Ken Borland

For someone still making their way in the international game, Lara Goodall has made scoring runs in India and chasing down targets look as easy as someone relaxing in their poolside cabana enjoying a long, cool cocktail.

The 24-year-old was one of the stars of the South African women’s team’s 4-1 demolition of India over the last two weeks, her 59* in the fourth ODI being a series-winning effort. This year has very much been the second coming of Goodall, who played sporadically for the Proteas between 2016 and 2019, before being dropped after their disappointing previous tour of India.

The ‘new’ Lara Goodall is a much stronger player mentally, however, according to the Cape Town-born talent herself.

“In every international game there is massive pressure and I just try to stay calm, keep a clear head and stick to the basics. It’s a nice feeling to be there at the end after you’ve grafted so hard and I have a different approach nowadays. I’ve always had the shots and the ability, but it has required a mental shift. I felt always in control in that chase.

“My private coach Rushdi Jappie [the former Western Province and Titans batsman] throws me thousands of balls but his biggest influence on me has been mentally. He’s a mentality giant and he has improved my situational awareness, taught me to let go of my emotions after every ball. You want to show off your flair, but if you play boring shots for long enough you generally win in the end,” Goodall, who unfurled a couple of superb reverse-sweeps for four in the closing stages of the fourth ODI, told Saturday Citizen.

As well as things are going at the moment, life has not been a beach for Goodall in the last few years as it has been very difficult to break into a settled Proteas batting line-up and gain regular playing opportunities. The Pinelands High School product has seized her chance with both hands in the absence of the injured duo of captain Dane van Nierkerk and the talented Chloe Tryon.

“We were actually chatting in the changeroom about doing so well in India and we didn’t even have our fully fit squad. Imagine when Dane and Chloe come back because they are massive cogs. My main goal is just to cement my place, try and become a mainstay of the team. Coach Hilton Moreeng has been one of my biggest fans but he’s always challenging me to keep doing what I do, to keep knocking on the door,” Goodall says.

The left-handed batter comes from a sports-mad family and admits there was some debate growing up over whether she should focus on cricket or football.

“My family are massive sports fans generally, I have an older brother as well who taught me how to play cricket, and my parents support both of us as much as they can, they never miss a game. Sport is part of our culture and I was quite a good footballer too, that was a very big part of my life and we probably thought I was more likely to play for Banyana Banyana than the Proteas.

“But cricket kind of came out of nowhere and when I was 16 I realised that I can actually play this game and make something out of it. My parents used to take me to Newlands when I couldn’t even walk yet and one of my first memories is watching JP Duminy bat there for the Cobras. I am a massive fan of his, JP being a left-handed batsman from the same city,” Goodall said.

One of South African women’s cricket’s pressing issues is bridging the gap between the mostly amateur domestic version of the game and the increasingly professional Proteas, who have certainly become a force to be reckoned with on the international stage. Fortunately for her, Goodall is based in Cape Town with one of the strongest teams in Western Province and she says provincial nets are an intense affair which helps prepare their players for the step up.

“Training back at home is very competitive and we have someone like Laura Wolvaardt, who has played a lot of Big Bash cricket in Australia. I learn so much from her daily and Nadine de Klerk as well. So there’s a nice national contingent at Western Province and our coach Claire Terblanche really challenges us, she is a former international. So no-one is in their comfort zones, which works so far for us. I’ve also worked a lot with Dinesha Devnarain, another former Protea who is national academy head coach,” Goodall said.

South Africa’s national women’s team has been blessed for several years with some of the best bowlers in the world, but the batting depth was the albatross around their necks. That would seem to be a problem of the past though with the likes of Goodall, with many good years ahead of her, showing that she has the mettle to excel on the international stage.

A veteran like Mignon du Preez can rest secure in the knowledge that when she does retire one day, there will be a ready-made replacement.

Another Aiden Markram century, 96 from Reeza Hendricks and five-wicket hauls for both Kagiso Rabada and Lutho Sipamla highlighted an excellent day’s cricket at the Wanderers on Thursday as the Imperial Lions go into the final day of their Four-Day Franchise Series match against the Titans with a lead of 251 runs and four wickets in hand.

Resuming on 169 for five, the Titans made it to 202, a deficit of just four runs, thanks to Markram’s brilliantly composed 100, an innings of great judgement and strokeplay.

The Lions endured a frustrating time in the field, Markram enjoying a couple more lives, before fast bowler Sipamla bowled superbly to the tail as the Titans crashed from 187 for five.

Rabada, who enjoyed impressive rhythm throughout, finished with five for 51 in 23 quality overs, while Sipamla took an extraordinary four wickets in an over to wrap up the innings, including trapping Markram lbw with a delivery that jagged back and kept a bit low. The exciting 22-year-old finished with career-best figures of five for 37 in 14 overs.

Buoyed by their excellent finish in the field, the Lions top-order quickly slipped into positive mode. Ryan Rickelton threaded beautiful drives through the infield and hooked the first ball after lunch for six as he stroked a promising 58, while Hendricks scored 96 in languid but fluent fashion.

Proteas stars Rassie van der Dussen (14) and Temba Bavuma (5) both fell to the tricky skills of Dayyaan Galiem.

Okuhle Cele slipped up by having Wiaan Mulder caught off a no-ball when he had 17, and although he nicked off Hendricks, the all-rounder had gone to 35 not out when the sun slinked behind a cloud and the umpires stopped play for bad light just after 5pm.

*At St George’s Park, the Warriors, resuming 146 runs in arrears, began with caution as Ed Moore and Gihahn Cloete (65) took their opening stand of 88 overnight to 145 before Cloete was bowled by Ruan de Swardt.

Moore continued to dominate in a partnership of 100 for the second wicket with Yaseen Vallie (45), but then the wickets began to tumble.

Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj was once again the most lethal bowler, taking six for 93 in 33.2 overs as the Warriors collapsed from 245 for one to 345 all out.

Moore ended a tough season for himself on a high note as he fought his way to an impressive 155.

The collapse left the Dolphins needing just 112 for victory and they closed on eight without loss, needing just 104 more runs on Friday to confirm they will be hosting the final against the Titans next week.

*Thanks to Pieter Malan’s phenomenal record-breaking innings of 264, the Cape Cobras were able to declare on 523 for eight, with a lead of 342 in the kitty, against the Knights at Newlands.

Left-arm spinner George Linde had then grabbed four wickets for just two runs at one stage as the Knights crashed to 106 for seven at stumps. Farhaan Behardien is their only remaining recognised batsman, on 36 not out.

Malan’s 264 was the highest ever score for the Cobras, in their final game, beating the 260 not out JP Duminy made against the Lions in Paarl in 2015/16. The 655-minute innings, spanning 507 balls, was a monument to the Malan’s patience and hunger to go big for his team.

Kyle Verreynne took his tally of runs for the campaign to 680 at 97.14 as he supported Malan in a stand of 217 for the fifth wicket with a brilliant knock of 109.

South Africa on Thursday named 29 different players for their ODI and T20 matches against Pakistan next month, which, even taking into account the larger squads needed for bio-secure bubbles and the players released to go to the IPL, could create the dangerous impression that the selectors are ‘calling all pockets’ to an extent.

A 22-man squad for the three ODIs that kick off the series includes uncapped players in Sisanda Magala, outstanding with the white-ball for the Lions, and in-form paceman Lizaad Williams, and returns for Aiden Markram, who is in a rich vein of form in red-ball cricket, all-rounder Wiaan Mulder and fast bowler Daryn Dupavillon.

George Linde is surprisingly not named in the squad, with Warriors veteran Jon-Jon Smuts filling the spin-bowling all-rounder berth. Andile Phehlukwayo, out of form and lacking game-time due to injury, hangs on to his place in the ODI squad, but will surely be under pressure from the likes of Mulder and Magala.

For the four-match T20 series, IPL stars Quinton de Kock, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, David Miller and Kagiso Rabada will vacate their places, leading to call-ups for uncapped players in the hard-hitting Wihan Lubbe, Williams and pace bowler and lower-order hitter Migael Pretorius.

From the T20 squad that toured Pakistan last month, batsman Ryan Rickelton and fast bowlers Okuhle Cele and Nandre Burger, none of whom played a game, have been left out of the squad, while Phehlukwayo, Junior Dala, Smuts, Jacques Snyman and Glenton Stuurman all join the club as players dropped from the 17-man T20 squad.

While South Africa have traditionally viewed the T20 squad as a finishing school for new talent, a way to introduce new players to the Proteas culture, there is a World Cup coming up in just seven months time and new captain Temba Bavuma would no doubt like to start gelling his first-choice unit together.

Throwing the selection net wide is all good and well, but the selectors’ efforts will surely need to become more focused after this series.

Squads

ODI – Quinton de Kock, Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Jon-Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Wiaan Mulder, Sisanda Magala, Keshav Maharaj, Junior Dala, Kagiso Rabada, Lutho Sipamla, Lizaad Williams, Anrich Nortje, Beuran Hendricks, Daryn Dupavillon, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi.

T20 – Temba Bavuma, Janneman Malan, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Pite van Biljon, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, Wihan Lubbe, Dwaine Pretorius, George Linde, Bjorn Fortuin, Sisanda Magala, Migael Pretorius, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Lizaad Williams, Tabraiz Shamsi.

South Africa’s squad for the three ODIs against Pakistan from April 2-7 should be announced on Thursday and with several players heading off to their IPL destinations thereafter, a rather different-looking T20 squad will also be announced for those four matches that follow from April 10-16.

The last time the Proteas assembled a squad for ODI cricket was at the end of last year for the ill-fated abandoned series against England, and that squad will form the basis for Thursday’s selection. Kagiso Rabada should return to the 18-man list, however, while fitness concerns could see Dwaine Pretorius and Janneman Malan make way for Wiaan Mulder and Reeza Hendricks respectively.

Andile Phehlukwayo is another player who has not played much cricket lately, the all-rounder having not seen action in a month due to a injury he picked up after bowling four deliveries for the Dolphins in the T20 Challenge. Given his meagre returns at international level lately, the all-rounder’s place must be vulnerable.

The domestic form of Sisanda Magala, a seamer who bowls a heavy ball and is excellent at the death, as well as being a dangerous lower-order hitter, makes a compelling case for him to finally see international action, having been a member of Proteas squads before but without getting a cap.

The ODI squad will go into a bio-secure bubble around March 26, which means the Proteas stars are going to be pulled from the 4-Day Domestic Series final which looks set to be contested by the Dolphins and Titans.

Even with the departures of Lungi Ngidi, Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Quinton de Kock and David Miller to the IPL ahead of the T20 series, the bulk of the squad that were competitive in Pakistan should be chosen, proving to the naysayers that South Africa is not thin on talent.

Temba Bavuma will bolster the side as he captains the Proteas for the first time in both series, while Rassie van der Dussen could also be included, adding experience to the batting. Magala and Migael Pretorius should also be called up after their outstanding domestic form.

Seamer Ottneil Baartman is another potential new cap.

Possible squads

ODI – Quinton de Kock, Janneman Malan/Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Jon-Jon Smuts, Heinrich Klaasen, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Sisanda Magala, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Anrich Nortje, Wiaan Mulder, Kyle Verreynne, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks.

T20 – Temba Bavuma, Reeza Hendricks, Janneman Malan, Pite van Biljon, Rassie van der Dussen/Ryan Rickelton, Heinrich Klaasen, George Linde, Dwaine Pretorius, Bjorn Fortuin, Sisanda Magala, Migael Pretorius, Nandre Burger, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lutho Sipamla, Okuhle Cele, Glenton Stuurman, Ottneil Baartman.