Glenton Stuurman – Bulletproof Truth

Conrad revolution elevates Bavuma

“I get paid to make certain calls and subjectivity plays a part.” – Shukri Conrad, South Africa Test coach

Telford Vice / Cape Town

CHANGE continued to sweep through South Africa’s structures on Friday, when Temba Bavuma replaced Dean Elgar as captain of a Test squad that included neither of the side’s only century-makers last year.

One of them was Kyle Verreynne, who was the team’s second-highest run-scorer in Australia in December and January. He will give way as first-choice wicketkeeper to Heinrich Klaasen. Sarel Erwee — the other South African century-maker in 2022 — Rassie van der Dussen, Khaya Zondo, Lungi Ngidi and Glenton Stuurman also failed to crack the nod, and Theunis de Bruyn retired from international cricket on Thursday.

The squad of 15, picked to play West Indies in two matches in Centurion and at the Wanderers in February and March, features Tony de Zorzi for the first time. Keegan Petersen returns from a hamstring injury that forced him out of the series in Australia, and Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder and Senuran Muthusamy are back in favour.

Last month came the news that bowling coach Charl Langeveldt would join Punjab Kings, and it was first reported last week — and repeated in the press on Friday — that JP Duminy was being lined up to replace batting coach Justin Sammons.

Outside the dressing room, the selection chief has been sacked. Or, in the floury words of a CSA release, they had “decided to release Victor Mpitsang of his role”. The other selector, Patrick Moroney, will in future be confined to under-19 duty. For now at least, squads and teams will be picked by Test coach Shukri Conrad and his white-ball counterpart, Rob Walter, with input from the captains. Conrad and Walter are themselves new arrivals having been appointed last month to replace Mark Boucher.

Conrad made plain at a press conference on Friday that he had sparked most of the playing personnel revolution. Here he is on the leadership reboot: “Dean’s done an exceptional job over the last couple of years, and in my conversation with him that’s something I made clear. This was my decision. Dean’s still going to play a huge part in our leadership group. This doesn’t make Dean a poor captain and Temba a good captain. But I felt this was the right fit for me and for us going forward.”

There was plenty more straight talk where that came from. Here’s Conrad on Markram, who has gone 15 Test innings without reaching 50: “People are always going to be behind Aiden Markram or they are going to say he flatters to deceive. I’m in the former group. Aiden’s going to open the batting. He’s a wonderful cricketer and a strokeplayer. Aiden and I go back a long way, so I know his character. We’ve got to match characters to that to our selections and the type of cricket we want to play. I say emphatically that he will open the batting with Dean.”

And on Verreynne’s axing: “Ultimately I get paid to make certain calls and subjectivity plays a part. That was my conversation with Kyle. He’s done everything that can be expected. But I think ‘Klaasie’ has done more and deserves a full crack. ‘Klaasie’ is, in my opinion, not just a batter that we can stick in the field. I’ve always viewed him as a wicketkeeper-batter, so for me it was a straight shootout as to who I wanted. And that’s ‘Klaasie’. That’s unfortunate on someone like Kyle.”

And on the uncapped Gerald Coetzee’s retention, which came at the expense of Ngidi: “It’s quite simple for me. I think Gerald Coetzee needs a good run. We all know the promise that he holds, and now’s as good a time as ever to unleash him. Without giving too much away, I’d like to think that I’d be in a position to play all our quick bowlers in Centurion. Depending on what the Wanderers throws up, that XI might change. It’s purely Gerald ahead of Lungi right now.”

And on the elevation of De Zorzi, the leading batter in domestic first-class cricket this season with 489 runs at 122.25 in five innings and a best effort of 304 not out: “Tony’s career has gone in one direction, north rather than south. He’s someone I identify as a future captain. The fact that he’s scored a mountain of runs is no surprise to me.”

And on the axed Van der Dussen, Erwee and Zondo: “I don’t think anybody is in a position to say there’s never a way back in. You can never say never. But changes had to be made and I made them. What must they do to come back in? Score lots of runs at domestic level at a good strike rate. If you want to play internationally you’ve got to dominate domestically not only the amount of runs but at the rate at which you score them.”

And on why a squad for two Tests on the Highveld should include three spinners in Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer and Muthusamy: “I’m old-fashioned in terms of a batting line-up. I want seven batters. So I want to increase our allrounder stocks. Allrounders don’t only have to be seam bowlers, they can also be guys who bowl spin. In Wiaan and ‘Sen’, we get that balance. If I want to play four quicks because I think the pitch is going to be a certain way, it gives me the option to play ‘Sen’.”

Conrad and Walter will hold a lot of authority, but Enoch Nkwe, CSA’s director of cricket, saw value in the modern idea of giving coaches more clout: “I’ve always believed the coach should have more of a say in selection, as long as it’s in line with CSA’s bigger strategy. It is going to be an interim phase, something we want to trial. But I believe the two coaches are the best positioned people to talk about selection.”

Bavuma is still the ODI captain but he has given up the T20I leadership in the wake of South Africa’s disastrous World Cup campaign in the format in Australia in October and November. His successor in that format has yet to be named.

Conrad deputised in an ODI series against England in Bloemfontein and Kimberley at the end of last month while Walter organised his move back to South Africa from New Zealand, where he has coached since 2016. Conrad said he and Bavuma strengthened their bond during that time: “He knows how I want to do things, and I’ve got a good understanding of how he wants to be involved and run things. Our couple of days in Bloemfontein and Kimberley have gone a long way in consolidating the fact that Temba was going to be the captain. Hopefully his performances will keep shining. I think captaincy sits well with him.”

Among South Africa’s active Test batters, only Elgar has averaged higher than Bavuma’s 34.53 measured from the latter’s debut in December 2014. None have scored more half-centuries than their 20 apiece. But Elgar has made 11 centuries in that time and Bavuma only one.

That was no doubt among the reasons Elgar was appointed in March 2021. He guided South Africa to victory in both Tests in St Lucia in June that year, and helped his team rally from 0-1 to beat India at home in December 2021 and January 2022. They drew the series in Christchurch in February last year after losing the first match by an innings inside three days. Two victories over Bangladesh at home followed in March and April, and Elgar seemed to cement his position when South Africa shocked England by an innings in three days at Lord’s in August — the only Test Ben Stokes’ team lost last year. But that was the last time Elgar presided over a win. South Africa slumped to defeat at Old Trafford — where they made the nonsensical decision to change their XI — and at the Oval. In December and January they lost at the Gabba and the MCG, and drew at the SCG.

Anyone tasked with Test captaincy could do worse than seek the counsel of Graeme Smith. Nobody in the world has had more matches at the helm than his 109, and nobody has celebrated more victories than his 53. Among captains who have been in charge for at least 60 Tests, only Ricky Ponting, Virat Kohli and Clive Lloyd have a better winning percentage than Smith’s 48.62. It was Smith who led South Africa to their most notable achievement in cricket — when they won the series in England in July and August 2012 to take the ICC Test mace off the home side.

At another press conference on Friday, four hours before Bavuma’s appointment was announced, Smith was asked what advice he might have for a new South Africa Test captain. “Depending on who it is — you would have to understand what phase of their career they’re in, and how much experience they have — the important part is for them to understand the strategy of how they’re going to get our team playing well again and dominating the world again,” Smith said.

“All people in these types of leadership positions are going to have a strong buy-in with the key administrators who can help them grow the game and get better — from the selectors to the director of cricket to the chief executive to some of the board members. That support and that structure and the alignment of the strategy is so important. They need to invest in that and take things on. We wish them well and that strategy around how they’re going to take things forward, they need to make sure they get proper buy-in and support.”

How much of that Bavuma has, and how much will come his way in the coming weeks and months, and how much might be lost, cannot be known. But we do know where the buck stops.

South Africa Test squad: Temba Bavuma (captain), Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Dean Elgar, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortjé, Keegan Petersen, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton.

Cricbuzz

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Crouch, catch and keep the faith

“I always like to be involved in the game and the reality is I’m not very good at bowling.” – Kyle Verreynne

Telford Vice / Seville

ARE you or have you ever been a wicketkeeper? Several people who were in the Oval’s dressing rooms for the third Test between England and South Africa could answer in the affirmative. There’s Ben Foakes and Kyle Verreynne, of course. But also Brendon McCullum and Mark Boucher. And a fair few more where they come from.

Ollie Pope has kept in 134 matches, seven of them first-class for Surrey, England Lions and England — the latter in a Test in Hamilton in 2019. Ben Duckett’s 162 games as a stumper include 13 at first-class level for Northamptonshire. Jack Leach donned the gloves and pads for Somerset’s under-17 side in 2008. In the same match, he bowled 22 overs, batted at No. 3, and captained. Ollie Robinson didn’t do quite as much for Kent under-13s in 2006, when he kept and bowled four overs. But he kept, bowled 24 and 13 overs, and batted at No. 5 for Surrey’s second XI in 2016. Robinson’s not to be confused with the other Ollie Robinson — Oliver George rather than Oliver Edward — who is also a product of Kent, but a career keeper who has been in gloves and pads for 244 of his 286 games, 39 of them first-class, going back to his under-13 days.

Harry Brook, Zak Crawley and Alex Lees each had a game behind the stumps for the Yorkshire and Kent junior representative teams. Lees bowled two overs during his. Joe Root featured in two games as a keeper for Sheffield Collegiate in 2007 and 2008. England have a wicketkeeping coach: James Foster played seven Tests in the position in 2001 and 2002.

Keegan Petersen has been the designated keeper in 10 first-class matches for the Cobras, the Knights, Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Coastal, and Ryan Rickelton in 24 for the Lions and Gauteng. Aiden Markram kept in two games during the 2014 under-19 World Cup. Wiaan Mulder did so in five games for Gauteng’s under-13 side in 2011. As did Glenton Stuurman for South Western Districts in an under-19 game in 2010, when he also opened the batting, and in a match for Balderton — a Nottingham club — in 2016, when he batted at No. 3 and captained the side.

Were it not for the dangerous game of golf, Jonny Bairstow also would have been in the Oval frame with his 139 first-class appearances as a wicketkeeper, 49 of them Tests. He was removed from the equation for the Oval Test by a leg injury sustained on a course near Harrogate seven days before the start of the match.

That almost half the players in the England and South Africa squads — 15 out of the 31 — have wicketkeeping experience, however removed from the senior stage, is the answer to a stinker of a pub quiz question. Another is whether keepers see the game differently, in the way that baseball catchers do because, as former MLB catcher Jeff Torborg famously said, “There must be some reason we’re the only ones facing the other way.”

The issue was more complex in cricket, as Verreynne told Cricbuzz: “Out of 11 players in the team there are probably 11 different views on how the game is going. As a keeper you probably see things differently, but the slips will have a similar view. From reading the game and seeing where it’s at and how the pitch is playing, what the ball’s doing, what the bowler’s trying to do, how the batter’s setting up; all of those things, as a keeper you’ve got one of the best views of all of that. That allows you to add value.”

Measuring that value isn’t straightforward. According to Rivash Gobind, South Africa’s analyst, Verreynne collected 152 of the 271 legal deliveries that were bowled to England’s batters in the first Test. Seventy of them were left alone, and 82 were played at and missed. The equation changed at Old Trafford, where Verreynne dealt with 108 of 640 balls, 56 of them left and 52 missed. He also took six catches and claimed a stumping. So almost 30% of all the balls bowled to English players in the first two Tests became his responsibility. Without a wicketkeeper to stop those deliveries going to the boundary, England would have scored 1,068 more runs than the 729 they made. Maybe that’s how a keeper’s worth should be calculated.

How Ben Stokes isn’t on the list of once were wicketkeepers in the series is as good a question as any considering the gloves are often worn, particularly at lower levels, by the best player in the side or the best athlete; regardless of keeping aptitude. And Stokes is a freakishly gifted player and athlete.

Too gifted, perhaps, for the working class heroism of keeping wicket. The labour of even the most elite keepers tends to go if not unnoticed then under-noticed. Perhaps that’s because they are seen as batters first and stumpers second. It wasn’t always that way. Of the 285 men who have served as the designated keeper in Tests, 181 have never scored a century at that level. Only seven of the 285 — 3.87% — have played a Test in the 2020s.

Test cricket has fallen out of love with keepers like Wasim Bari, Deryck Murray and Niroshan Dickwella — who have had 112, 96 and 92 innings without scoring a century — and become drawn to the likes of Andy Flower, Kumar Sangakkara, MS Dhoni, Mushfiqur Rahim, Taslim Arif, Imtiaz Ahmed, BJ Watling, Adam Gilchrist and Brendon Kuruppu, who have each scored a double century and made 60 hundreds between them. Dickwella is a throwback in that he is still at it, whereas Bari had his last Test as a keeper in 1984 and Murray in 1980. The trailblazer for the modern trend was Ahmed, who played all of his 41 Tests between 1952 and 1962.

Foakes and Verreynne are members in good standing of the stumpers’ century society. Foakes made 107 on debut in Galle in 2018 and 113 not out at Old Trafford in the second Test against South Africa, and Verreynne scored an undefeated 136 in Christchurch in February. But the England-South Africa series was unusual in that, unlike many of their peers, who came to keeping after making a name for themselves with the bat, Foakes and Verreynne have been there since they were about as tall as the stumps themselves.

“It started for me as an under-10, where it’s all about giving everyone equal opportunity,” Verreynne said. “In my first two or three games of hard-ball cricket, I opened the bowling and the batting. I don’t know how I opened the bowling, but I did. But the coach realised he couldn’t let me do everything. He said he needed to give the other guys opportunities. So I needed to choose if I wanted to bat high in the order and not bowl as much, or bowl and not bat as much. I chose batting. But I found myself pretty bored standing in the field. I asked, seeing as I wasn’t bowling much, if I could keep. He said sure. From the next game I kept, and ever since then I’ve been a keeper.”

Sixteen years on, Verreynne hasn’t changed his mind: “You definitely go through times when keeping isn’t as fun, but I always like to be involved in the game and the reality is I’m not very good at bowling. In the field, you go through phases where you’re standing on the boundary or in the covers, and not much is happening. It’s always enjoyable being on the field, but it’s a lot more enjoyable knowing that you’re in the game every single ball and you’ve got a chance to make a difference and make an impact. Keeping is hard work, but I’d rather have that than standing in the outfield waiting for something to happen.”

Foakes first kept wicket as an under-12, and was proclaimed as “the best wicketkeeper in the world” four years ago by no less than Alec Stewart, who played 303 internationals for England across the formats, 220 of them as a keeper and 51 as a captain and keeper. Besides, Foakes looks the part — all subtle, silky movements and artful crumpling of his lanky frame. That smooths over the fact that, at 1.85 metres, he is taller than many who spend most of their working lives in a crouch. Verreynne is 10 centimetres shorter than Foakes, and consequently has to act more emphatically to haul in more wayward deliveries. “You get guys who are tall who can move a lot better than I can, and you get short guys who can jump a lot higher than I can,” Verreynne said. Still, there was little to separate Foakes and Verreynne in overall effectiveness during the series. Foakes conceded 15 byes in the rubber and Verreynne 14. Each dropped a catch.

Did Verreynne take notes on his counterpart? “He’s tall and has good reach. I’m quite short and I don’t have reach as good as his. So it’s difficult to implement what he does because our styles of keeping are very different and we have different assets. But I have picked up a few things. There’s nothing specific, but I’ve seen that he’s done a lot of work on the wobbling ball and the ball that swings after it passes the bat.”

The Oval Test was Verreynne’s 57th first-class match behind the stumps and his 11th Test, and Foakes’ 104th and 17th, a difference not lost on Dean Elgar, who said of Verreynne: “He’s learning his trade at the toughest level, and he’s getting better every time I see him prepare or play. It’s nice to have a guy who’s young and still pushing the boundaries for himself. You can see he’s doing things that no-one is telling him to do, and his keeping is unreal. He’s a really good team guy and everyone loves him.”

Charl Langeveldt, South Africa’s bowling coach, agreed that bowlers gained confidence from knowing they had a pro behind the stumps: “I’ve seen a lot of keepers come to England over the years and struggle, especially on their first tour. And nevermind the bouncers Anrich Nortjé bowls. I need to get Kyle a ladder! He’s been excellent, especially when the ball has gone down leg and when he has had to dive forward.”

Mark Boucher was a case study in a keeper undone by English conditions. In his first Test series there, in 1998, he dived one way while the ball veered the other after pitching often enough for Jonathan Agnew to lament on commentary, “Poor old Boucher.” The byes mounted to 89 — 8.9 per innings. But keepers tend to be quick learners: when Boucher was next in England, in 2003, he kept the byes down to 37 — 4.63 per innings. In 2008, that shrank to 25 — 3.13 per innings.

Boucher learnt a few things to pass down to Verreynne. Who needs a keeping coach when the head coach has been there for 147 Tests? “His experience in England gives him valuable input that he’s been giving me,” Verreynne said. “I’ve tried to tap into him as much as possible; what worked for him, what didn’t work for him.” But Verreynne understood that the buck — even the ball — stopped with him, physically and mentally: “Coming to England I was aware of what the conditions were going to be like. It’s been about me putting in as much preparation as I possibly can. Something ‘Bouch’ has mentioned quite a bit to me is, you are going to make mistakes. What’s important is that you are able to put them behind you and focus on the next ball.”

Verreynne’s performance was remarkable considering his previous keeping experience in England amounted to a single T20 for North Devon in 2016. How had he made the required adjustment? “I’ve spent more time than usual on my keeping in England. When you’re in South Africa there’s not as much wobble and swing after the bat. I wouldn’t spend as much time on keeping as I have here, where keeping is as much if not more of a focus than batting.”

Like most aspects of fielding, keeping can be learnt. Hence the fashion for turning batters into keepers. Boucher, for instance, was a batter until his penultimate year of high school. But keepers wouldn’t get far without showing, early on, a gift for the role. Which mattered more, technique or talent? “Technically it’s important that you have a few things covered,” Verreynne said. “But keeping is instinctive. You have a feeling for what the pitch is playing like, what the ball is doing. You allow your instincts to take over in terms of where you’re standing and how you’re trying to catch the ball and position yourself. But there’s value in having a good technical base.”

Verreynne didn’t value giving opponents lip: “With stumps mics, the game has moved away from personal abuse and sledging. I’m not going to get engaged in on-field conflicts. I try and focus on having good energy and keeping the team going. I make sure everyone is switched on at all times, and in the right fielding position and aware of the plans. Being noisy and getting in the batter’s face isn’t me.”

He will likely be South Africa’s keeper in their series in Australia in December and January. Given the Aussies’ propensity for verbal violence, Verreynne’s opinion on that part of the keeper’s craft is sure to be tested.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Covid rejigs South Africa XI

“The two players are currently in quarantine at the team hotel and are under the care of the team’s medical staff,” Shuaib Manjra, CSA chief medical officer

Telford Vice | St George’s Park

COVID-19 has taken a further toll on the second Test between South Africa and Bangladesh in Gqeberha, with Sarel Erwee and Wiaan Mulder contracting the disease. They have been replaced in the home XI for the rest of the match by Khaya Zondo and Glenton Stuurman.

A CSA release on Monday quoted chief medical officer Shuaib Manjra as saying: “This is an unfortunate situation, but not unexpected after the decision was made to have this tour under the managed event environment protocol, rather than the strict bio-safe environment protocol as was previously the case. This is in line with the country’s policy in revoking the Disaster Management Act with reference to the pandemic, as well the huge mental strain that a bubble environment induces.”

Erwee and Mulder reported feeling ill, and tested positive on Monday. “The two players are currently in quarantine at the team hotel and are under the care of the team’s medical staff,” Manjra was quoted as saying.

Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo, who lives in Gqeberha when he is not with the team, is not at St George’s Park because he has come down with coronavirus. South Africa bowling coach Charl Langeveldt and Zunaid Wadee, the team’s security officer, caught Covid during the first Test in Durban and are also not at the current match.

Zondo, who has played six ODIs, makes his debut in the format while Stuurman, who played his first Test in Christchurch in February, earns a second cap. With the match in its fourth innings and Bangladesh at the crease, batter Zondo is unlikely to have much to do. Fast bowler Stuurman, too, might not see much action considering the amount of turn on offer.

The St George’s Park Test is South Africa’s last engagement of the summer, which should help allay fears over the virus spreading through the camp.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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South Africa’s suddenly serious series

“I’m comfortable where I sit with the players who aren’t here.” – Dean Elgar on South Africa’s IPL absentees.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

DEAN Elgar joked in December that South Africa’s players didn’t know who their administrators were, a comment on cricket’s chronic instability in the country. Now he might have to admit to something similar about the attack he will take into the Test series against Bangladesh.

The defection to the IPL of Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortjé, Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen takes 82 Test caps out of the mix. It also removes some of the game’s finest quicks from the equation. For instance, no-one has taken more Test wickets this year than the 23 claimed by Rabada, Jansen and Pat Cummins. Add the omission of Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram, who are also IPL-bound, and the excised experience grows to 128 caps.

Suddenly, Duanne Olivier and Lutho Sipamla are South Africa’s senior fast bowlers. Also in the squad are Lizaad Williams, Glenton Stuurman and Daryn Dupavillon, as well as Ryan Rickelton and Khaya Zondo. Olivier, Sipamla and Stuurman have played 17 Tests between them. Dupavillon, Williams, Rickelton and Zondo are uncapped.

Elgar is in the same sorry situation as the head chef at a top class restaurant who arrives in the kitchen to discover their best knives have been stolen and their sous and pastry chefs have eloped. Except that he has known for weeks that this might happen, and had his fears confirmed before the squad was announced on March 17.

“A lot of events have happened since my last interview around this very topic,” Elgar told a press conference on Monday, with reference to the impassioned plea he made on March 4 for his players to choose country over cash. “I’m comfortable where I sit with the players who aren’t here. I’ve had some really good, in detail chats with those players just to find out where they are mentally. I’m very comfortable with the answers that they’ve given me.

“Be that as it may, they’re not here with us and we have to make do with our next best that we have in the country, who I’m still very confident in. Yes, we’ve lost a few Test caps along the way not having the IPL players with us, but it’s a great opportunity for those guys to stand up and put those other players under pressure. I’m confident they can do that.”

Elgar’s tone was significantly more subdued compared to the passion he showed almost four weeks ago, when he said “we’ll see where [the players’] loyalty lies” and implored them not to “forget that Test and one-day cricket got them into the IPL, not the other way around”.

Pholetsi Moseki, CSA’s acting chief executive, expressed surprise at the time that Elgar had told the press the players had been saddled with the choice of going to the IPL or staying on for the Test series. Had Elgar been told to rein himself in?

“I’m pretty confined with regards to what I can and can’t say,” Elgar said on Monday. “The players were put in a bit of a situation with regards to making themselves available. I’m sure they wouldn’t have made a rash decision if it didn’t mean a hell of a lot to them. I’ve had conversations with the players and I know where they stand with regards to the Test side and playing Test cricket. I think they were put in a situation that was unavoidable, bearing in mind that quite a few of the guys have never had IPL experience before. I don’t think they wanted to hurt their opportunity going forward in the competition.”

It was a strange comment considering, of the six absentees, only Van der Dussen has not been to the IPL before; albeit Markram has played only six games in the tournament and Jansen just two. But there is something to be said for players’ not creating doubt over their availability in the minds of IPL franchise owners. The amount of money they could earn in a single edition of cricket’s moneyed monster could change their lives in a way that dutifully turning out for the national team, year in and year out, cannot match.

That alone decides the debate about the choice they made, but damaging misinformation about how they came to be lumped with that decision has muddied the discussion at public level. It is true that, with regard to being given permission to feature in the IPL rather than for South Africa if dates clash, the IPL is the only franchise tournament specified in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between CSA and the South African Cricketers’ Association. It is not true that the MOU guarantees players clearance to go to the IPL ahead of being picked for South Africa. CSA retain the right to refuse to issue any player an NOC, or no objection certificate, for any tournament including the IPL. But CSA can hardly afford to do so in the case of cricket’s biggest payday. That could prompt retirements from the international game — the savvy thing to do, financially speaking. So compromises are made.

On the plus side for Elgar, South Africa will welcome back Keegan Petersen, the leading runscorer in the home series against India in December and January who missed the tour to New Zealand in January and February after contracting Covid. Petersen’s grit will be important in a team who consider recovering some of the prestige lost in the home side’s shock loss to the Bangladeshis in the one-day series as part of their mission. That’s the case even though Temba Bavuma, Kyle Verreynne and Keshav Maharaj are the only members of the ODI squad who will be in the Test dressing room.

“I think what happened in the ODI series has hurt quite a lot of players,” Elgar said. “I wasn’t involved but I’m pretty hurt about the result. I’d like to think that’s fuelled us. Our hunger is going to be right up there.”

But Elgar recognised that the visitors, who lost all 19 of the completed matches they played against South Africa in South Africa before this tour, were a significantly improved team: “We know this Bangladesh side is not the one of old. They’re a new team with a westernised coaching staff who have changed their mindset with regards to how to play cricket in South Africa.” Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach from August 2013 to August 2017, heads a Bangladesh coaching cohort that includes compatriot Allan Donald and Australians Jamie Siddons and Shane McDermott.

Given the slant of the one-day series, in which the home side conceded they were outplayed in all departments despite the fact that the matches were staged in Centurion and at the Wanderers — venues where conditions are overtly South African, and so distinctly un-Asian — did Elgar look forward to the Tests unspooling more slowly at Kingsmead and St George’s Park?

He seemed irked by the suggestion: “Not really. I still think our best Test cricket is played on the Highveld. I’ve got no say over scheduling and venues. Hopefully in the future that can change, but I’d still be extremely happy to play against these guys on the Highveld. I don’t think we’ve got any fear about that. We play our best brand of cricket in that area.

“But even though we’re playing in conditions that are lower and slower, we can adapt. I’ll play them anywhere. I’ve played against mighty cricket nations on really tough surfaces on the Highveld, and we’ve had a lot of success out of that. I’m not too fazed about us playing on slower or quicker wickets. I just think we need to nail down our basics again. That doesn’t change from venue to venue.”

It doesn’t, but South Africa’s failure to launch at two of their fortresses and Bangladesh’s stellar performance must prompt a rethink. The visitors’ Test squad includes seven of their ODI heroes, notably Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed and Mehidy Hasan. And it should sharpen the home side’s focus that the series will be played at the same grounds where Sri Lanka won 2-0 in February 2019 — the only Test series victory by an Asian side in South Africa.

Will Kingsmead, where the rubber starts on Thursday, again prove itself as reasonable a facsimile of a subcontinental pitch as can be found on the sharp tip of Africa? “We want more grass on the pitch, and I think the preparation has been pretty good until now,” Elgar said. “I’m not too familiar with what they’ve done, but it seems like grass has grown a little bit here at Kingsmead. I think it helps if you put water on the pitch because that tends to make grass grow.”

Yes, that was another of Elgar’s jokes. No, he wasn’t laughing. There is too much at stake for that.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Provincial pudding proof to be eaten in last round

Sarel Erwee strengthened his case to replace Aiden Markram, who didn’t play.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

NINE of the 17 members of South Africa’s squad picked for two Tests in Christchurch next month did not feature in the latest round of domestic first-class matches. Four of them, including captain Dean Elgar and spearhead Kagiso Rabada, haven’t been on the field since the end of the Test series against India almost three weeks ago.

Concerns about international players’ work-life-bubble balance impact on their availability for matches in the level below. But measures taken to keep all those balls in the air also create opportunities for squad members who spend series in substitutes’ bibs.

Players like Sarel Erwee, who spent all three Tests against India on the bench — but for the odd spot of fielding — and wasn’t in the ODI squad. So he might have had to remind himself which end of his bat to hold when he opened for the Dolphins against the Warriors at Kingsmead on Friday — the first time he had taken guard in a match since December 9; a break of exactly 50 days. Happily, Erwee picked up where he left off. Having scored 75 and 97 against India A in Bloemfontein in December, he made 93 in his only innings against the Warriors. That will add to the argument for him to replace Aiden Markram in the Test XI.

Markram struggled through the India series, scoring 76 runs in six innings. How might he have fared for the Titans against the Knights last week? We’ll never know. He didn’t play, no doubt because he was among six players who were in action in the Test as well as the ODI rubbers against the Indians. And so he needed rest. He made just 56 runs in three trips to the white-ball crease, retaining his place largely because his part-time off-spin was considered a viable bowling option. Markram took 2/85 in 17 overs. That’s a decent economy rate of 5.00, but stopping an out-of-form frontline batter from fixing his game in order to deploy him as a bowler doesn’t add up.

Especially as Markram has few opportunities to sort himself out away from the glare of the international spotlight. He hasn’t appeared for his domestic team since March last year, when he made 100 and 64 against the Lions’ all-international attack — Rabada, Beuran Hendricks, Lutho Sipamla and Bjorn Fortuin — at the Wanderers. In total in that match, Markram batted for almost eight-and-a-half hours and faced 326 deliveries.

Surely he could have used the opportunity to re-find his feet in that fashion before having to consider the prospect of facing Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson and Neil Wagner at Hagley Oval, New Zealand’s greenest, most seaming pitch?

Along with Erwee, Simon Harmer, Wiaan Mulder, Duanne Olivier, Ryan Rickelton, Sipamla, Glenton Stuurman and Kyle Verreynne — all of them in the New Zealand-bound Test squad — played for their provinces last week. Harmer took 4/70 and 4/33 for the Titans. Mulder scored 24 and nought and took 1/35 and 0/38 for the Lions against Western Province at Newlands. Sipamla claimed 1/47 and 0/28 in the same match, which was also the stage for Rickelton’s innings of 90 and 102 not out. The Warriors’ Stuurman took 5/97, and Verreynne made 86 for WP.

So, a mixed bag. But those players will go to New Zealand with a fair idea of what shape they’re in. More so than Markram, and even more so than Elgar, Keshav Maharaj, Keegan Petersen and Rabada — who have had their feet up since the Tests against India.

No cricket happens in a vacuum, and the feeder system for the international game is particularly susceptible to instability created by players coming and going. That’s understood and expected. But it’s also a pity in this case, because the return of the senior domestic circuit to a provincial system this summer — having been based on a franchise model for the previous 17 seasons — has produced a keen contest that deserves respect. With only the last round of first-class matches left, just 6.3 points separate the Lions, Warriors and Titans at the top of the first division standings. As a win is worth 16 points and a draw six, with batting and bowling bonus points also on offer, all of those three sides have realistic hopes of clinching the title.

The Warriors would seem to have the best chance of adding significantly to their points tally. They play the Knights, who have won only one and lost two of their six games, on Bloemfontein’s docile pitch. The other two contenders, the Titans and the Lions, go head-to-head in a crunch clash at Centurion. Both matches start on Friday.

The Titans ensured they stayed in the running by thrashing the Knights by an innings and 153 in Bloem last week. Sibonelo Makhanya’s 111 and half-centuries by Grant Mokoena, Jordan Hermann, Heinrich Klaasen, Corbin Bosch and Dayyaan Galiem powered the Titans to a declaration at 515/9, and that despite fast bowler Alfred Mothoa’s 5/62. Harmer’s eight-wicket haul helped dismiss the Knights for 197 and 165, in which Patrick Kruger’s 97-ball 53 was the best effort.

In the only other top flight match that wasn’t drawn, Boland beat North West by an innings and 20 runs in Paarl to register their first win of the campaign in their sixth match, three of them drawn. Stiaan van Zyl’s 127, Janneman Malan’s 99 and half-centuries by openers Pieter Malan and Cebo Tshiki guided the home side to 485/7 declared. Wesley Marshall’s 97 and half-centuries by Lesego Senokwane, Senuran Muthusamy and Duan Jansen couldn’t stop North West from being dismissed for 170 and 295. Slow left-armer Siyabonga Mahima opened the bowling and took 6/54 and 3/92.

At Newlands, WP reached 315 thanks to half-centuries by Tony de Zorzi, David Bedingham, Verreynne and Yaseen Vallie. The Lions were dismissed 28 runs behind, with Dominic Hendricks and Rickelton passing 50. Slow left-armer Kyle Simmonds claimed 6/109. Opener Jonathan Bird’s undefeated 152 and more half-centuries by De Zorzi and Bedingham took the home side to a declaration at 337/3. Chasing 366 to win, the Lions had slipped to 36/2 when Rickelton took guard. He saw another five wickets go down, including Simmonds removing Kagiso Rapulana and Mulder with consecutive deliveries. But Rickelton’s unbeaten hundred — his third century in five innings this season, which took his average for the summer to 118.25 — ensured the Lions saved the match. Simmonds completed a match haul of 10/202.

Rudi Second’s 120 earned the Warriors a first innings of 386 in Durban. Eathan Bosch took 5/75. The Dolphins replied with 451 on the back of Erwee’s effort, Marques Ackerman’s 96 and Slade van Staden’s 53, and despite Stuurman’s five-for. The Warriors made it to 137/4 before the game was called.

In the second division, Northern Cape hammered Border by an innings and 271 runs in East London, Easterns were 10-wicket winners over Mpumalanga in White River, and South Western Districts beat Limpopo by eight wickets in Polokwane.

Ernest Kemm and Aubrey Swanepoel scored 106 and 111 not out for Northern Cape. Seamer Divan Posthumus claimed 5/59 for Easterns, whose Grant Thomson scored 145 in the same innings in which fast bowler Bamanye Xenxe took 5/111 for Mpumalanga. Slow left-armer Malcolm Nofal took 5/60 for Limpopo in SWD’s first innings. Medium pacer Marcello Piedt banked figures of 5/21 in Limpopo’s second innings. Matches involving Limpopo and Mpumalanga are not first-class.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Olivier’s omission explained

“He was pap.” – a source on Duanne Olivier’s condition before the Centurion Test.

Telford Vice | Centurion

THE mystery of Duanne Olivier’s controversial absence from the first Test between South Africa and India in Centurion has been explained, albeit belatedly. Olivier was left out despite being the highest wicket-taker in the provincial domestic competition, and even after Anrich Nortjé was ruled out of the series with a hip injury. Was Olivier punished for going Kolpak?

But CSA said on Monday Olivier had recently recovered from Covid-19. It is understood he should be fit for the second Test at the Wanderers, which starts on January 3. On Sunday, selection convenor Victor Mpitsang was asked by reporters from several publications why Olivier was not picked. To one, he offered nothing more than season’s greetings. To others, he did not reply.

Cricbuzz has learnt that Olivier tested negative for the virus before the squad went into camp on Saturday. Even so, his bowling was not up to his usual standards during preparations for the first Test — “he was pap [flat]”, in one source’s estimation — and he was told his return to Test cricket would be put on hold. By all accounts, Olivier was relieved to be given time to get back to his best. He is also dealing with minor problems with his left side and hamstring.

Despite his first-class success, Olivier’s selection in the squad raised eyebrows. In February 2019, after he had taken 48 wickets in his first 10 Tests, he rejected the promise of a two-year CSA contract to sign a three-year Kolpak deal with Yorkshire. While he was there, he was asked whether he was interested in qualifying to play for England. He said he was; a reasonable response considering he thought he had ended his international career.

The Kolpak era was over on December 31, and several of the affected South Africans have thus been rendered eligible for international selection. One of them, Wayne Parnell, broke the ice when he played in an ODI against the Netherlands in Centurion on November 26. But the prospect of Olivier’s comeback has not been universally welcomed — his loyalty is being questioned in myopic quarters.

On Monday, the reporters who had asked Mpitsang why Olivier wasn’t playing were given a statement by the South Africa team manager’s and told to attribute it to the selection convenor. “Duanne Olivier is healthy and well, but did return a positive Covid-19 test result a number of weeks ago, which forced him to quarantine and took time away from his training ahead of the current Test series against India,” the statement read. “This did take place while he was away with the intention to spend time with his family and his work loads were not where the selection panel would have wanted them to be by the time he entered the team bubble ahead of the first Test match. He picked up a hamstring niggle during the two-day, inter-squad match at the start of the camp and the selectors did not want to risk him unnecessarily when there are two more Test matches to think about.”

So, instead of Olivier being named to play his 11th Test in Centurion on Sunday, Marco Jansen made his debut. “Statistically, Marco Jansen was the standout performer with the ball against India A in their recent tour to South Africa and the selectors backed him to take on the senior India team and do well,” the statement read.

Jansen took six wickets at 31.83 in the three four-day games the countries’ A teams played in Bloemfontein in November and December. But Glenton Stuurman — who is also in the Test squad — took seven at 27.14 while Lutho Sipamla, a puzzling omission from the Test squad, claimed nine at 33.11. So how Jansen was the “standout performer” in “statistical” terms in the A series is difficult to fathom. But Cricbuzz has learnt that feedback from the two selectors who were in Bloem to watch those games, Mpitsang among them, was that the 21-year-old, 2.06-metre tall left-armer was the most impressively threatening of the home side’s fast bowlers.

Hence Jansen deserved his chance, and though his return of 0/61 from the 17 overs he bowled on Sunday are not the figures that a young man in a hurry would want from his first day at the highest level, he showed glimpses of the quality that has earned him 62 wickets at 22.88 in 18 first-class matches. Had Quinton de Kock held the chance gleaned from Mayank Agarwal, Jansen’s day might have panned out differently.

“Every player who has been selected for this Proteas team is believed and backed to be capable of representing the national team and give a performance of the highest level,” the statement read. “The absence of one player does not take away from the quality that another brings to the set up.”

Understood. But if the questions had been answered when they were asked, a controversy could not only have been avoided but would also not have grown into a conspiracy theory.

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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Double tons for Zondo, Malan

Warriors, Lions, KZN Inland celebrate victory

Telford Vice | Cape Town

KHAYA Zondo has proven his point where it can never be taken away from him: on the field. In recent weeks his name has become code for being a victim of racial wrongdoing at the Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) hearings. On Saturday Zondo gave the game another reason to remember him by completing an undefeated 203 for the Dolphins in their division one match against Western Province at Newlands.

It was one of two double hundreds in the opening round of first-class fixtures, along with Janneman Malan’s 200 not out for Boland against the Knights in Bloemfontein.

On July 22, Zondo gave testimony at the SJN in which he alleged race-based skulduggery in his omission from South Africa’s XI for the deciding ODI of a series in India in October 2015. Zondo was picked to replace David Miller, who had scored 52 runs in four innings, three of them completed, in the rubber. But Zondo did not play.

South Africa’s then captain, AB de Villiers, insisted Miller be retained because of his experience. The selector on tour, Hussein Manack, acquiesced. So Zondo was removed from the side. He might have kept his place after JP Duminy was ruled out through injury, but that prompted the inclusion of Dean Elgar — who had arrived in India to play in the Test series that was to follow — as a left-handed batter who could bowl spin.

Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis and De Villiers scored centuries in a total of 438/4. Miller came to the crease when Du Plessis retired hurt with cramp at the end of the 44th over. He made 22 not out off 12 balls. Elgar took guard with five balls left in the innings and scored five not out. He did not bowl in India’s collapse to 224 all out in 36 overs, sealing what remains South Africa’s only success in five bilateral ODI series in that country.

The episode struck a nerve in South Africa, where black and brown players wrote to CSA complaining of being sent on tour to make up the transformation numbers in the squad and not being given the game time they deserved. Zondo has since played five ODIs, all in 2018, but believes the affair has stunted his career.

“It feels like things are constantly being done and it all feels like it stems from 2015,” he told the SJN. “I can’t even get into the South Africa A side. How? They complain about not having black batsmen. I’m a black batsman who scored two centuries [last] season, but they can’t seem to involve me. No other black batsman scored a century this year. My question is, what is it about me that they have such a big issue?

“The performances are not enough. Maybe it’s because I’m not tall enough. There are all sorts of reasons that are put. Things keep being done, over and over and over. It’s almost like they want to say, when my career is over, ‘See he only played five games [for South Africa]; he was never good enough.’”

On Saturday, the second day of the Newlands match, he showed he remains good enough, scoring 174 of his runs in the 68.4 overs the Dolphins faced before declaring. Zondo scored his 13th first-class century in his 205th innings. He marked reaching his maiden double ton by taking a knee — another nod, it will be seen, to 2015 and all that.

Zondo’s feat was the 54th double century seen in senior first-class cricket in South Africa since the advent of the franchise era in 2004/05. The system was restructured before the start of the 2021/22 season, when 15 provincially affiliated teams replaced the six franchises. The 55th double century followed on Monday, courtesy of Malan.

The Dolphins declared their first innings closed at 489/8 on Saturday, and slow left-armer Bryce Parson took 5/82 to help dismiss WP 220 runs behind. The follow-on was enforced, and the home side were 190/7 when rain ended the match.

The Titans beat the Warriors by one wicket in a first division clash in Centurion, where fast bowler Glenton Stuurman took 5/34 in the home side’s first innings of 134. Opener Edward Moore scored 110 in the visitors’ reply of 258. Sibonelo Makhanya and Jordan Hermann shared a century stand in the Titans’ second dig of 359, which left the Warriors a target of 236. Lesiba Ngoepe and Marco Jansen scored half-centuries and No. 9 Tiaan van Vuuren hit 32 not out off 34 balls. Van Vuuren and No. 11 Mthiwekhaya Nabe posted a stand 24 for the last wicket to seal victory.

At the Wanderers, the Lions beat North West by an innings and 72 runs in another division one game. The visitors were bundled out for 159 with Duanne Olivier and Lutho Sipamla sharing seven wickets. Ryan Rickleton’s 159 anchored the Lions reply of 408. North West crashed to 177 all out in 43.4 overs in their second innings. This time Olivier and Malusi Siboto split seven wickets. Olivier claimed match figures of 7/109.

Also in the first division, the Knights and Boland drew in Bloemfontein in a match that was robbed of its entire first day by rain. Pite van Biljon’s 137 bolstered the home side’s first innings of 320. Malan was 139 not out overnight, but it seemed his sturdy batting might be in vain when Boland shambled to 230/7. Enter No. 9 Ferisco Adams to score 127 and put on 260 with the double centurion, which resulted in a declaration at 520/9. The Knights were 143/2 when hands were shaken on the draw.

In two second division matches, KwaZulu-Natal Inland beat Easterns by an innings and 109 runs in Pietermaritzburg and Limpopo and Border drew in Polokwane. Luke Schlemmer scored 153 in the home side’s first innings of 440/6 declared and Easterns were dismissed for 107 in reply. They followed on, and off-spinner Michael Erlank took 5/67 as they were dismissed for 224. In Polokwane, Marco Marais made 146 in Border’s first innings of 392. Left-arm wrist spinner Thomas Kaber took 6/75 in Limpopo’s reply of 192. Border declared at 190/3 to set Limpopo 391 to win. They were 377/8 when stumps were drawn. The latter match was not first-class because it involved Limpopo, who have not been awarded that status.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Rabada back for historic Pakistan tour

Daryn Dupavillon, who had the best economy rate on his international debut in May, and Ottniel Baartman, who has dismissed Dean Elgar, Reeza Hendricks and Temba Bavuma this season, are also in the squad.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

OF the nine fast bowlers South Africa have selected for their historic Test series in Pakistan later this month, one’s name sticks out: Kagiso Rabada. It’s no surprise that the leader of the attack should be in the squad, but he will be welcomed back after missing the rubber against Sri Lanka in the past 14 days because of a groin strain. The series will end South Africa’s absence of 14 years from Pakistan because of security fears.

Two of the other quicks selected were Daryn Dupavillon, who made his international debut in an ODI against Australia in Potchefstroom in May — when he dismissed Aaron Finch and returned South Africa’s best economy rate — and Ottniel Baartman, who has removed Dean Elgar, Reeza Hendricks and Temba Bavuma in franchise first-class cricket this season.

South Africa steamrolled the Lankans by an innings at Centurion and by 10 wickets at the Wanderers. But the conditions they will encounter in Karachi and Rawalpindi are likely to be starkly different compared to Highveld surfaces. Consequently they have bolstered their spin depth by including Tabraiz Shamsi and George Linde. Keshav Maharaj will remain the first-choice slow bowler, but he is unlikely to be the only one in the XI.

Shaun von Berg and Senuran Muthusamy, spinners both, may wonder why they didn’t crack the nod considering they are first and fourth among franchise first-class wicket-takers this season. Conversely, Dupavillon and Baartman may wonder how they made the squad — they are 14th and 24th on the wicket-taking list this summer.

“Considering that the conditions that will be faced are largely unknown to the South African team, we wanted to strengthen the attack with the skill sets that Tabraiz Shamsi and George Linde have to offer, while giving players like Daryn Dupavillon and Ottneil Baartman an opportunity after making strong cases for themselves in recent seasons,” a CSA release quoted selection convenor Victor Mpitsang as saying.

Dwaine Pretorius, who has been kept on the sidelines since November 12 by a hamstring strain, has returned to full fitness and thus kept his place. Glenton Stuurman, Migael Pretorius and Raynard van Tonder, who were all part of the squad for the Sri Lanka series and were injured while on South Africa duty despite not playing a match, were not included.

Shamsi and Baartman are the only players selected who are part of their franchise squads for the sole round of franchise one-day games that will be played before the Test squad travels to Pakistan. The release said they would “still take part in the competition” because it had “been moved into a bio-secure environment in Potchefstroom” where all of the truncated tournament’s 15 games will be played, starting on Saturday.

South Africa leave next Friday on a commercial flight — charter flights have become popular among touring sides during the pandemic — and will quarantine in Karachi before resuming training and staging intra-squad games to prepare for the series, which starts on January 26. The Rawalpindi Test is scheduled to end on February 8 and will be followed by three T20s. CSA said it would announce that squad next week.

South Africa squad: Quinton de Kock (captain), Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Kagiso Rabada, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Rassie van der Dussen, Anrich Nortjé, Wiaan Mulder, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Kyle Verreynne, Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Tabraiz Shamsi, George Linde, Daryn Dupavillon, Ottniel Baartman.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Bavuma’s 0.1 foggy seconds

“I guess me walking prematurely, before the umpire had made a decision, probably was not the cleverest of things.” – Temba Bavuma

Telford Vice | Johannesburg

FOR three hours, nine minutes, 59.9 seconds and 124 deliveries at Centurion on Sunday and Monday, Temba Bavuma was the epitome of the modern Test batter.

He hustled and bustled. He played strokes as crisp as a new cotton shirt. He ran like the wind that wasn’t there to lighten the heavy heat of a Highveld midsummer’s day. He was as sure of foot as he was of mind. He was deft and decisive, and he was 71 not out in a stand of 179 with Faf du Plessis.

Then came the 0.1 seconds it took Bavuma to decide what to do about the 125th ball he faced. Dasun Shanaka’s shortish, widish delivery was an invitation to have a go. Bavuma obliged, cutting hard. Niroshan Dickwella caught the ball and gleefully appealled. Marais Erasmus was unmoved. Bavuma thrust his bat under his arm in a movement as sharply defined as everything else he had done, jagged his heels square of the crease, tilted his head backward, and strode off the ground steaming with disappointment.

He had crossed the boundary by the time the broadcaster’s gizmos revealed he had not hit the ball; that the edge of his bat had come nowhere near it, in cricket-speak. Which means he missed it not by much, but that he clearly missed it. So why walk? Or why not wait to find out what the umpire thought?

“It was nice to get runs under the belt; to get the confidence flowing,” Bavuma said in a video file released by CSA on Friday. “I would have wanted to score a lot more runs. The opportunity was there. I guess me walking prematurely, before the umpire had made a decision, probably was not the cleverest of things. But it happened in the spur of the moment.”

More happily for South Africa, Bavuma’s strange dismissal was but a blip on their march to victory by an innings and 45 runs inside four days — their only success in the four Tests they played in 2020. And that after Sri Lanka had scored 396 in their first innings, their highest total in South Africa. The home side’s response, helped by injuries to much of the Lankans’ frontline attack, was 621.

“We were able to bring the game back through strong performances, led by the batters,” Bavuma said. “There hasn’t been a lot of consistency or confidence in our batting. So the pressure was on the batters, especially considering they are the senior guys in the team, to step up and lead the way.”

South Africa’s attack had just a dozen caps worth of experience going into the match, and it took them time to settle in. “In the first innings, it wasn’t our best bowling effort,” Bavuma said. “The second innings [when Sri Lanka were dismissed for 180] was totally different … in terms of the discipline, intensity and ruthlessness that we showed.”

The second Test starts on Sunday at the Wanderers, where conditions are likely to be similar to those at Centurion. What would Bavuma change about South Africa’s approach? “Not a lot, to be honest. The challenge will be, if you do get in, to make sure you go and get the big score to be able to put the team in a good position.”

It seems the South Africans won’t want for opportunities to do so. Word from the Sri Lanka camp on Friday was that Suranga Lakmal will not be over the hamstring injury that kept him out of the first Test and will join Dhananjaya de Silva, Dinesh Chandimal, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara and Oshada Fernando on the sidelines. Wanindu Hasaranga, who made a promising debut at Centurion, is to undergo a fitness test on Saturday.

South Africa have also had their mishaps, though they have been nowhere near as damaging to the cause. Glenton Stuurman has been released from the squad because of a quadriceps strain, a release on Friday said. That follows Migael Pretorius being let go on Wednesday after injuring a shoulder. It’s plausible that the two uncapped players hurt themselves by trying too hard to be noticed during training sessions. But their franchises, the Warriors and the Knights, would be justified if they were unhappy that players they sent to the highest level fit and healthy are coming home injured.

Not that Bavuma will be thinking of those who are no longer around as he looks to add a second century to the 14 half-centuries he has scored in his 68 Test innings. The closest he has come so far was at the Wanderers — his home ground — in March 2018, when Australia’s dismissal of South Africa left him marooned on 95 not out. As positive as the recollection of his performance in that innings will be, that wasn’t enough for Bavuma: “I’d like to create more memories; there is a feeling of unfinished business.”

First published by Cricbuzz.

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