Ken Borland

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Australia’s previous tour to South Africa – in November 2011 – was famous for their incredible 47 all out at Newlands, but the entire two-Test series was characterised by the bowlers dominating. And this year’s three-Test series which starts at Centurion on Wednesday is shaping up to be similar.

Of the 8 innings in that previous series, only two were above 300 and South Africa’s 339 all out in the second innings at the Wanderers (where Australia levelled the rubber) was the highest total.

Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin scored a match-winning half-century to win that thrilling second Test and he said on Monday that his approach in this series would be to “get them before they get you” … in other words, the feisty veteran is not going to hang around, he’ll be trying to score quickly before the inevitable ball that dismisses him comes along.

But Hashim Amla was the most successful batsman in that series with centuries at both Newlands and the Wanderers, and he was typically unruffled on Monday by all the talk about a bowling shootout and batsmen having to hit out before they get out.

“Conditions will be the deciding factor, but regardless of those, I will try and occupy the crease, that’s the best way to score runs. Both teams are quite attacking, but it’s impossible to say what the pitch will be like until the game starts,” Amla said.

The Bearded Wonder is probably at the other end of the scale to Australian batsmen like Haddin and David Warner when it comes to batting. That pair are both extremely aggressive in their approach, while the likes of Michael Clarke and Steven Smith can be described as very positive; it is only opener Chris Rogers who has shown the propensity for patience that Amla epitomises.

And with an Australian attack that is bound to be a handful on what is expected to be a helpful surface at SuperSport Park, South Africa seem to be banking on grinding out runs with captain Graeme Smith stating that “batting ugly” normally wins the day here at home.

There is even more focus on Amla now as the banker in the batting line-up with the retirement of Jacques Kallis, but he was, again, unfazed.

“Nobody can replace Jacques and I don’t feel like I’m any more of a senior batsman now. Sure, the team does have a different dynamic now, a different flavour, but there was a contingency plan because we knew the day was going to come when Jacques retired.

“The way Faf du Plessis has fitted in in exceptional circumstances means we hope he can slot in again and do his thing. We all believe he can, he’s proven he’s a world-class performer,” Amla said.

With Du Plessis almost certain to replace Kallis at number four in the batting order, the only unknown when South Africa announce their XI at the toss on Wednesday morning will be who comes in lower down the list as the all-rounder.

When the Proteas played their warm-up match last week at the Wanderers, Ryan McLaren seemed the steadier, more likely option. Wayne Parnell was more threatening with the ball but also more expensive, while Rory Kleinveldt was impressive with the ball but is not as consistent a batsman as McLaren.

If bowlers hold as much sway as they are expected to, then South Africa will surely want the better batsman amongst their all-rounders.

That being said, Amla was full of confidence that they could handle the Australian attack, however dismally the soft English batting line-up fared against them.

“We’ve played against Australia a lot and against the same bowling attack, and we’ve had success against them. We don’t think there are too many big issues,” he said.

Australia, who have lost their number three batsman in Shane Watson to injury for the first Test, continue to talk up their bowlers, but there is less confidence when it comes to their batting.

“We had a really good hit out on the Johannesburg centre wicket against our own bowlers but it was very uncomfortable at times, I was petrified!” Haddin said.

“The obvious challenge is going to be the first innings, when big runs are very important.”

Haddin saw South Africa as the favourites and whether Australia’s all-out approach can rattle them remains to be seen against the bowling attack that has most consistently applied the strangulation method in the last four years, not just the last six months.

The typical Aussie brashness was not there when Haddin said “South Africa are number one for a reason, they’ve played consistent cricket over a long period of time. They deserve the tag as favourites, but you play Test cricket to test yourself. We hope they’re not too good.”

Unlimited Titans coach Rob Walter yesterday conceded that the right two teams will be competing in the RamSlam T20 Challenge final because his side only showed glimpses of their true ability through the competition.

The Titans were beaten by the David Miller-inspired Dolphins in Thursday night’s qualifying playoff for the final, leaving the KwaZulu-Natal side to take on the Cape Cobras in the final at Newlands on Sunday.

“To sum up our campaign, I would say we showed glimpses of what we can do, but never really put it all together. It was an inconsistent campaign and making the playoff for finishing third was a small reward for the times we did play well,” Walter told The Pretoria News.

“Our skills can be better in everything and you’d hope a team always has that mindset. We were short in all departments and you can’t do things well one day and not the next if you’re going to win competitions. We need to improve our skills and execute them more consistently.”

The Dolphins were sent in to bat and posted a daunting 200 for four in their 20 overs. Their innings was dominated by Miller, who hammered an outrageous 93 not out off just 37 balls.

The Titans had fought back well after a rapid start by Cameron Delport and Morne van Wyk had taken the Dolphins to 50 midway through the seventh over. Their night would have been very different had Miller been given out lbw on five when Albie Morkel, the ball after dismissing Daryn Smit, angled a delivery into the left-hander from around the wicket and struck him on his pads. The ball would clearly have hit the stumps, but umpire Ian Howell ruled not out, presumably believing the ball had struck the batsman just outside off stump.

“The Miller lbw shout was out, but those aren’t given sometimes. It was a big decision in a big game and at 80-5 in the 13^th over, it would have been a different match. But the Dolphins and Cobras playing in the final is a fair reflection of the competition as a whole.

“I think they should use DRS in all televised matches, with one referral. Against the top-quality players you generally only get one chance. But it was an extraordinary innings and at some point you just have to give credit to the batsman. I haven’t seen striking like that for a long time, he didn’t mistime a single ball and it was a serious effort,” Walter said.

Although the Titans bowlers were taken to the cleaners by Miller – most notably Ethy Mbhalati (two overs for 35) and Roelof van der Merwe in an 18^th over that cost 34 runs – Walter said their performances had not been poor.

“I don’t think we bowled badly, it’s just that Miller hit every length and all our slower balls. It’s easy to criticise in retrospect, but sometimes the bowlers just have to go with how they feel on the day.

“And I was proud of the way we batted, it was a bloody good chase. On any other day, Heino Kuhn’s 76 off 39 would have been the stand-out innings and then Mangaliso Mosehle produced a flippen’ awesome cameo at the end [31 off 14].”

But T20 is a school of hard knocks and Walter was left to reflect that “it was a game of very small margins”.

“Losing Albie Morkel and David Wiese back-to-back took the wind out of our sails. Before that the required run-rate was less than 13 and it was game on.”

For Walter, the performances of senior players like Kuhn, Van der Merwe, Farhaan Behardien and the Morkel brothers were positives from the campaign as a whole, and youngsters like Graeme van Buuren and Theunis de Bruyn also produced match-winning showings that they could be proud of.

Peter Siddle would like nothing better than to chop through South Africa's top-order.

Fast bowler Peter Siddle was a competitive woodchopper at school in Gippsland, the large rural area east of Melbourne, a quintessentially Australian pursuit that one can safely say does not feature in the extramural activities of many South African schools.

His parents gave him his first axe when he was just two years old and, although he is no longer a woodchopper, Siddle brings many of the strengths he learnt from those days into Australia’s favourite summer sport.

He goes at batsmen with the same aggression, he is indefatigable and, despite being a lean machine who has converted to a vegan diet, has considerable strength and stamina.

And the 29-year-old has plenty of character too: His tussles with the South African batsmen in the summer of 2008/9 were epic viewing and the Wanderers crowd chanting “Siddle is … a wanker” remain fresh in the memory. Apart from his undoubted qualities as a bowler, there is something of the pantomime villain about Siddle, who is a most likeable fellow off the field.

“I think we’re similar to the South Africans in that we do play aggressively. Intimidation can work against anyone, we’re fortunate to have someone like Mitchell Johnson, and at those speeds, batting is hard work whatever the conditions,” Siddle says.

Siddle will be one of the star attractions of the thrilling late summer that lies ahead, but, having played 51 Tests now, he is a clever bowler these days. He has erred in the past by bowling too short too often, but Siddle now tends to keep the ball full and straight and uses a swift, well-directed bouncer as a nasty surprise.

Australia’s slide began after that 2008/9 home and away series against South Africa and a couple of coaches have paid the price for their indifferent form. A 5-0 whitewash of England suggests they may have turned the corner, but the opposition did throw in the towel in feeble fashion and South Africa at home should provide a real test of their new order under Darren Lehmann and Michael Clarke.

They certainly seem a more settled outfit.

“As a whole, the team is a lot more suited to our plans now. We’ve come a long way, with a couple of personnel changes, we’ve got back to a couple of older boys in the bowling attack. The Ashes showed how far we’ve come,” Siddle says.

“We need to stay a lot more patient, with both bat and ball. We’ve bowled very consistently as a group, Nathan Lyon has done so well at the other end and the three quicks have been able to bowl fast, short spells.”

Siddle chuckles at the suggestion that the English batsmen were soft and says the Australians know the South African batting line-up is a formidable one, but plans have been set in place.

“We know it’s going to be a tough series, we’re going to have to be consistent over four or five days, building pressure and not letting them get away with partnerships.

“It makes us a bit more happy that Jacques Kallis won’t be there because his record speaks for itself. He’s one of the greats and, although it’s disappointing not to play against him, it’s a nice feeling not having to bowl at him!

“But there are still plenty of others to take his place and we’re going to have to work hard, South Africa are number one for a reason. Like Faf du Plessis, who gave us a really tough day in Adelaide 18 months ago. That showed the character of the player, he enjoys the challenge. But we have a bit more understanding of him now and I’ve no doubt we have good plans to bowl to him,” Siddle says.

Siddle said talk that South African pitches were different to those they were used to Australia was wide of the mark.

“The Gabba, Melbourne to an extent and Hobart are all very similar to here with the ball moving around. But it’s still about bowling the right line and length and I think we’ve achieved that in the last six months,” he says.

The eater of 15 bananas a day is famous for the tight line he employs just outside off stump, with the occasional mean delivery banged in [he famously hit Gautam Gambhir on the head with his first ball in Test cricket], and seems to thrive on the hard, unglamorous work of Test bowling.

His batting has also improved markedly and last March he became the first number nine batsman in Test history to score a half-century in each innings of a Test, against India on a turning track in Delhi.

The Victorian who took a hat-trick against England on his 26^th birthday is the archetypal determined Aussie and the three-Test series is definitely the better for having him in it.

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Those people who have portrayed the Knights as a franchise in freefall have ignored the valid reasons, and gross misfortune, which afflicted their performances this summer, according to chief executive officer Johan van Heerden.

The Knights finished fifth in the Sunfoil Series, winning just two of their 10 matches, and fourth in the Momentum One-Day Cup, winning three of their 10 games. But those figures fail to take into account the horrendous run of injuries and bad weather that stalked the central franchise almost throughout the season.

Living in Bloemfontein or Kimberley, one doesn’t expect prolonged bouts of rain, but the Knights had two home One-Day Cup matches abandoned without a ball being bowled, leaving them an agonising one point short of a playoff place.

In the four-day competition, the Knights opened their campaign by having the better of a draw against the defending champion Titans in Kimberley, but then had matches washed out on successive weekends in Paarl, Pietermaritzburg and East London.

Once they could get on the field, the Knights were actually in reasonable form and, strangely enough, the only two Sunfoil Series matches they lost were in Bloemfontein, against the Warriors and the Cape Cobras.

As if the weather was not a bad enough blow to the hopes of the franchise, it also suffered an extraordinary run of injuries.

Morne van Wyk scored a century and Reeza Hendricks a half-century in that opening match against the Titans, but it would be the last game they played as the veteran wicketkeeper/batsman badly injured his shoulder and the young top-order prospect broke his ankle.

With Dean Elgar often on national duties, it meant the Knights had lost almost their entire first-choice top-order.

“Serious injuries hit us. We had the whole season planned but then we had to go without key players like Morne van Wyk and Reeza Hendricks. Those are quality players who are extremely important to our set-up,” Van Heerden said.

“Unfortunately, their replacements were not able to front up and Rilee Rossouw and Obus Pienaar became our most senior batsmen. But they are still struggling with things in their own games and that’s why we were 25 for four too often. If the other top-four batsmen had been there, it would have taken the pressure off them.”

Pace bowlers Quinton Friend and Dillon du Preez also suffered injuries at inopportune times, and Ryan McLaren was also often absent with the national team.

But the good news after a tough season in Bloemfontein and Kimberley is that all but two of their players have opted for the safety of renewing their contracts with the Knights.

Unfortunately, the two players leaving are both batsmen – Van Wyk and Ryan Bailey.

Van Wyk has been a great servant of Knights cricket and is the franchise’s leading run-scorer with over 4000 runs, but he will be relocating to Durban.

“Morne has never left Bloemfontein, he never played county cricket, and he believes he has maybe two years left in his career, so he just wants to play in a different area,” Van Heerden explained.

And Bailey, whose double-century in the opening round of Sunfoil Series matches accounted for over half of his total runs and he only managed 71 runs in six innings in the One-Day Cup, declined a one-year contract from the Knights and will take up a two-year offer from the Eastern Cape Warriors instead.

These departures – and the fact that the likes of Johan van der Wath and Du Preez are also coming to the end of their careers – would be a real pain in the neck for Van Heerden, were it not for the really cosy situation the Knights are in in terms of the talent coming through just below franchise level.

The Free State team have excelled in the amateur competitions, mounting a strong challenge in the three-day league, reaching the final of the one-day tournament and making an unbeaten start to the T20s.

The likes of Gihahn Cloete, Rudi Second, Michael Erlank, Patrick Botha and Corne Dry have already featured in the Knights team, while Pite van Biljon, Duanne Olivier, Keagan Rafferty and Romano Terblanche are waiting in the wings.

“The youngsters can see that there are spots opening up for them and the policy of the board is that if two players are on an equal footing, then we go for the younger player. We have a youth policy for the franchise and we want to lure youngsters here, we have great arrangements for that in place with the University of the Free State and the Central University of Technology,” Van Heerden said.

An example of this is the Ewie and Hansie Cronje Project which provides a bursary for a promising cricketer and student to study at UFS.

“The bursary pays for three years’ study and pocket money and their equipment is paid for too. They must be athletic and have the potential to study further, because we believe people who qualify with a degree become better decision-makers.

“It provides specialised training and physical monitoring for young fast bowlers and it was the idea of Paul Harris [the top banker], especially the scientific side, and he has funded it along with Johann Rupert and Rembrandt,” Van Heerden explained.

The excellent schools in the region are still providing the talent, with Diego Rosier and Rafferty being recent SA U19 captains and either of them could be playing for the Knights next summer.

The mood is certainly positive in the central region, despite the hardships of the last summer and the bigger picture is healthy, according to Van Heerden.