Jos Buttler – Bulletproof Truth

Jos Buttler and niceness, seven times removed

“We kind of went into a dwaal in the middle [overs] there.” – David Miller

Telford Vice / Cape Town

JOS Buttler seems, in the best way, nice. That’s a terrible thing to say about anyone. It damns them as insipid, unremarkable, a blunt knife, lacking in the stuff it takes to make it in the world. Still, even nice people shouldn’t be lumped with the lot left to Buttler during last year’s men’s World Cup.

There he sat, too many times more than is healthy, trying to explain why England were making an unmitigated mess of defending their title. Or trying not to explode in anger or implode in embarrassment. He did neither, of course. Nice guys don’t. They smile and use their words in measured tones, and ignore the barbs and brickbats along with the insinuations and innuendos that come with that tortuous territory. As Buttler did so, again and again, smiling a sacrificial lamb’s smile without fail, it was difficult not to feel sorry for him.

So there was a frisson of something like shock in seeing Buttler remonstrate with umpire Sharfuddoula during England’s T20 World Cup match against South Africa in St Lucia on Friday. Sharfuddoula had, at Quinton de Kock’s canny instigation, asked Joel Wilson upstairs to take a look at what happened as De Kock’s slog sweep off Adil Rashid dipped groundward at deep backward square leg in the ninth over. After several replays, Wilson decided Mark Wood had not got his fingers under the ball before it met the turf. Not out.

Buttler, the sharpness of his shoulder aimed at Sharfuddoula, his neck bent in the same direction, his eyes searing the uncomfortably short distance between him and the umpire, wasn’t having it. What do you mean not out? Better question: Nice? This guy?

De Kock was 58 not out off 30 when he was reprieved. It was his second half-century in as many innings and he seemed cleared for take-off for a hundred. But, 22 balls later, Buttler was roaring in triumph. De Kock had thrown his bat at a cutter from Jofra Archer and the edge had flown hard, high and wide. But not hard, high and wide enough to evade Buttler, who was cleared for take-off himself and snared the ball in his left glove and held on as he tumbled to earth. Umpire Wilson’s call had cost England just seven De Kock runs.

In the 14th Buttler launched himself down leg to intercept a veering delivery from Wood that had been pushed wider still by connecting with Heinrich Klaasen’s pad. Four balls after that in the same over, Wood homed in on Klaasen, backing away to leg to make room for an off-side assault, with a bouncer. David Miller called for a run as the ball squirted wide of Buttler, who hared to haul it in and throw down the stumps at the non-striker’s end with Klaasen well short of his ground. It looked like Klaasen, a wicketkeeper himself, remember, hadn’t given Buttler a chance of doing what he did.

Buttler was roaring again, and justifiably. Maybe, when you’re busy with your 422nd T20, as Buttler was on Friday, you can see a close game coming from a long way away. And you play accordingly. Or not like the South Africans did for too much of their innings.

“We kind of went into a dwaal in the middle [overs] there,” Miller told a television interviewer between innings. Dwaal? It’s an Afrikaans word that means dreamy or dazed, and it summed up the way South Africa batted. Having reached 63 without loss in their powerplay, England limited them to 100 runs in the remaining 14 overs.

England had chased 181 with something approaching ease at the same ground on Wednesday to beat West Indies by eight wickets with 15 balls to spare. Would a target of 164 be big enough to hold them? It didn’t seem it would when 52 runs flowed from the start of the 15th to the end of the 17th overs, which were bowled by Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortjé and Ottneil Baartman. With 18 balls left in the game, England needed 25.

But two fine catches in the deep by Tristan Stubbs and Aiden Markram removed Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone, who had shared 78 off 42 to put the English ahead, a dozen deliveries apart. Markram’s effort — sprinting 18 metres towards the boundary from mid-on, diving and making the grab over his shoulder — would have done Willie Mays proud.

When the dust cleared it emerged that South Africa had won by seven runs; exactly as many runs as De Kock scored after he survived Wood’s non-catch. Buttler knew it would be tight, but that tight? He is a sharp knife after all. And, in the best way, not at all nice.

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Brace for SA20 impact players?

“It’s a terrible rule.” – Jacques Kallis

Telford Vice / Cape Town

THE impact player rule jolting the IPL could be implemented in next year’s SA20. Cricbuzz understands the measure will be on the agenda when the South African tournament’s administrators gather to plan the 2025 edition.

That meeting will be held after the ICC releases their updated playing conditions, which are usually published on October 1. If the rule is approved, the SA20 will be ripe for the kind of revolution being seen in the IPL.

Should such a change seem unlikely, consider that the SA20 discussed introducing the rule last year. It was decided not to follow the IPL’s example partly because the SA20 player auction had happened by then and the franchises had not been able to shape their squads with impact players in mind. Concerns over the adverse consequences for allrounders, who are earning fewer opportunities because of the rule, and player development also helped make up minds. Those opposed, whose ranks include several prominent players, will hope that thinking prevails.

Among them is Jacques Kallis, who told Cricbuzz: “It’s a terrible rule. You’re negating the allrounder, and I don’t think that’s good for cricket. Especially for India, who are trying to grow their allrounders. As an allrounder, I don’t want to see that. You want them to play a major role.

“Also, there’s a very small chance of being bowled out because you’re basically playing with eight batters. That makes a big difference, and that’s why the scores have gone crazy. Yes, the batters have taken the game to the next level, but I definitely don’t agree that there should be an impact player.”

Kallis did see an upside to the rule for players who couldn’t quite crack the XI: “If your team is doing well your side doesn’t change much. Then guys sit on the sidelines and do nothing. So they could get gametime as impact players. That’s probably the only bonus, but it’s still not good for the game.”

Happily for Kallis and those who concur, he is on good terms with SA20 commissioner Graeme Smith — who has not responded to enquiries about the possibility of impact players being green lit for next year’s tournament. “I have had a chat with Graeme about this, and from what I understand they’re not going to do it,” Kallis said.

But the ongoing rule-fuelled explosion of runs in India, and the fact that all six of the SA20 franchises are IPL-owned, could prompt a rethink in South Africa when the bigwigs meet.

The tournament already has a semblance of a substitution system in place, with captains nominating at the toss which two of the 13 players’ names on their team sheets will sit out. In the IPL, five replacements are designated before the match — one of whom can be deployed during any natural break at any stage of the game.

The benefit of the SA20’s current approach is limited to allowing teams to finalise their XIs after analysing the actual conditions, not estimating what they might be based on experience. The benefits of the impact player rule for IPL teams, particularly in batting terms, seem unlimited.

Measured until after Tuesday’s game between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals, the 1,014th played in all IPLs, 11 of the tournament’s all-time top 20 highest totals have been seen this year along with 10 of the 20 biggest match aggregates and four of the highest 20 successful run chases. Teams have been bowled out for fewer than 100 in 40 IPL innings, but only once this year.

The record of a dozen centuries for a single edition of the IPL — five more than in 2016 and 2022, which are second on the list — was set last year, the first time impact players were deployed. Suryakumar Yadav’s undefeated 102 off 51 balls for Mumbai Indians against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede on Monday was already the 12th ton this year, and that with 19 games left in the competition at that stage.

Five of last year’s hundreds were scored by players who were then subbed out of the line-up, all of them in the top four. That has been true once this year, when Travis Head opened and made 102 off 41 for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy on April 15. It happened the other way around a day later at Eden Gardens, where Sanju Samson chose to field first and Jos Buttler scored 107 not out off 60 against Kolkata Knight Riders after being parachuted into Rajasthan Royals’ opening partnership.

Sai Sudharsan was the highest impact runscorer after 56 games, making 325 runs — including both of his half-centuries and all five of his top scores — at a strike rate of 129.48 in eight innings as a substitute. He made 33, 31 and 35 in his other innings, but at a higher strike rate of 139.44.

The best impact strike rate after 56 games, among players who had scored at least 50 runs, belonged to Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Mahipal Lomror — 238.10. Overall, batters who were subbed out had a strike rate of 162.12. Those who came into the XI scored at 143.67.

Arshdeep Singh was the most successful impact bowler with 13 wickets and Mustafizur Rahman’s economy rate of 6.38 was the best among those who had sent down five or more overs. Subbed out bowlers have taken 70 wickets, and their economy rate was 9.85. Those coming in have claimed 36 wickets and conceded 11.13 runs an over.

But it’s batting where this buck stops, or has refused to stop. The real effect of the rule is that it has removed from the non-impact batters’ minds much of the fear of getting out. They no longer need to curb their enthusiasm. Whoever the impact player is and however many runs they might make matters less than the invigorating fact of their presence. That gives their teammates licence to lash out more lustily than ever. Hence we’ve seen exponentially more IPL centuries than ever in 2023 and 2024.

We saw four centuries in the SA20 this year — up by one from the inaugural edition — and 454 sixes; 77 more than in 2023. On Thursday the tournament reported a 21% increase in global broadcaster viewership and 75-million digital views. That’s a fraction of the interest in the IPL, which garnered 111-million streaming viewers for this year’s opening match alone.

But the SA20 is far from broken. So why try to fix it with an impact player rule. Besides, South Africa’s outfields are significantly bigger than India’s, and the pitches not as flat. That an IPL record low of two centuries were scored when the tournament was played in South Africa in 2009 — four fewer than in 2008 — seems instructive.

That, of course, was long before impact players. The toothpaste is out of the tube. Good luck getting it back inside.

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IPL casts deep shadow over T20 Challenge

“Some players are not scoring as many runs as others, but their strike rates are higher. Those are the guys T20 franchises want, and that has become a massive thing in modern players’ thinking.” – Ashwell Prince

Telford Vice / Cape Town

FOR 25 minutes at the Wanderers on Wednesday night, a gloomy tower served as a metaphor for CSA’s men’s T20 Challenge. One of the stadium’s floodlight pylons suddenly went dark, halting the semifinal between the Lions and the Titans — and rendering unseeable a competition that struggled to be seen even before the lights went out.

Happily, they came back efficiently enough for the Lions to purr to victory by eight wickets. They will face the Dolphins, who beat the Warriors by five wickets at Kingsmead on Thursday in the other semi, in the final at the Wanderers on Sunday.

The competition’s 55 league games were played over 45 days. Fewer than half of those matches — 22 — were broadcast live, and only to SuperSport’s limited audience. Four games were played on a single day five times, as many times as there were three on the go simultaneously. Eight other days featured two. Only twice was one game played on a day. The focus was fuzzy.

Then there’s the time of year. The tournament started 28 days after the SA20 final and it had the spotlight to itself in South Africa for 14 days before the IPL began. For 36 days now — almost three-quarters of T20 Challenge’s existence — it has been blotted out of the public consciousness by global cricket’s blingiest, blariest, best event.

The intended audience’s attention is at the IPL because most of South Africa’s box office players are there. That explains the smatterings of spectators at T20 Challenge matches, but only partly. The crowds have been tiny also because the tournament has too often failed to deliver cricket that its market, influenced by what is being beamed from India, would deem worth watching — particularly from a batting perspective.

Totals of 200 or more have been seen four times in the T20 Challenge, in which teams have been dismissed for fewer than 100 six times. In the IPL’s first 41 games, sides topped 200 in 22 instances and were bowled out in double figures once. Three centuries and two unbeaten efforts in the 90s have been seen in the T20 Challenge. The IPL has been graced by nine centuries. And all that, mind, despite 16 more matches being played in the South African competition compared to the Indian extravaganza.

The pitches in the IPL have been helped by the fact that the load is being spread around 13 grounds. Only in 2014 and 2015 have as many venues been used, and never more. “The surfaces here are very flat, so there’s no seam movement and not much turn, and there’s very little swing and lots of dew,” Lance Klusener, Lucknow Super Giants’ assistant coach, told Cricbuzz. “We’re playing on relatively small grounds that have lightning quick outfields. Add the best batters on the planet and you get big scores. Also, so many teams have an extra batter because of the impact player rule.”

Ashwell Prince, who won 119 caps for South Africa across the formats, would concur. As a television commentator on the T20 Challenge and a keen IPL follower, he is well-placed to offer an informed view on both competitions. “The impact player has made a big difference, particularly for the guys who bat early in the innings,” Prince told Cricbuzz. “Nobody is trying to secure a good start by being watchful. I’m not saying everybody is playing without responsibility, but they are erring on the side of aggression rather than being watchful because it’s an extended batting line-up. That’s freed batters’ minds.”

Jos Buttler is this year’s leading impact batter. He has scored 285 runs in seven innings for Rajasthan Royals, 142 of them after being subbed into the XI, which has happened twice. The second time, against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on April 16, he opened and made an unbeaten 107 off 60 balls. Chasing 224 to win, Rajasthan dwindled to 121/6 in the 13th. They would likely have lost had it not been for Buttler’s effort. Rajasthan lead the league in runs scored by their impact batters with 189. They also top the standings.

But maybe there’s more to this than impact players. “Our pitches are tired; it’s wintertime, so the ball isn’t coming onto the bat,” Prince said. “That’s not the only reason you’re not seeing so many runs. Our players’ application could be better; the scores don’t have to be as low as they are. It seems as if there aren’t any batters who are prepared to dig their team to a competitive score. Everybody wants to smash their team to a competitive score.

“But, at this time of the year, you need adaptability because the pitches aren’t as good as the mindsets want them to be. The guys are going to the crease with the mindset of wanting to attack every bowler in every bowling line-up. But the surfaces aren’t allowing for that. There’s a lack of adaptability, and teams are getting bowled out for low scores.

“Sometimes, particularly in T20 cricket, it’s hard for batters to put their ego away. The conditions may suggest that a score of around 145, 150 might be competitive, and that should mean you adapt to play that style of cricket. But because you want to play a different style, you get bundled out for 100, 115, 120. People don’t dig in and, for instance, run the runs because it’s not as glamorous as smashing the runs.”

Prince had a theory for that tendency: “You might play a matchwinning innings; let’s say you score 60 off 50 balls. Players don’t want that kind of innings in their stats. If you have to do that two or three times in a campaign, it brings your strike rate down. You might win matches for your team playing that way, but it hurts your chances of being drafted in the next big tournament.

“Franchises look at your aggregate and say, ‘Okay, you’re scoring runs. But you’re scoring them at a strike rate of 135. That’s too low. We don’t want you.’ Some players are not scoring as many runs as others, but their strike rates are higher. Those are the guys they want, and that has become a massive thing in modern players’ thinking.”

Comparing the IPL and the T20 Challenge involves many facets of difference. Prince detailed some of them: “The players in the IPL are of a higher calibre in terms of their skills. But we’re also talking about understanding the game better. We’re talking about mentality. They are the best players in the world. That’s why they’re playing in the IPL.

“Even if you had impact players in South Africa, you would struggle to put the kinds of scores on the board we’re seeing in the IPL. South African pitches offer bowlers more. Maybe there’s more bounce or lateral movement, or sometimes the natural inconsistency of the pitch offers the bowler something.

“In the IPL the surfaces are so good that somebody who comes in at number eight doesn’t have to play himself in and find the pace of the pitch. You can take two or three balls and start swinging. You know at what height and pace the ball is going to get to you.

“When you’re playing on a pitch that is bouncing more or reacting inconsistently — I listened to Matthew Hayden describe this beautifully on commentary — it delays your decision-making as a batter. When you commit later to the stroke, you can’t swing as hard as when you’re trusting the bounce and the pace. You can’t swing as hard on a South African pitch as you might do on an IPL pitch.”

The only connection between the IPL and the T20 Challenge is that they are played in the same format. For the latter to be seen is as difficult as it would be for the former not to be seen. Even if the lights went out.

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Kane king as South Africa limp back to SA20-land

“He doesn’t leave his bubble. He just stays there, he just focuses on the next ball. He really respects the game.” – Neil Brand on Kane Williamson

Telford Vice / Cape Town

AT least it was Kane Williamson who administered the last rites. If you have to lose a Test and be lumped with an unwanted record that you have avoided for almost 92 years, rather the nicest man in cricket delivers the killer blows than some smug aggressor.

Williamson’s undefeated 133 at Seddon Park on Friday, his third century in four innings and his seventh in a dozen trips to the crease, clinched what New Zealand had never achieved from their first meeting with these opponents in February and March 1932 — victory in a men’s Test series against South Africa.

Having been outplayed and thumped, by 281 runs, in the first Test in Mount Maunganui, the South Africans — significantly weakened by SA20 contractual commitments — proved more competitive in Hamilton. With Dane Piedt taking 5/89 in the first innings, which earned South Africa a lead of 31, and David Bedingham scoring 110 in the second dig, hopes rose of a fairytale win. But a crash of 6/33 after tea on Thursday, starring Will O’Rourke, whose match figures of 9/93 are the best by a New Zealand debutant, trimmed the target to 267. Williamson and Will Young took New Zealand home by seven wickets in the last hour of Friday’s play with an unbroken stand of 152.

“We were in a really good position [on Thursday] afternoon to put the Black Caps under real pressure,” Shukri Conrad said. “At tea time we were 217 ahead for four, and we could have batted out the day and part of today. But we felt we posted something that could be competitive. But when the No. 1-ranked batter in the world plays the way he does, I don’t think we can be too disappointed about the outcome of the match.”

Williamson batted for more than six hours and faced 260 balls for his 32nd Test century, the first of them scored on debut in Ahmedabad in November 2010. His latest feat was a patient march to a victory that became more inexorable with each passing, flawless minute that Williamson occupied the crease. In the series he scored more than 100 runs than anyone else and faced five deliveries short of double the number dealt with by Bedingham, South Africa’s leading batter in the rubber.

“You just watch and marvel at the way he goes about his business,” Conrad said. “If there are any learnings for our young bucks and our more experienced guys to take away it’s how he wanted to be there right at the end and almost pull out the stumps and say thank you very much. He’s a glutton for batting. It was an absolute masterclass. I sit here in the hope that our players watched and saw how to best go about it.”

Neil Brand saw Williamson’s innings up close: “He doesn’t leave his bubble. He just stays there, he just focuses on the next ball. He really respects the game, from what I have seen. He never throws his wicket away and he is always hungry to bat. A lot of us can learn from that.”

What could Tim Southee do but heap praise on the man from whom he inherited the captaincy in December 2022: “He is a special talent. It wasn’t an easy pitch to bat on and he just found a way. We knew if someone could stick with him and he showed us his brilliance, it was going to make things easier. He was tested with spin and pace and a challenging pitch, but we’ve seen over the years he has come out on top. After the 12 months he has had with injuries and setbacks and rehabs and coming back, it’s just phenomenal to see him be able to do what he does.

“He gets into his batting bubble and I guess it’s his happy place. We joke that he doesn’t like spending time with us, that he’d rather spend it out in the middle. But it’s just pure hunger for batting — his pure love for batting, not only in the middle but the time he spends in the nets.

“He is always looking to improve his game. It’s no fluke that he is as good as he is because he trains as hard as anyone I have ever seen. He hits more balls than anyone I have ever seen, and he just gets into that zone and is a guy you want in your team. For over 10 years he has been an incredible member of the side and one of our greats. And there’s still more to come.”

The South Africans were left to pick up the pieces of what might have been had they shown more application when they batted on Thursday, but they knew the superior team won. “The only time you are allowed to lose is when the opposition are better than you, and they certainly were better than us,” Conrad said. As a consolation, Brand had the certainty that “you know it’s possible to play at this level”.

He should count himself lucky he isn’t part of South Africa’s women’s team, who are staring at a defeat of biblical proportions after two days of a one-off Test at the Waca. They were shot out for 76 in 6.2 overs more than a session with Darcie Brown taking 5/21, then toiled for 125.2 overs before Australia declared at 575/9. Annabel Sutherland’s 210 was the fourth double century scored in the 148 women’s Tests played. By stumps on Friday, South Africa had lost their top order and were still 432 behind. The fact that Australia are playing their ninth Test in 10 years and South Africa only their second goes some way to illustrating the disparity between the teams, but that won’t make the visitors feel better about their impending thrashing.

South Africa’s teams will make long journeys home to a cricketminded public who will look at them with a mixture of pity, dissatisfaction and concern. Even allowing for the extenuating circumstances, how could they have performed so poorly? What will these results do to their collective psyche? Why should they take an interest in all that when they could suspend their disbelief and pour their passion into something as frivolous and inconsequential as T20 tournaments?

Like the SA20. It’s a fair bet South Africans have forgotten what happened in the final at Newlands on Saturday, much less in the rest of this year’s tournament. And that’s the point: it’s cricket for cricket’s — and money’s — sake. There is no overarching seriousness to get in the way of the fun, and there are no memories — good or bad — to linger into the succeeding days and weeks. Everyone goes home happy. Who won? Who cares? Even so, T20 shines with an incandescent brightness when the international game ebbs as low as it does in South Africa. And especially when a tournament shows provable progress, as the SA20 has done.

Of the 34 matches just 12 were decided by 10 or fewer runs or with no more than six balls to spare. But that was three more games than last year, and close finishes are not a genuine measure of the quality of the cricket played — two weak teams could contest the tightest match as readily as two strong sides.

Four centuries were scored in this year’s SA20 compared to three in 2023. No players made aggregates of 400 or more last year. This year there were four. This season’s leading runscorer was Ryan Rickelton with 530 in 10 innings. Last summer no-one could catch Jos Buttler’s 391 in 11.

Heinrich Klaasen’s 37 sixes in 2024 was almost double Will Jacks’ league-leading 19 in the first edition. Three players reached 50 off 19 balls in 2023. Klaasen got there in 16 this year. Jacks’ 41-ball century in 2024 beat Klaasen’s effort off 43 deliveries a year ago.

Last year’s highest score was Faf du Plessis’ 113. This year Kyle Verreynne made 116 not out. The biggest stand in 2023 was 157 shared by Reeza Hendricks and Du Plessis. Rassie van der Dussen and Rickelton piled up a partnership of 200 in 2024.

There were a dozen hauls of four wickets or more this year. Last year? Eight. Three of 2024’s best bowling figures were five-fours. We saw one in 2023.

Not all of the metrics point upward. Twenty has been the magic number for most wickets by a bowler in both editions. Anrich Nortjé’s 142 dot balls last year bettered Daniel Worrall’s 124 this year.

But there is no doubt the tournament is flexing its muscles as it grows. If it continues on that trajectory how long might it be before the SA20, with all its fizz regardless of who does what and none of the funk that falls when South Africa lose, replaces the international game as this country’s cricket of choice?

Australia won the Waca Test by an innings and 284 runs on Saturday.

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Klaasen keeps on keeping on to put South Africa back on track

“He told me he’s got me and that I’m not allowed to walk off the field if I don’t score a hundred. And I told him, ‘But I can’t run,’ and he said, ‘Just give me 100% every time you face the ball.” – Heinrich Klaasen on his conversation with Marco Jansen

Telford Vice / Wankhede Stadium

HEINRICH Klaasen had nothing left to give. Except everything. Batting in Mumbai’s punishing air — 36 degrees hot and thick with smoke — against England at the Wankhede on Saturday, Klaasen had to prise himself off his haunches, his knees and his back just to keep going, nevermind score runs in South Africa’s World Cup cause.

“I had to dig really, really deep,” Klaasen said. “I didn’t have any energy left. But I’ve got family [wife Soné and daughter Laya] upstairs. Checking on them helped me get through those moments. And, obviously, it’s an honour for us to play for our country.”

What was it like batting in extreme conditions? “It’s like breathing in hot air, and every time you try to run it’s just sapping more and more energy, and then your body just doesn’t want to work with you anymore. It’s almost like running in a sauna for the whole innings. We prepare for that and we’re used to these conditions, but it still takes a lot out of the body.”

Having spent himself in batting for three minutes more than two hours to score a 67-ball 109, Klaasen spent all of England’s reply in the players’ area wrapped in a towel. But by then he had done his bit to secure his team’s victory, which was achieved by 229 runs — England’s heaviest defeat, in terms of runs, in all of England’s 789 ODIs.

Klaasen’s performance was key to the South Africans making 399/7, the highest total yet scored against England in the format. He shared a stand of 151 off 77 with Marco Jansen, a sixth-wicket record for South Africa against England.

Besides scoring a career-best 75 not out off 42, Jansen helped Klaasen stay in the fight. “Marco also played a big part in that,” Klaasen said. “He told me he’s got me and that I’m not allowed to walk off the field if I don’t score a hundred. And I told him, ‘But I can’t run,’ and he said, ‘That’s fine — just give me 100% every time you face the ball.”

Klaasen had scored 40 runs off 31 balls when Jansen came to the crease in the 37th over after Aiden Markram and David Miller had been dismissed in the space of nine deliveries. Klaasen and Jansen stayed together until the first delivery of the 50th, when Gus Atkinson yorked Klaasen.

“Marco has been working extremely hard on his batting and he’s taken a lot of pride in his death hitting,” Klaasen said. “I’m chuffed for him with the way he executed today. His intensity was a little bit low when we started but that wasn’t an issue because we needed to rebuild for four or five overs. That’s the best I’ve seen him hit a cricket ball in a very long time.”

Klaasen reached his century by hitting Mark Wood for six over long-on and four through fine leg off consecutive deliveries in the 47th. He celebrated by bellowing in Wood’s face, which he regretted and tried to make amends for.

“I did go and apologise [to Wood] immediately and after the game,” Klaasen said. “But he did hit me twice on the foot, which is hurting quite a bit. I’m sorry for him and the English boys but it’s pure emotion that came out and sometimes it’s difficult to control. I spoke to him after the game and hopefully everything is sorted.”

It seems the apology had been accepted. “He was obviously emotional after scoring a hundred,” Jos Buttler said. “I don’t think he needed to celebrate in Mark Wood’s face, and credit to him he recognised that a couple of seconds afterwards and he apologised. So there’s no ill feelings there.”

South Africa’s win, which followed a shock loss to the Netherlands in Dharamsala on Tuesday, put them back on track for a semifinal berth. They are third in the standings with three wins from four games.

“We had one or two hard conversations as a group [after the loss to the Dutch], but our chats have been positive and we keep reminding the boys to play aggressive and positive cricket,” Klaasen said. “And it showed today that under pressure and tough conditions, especially in the heat, that the boys are willing to take the game on.”

None more so than Reeza Hendricks, who Klaasen revealed was told he would replace Temba Bavuma — who had a stomach problem — “five or 10 minutes before the coin toss”. Hendricks scored 85 off 75 and put on 121 off 116 with Rassie van der Dussen for the second wicket.

“To perform like that, and the shots he played under pressure, shows where we are as a group,” Klaasen said.

Klaasen became the fourth South Africa player to score a century during the tournament, a fact he pointed to as an indication of the squad’s overall health: “It’s not the same person [performing well] every time. We rely a lot on each other, we trust each other and we’ve got each other’s back. Every time someone else steps up to the plate.”

On Saturday that player was Klaasen. And Jansen, and Hendricks …

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Little obvious about England, South Africa ‘knockout’

“We believe in you guys. We trust you guys. One hiccup, but you know what to do.” – Siya Kolisi’s message to South Africa’s team.

Telford Vice / Mumbai

AS they do when they bat, players tend to use triggers when they talk to the press. At the crease they use short, sharp movements — their back foot moving across the stumps as the bowler reaches their delivery stride, for instance. In front of the microphones they say the same word in answering different questions, usually to buy a moment’s time to mentally polish their responses.

Jos Buttler’s trigger word is “obviously”. He deployed it nine times in his short press conference on Friday, usually to buy a moment’s time to mentally polish his answers to questions.

The care and effort to take these things seriously is appreciated; Buttler is among cricket’s more articulate and thoughtful press conference victims. But the admittedly weak joke is on him: little is obvious about England’s World Cup match against South Africa at the Wankhede on Saturday.

England lost to Afghanistan in Delhi on Sunday, and South Africa to the Netherlands in Dharamsala on Tuesday. That followed England’s defeat to New Zealand and their win over Bangladesh, and South Africa’s successes over Sri Lanka and Australia. Clear as mud, innit?

What is crystal is that Saturday’s match looms as a knockout game in all but official status. Another win and the campaign will be resurrected. Another loss, especially for England, and thoughts will turn to a long and draining traipse around India waiting to be one of the six sides who will be eliminated after the league stage. A dead team walking, you might say.

South Africa’s chances of doing so seemed to suffer a setback when Heinrich Klaasen went down, courtesy of a tasty tackle by David Miller, in a game of warm-up football on the Wankhede’s outfield ahead of Friday evening’s training session. But, after a long moment spent sitting on the turf, with Miller in close and perhaps anxious attendance, Klaasen rose and got on with things. Then Quinton de Kock took the nets, which he rarely does in optional sessions. And then Miller sent a ball arching from the middle many metres in the muggy air, over the straight boundary and over 14 rows of seats and into the reassuringly thick plate glass that fronts the pressbox. Nuggets of apparent nothingness like those are magnified in the context of matches as big as this.

The South Africans won’t be under only the, ahem, obvious pressure. The match will end hours before the Springboks play England in Paris in a rugby World Cup semifinal. The Boks have won three World Cups, the Proteas none. The Boks have never lost a final. The Proteas have never reached a final.

So it meant something that Springbok captain Siya Kolisi took time out of his team’s preparations for the match to send his cricketing counterparts a video. “We believe in you guys,” Kolisi said as he stood next to head coach Jacques Nienaber. “We trust you guys. One hiccup, but you know what to do. Enjoy it and play as hard as you can. You know that over 60-million South Africans will be supporting you, including us. So make it special.”

The significant coincidence wasn’t lost on Temba Bavuma, who said at his press conference: “It doesn’t happen often that two sports converge in a global product like they will do this weekend. There’s a lot of excitement about Super Saturday in South Africa. It’s extra context to add to what is going to be a crucial battle. A lot of us love our rugby so we’ll definitely be supporting the Springboks. We play first so the responsibility’s on us to put smiles on our compatriots’ faces, make sure we go out and entertain. And bring back the win.”

Bavuma also used a verbal trigger in his press conference. It was also “obviously”, and he also deployed it nine times. That’s how little there is to separate England and South Africa.

When: October 21, 2023 at 14:00 IST

Where: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

What to expect: The Indian Meteorological Department has issued a red alert about Cyclone Tej, which is due to hit Mumbai in the next 48 hours. But the usual suspect weather forecasts don’t mention it affecting Maximum City much. Go figure. The pitch is more predictable: red soil, so the fast bowlers’ and big hitters’ friend.

Teams:

England

Big Ben’s back. Ben Stokes, that is, who has recovered from a hip problem and is expected to play his first match of the tournament. Half of Ben Stokes, anyway: he won’t bowl. Even so, 50% of a talismanic allrounder is better than none.

As many seamers as possible seems to be the goal. But which seamers? Sam Curran, England’s worst performing quick in the tournament, could make way for David Willey. Stokes’ inclusion might come at the expense of Adil Rashid, leaving Joe Root to do the spinner’s job.

Tactics & strategy

It’s complicated. A side who have played compellingly simple cricket for years face questions on multiple fronts. The most pressing among them is where did England’s get up and go get up and go to? Their previous impressive decisiveness was missing for much of their first three games, but the fact that their top three of Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan and Joe Root made two 50s and century between them against Bangladesh in Dharamsala in their most recent match, when Reece Topley took 4/43, suggests improvement.

Probable XI: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Jos Buttler (capt), Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Reece Topley

South Africa

It would seem surprising that an XI who were properly beaten in their previous match should be retained, but that’s likely. South Africa’s choice throughout the tournament will be between Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi, and Coetzee looks set to crack the nod this time.

Tactics & strategy

Bat big, try to bowl at least as big. If South Africa have a weakness it’s with ball in hand. The Dutch proved that by hitting and hustling 104 off the last nine overs. The batting is under less scrutiny, but the World Cup’s most hyped top six will be stung at having been reduced to 44/4 by the Netherlands.

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

Did you know?

— Ben Stokes starred in his only World Cup match against South Africa, at the Oval in 2019, by scoring 89 off 79, taking 2/12 in 17 deliveries, and claiming two catches — one of them an outrageous diving reverse-cup miracle on the midwicket fence to remove Andile Phehlukwayo.

— Seven of the England XI who played in the teams’ 2019 World Cup clash are in the current squad, versus six of South Africa’s. The absentees include luminaries like Eoin Morgan, Jofra Archer, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis and Imran Tahir.

— England haven’t lost a World Cup match against South Africa since 2007, when the South Africans earned their third victory in as many tournaments against them.

What they said:

“Ben trained really well last night. It’s great to see him back. He obviously brings a lot on the field and with his presence and leadership skills as well as someone who is always good to turn to. He adds a lot of value.” — Jos Buttler on Ben Stokes’ return.

“Our biggest misdemeanour as batters is that we took the negative energy from the field, the momentum that the Netherlands guys had achieved at the end of their innings, into our batting.” — Temba Bavuma on what South Africa will try not to repeat against England.

Squads:

England: Jos Buttler (capt), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (capt), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Rassie van der Dussen, Marco Jansen, Andile Phehlukwayo, Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lizaad Williams

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Battling Bavuma beats Murphy’s law

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

Telford Vice / Cape Town

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Telford Vice / Cape Town

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Telford Vice / Cape Town

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where: Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein

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

Team news:

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

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

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

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

What they said:

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

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

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Compelling chapter added to Stokes story

“We were all nervous, even when it was Ben Stokes batting, because it was getting tight.” – Adil Rashid

Telford Vice / Melbourne Cricket Ground

“WELL done for trying …” Ben Stokes is better than most at answering reporters’ questions in a meaningful way. But that preamble to an enquiry put to him at a press conference reduced even one of cricket’s more polished talkers to a splutter. “I’m sorry,” he said with a startled smile when the reporter was done asking, “What was your question again?”

This happened at Lord’s in August, after South Africa had beaten Stokes’ England Test team in just more than three days of playing time. There was plenty to explain, to rue having done poorly, and to promise to do better. Well done for trying? Excuse me?

It was strange watching Stokes flounder, because it so rarely happens. He astounds even his own teammates, and not only by pulling off outrageous feats in the middle. Sometimes at training sessions, just for the hell of it, he flips from his feet onto his hands and walks several metres upside down; easy as you like. Watching England’s other players watching him with the same kind of awe as people who don’t play top level cricket for a living watch them is an education.

There Stokes was again at the MCG on Sunday, walking not on his hands but on imported air to spur England to victory in the T20 World Cup final against Pakistan. He opened the bowling and took the important wicket of Iftikhar Ahmed, who was caught behind for a duck as Pakistan were held to a total of 137/8.

But the biggest chunk of Stokes’ work started in the fourth over of the reply, when Haris Rauf had Phil Salt caught at midwicket, reducing England to 32/2. Stokes took guard and saw his team slip further to 84/4 in the 13th. By the end of that over England were 0.59 runs behind the required rate and two runs ahead of the Duckworth/Lewis par. England needed 51 off 42. Stokes had scored 18 off 24. The game, the final, the trophy, the culmination of everything England had worked for was in the balance.

In the England dugout, other players were again watching Stokes with the same kind of awe as people who don’t play top level cricket for a living. “We were all nervous, even when it was Ben Stokes batting, because it was getting tight,” Adil Rashid said. “But we also knew that Stokes was there with Moeen [Ali] and [Liam] Livingstone to come. So we also had that self-belief that we still had batters in the shed. But when you’re in that situation everyone is biting their fingernails. Thankfully we got over the line.

“Obviously he is human, but ‘Stokesy’ is a matchwinner. He’s proven that in the 50-over World Cup, he’s done it in Tests, and now he’s done it in T20. Even if it wasn’t him [to score the runs] we had the likes of Liam Livingstone coming in, Sam Curran, Moeen there. We’ve got matchwinners all the way down, but it’s just a normal thing to get nervous. Especially in a final, and on the verge of winning it. So we were nervous but we were also confident with ‘Stokesy’ there.”

Stokes stayed there until the job was done, scoring an unbeaten 52 off 49 to clinch England’s five-wicket win with an over remaining. “He always stands up in the biggest moments,” Jos Buttler said. “He’s a man who can take a lot of pressure on his shoulders and perform. When he’s in the middle you know you’ve got a good chance. I’m so proud of him and pleased for him. He’s stood up and done it again.

“He’s a true matchwinner and he’s been there in those scenarios time and time again, and he has a lot of know-how about doing that. It wasn’t his most fluent innings and he didn’t time the ball as well as he can, but you knew he was never going to go down without a fight, that he was going to stand up and be there at the end. We’re immensely lucky to have him. He’s one of the great players of English cricket.”

The greatest? “He’s certainly in the conversation …” Buttler didn’t get further than that before a yelp of mock protest came from the far side of the room, where Rashid and Moeen Ali were awaiting their interactions with the press: “No!”

Shan Masood knew he didn’t have the luxury of being snarky: “Ben Stokes is a world-class player who isn’t in need of me giving him any compliments. He soaked in the pressure of a final and he made sure he was there at the end.”

Like he was at the end of the 2019 ODI World Cup final against New Zealand at Lord’s. Stokes’ unbeaten 84 won that game, not least because a throw from Martin Guptill deflected off Stokes’ bat as he dived to make his ground during the super over. The ball streaked to the boundary, prompting Stokes to ask the umpires not to award the runs to England. They did not have the authority to accede to his request, and those runs stood.

Stokes looked more bewildered in that moment than he had when he was tossed a curveball in a press conference at Lord’s in August. Sunday threw up no such weirdness, and he was able to do what was required to steer England to a convincing victory in more conventional fashion. His runs, punctuated by enough boundaries to keep England ahead of the curve they needed to follow to nail down their win, flowed like the forecast rain that did not.

It was as close to a gritty innings — as opposed to a blaze of big shots — as Stokes is likely to have to play in white-ball cricket. And he got on with things and did it. Like anyone else who can’t walk on their hands or be outrageous just for the hell of it. Stokes made himself as close to human as the rest of us, especially those who gaze at his exploits from far away, can only stand back and admire. Well done for trying indeed.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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