars — are fading from view just as South Africa are playing decent cricket again. They recovered from going down off the last ball in the first ODI at Centurion on Friday to win at the Wanderers on Sunday, setting up a decider back down the highway at Centurion on Wednesday. The fact that enough of the imminent absentees have been prominent will stoke the outrage.

De Kock looked locked and loaded for a century on Sunday before playing on when he was 80. Miller boomed an unbeaten 50 off 27 balls. Nortjé, who took 4/6 in 18 deliveries on Friday, bowled with the same brand of brimstone to claim 3/6 across 15 balls two days later. South Africa’s 341/6 on Sunday was their highest innings batting first in their last 13 completed ODIs, and only the fourth time in those games that they have passed 300. Asked to achieve their highest successful chase, Pakistan fell 17 runs short.

Going into the game Fakhar Zaman already owned Pakistan’s highest score in the format, an undefeated 210 against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in July 2018. But he looked like improving on that feat for much of his innings on Sunday, a performance equal parts power, poise and purpose. Fakhar’s 193 is the best effort by a Pakistani against South Africa, and only the 10th score of 150 or more they have conceded in their 627 ODIs. He was helped by the South Africans taking their foot off the gas after the visitors shambled to 85/4 in 15 overs, with Babar Azam among the fallen. But Fakhar never gave up the fight, and he was still there when Pakistan required 31 off the last over to win. It needed something special to undo him, and it came with the first of those final six balls. Fakhar hammered Ngidi down the ground, and set off determined to take two. Aiden Markram fielded on the long-off boundary, and threw for all his worth. Running back to the striker’s end, Fakhar could see De Kock holding an arm bolt upright — as if calling for the ball. It was indeed coming his way. But with the batter still halfway down the pitch De Kock suddenly pointed at the non-striker’s end, as if the ball was headed there. Fakhar should have kept running hard regardless, but he slowed and turned around. He was well out of his ground when Markram’s throw crashed directly into the stumps. “I was thinking [Haris Rauf, his partner] got run out, but to be honest it was my own fault,” Fakhar told an online press conference afterwards. It said a lot that the first person to offer his personal congratulations was Mark Boucher, who came out of South Africa’s dressingroom to do so as the Pakistani passed.

“If we won this game I would have said this is my best innings,” Fakhar said in his television interview on the field. “But we didn’t win, so I can’t say that.” In his interview, relayed in English through a translator, Babar concurred: “It’s one of the best innings I have seen in my life. If Fakhar had kept batting we would have won the match.” Bavuma was still in the hurly burly of it all when he told the broadcaster, “I wasn’t expecting that type of onslaught from … the batter. I’ve forgotten his name.” A few calming minutes later, in his press conference, Bavuma said: “He played an incredible innings. I think it’s the best I’ve ever seen.”

Little wonder Bavuma’s usually reliable equilibrium was a touch off kilter. His first two games as South Africa’s captain have been crammed with more plot twists than a bad road movie. “I wasn’t expecting that type of onslaught from … the batter. I’ve forgotten his name.” He scored an immaculate 92 on Sunday, but was he managing to keep his cool in the field? “I try to be calm and as clear as I can be,” he said. “When things are happening the way they are with a guy batting like that, things can tend to get away from you. But it’s important that you try to take a step back and get a grip on what is happening in the moment. As long as we’re clear in what we’re trying to do, if a batter bats well, he bats well. There’s not much we can do. They’re also allowed to play well. The two games have gone down to the wire. It’s been an incredible experience. It would have been nice to finish the game more clinically today, but it gives us an opportunity and a learning curve to always believe the game is never over. It can always turn against you.”

For his next trick, and with the series on the line, Bavuma will need to find ways to stop the game turning against his team despite his weakened squad. If he does, he will be feted as a leader whose time has come. If he doesn’t, he will be held up as the reason for the loss, and the names of De Kock, Miller, Rabada, Ngidi and Nortjé will not be spoken. Welcome to it, skipper.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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