Ken Borland

The Proteas effectively acclimatised to local conditions in their warm-up match against the Cricket Australia XI in Brisbane, and now it is down to the serious business of completing preparations for the first Test against Australia, starting at the Gabba in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Test series against Australia are always intense and among the most demanding examinations South African cricketers face. And it is seldom just a test of batting or bowling skills, the Australians pride themselves on playing mental games and there is as much off-field pressure as there is in the middle. It was Australia who lost the plot though in the last Test series between these two great rivals, the Sandpapergate affair marring the 2018 rubber in South Africa.

With so much to deal with on and off the field, no Protea will want to go into the series with any question marks over their preparation. Which is why it was most heartening to see captain Dean Elgar lead from the front with a century in the warm-up match, and Kyle Verreynne, Rassie van der Dussen and Theunis de Bruyn get good scores with the bat, while Temba Bavuma spent extended, much-needed time at the crease. With the ball, Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada looked particularly sharp.

Meanwhile, the West Indians have provided poor preparation for the Australians, being hammered by 164 and 419 runs in the two Tests.

The South African attack will provide a much bigger test for the greedy Aussie batsmen, while the Proteas batsmen will certainly show more fight.

Scoring first-innings totals of 598 for four declared and 511 for seven declared will certainly have provided much confidence though for the home batsmen, led by South African-born Marnus Labuschagne, who had scores of 204, 104 not out, 163 and 31 in the series.

Steven Smith, who stood in as captain for the injured Pat Cummins in the second Test, made an unbeaten double-hundred in the first game, while Travis Head had scores of 99 and 175.

For the cricket aficionado, Australia versus South Africa is always a mouthwatering prospect. Stand by for those all-nighters over the next three weeks.

Their opening warm-up match against the England Lions caused many to squirm after the heavy defeat they suffered, but Thursday night’s comprehensive win over the same team had batting hero Heinrich Klaasen saying the Proteas have everything in place for their ODI series against world champions England that starts on Tuesday.

The Lions – England’s version of their A side – chased down 319 in just 37.1 overs in the first match, but South Africa rebounded to beat them by 107 runs in Worcester. The Proteas again batted first and posted a formidable 360/7, but this time they only used their five frontline bowlers and bowled their opponents out for 253.

In the first match, South Africa gave eight bowlers a run and they all just bowled a handful of overs because preparation was more important than the result. But Thursday night’s clash was very much a dress rehearsal for the first ODI and was played under 11-a-side rules.

The batsmen, led by Klaasen with scores of 51 off 35 and 123 off 85, look in good shape and the likely bowling attack did well on Thursday night as well.

“We’ll take a lot of confidence from that,” Klaasen said. “They’ve given us two very good pitches to bat on, so the batsmen are smiling with a lot of confidence, and the bowling was a lot better too.

“We took the game to them and it paid off. We’ll now have a day off and then a couple of training sessions and then we’ll be good to go.

“The bowlers were able to get more of a feel of the game and the way the England Lions played was very aggressive. It was a good outing for the bowlers because the Lions played the same brand that England will use, so we know what to expect and how to adapt,” Klaasen said.

The 30-year-old Klaasen, batting at No.7 in the first game and at No.5 for his fiery century, has brought a fantastic attacking edge to the Proteas line-up. It is a continuation of the fine form he showed on the T20 tour of India, his first appearances for South Africa since October 2021.

“Hopefully I can keep riding the wave, I’m quite happy with where I am at the moment and the way I am striking the ball,” Klaasen said. “It’s about staying in the game and taking every ball as it comes.

“I’m hitting the ball nicely and I’m in a good mental space. Andile Phehlukwayo [67 off 53] joined me at an awkward stage [167/5 in 30 overs] and I was very pleased with the way we went about our partnership.

“It’s good to have Andi in form and hitting the ball so nicely. He took the pressure off me, he said I must just get to my hundred and he’ll take care of the rest,” Klaasen said.

“You never really know how a pitch is going to play,” Kagiso Rabada said, “but we had an idea from the warm-up that it would favour the seamers and bowled accordingly.”

And brilliantly.

South Africa bundled Bangladesh out for just 84 in their T20 World Cup match in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, a total they then chased down with six wickets in hand and 39 balls to spare to significantly boost their nett run-rate.

Rabada led the way with an outstanding display that brought him career-best figures of 3/20. On a pitch that almost demanded Test-style bowling, he was bang on the mark with both his lengths and skills from the outset.

“There was a lot of grass on the pitch and a bit of zip, as well as being a bit two-paced. We learnt from the Australia game here and we also noticed a bit of swing in the warm-up,” Rabada said after the win.

“You never really know how a pitch is going to play, but we had an idea that it would favour the seamers and we bowled accordingly. In my three overs up front there was a bit of bounce, seam movement and swing.

“So conditions were in my favour and you just try to get the ball in the right places. Anrich Nortje [3.2-0-8-3] is also bowling pretty rapidly at the moment and every bowler that came on stuck to the game-plan and got us into an even stronger position,” Rabada said.

South Africa also know full well that their semi-finals qualification could come down to nett run-rate and they used the small target as an opportunity to boost that figure to more than one run per over better than rivals Australia: 0.742 to -0.627.

After a rocky start, they won in the 14^th over largely thanks to Temba Bavuma’s quickfire 31 not out off 28 balls. Rabada said criticism of the captain has been ill-informed.

“There’s nothing more to say about Temba, the results are there. You are always going to have critics and we make peace with that, we take the good with the bad.

“You can’t control what is said outside the game, but we probably put more pressure on ourselves than the public do.

“Obviously we chatted at halfway about nett run-rate and we wanted to try and finish the chase as early as possible. There was a clear instruction to finish before 15 overs, we did that and we are happy,” Rabada said.

Coach Jake White may have joked this week that because they have lost the element of surprise by using their new expansive approach in their warm-up game against the Sharks a fortnight ago they are going to revert back to “just kicking up-and-unders and Charge!”, but the Bulls are likely to still bring plenty of fizz to their opening Super Rugby Unlocked match against Griquas at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.

The raw pace of Kurt-Lee Arendse may be missing due to injury, but his replacement on the wing, young David Kriel, showed plenty of finishing ability, and the centre pairing of Cornal Hendricks and Stedman Gans, who did much to mastermind the fantastic backline display against the Sharks on SuperFan Saturday, are still in place.

When an inveterate dazzler like Gio Aplon says he is loving the game-plan at Loftus Versfeld, then you know the coach has given his charges the freedom to run. But the veteran fullback did also issue a word of pragmatism ahead of the clash with tricky opponents, who hammered the Bulls 37-15 in Pretoria last year in the Currie Cup.

“I’m really enjoying the game-plan and it’s very exciting being at the Bulls right now. But first and foremost our goal is to win. So at some stages we might kick more and at others we will play more rugby. We want to find whatever way we can to win and we want to be unpredictable. We will do whatever is necessary for us to win.

“The Bulls are a team with good tradition and a great history and we want to get their name back up there. It’s a massive honour, especially at my age, to play for them and we’re not here to compete, we want to win competitions,” the 38-year-old Aplon said.

While White has been able to lure back stars such as Aplon, stand-in captain Arno Botha, Jason Jenkins and Jacques van Rooyen, as well as investing in a host of exciting young prospects, and can afford to rest Springbok star Duane Vermeulen due to a knee niggle, there is a financial gulf between the Bulls and Griquas.

Nevertheless, Scott Mathie’s team from Kimberley do possess some quality players.

Fullback Anthony Volmink can certainly match any of the Bulls’ backline for pace and is a potent finisher, while flyhalf and captain George Whitehead has Super Rugby experience and is a smart head whose tactical and goal kicking could make the difference for Griquas.

Niell Jordaan, the former Shimlas star, is a hardened eighthman and he will relish taking on Tim Agaba now that the daunting Vermeulen is no longer his direct opponent, while prop John-Roy Jenkinson has returned from Japan to play for Griquas and will pack down against Van Rooyen in an intriguing battle in which both men weigh 122kg.

White knows, however, that his team is expected to win well and all the positive vibes from the Sharks game will be erased should they struggle.

“Of course it’s always a risk taking on one of the so-called minnows without all your first-choice players, and we understand that they will want to prove a point. But last year the Bulls lost against Griquas so I don’t even need to give them a team talk, I can just show them the highlights of that game. We expect them to be fired up and confident because they won here last year.

“But we need to focus on what we can control, which is playing to a certain standard and the type of game we want to execute. I’m not trying to be arrogant but we want to be one of the best club sides in the world and if we’re going to prove that in Europe next year then we need to be top here in South Africa, like Leinster are over there,” White said.

Teams

Bulls – Gio Aplon, Travis Ismaiel, Stedman Gans, Cornal Hendricks, David Kriel, Morne Steyn, Ivan van Zyl, Tim Agaba, Arno Botha, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Jason Jenkins, Trevor Nyakane, Corniel Els, Jacques van Rooyen. Replacements: Johan Grobbelaar, Lizo Gqoboka, Mornay Smith, Sintu Manjezi, Elrigh Louw, Embrose Papier, Chris Smith, Marco Jansen van Vuren.

Griquas – Anthony Volmink, Daniel Kasende, Harlon Klaasen, Andre Swarts, James Verity-Amm, George Whitehead, Zak Burger, Niell Jordaan, Stefan Willemse, Carl Els, Victor Sekekete, Ian Groenewald, John-Roy Jenkinson, HJ Luus, Mox Mxoli. Replacements: Alandre van Rooyen, Bandisa Ndlovu, Madot Mabokela, Adre Smith, Zandre Jordaan, Gideon van der Merwe, Ashlon Davids, Berton Klaasen.

Kick-off – 7pm.

Bulls players to bring the fizz

David Kriel

The former member of the Stormers squad stands nearly two metres tall and looked a real threat with ball in hand when he came on against the Sharks on SuperFan Saturday. Comfortable anywhere in the back three, he is good under the high ball, a strong runner and with a step that is reminiscent of former Springbok and Western Province great Pieter Rossouw. Jake White has high hopes that the Potchefstroom-born Kriel will become a favourite son at Loftus Versfeld.

Cornal Hendricks & Stedman Gans

The new Bulls centre pairing went toe-to-toe with a highly-rated Sharks midfield of Jeremy Ward and Lukhanyo Am and won the battle convincingly. White’s decision to move Hendricks from wing to inside centre was a surprise, but it certainly worked as the Springbok showed he was up for the physical challenge, while still showing the deft touches of an international-quality player.

Gans played a fantastic game at outside centre against the Sharks, the Springbok Sevens captain showing an uncanny knack for finding space and fully exploiting it, and his decision-making on defence was also on-point.

Gio Aplon

The 38-year-old fullback showed he still has plenty of pace when he inserted himself into that dynamic backline against the Sharks and Griquas could come to grief if they don’t close him down quickly. Aplon’s talent for stepping is well-known, but as an experienced general at the back he has also become highly adept at scanning the field and directing tactical play.

Griquas players to watch

Anthony Volmink

The much-travelled 30-year-old has plenty of experience, including 20 Super Rugby games for the Lions, and has built his reputation on his try-scoring ability. Volmink has played most of his rugby on the wing but was outstanding at fullback last year for Griquas as they made the Currie Cup semi-finals. The Bulls will have to be on guard for his propensity for moments of individual brilliance.

George Whitehead

Apart from being a strong leader in the Griquas set-up, Whitehead has the all-round skills to dictate strategy from flyhalf and has developed into a reliable goal-kicker. The Griquas general certainly had Bulls fans squirming last year at Loftus Versfeld.

Niell Jordaan

The former Cheetahs captain is a ferocious eighthman who is always up for the forward challenge. He will bring power but also offloading skills as Griquas are likely to try and produce some good running rugby.

John-Roy Jenkinson

The 29-year-old Glenwood High School product has returned from the Japanese Top League, where he gained further high-level experience. Jenkinson won the Currie Cup First Division with the North-West Leopards in 2015, the same year he was named in the Varsity Cup Dream Team, and he actually made three appearance for the Bulls in Super Rugby in 2017 and is acknowledged as a powerful scrummager.