Ken Borland

The Proteas are looking to hit the Sri Lankans hard and early as they strive to avenge their shock 2-0 Test series defeat the last time they hosted the islanders in 2019, South Africa captain Quinton de Kock said on Monday.

Having enjoyed themselves on the slower and lower coastal pitches at Kingsmead and St George’s Park last time around, this time the Sri Lankans are being taken to the pace-bowling paradises of SuperSport Park and the Wanderers. While the practicalities of having their bio-bubble for the series in Gauteng – at the Irene Country Club just outside Centurion – obviously played a part, there is also no doubt the Proteas want to play their sub-continental opposition on the Highveld.

“We’re obviously all very eager to get back on the Test field, it will be a nice change of format after a lot of T20 cricket this year, and the guys are hungry and excited to see the red ball again. We want to play clever Test cricket, be streetwise, but we want to be quite aggressive. We want to throw the first punches, in the past we’ve maybe let the other teams do that and we want to get better at that.

“They hurt us on our own grounds last time so now we want to win convincingly. Not a lot of the squad [7 of them actually] were part of that losing battle last time but we do have the memories and we obviously want to rectify that. The pitches at Centurion and the Wanderers speak for themselves, they usually have pace and bounce and get a bit up-and-down later on.

“Sometimes they do spin a bit, but the typical nature of those wickets, good pitches for cricket, is what we expect. Whether we get that or not is another thing, but we don’t feel the need to send any messages to the groundsmen,” De Kock said on Monday.

South Africa’s best batsman of last year, De Kock confirmed that the Test captaincy was only a short-term option for him and the goal was to find a new long-term skipper this summer.

“The selectors told me the situation they were in and I understand where they’re coming from. It’s just for this season, not long-term, and until someone really puts up their hand for the leadership role. I have a lot on my plate but I’m happy doing the Tests as well in the short term. I will also keep wicket in the Tests because I need to. But we are trying to get things off my shoulders and I wasn’t going to keep against England in the ODIs.

“We have young players in the squad who need to learn fast. When I see where the rest of the cricket world is, teams like Australia and India, they have solid line-ups and they have got their game sorted. We need to learn fast so we can play some structured cricket. We have to make sure that we are a step ahead when we go out on the field because [Sri Lanka coach] Mickey Arthur knows what to expect here,” De Kock said.

Mickey Arthur pronounced himself as a very happy coach after Sri Lanka’s first training session in South Africa on Monday and, while acknowledging conditions will be tougher for the tourists than the last time they were here, he says they have very good players and all bases are covered.

Arthur, who coached the Proteas from 2005-2010, brought Pakistan to these shores two years ago for a Test series they lost 3-0. And two of those Tests were at Centurion and the Wanderers, where Sri Lanka’s two matches are this time around, a far cry from the slower and lower pitches of Kingsmead and St George’s Park, where they beat South Africa 2-0 later that same summer.

“Conditions were totally different to what Sri Lanka had when they just followed Pakistan here and played down at the coast. We had Centurion and the Wanderers and I don’t want to bring up old scars but I did have a bit of a whinge and moan about the pitches. I saw Centurion today and I think we will get good South African pitches – a bit seamer-friendly, but that’s okay.

“The boys only arrived two days ago but they were outstanding today in training, I was very impressed by the standard, the effort and the attitude, so I’m a very happy coach. The Proteas are a very dangerous team for sure, they will be very well prepared, coached and led, and we are by no means favourites but I know we are playing very good cricket and we have some very good players, all bases are covered,” Arthur said on Monday.

While replicating the shock result of 2019 is obviously the Sri Lankan team’s overall goal for the series, Arthur said the focus is on constant improvement for a team that is currently sixth in the ICC World Test Championship, two places higher than South Africa.

“This is a young team but I expect them to just get better and better. The focus is very much on ourselves as a team instead of on the opposition. We want to create consistency around selection and roles, although our strategies and game-plans will be a lot different over here. This is a massive series for us, Sri Lanka were the first Asian team to win a series in South Africa and we would love to replicate that.“

It goes without saying that Proteas coach Mark Boucher will be extremely determined to reverse the 2019 result under Ottis Gibson. But Arthur played a major role in Boucher’s career when he was still coaching in South Africa and Sri Lanka’s coach is obviously still a bit of a cheerleader for his opposite number.

“Mark Boucher and I go back a helluva long way. He was always an aggressive player so I’m sure he’ll be an aggressive coach and I look forward to locking horns with him. I know the psyche of the Proteas, how they will attack us, and I’m sure they will play good, hard, aggressive cricket. Quinton de Kock is a wonderful player, he leads from the front, and he always plays his cricket in the same way as Boucher,” Arthur said.

The vast majority of the Proteas will be at their work station and ready to perform come Boxing Day and the first Test against Sri Lanka after testing before they enter their bubble in Centurion revealed that only two members of the 19-man squad are Covid-positive.

South Africa’s Test squad was expanded on Friday with the addition of three players in fit-again all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius, prolific Knights batsman Raynard van Tonder and promising fast bowler Lutho Sipamla, following a Covid scare in domestic cricket that has seen four Dolphins players and one from the Imperial Lions contract the virus.

The squad will enter their bio-bubble at the Irene Country Club on Saturday and the series with Sri Lanka is very much still on, with the tourists arriving on Friday evening, despite rather alarmist reports suggesting 10 of the Proteas squad were exposed to Covid and the Tests were in doubt.

While it is believed the two Proteas who are positive for Covid picked it up in the last round of domestic four-day matches, the chances of their opponents being infected with the virus are very small. With all the protocols in place for domestic cricket, the two teams have very little contact with each other and the internationals playing for the Titans and the Knights (the opponents of the Dolphins and Lions respectively) should not have been exposed to the pathogen.

A CSA statement released on Friday afternoon confirmed the two positives and said that no other players were deemed close contacts after contact tracing procedures were conducted.

Given the late additions to the squad, it is possible that a batsman and an all-rounder or pace bowler from the Dolphins and/or Lions have come down with Covid. But that still leaves the South African team with 17 players to choose from for the two Tests against Sri Lanka over the festive season.

CSA have, however, postponed the sixth round of four-day matches that were due to start on Sunday, with chief medical officer Dr Shuaib Manjra saying this had less to do with the Proteas than with the wellbeing of the franchise players.
“The Proteas were not the primary consideration behind this decision. Although there is very little contact between the teams, we have had one game called off and a close shave in another and so far from a safety and precautionary standpoint we decided to postpone. This second wave could be worse in terms of numbers because there is no Lockdown,” Manjra told The Citizen on Friday.

Full Proteas squad – Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Raynard van Tonder, Faf du Plessis, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Kyle Verreynne, Dwaine Pretorius, Anrich Nortje, Glenton Stuurman, Lungi Ngidi, Rassie van der Dussen, Keshav Maharaj, Migael Pretorius, Lutho Sipamla, Wiaan Mulder, Beuran Hendricks, Keegan Petersen, Sarel Erwee.

The combination of left-arm seam and leg-spin that Duan Jansen and Shaun von Berg brought to the Knights attack really hurt the Imperial Lions in their Cricket South Africa 4-Day Domestic Cup match in Bloemfontein, with the Central Franchise wrapping up a nine-wicket win midway through the final afternoon on Wednesday.

Von Berg was the star of the show with four for 68 in 29 overs on Wednesday, giving him match figures of nine for 161 in 57 overs, as the Lions were bowled out for 262 and then 227 in their follow-on innings. That left the Knights with just 18 runs to score in the second innings for victory.

The 20-year-old Jansen chipped in with the vital wickets of first-innings centurion Rassie van der Dussen for 14 on the third evening, and then Lions opener Dominic Hendricks on Wednesday for an obdurate 98, as the paceman finished with four for 44 on franchise debut.

Ryan Rickelton was the only other Lions batsman to delay the Knights for long, scoring 46. The visitors were one man short in their second innings, Josh Richards being unable to bat after he retired hurt in the first innings.

In Port Elizabeth, the well-integrated Warriors attack swept them to victory over the Cape Cobras by 80 runs on an intriguing final day.

The Cobras were set a testing target of 265 to win and began the final day on 82 for three. But Marco Jansen had Kyle Verreynne (11) caught behind in the third over of the day and opener Janneman Malan, who had batted with sound judgement in scoring 65, then rashly went down the wicket to left-arm spinner Jon-Jon Smuts and tried to hit over the top, being beaten in the flight and stumped by Sinethemba Qeshile.

Glenton Stuurman, freshly added to the Proteas Test squad, then claimed his second bowled victim of the innings in Aviwe Mgijima (19), and Basheer Walters and Smuts then both claimed a pair of wickets to seal victory as the Cobras were bowled out for 184.

Smuts finished with three for 47, while Stuurman had two for 38 in 17 overs, Walters two for 36 in 14 and Mthiwekhaya Nabe took two for 26 in eight.