Ken Borland

Kagiso Rabada showed once again at the IPL that he remains in the top class of international fast bowlers, but his eagerness to repeat those heroics for the Proteas against England from this weekend is based more on a desire to compete against the batsmen of the 50-over world champions rather than compare himself with other pacemen.

Rabada was a standout performer as he spearheaded the Delhi Capitals’ surge to the IPL final, taking 30 wickets (the 2^nd most ever) and winning the Purple Cap for leading wicket-taker. But England have brought some fearsome fast bowlers of their own to South Africa in Jofra Archer, named MVP of the recent IPL, and Mark Wood, as well as skilful white-ball practitioners like Sam Curran and Chris Jordan.

But Rabada’s attention is more on a personal battle with batting kingpins Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes and Jason Roy, while Joe Root will be coming over for the ODIs that follow the three T20s.

“The IPL was great, but in cricket, especially at the international stage, you have to repeat constantly. It is not an easy place, you’re never in your comfort zone. But you have to keep coming back and doing the same thing. Sometimes you hit a purple patch, but most of the other times you’re just scrapping and it’s never easy against England.

“I’m not looking at how they bowl and trying to do better, although Jofra and Mark are world-class fast bowlers and you have to appreciate the skill they bring. But when I’m running in to bowl, that or the crowd are the last things I’m thinking about. It’s a contest between me and the batsman and there’s a lot at stake. And it’s not as if you can just land the ball in a certain spot every delivery,” Rabada said on Monday.

The 25-year-old Rabada agreed that a long break from cricket – he was rested from the closing stages of the Proteas’ 2019/20 summer and then Lockdown happened – helped give him a new lease on life.

“Obviously the break helped to refresh my body and I was able to take my mind off a lot of things. But I don’t know how many long breaks we’ll be able to have in future, the cricket just gets more and more and you’ve just got to find a way to take it in your stride. But I think quite a bit of my IPL performance was down to the long break and I have to be smarter about how much I play.

“When I first started with the Proteas I just wanted to play every game, and although I’ve definitely still got the ambition, there’s a lot of volume of cricket. It’s about how to stay fresh and therefore close to my best, and I definitely have a say in that. Mark Boucher has said he wants to rotate a bit and we trust the coach’s philosophy and buy into it,” Rabada said.

The Imperial Lions, denied an important victory in their last match by the weather, will now look to block the rapid advance of the Knights team in Pool A of the CSA 4-Day Domestic Series at the Wanderers from Monday in a clash between the defending champions and probably the form team in the competition thus far.

And the Lions will need to stop the Knights juggernaut with a team missing half-a-dozen of the players who featured in the first two rounds because they are in the extended Proteas squad. Fortunately the Lions have the depth to ensure the replacements coming in to take on the Knights are not rookies – opening batsman Josh Richards is the youngest of the lot at 21 and he has already played six times for the Lions.

Other players likely to feature are Kagiso Rapulana, who averaged 84.40 for the Lions in 2018/19 and Sisanda Magala, who has been on the fringes of the Proteas squad, while aggressive batsman Wesley Marshall and all-rounder Delano Potgieter are probably competing for one place, as are spinner Aaron Phangiso and paceman Tladi Bokako.

Unfortunately for the Lions, swing bowler Eldred Hawken, their player of the season for 2019/20, is still out injured.

The other form team in the tournament, the Titans, now return home after two excellent wins on the road as they host the Warriors, the team they beat by eight wickets in their previous fixture. While the Lions have been forced to change tack by Proteas call-ups, the Titans are way less affected and their team has a more stable look.

The top-order batting strength remains with Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram and Theunis de Bruyn all ignored for the national white-ball squad, and the absence of ace spinner Tabraiz Shamsi probably won’t be as badly felt at home, where spin plays a bit part on a typical SuperSport Park pitch. Neil Brand is likely to replace Heinrich Klaasen in the top-five batting and is also a handy left-arm spinner to cover that base.

“It’s nice to see things happening so early in the season, but we know it is still the beginning and there is a long way to go. What’s happened in the first two weeks is history now and the next page of the journey is what we’re now looking forward to starting from Monday. We’ll have to be wary and just make sure we keep ticking all the boxes from our side and carry on with the processes we’ve been carrying out as planned. It will be our first home game as well and we want to start it well,” Titans coach Mandla Mashimbyi said.

The third round’s other fixture sees the Dolphins trying to return to winning ways as they host the Cape Cobras, who fought back to secure a draw against the Lions, at Kingsmead.

The Titans and the Knights were the big winners in the second round of the 4-Day Domestic Series with their emphatic triumphs in the cities of Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein respectively, while the Cobras managed to hold out for a draw against the Imperial Lions in Johannesburg.

Tabraiz Shamsi was the hero of the Titans’ eight-wicket win over the Warriors as he showed just how mature he now is as a spinner in all formats. The 30-year-old certainly has put his name up in the big leagues now as his phenomenal figures of eight for 32 saw him break Dale Steyn’s record for the best ever figures for the franchise – the eight for 41 the legendary fast bowler took against the then Eagles in Bloemfontein in 2007/8.

Shamsi’s sheer dominance saw the Warriors spun out for just 124 in their second innings, leaving the Titans with just 63 to win, which they knocked off in nine overs for the loss of two wickets.

The Dolphins were under the cosh against the Knights for the first three days of their match, but they would have approached Thursday as a bright new day with a bit of optimism as they resumed on 138 for two with Sarel Erwee and Marques Ackerman well set.

But captain Ackerman was bowled for 32 by left-armer Mbulelo Budaza in the second over of the day and the same bowler later removed Erwee, for a dogged 81, caught at first slip.

The Dolphins then subsided to 243 all out, giving the Knights victory by 227 runs. Fast bowler Migael Pretorius did most of the later damage as he finished with four for 52.

George Linde has made a superb all-round impression in South African cricket over the last couple of years and on Thursday he added to his wickets in the first round by scoring a match-saving 70 not out in 195 minutes for the Cobras against the Lions at the Wanderers.

Nandre Burger, who has joined the Cape side from the Lions this season, scored a valiant 37 not out in over two hours at the crease as he and Linde put on an unbroken 95 for the eighth wicket to steer the Cobras to safety on 302 for seven.

Kyle Verreynne has also blossomed in recent seasons and he scored 72 as he and Tony de Zorzi (67) gave the Cobras a crucial solid start to the final day, putting on 136 for the fourth wicket.

Left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks took three for 56 for the Lions to give him outstanding match figures of 10 for 85.

It has not been a good start to their title defence for the Lions, with the Dolphins thumping them in Durban and now the weather denying them victory this week.

Interim board chairman Judge Zak Yacoob has pointed to the poor faith Cricket South Africa’s Members Council has shown in agreeing to the process but now withdrawing when the interim board is not toeing the Members Council line.

The Members Council announced on Thursday that they would not recognise the legitimacy of the interim board, creating yet another crisis in South African cricket and once again dragging Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa into the chaos to try and resolve the power struggle.

”We were publicly mandated by the Minister to serve as an  independent interim board to resolve well-aired difficulties faced by CSA over the years, and, over the next three months, to try and ensure an AGM by the end of that time so that an independent, untainted board would take CSA forward with integrity,” Yacoob said in a statement on Thursday after CSA’s bombshell announcement.

“We understood that there was an agreement between the Minister and the Members Council on exactly who was to be appointed and the Members Council undertook to formalise the appointment so that the interim independent board would have the necessary authority and power to clean up cricket in South Africa.

“The Members Council, acting mainly through its Acting President, has adopted the strategy to pretend to co-operate in the process but ensured that every effort was made to obstruct our work. It is for this reason and only for this reason that the interim board has not been appointed. The reasons given have no substance and do not begin to stand scrutiny, Yacoob said.

The retired Constitutional Court Justice went on to provide details of the power struggle currently enveloping South African cricket.

“We dispute that the board should be accountable to theMembers Council in every way.  Each of these entities have their own powers and responsibilities in terms of the relevant enabling provisions. It occurs to us that the realreasonis to prevent us from doing our work independently and outside Members Council control.  We refuse to subject ourselves to anycontrol and sacrifice our independence in the performance of our duties and in the interests of cricket.

“The Members Council should also remember that the executive is accountable to the board … and notthe other way round. We assumed that the Members Council would act honourably and confirm our appointment. We therefore acted as the Board and gave instructions to the executive. The executive balked at this because they were too accustomed to doing what they wanted to do without any accountability. They apparently complained and the Members Council was somehow, morally wrongly, persuaded to take up their cudgels … in support of the executive for no justifiable reason,” Yacoob said.