Ken Borland

Kyle Verreynne and Andile Phehlukwayo scored valiant half-centuries in a record sixth-wicket stand, but once that partnership was over, the Proteas bowed to the inevitable and lost the series-deciding third ODI against Pakistan by 28 runs at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday.

Chasing a testing 321 for victory, South Africa started brightly with openers Janneman Malan and Aiden Markram putting on 54 in nine overs. But although Markram (18) and Jon-Jon Smuts (17) looked good, the slow pitch and the Pakistan spinners began to take effect, with the required run-rate quickly climbing to above seven to the over.

Captain Temba Bavuma added a run-a-ball 50 with Malan to regain some momentum, but the 24^th over, bowled by left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz, was pivotal. A magnificent delivery that drifted in, gripped and turned, trapped Malan lbw for an impressive 70 off 81 deliveries. Given that he has now scored 222 runs in four innings, it may be difficult to overlook Malan in future.

Three balls later, Bavuma over-ran a quicker delivery and was bowled for 20. Heinrich Klaasen (4) quickly fell to Nawaz (7-0-34-3) as well, and at 140 for five in the 28^th over, South Africa’s hopes of winning seemed over.

But Verreynne, playing in just his fourth ODI, looked an accomplished veteran with a composed 62 off 53 balls, Phehlukwayo showing his experience and a welcome return to best form with the bat as he made 54 off 61 deliveries. Together they added 108 for the sixth wicket in 16 overs, a record for SuperSport Park.

It was asking too much for them to win the match though as both eventually fell to attempted big hits.

In the final analysis, South Africa’s last two overs going for 43 runs provided much food for thought.

After opener Fakhar Zaman had feasted again with a superbly controlled 101 off 104 balls, putting on 112 for the first wicket with Imam-ul-Haq (57), South Africa, led by Keshav Maharaj’s outstanding three for 45, fought back as they reduced Pakistan from 206 for one after 35 overs to 277 for six after 48 overs.

The back-up spinners had also contributed well, off-spinner Markram bowling his full 10 overs for the first time in an ODI and taking two for 48, while left-armer Smuts had gone for a run-a-ball through seven overs. His eighth over, though, the penultimate one of the innings, went for 25 as Hasan Ali (32* off 11) blazed four sixes.

Phehlukwayo bowled the last over and conceded 18 as Babar Azam made merry to finish with a classy, composed 94 off 82 balls.

Daryn Dupavillon is as decent a gentleman and as kind a soul as you could hope to meet off the field, but the Proteas are hoping that on Wednesday on the field he turns into the sort of brutish fast bowler who would squash ants for fun as he has been earmarked for the enforcer role in the decisive third ODI at SuperSport Park.

Bowling coach Charl Langeveldt confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that Dupavillon, who played one ODI against Australia last year as a late replacement, is favoured to come into the side as the replacement for IPL-bound Anrich Nortje, the aggressive paceman who has caused the Pakistan batsmen the most problems, taking seven wickets for 114 runs in his 20 overs.

“To replace Anrich we need an enforcer, someone with good pace and that’s Dupavillon. He must be the enforcer now and do Anrich’s job. Daryn is quick and skiddy and brings something different, he takes wickets. He’s been brilliant in the nets, showing a lot of skill and pace. If we can bowl well in the middle overs and take wickets then hopefully that takes care of the back end,” Langeveldt said.

He added that work is ongoing to hone the skills of the bowlers at the death, but he has been pleased to see improvement in that department.

“Our skill at the back end is better, but we still need a lot of improvement if we’re going to win a world cup. At the end of the day it’s about executing well under pressure, and that comes with playing more games. So it’s a massive loss losing Rabada, Nortje and Ngidi to the IPL, but it’s an opportunity for the guys on the fringes to step up and do well,” Langeveldt said.

The bowling coach also hailed the work done by Andile Phehlukwayo, but he suggested South Africa would not bring in another out-and-out seam bowling all-rounder like Wiaan Mulder, the thinking being that left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj could replace Tabraiz Shamsi and therefore strengthen the lower-order batting a bit.

“It may be hard for Wiaan to get into the team because maybe we will replace Shamsi with Maharaj, who can also do an all-round role for us. Lutho Sipamla could also come in but there has been no final decision on the team yet, we’ll wait until we get to the ground in the morning. But Andile has been an important cog, coming on in pressure situations and he has shown he can close the game for us,” Langeveldt said.

Those who have played under new Proteas captain Temba Bavuma before say his greatest strength is his man-management and that will be put to the test on Wednesday as the skipper will have five new personalities to deal with in the team for the decisive third ODI against Pakistan at Centurion thanks to the IPL departures.

Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi all played their last games before leaving for the Indian Premier League in the impressive victory at the Wanderers over the weekend and so two new batsmen and a rejigged bowling attack will have to take the field at SuperSport Park for the final match of the ODI series.

Judging by the first two games, South Africa will find it tough to crack a Pakistan outfit that has been highly competent thus far on the Highveld.

“We’re using the next couple of days to rest because back-to-back ODIs are not easy, and there’s the IPL dynamic to deal with as well because of the guys going to India to represent us there. I hope the guys coming in are mentally ready to do it for the team on Wednesday. It’s an opportunity for those other guys to stand up and really make a play for the team,” Bavuma said on Sunday evening after levelling the series at 1-1.

While Janneman Malan is the obvious replacement for De Kock in terms of opening the batting, and will be looking to pick up from where he left off against Australia a year ago, Miller’s place could be taken by either Jon-Jon Smuts, if the Proteas want another sixth-bowler option, or Kyle Verreynne. Heinrich Klaasen is already in the team and can keep wicket, or the talented Cape Cobras youngster can take the gloves.

It is in the bowling department, however, where South Africa will be looking for able replacements most carefully. It is probably fair to say that only Nortje and Rabada have really met expectations in the attack so far, so the bowlers are certainly going to be under pressure in the decider against a Pakistan batting line-up that is confident they can dominate.

Lutho Sipamla and Beuran Hendricks are apparently the most likely bowlers to come into the starting line-up, while Wednesday might offer the opportunity of bringing another all-rounder into the team in Wiaan Mulder.

And with spinner Tabraiz Shamsi having taken one wicket for 111 runs in 17 overs in the series thus far, giving Keshav Maharaj a go as the frontline spinner might be timely too.

Possible Proteas XI for 3^rd ODI: Aiden Markram, Janneman Malan, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Jon-Jon Smuts, Heinrich Klaasen, Wiaan Mulder, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks.

The Proteas want to play an aggressive brand of cricket, but perhaps the most impressive part of their series-levelling win over Pakistan in the ^second ODI at the Wanderers on Sunday was the way they brought a degree of watchfulness at the start of their innings when batting was a particularly difficult task.

South Africa were sent in to bat on a cool morning with a healthy covering of cloud, and there was a surfeit of movement on offer for the bowlers. To eventually score 341 for six was a top-class effort and it was thanks to the composure and application shown by captain Temba Bavuma (92) and Quinton de Kock (80) as they added 114 for the second wicket in 20.4 overs.

“When I came in, we were still in the powerplay and it was quite hard for any kind of strokeplay. So I just tried to get a partnership going with Quinny, I just wanted to spend time at the crease with the belief that it would get easier. I’m not sure it got much easier, but we did get more accustomed to the pitch. We are trying to be aggressive, but sometimes you also have to earn the opportunity to do that.

“It was a must-win game for us and it was quite clear our batting was quite poor in the first ODI, so we sought to rectify that. It was a much better effort today and we were able to rectify the mistakes we made in the first game. So Rassie van der Dussen and David Miller were able to come in and put the fielders under pressure. There’s a lot of confidence in our batting line-up and now we need these sort of performances to happen consistently,” Bavuma said after the 17-run win.

As impressive as South Africa’s batting display was, their thunder was stolen by an innings for the ages by Fakhar Zaman.

The left-handed opener lashed an extraordinary 193 off 155 balls, his last 93 runs coming in 48 deliveries as he finished with 18 fours and 10 sixes. It was the highest ever score in an ODI chase, Zaman also going past Herschelle Gibbs’ famous 175 in the 438 game as the biggest individual score at the Wanderers, as well as making the highest ODI score on South African soil.

“Fakhar played an incredible innings, I think that’s the best that I’ve come across. But it was always going to be tough to chase down more than 340 singlehandedly and when speaking to the bowlers I just tried to be calm and clear in our plans. Then it comes down to execution and that’s something we can work on. The fielding stayed composed though as that run out by Aiden Markram at the end showed,” Bavuma said.

“It was a good thing that we fought to the end, at the start the pitch was not that good for batting. But there was one short boundary so I just tried to target that. That’s my game – just hitting the ball. I was looking for a partnership but it was not in my hands that there wasn’t one. But I enjoyed it very much, although I can’t say it is my best innings because we did not win,” Fakhar said.