Ken Borland

It’s always frustrating for the bowling side when the lower-order adds the bulk of the runs to the batting total, but although that’s what the Imperial Lions managed to do at the Wanderers on Tuesday, the Knights remained firmly in charge at the end of the second day of their 4-Day Domestic Series match.

The Lions, replying to the Knights first innings of 300, slumped to 47 for five before their lower-order managed to get them to 202 all out, a significant improvement but still a deficit of 98 runs. With the Knights then cruising to 111 for one at stumps, they will go into the penultimate day already leading by 209 runs with nine wickets in hand.

Kagiso Rapulana (44) and Delano Potgieter (40) were the chief architects of the Lions’ recovery, adding 75 for the sixth wicket, and there were then useful contributions from Malusi Siboto (31) and Sisanda Magala (28*).

Left-armer Mbulelo Budaza started the rot with two early wickets, but it was fast bowler Migael Pretorius who once again did the most damage, taking four for 40.

Pretorius had earlier finished on 79 not out as the Knights added nine more runs on the second morning, Magala claiming the last wicket to finish with superb figures of six for 60, just reward for his persistence.

In the Knights second innings, Jonathan Vandiar (53*) and Raynard van Tonder (39*) had already added 82 for the second wicket.

The daily fluctuations in four-day cricket were perfectly captured up the road at SuperSport Park in Centurion where the Titans, having held sway on the opening day against the Warriors, suffered a miserable second day.

It all started on the fourth ball of the day when Aiden Markram, the hero of the first day with his brilliant 149 not out, was caught behind off Marco Jansen without adding to his overnight score.

The Titans were all out an hour before lunch for 320, with left-armer Jansen the pick of the bowlers with three for 69 and Mthiwekhaya Nabe also taking three wickets.

The Warriors batsmen were then served up a regular diet of loose deliveries and their positive approach saw them race along at well over four runs to the over.

Matthew Breetzke feasted with a dozen boundaries in his run-a-ball 53 and captain Yaseen Vallie then rammed home the early dominance with his fluent innings of 80, being particularly strong off his legs.

The Titans fought back with three wickets in the afternoon, but the Warriors ended the day in firm control on 319 for six as Sinethemba Qeshile, who remains unbeaten on a punchy but responsible 67*, and Lesiba Ngoepe, with a freescoring 52, added 93 for the sixth wicket.

Khaya Zondo highlighted the day’s play in Durban, stroking a fine century and leading the Dolphins to a commanding 389 for eight declared against the Cape Cobras.

Zondo’s impressive knock of 105 off 187 balls included 12 fours and a six, adding 86 for the sixth wicket with Ruan de Swardt (44).

The Cape Cobras were cruising on 71 for one in reply, with Pieter Malan (33*) and Zubayr Hamza (22*) batting well, when stumps was called, bad light bringing play to a premature end with 26 overs still scheduled to be bowled.

The famous gardens of The Vineyard hotel, where the Proteas are staying in Cape Town, provide some ideal habitat at the base of Table Mountain for Rassie van der Dussen to indulge his love of birdwatching and the South African batsman says being in the bio-bubble is really rather pleasant for him, giving him plenty of time to think about ways of improving his already impressive game as the white-ball series against England loom ever closer.

Van der Dussen showed off his new bird book during his virtual interview from his hotel room on Tuesday and, as he has ever since his belated Proteas call-up, looked a man completely at ease with his surroundings. But that does not mean he is at all complacent, and as a great thinker on the game he is also spending time on devising ways to get better.

“The bio-bubble’s not too bad, I’m quite happy with my own conversation and it’s not a struggle to be on my own, I like to read and think about things a lot. I can sit for an hour doing what seems like nothing, no problem. And being confined to a five-star hotel is an absolutely minute price to pay to be able to do what we love doing and represent our country.

“Getting 5% better is what my thinking is all about and I’ve worked really hard on making my weaknesses better, [coach] Mark Boucher has been brilliant in communicating where he feels I can be better. At the start of the innings I could have more intensity, I’ve sort of eased my way into my innings. I’ve tried to get to 20 balls and not worry about my score because I know I can catch up. But having 20 off 20 balls is better than having 10, plus against spin in the middle overs I’ve had one or two technical flaws which I’m working on,” Van der Dussen said on Tuesday.

And the middle overs are also an area in which the team as a whole feel they need to improve against England in the three-match T20 series that starts at Newlands on Friday night. And it is the part of the innings in which Van der Dussen will probably feature, even though he has also opened the batting and been a finisher for the Proteas.

“I’m probably at my best at No.3 but Faf du Plessis is world-class in that position. No.4 is not too different and that’s probably the position I’m looking at, which means maybe you go in during the powerplay or the middle of the innings, or if things go really well you come in at the back end of the innings. But I feel I have all three aspects in my game, I’ve opened once or twice too and that is still part of my game as well.

“Even though the recent series have been quite closely-fought, we haven’t been at our best in T20 cricket and we obviously have areas to improve. One of them is that we’ve been getting really good starts with the bat and maybe falling away in the middle overs, then have good finishes. But those overs from seven to 15 we can definitely improve, as well as starting well with the ball,” Van der Dussen said.

A marvellous unbeaten century by Aiden Markram lifted the Titans from some otherwise mediocre batting on the first day of their 4-Day Domestic Series match against the Warriors in Centurion, taking the home side to 272 for six at stumps.

On a day that was shortened by a wet outfield in the morning and then bad light in the afternoon, Markram batted through to a classy 149 not out, a boundary-laden innings with 27 fours and a six off just 189 deliveries.

The Titans had been sent in to bat and struggled initially against the Warriors seamers, slipping to 66 for three before a focused Markram added 82 for the fourth wicket with Sibonelo Makhanya (26). Playing with much good judgement, the Proteas hopeful was watchful but ruthless in putting the bad ball away, his driving being especially easy on the eye, and he and Rivaldo Moonsamy (35) then put on 92 for the sixth wicket for the Titans to claim the first-day honours.

Mthiwekhaya Nabe was the best of the Warriors bowlers, taking three for 77, including the prized wicket of Dean Elgar (20) caught behind off an awkward lifting delivery.

At the Wanderers, Sisanda Magala took five wickets on his Imperial Lions debut to have the Knights in terrible trouble before the visitors rallied to reach 291 for nine at stumps.

Sent in to bat, the Knights were a parlous 121 for five before Grant Mokoena showed great determination for his team as he dug in to score a five-and-a-half hour 50 to turn the tide along with Farhaan Behardien (35) and skipper Shaun von Berg (27).

Fast bowler Migael Pretorius then punished his former team to the tune of 73 not out off just 91 balls, stroking 11 boundaries, as he and Gerald Coetzee (27) added 54 in 12 overs against some wayward Lions bowling.

Magala showed he will fit in very well at the bouncy, pace-friendly Wanderers as he took five for 57 in 14.2 overs.

At Kingsmead, the obduracy of opener Senuran Muthusamy and the flashing blade of Dolphins captain Marques Ackerman dominated the day, before the Cape Cobras were unable to capture the key wicket of Khaya Zondo.

Muthusamy, promoted to open after wicketkeeper Grant Roelofsen scored just 3 runs in his four innings at the top of the order, defied the Cobras attack for nearly five-and-a-half hours, doing a fine job after the Dolphins were sent in to bat.

Muthusamy scored 79 off 245 deliveries, adding 99 for the third wicket with Ackerman, who cruised to 66 off 86 balls before once again falling to a loss of concentration when well set, top-edging a pull off medium-pacer Aviwe Mgijima to mid-off.

But Zondo dominated the late afternoon, stroking an entertaining 60 not out to take the Dolphins to 277 for five and he will obviously be the key man on Tuesday with the Dolphins having all-rounder Ruan de Swardt at the wicket with him and the stubborn Prenelan Subrayen to come.

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.