Ken Borland

Proteas captain Quinton de Kock has been deprived of some key players that could have made a difference in the T20 series against England that has now been lost, but he is adamant that the players who have come in are good enough to have got the job done and he is not looking for any excuses.

The Proteas have been without the services of two key all-rounders in Andile Phehlukwayo, who is in Covid quarantine, and Dwaine Pretorius, who strained his hamstring just before the series started. Phehlukwayo’s Dolphins team-mate David Miller is also still in quarantine and the experienced finisher’s absence has also been felt.

“We don’t have all the options we’d like but we just have to deal with it and hope for the best in the last T20 on Tuesday night. Andile and David aren’t up to scratch yet but they will be ready for the ODIs. It has been difficult not having a specialist all-rounder, although George Linde has done well. But unfortunately Dwaine got injured at just the wrong time with Andile in quarantine, and it’s not as easy as just flying someone in because they also have to quarantine.

“I know everyone is talking about the sixth bowler, but we haven’t really needed one – in both games it was just one over that did the damage. And that was largely down to the situation, England had to have a go and they really played it well. Jonny Bairstow played an unbelievable knock and was hitting wide yorkers that were just one centimetre off to the boundary. It would be nice to have all those guys available, but the other guys coming in can do the job as well,” De Kock said on Monday.

The likes of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje have both excelled recently in sub-continental conditions at the IPL and De Kock said not much needs to change as South Africa go after a face-saving win at Newlands on Tuesday night.

“Obviously it’s disappointing to have lost the series, but I don’t think we need to change much, we’re still going to play our best team available and try to win. We do want to give players opportunities, but right now we need to win. It’s hard to tell guys how to bowl and KG and Anrich are both bowling 150+kph, so do you really want them bowling slower balls?

“We’ve got it wrong once or twice and a guy like Lungi Ngidi depends a lot more on variations. It’s about getting the right mix and it’s been difficult for us to put together the right match-ups. An extra batting all-rounder would be nice, it’s what we’re missing and then we could bat with a bit more freedom. We’re trying to do our best up top and the team is just staying positive because there’s still a lot to look forward to,” De Kock said.

Panicking and chopping and changing after one setback are not how successful businesses or sports franchises operate, which is why the Titans will take an unchanged squad into their CSA 4-Day Domestic Series match against the Cape Cobras at Centurion from Monday, despite their poor performance in losing to the Warriors last week.

The Titans are still top of their group with a lead of more than 17 points over the Warriors, who beat them by three wickets last week at SuperSport Park.

While Aiden Markram was sheer perfection with the bat, scoring a century in each innings, he lacked support from the rest of the batsmen, so that is something the Titans will need to rectify. But it is the bowling that was especially untidy against the Warriors, and the likes of Lizaad Williams and Okuhle Cele need to rediscover the intensity and accuracy they had when the Titans won their first two matches.

The Cape Cobras are the only winless team in the competition, so they have problems of their own.

The Imperial Lions have gradually been building their way back into top form in the defence of their title and they snatched a remarkable come-from-behind win over the high-riding Knights at the Wanderers last week. So Wandile Gwavu’s charges will be eager to dominate from the start of the game this time as they travel to Port Elizabeth to take on the Warriors, who are steadily improving as well after the start of their season was severely disrupted by Covid-19.

What will be particularly pleasing for coach Gwavu is the way his stand-ins for the Proteas performed in the last game and the Lions are certainly cultivating some impressive depth.

The fourth round’s other game sees the Dolphins hosting the Knights and trying to mount a serious challenge for top spot in Pool B. They are currently trailing the Knights by more than 15-and-a-half points.

The Imperial Lions had a daunting target of 334 to chase down and several in-form Knights bowlers to contend with, but a remarkable opening stand of 256 between Josh Richards and Dominic Hendricks paved the way for an incredible come-from-behind victory by the home side in their 4-Day Domestic Series match at the Wanderers on Thursday.

In the end the Lions lost a few wickets to debutant paceman Andrew Rasemene (3-44), but their four-wicket victory was never in doubt after the brilliant batting of Richards and Hendricks.

The 21-year-old Richards notched his maiden franchise century and went on to score a memorable 136 off 181 balls, with 19 fours and a six, while the in-form Hendricks anchored the chase with a determined 119 off 217 deliveries.

At Centurion, the Warriors had a much smaller final-day target of 217 to contend with, and they squeezed home by three wickets thanks to captain Yaseen Vallie’s fluent 55, 39 from Rudi Second and a blazing 38 off just 19 balls by Lesiba Ngoepe, which brought a late Titans comeback to a sudden halt.

The Warriors were cruising as they reached 121 for two but seamer Dayyaan Galiem took three for 34 and left-arm spinner Neil Brand claimed four for 37 to cause some late anxiety for the visitors.

The Titans had begun the final day on 265 for seven and would have been disappointed to be bowled out for 289 inside seven overs.

Left-arm quick Marco Jansen (4-66) and fellow new-ball bowler Basheer Walters (3-59) did a great job on Thursday morning, building on the great work of left-arm spinner Ngoepe on the third afternoon, taking three wickets.

At Kingsmead, the Dolphins top three of Sarel Erwee, Senuran Muthusamy and Keegan Petersen all scored 56s in a fine entrée to the final day’s play and, with Ruan de Swardt scoring a quickfire 32 not out, the home side were able to declare at lunch on 217 for four, setting the Cape Cobras an unlikely 295 for victory.

The Cobras started their second innings solidly enough, but the arrival of spin, and especially Muthusamy’s left-arm orthodox, saw them hit troubled waters.

Muthusamy took four for 56, including the key wicket of Proteas opener Pieter Malan for 45, leaving the Cobras on 107 for four.

But Aviwe Mgijima, who had earlier claimed all four Dolphins second innings wickets, hung around for 32 overs in scoring 36, Calvin Savage also helping with 23 as the Cobras batted to safety, finishing on 155 for six.

Muthusamy, with two half-centuries and eight wickets in the match, was an obvious choice for man of the match.

In-form spin-bowling all-rounder George Linde could be welcomed into the Proteas T20 starting XI for the first time on Friday night as South Africa look to play a sixth bowler against a typically high-scoring England team in the first match of the series at Newlands.

South Africa’s last T20 outing was also in Cape Town back in February when they were thumped by 97 runs by Australia to lose the series 2-1. Australia managed to rack up a sizeable 193 for five batting first, and then skittled the Proteas for just 96, with spinners Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa sharing five of the wickets.

One of South Africa’s chief problems that day was that they only had five bowlers – spinner Tabraiz Shamsi was the pick of the attack, but three of the four seamers went for more than 10-runs-per-over. Linde, whose left-arm orthodox complements Shamsi’s wrist-spin, has been in great form this season with the bat, so he could comfortably slot in at number six in the order. On what is expected to be another slow Newlands pitch, a second spinner is probably going to be more useful than another paceman.

With Dwaine Pretorius ruled out of the matches against England due to a hamstring strain, Andile Phehlukwayo is likely to return to the side as the lead all-rounder.

Given the importance of making a good start to the season against the powerful English side and the eight months of inactivity for the Proteas team, coach Mark Boucher is likely to defy those calling for a new-look team and IPL stars like Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock, Anrich Nortje and Faf du Plessis will surely feature because they have form and match-fitness on their side.

Lungi Ngidi was outstanding in the T20s South Africa played at the end of last summer and should play on that basis, while Temba Bavuma was also excellent as De Kock’s opening partner and should get the nod, having missed the previous Newlands game because of injury. He would replace Pite van Biljon, while David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen are probably fighting it out for one place in the middle-order.

Probable Proteas XI – Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma, Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller/Heinrich Klaasen, George Linde, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi.