Ken Borland

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AB de Villiers described him as “a captain’s dream” and this was after just 11.4 overs in his first Test.

But this was Kyle Abbott South Africa’s vice-captain was talking about after the Dolphins paceman had taken an extraordinary seven for 29 on debut to make sure the third Test against Pakistan at Centurion will always be indelibly linked to his name.

With three days to go, the third and final Test is in South African control as Abbott’s amazing bowling dismissed Pakistan for just 156 and, forced to follow-on 253 runs behind on first innings, they have already lost a wicket in their second innings.

Pakistan’s batting is ill-equipped to handle skilful seam bowling on helpful pitches and many cricketers have enjoyed sensational debuts without kicking on, but Abbott is blessed with the basic, yet seemingly most difficult skills, to make this an idle warning.

The 25-year-old is pacy enough and the nagging line just on or about off stump that he bowls, with his height often giving him steepling bounce, is guaranteed to put batsmen in danger.

Six of the seven wickets Abbott took fell to catches behind the wicket and the Kearsney College old boy is a perfect fit for the preferred South African tactics of controlled aggression, bounce and aiming for the edges of the opposition bats.

“He’s a captain’s dream. He bowls with a lot of control, he’s really consistent, hits the deck hard and finds the outside edges. He gets good torque on the ball and gets the batsmen to play. He was amazing today,” De Villiers gushed.

The Zululand product’s figures were the best ever in the first innings of a debut Test for South Africa (fifth overall) and the second best by a Proteas bowler in his first Test. The South African record is held by Lance Klusener, who just happens to be the lanky paceman’s coach at the Dolphins, and who took eight for 64 in the memorable 329-run victory over India in Kolkata in 1996, the tourists’ first win there.

The famously taciturn Klusener has undoubtedly been the major factor in Abbott’s rise from talented paceman to the best on the domestic circuit, but the advice the debutant received from his mentor on the eve of his big day was of the brief but meaningful variety.

“He phoned me on Thursday night and I was telling him that Jacques Kallis had got injured and I was going to play, and he was just saying ‘yes, ja, ok, yes’, but then he just said ‘keep it tidy’ and that was the end of the conversation,” Abbott said.

The reserved Klusener was unfairly criticised during his playing days for not being a team man, but it must now be official, the man is a man-management genius.

“Lance has been unbelievable, what a guy! He has really helped me mentally the most, he hasn’t changed anything technically. He’s just taught me a different mental approach, to be more aggressive and to hit the deck hard.

“Lance and I have just clicked, he understands what I need to fire and he presses the right buttons,” Abbott said.

While pace and aggression are definitely there, the most impressive aspect of Abbott’s bowling was his probing line just on or about off stump.  With the occasional delivery standing up as well, the rookie was in charge from the moment he had Mohammad Hafeez caught in the gully off the last ball of his first over.

After having Pakistan captain Misbah ul-Haq brilliantly caught in the slips by Alviro Petersen, Abbott had two for 16 from six overs at tea, which the visitors took on 91 for four.

The Pakistanis never recovered from Dale Steyn trapping Asad Shafiq lbw for six in the first over after the break, with Abbott piling on further misery for the tourists by removing Sarfraz Ahmed (17) and Saeed Ajmal, both caught at first slip by Graeme Smith, with successive deliveries.

Ehsan Adil (9) then edged Abbott to third slip and the Sunfoil Series’ leading wickettaker then added the wickets of Mohammad Irfran (0) and Younis Khan (33) to finish with the ninth best debut figures in Test history.

South Africa captain Smith then forced Pakistan to follow-on – to show how positive he is and how much faith he has in his bowling attack – and there was immediate reward as Mohammad Hafeez edged Dale Steyn’s first ball into his stumps.

Azhar Ali (5*) and Younis (8*) then took Pakistan through to stumps on 14 for one.

South Africa’s weakened pace attack had already shown that they meant business as they reduced Pakistan to 91 for four at tea on the second day.

South Africa were right on top, having scored 409 in their first innings after De Villiers’ superb century and strong support from Vernon Philander had considerably boosted their innings from 248 for six.

Resuming on nine without loss after lunch, Hafeez and Imran Farhat looked on their way to just the second half-century opening partnership against South Africa this summer as they reached 46 without loss after 16 overs.

Ed Cowan and David Warner of Australia had been the only other opening pair to prosper as they put on 77 in Adelaide in November.

But the seventh delivery of Philander’s first spell from the West Lane End pitched on middle-and-off and straightened, trapping Farhat lbw for 30 as the left-hander tried to play around the front pad.

The aggressive Farhat had faced 60 balls and hit three fours, but the slips were always interested when he was at the crease.

The next over saw Abbott bowl the first over of his international career. The first ball was too straight and tucked through square-leg for four with the sweetest of timing by Azhar.

The 25-year-old Abbott thereafter settled on a steady line just outside off stump and, being tall, he occasionally obtained steep bounce, making it a risk for the Pakistan batsmen to attack him.

Hafeez did try at the end of his first over and was cramped as the ball nipped back into him, and the catch went low to gully, where it was well-taken by Dean Elgar.

Hafeez had survived for 85 minutes and 44 balls, and scored 18.

Both openers were out within 11 balls of each other and worse was to follow when Philander removed Azhar (6) with the next delivery.

Azhar was conned by a delivery that kept low outside off stump, edging the ball back into his stumps. Although it is not a pitch batsmen can fully trust, it was a lame stroke by Azhar, hanging a limp bat out to dry.

The West Lane End was giving Abbott steep bounce and that’s what undid Misbah ul-Haq, who provided the slips with an edge as he was squared-up. Alviro Petersen dived low in front of first slip to take a great catch and the Pakistan captain was back in the hut for 10.

Younis had been in for almost an hour when tea arrived, but had scored just 13, while Asad Shafiq was with him on two not out.

Philander had taken two for 21 in seven overs and Abbott two for 16 in six, while Rory Kleinveldt, wicketless in eight overs, had been most unfortunate in his first spell.

He beat the bat several times and seemed to have trapped Farhat in front on 27, only for Hawkeye to say the ball pitched outside leg-stump. It merely added more fuel to the fire for those who don’t have complete faith in DRS’s ball-tracking abilities.

The morning belonged to De Villiers and Philander.

It’s becoming apparent that De Villiers is maintaining his brilliant batting form despite having to keep wicket as well, while Robin Peterson and now Philander have made crucial contributions down the order in successive Tests.

South Africa had resumed on their overnight score of 334 for six, with De Villiers on 98 not out, and his second scoring stroke, another classical drive through the covers, brought him three runs and his 16th Test century. It came off 186 balls and included 13 wonderful strokes to the boundary.

Just a ball later, Pakistan had one of two chances to strike an early blow but fluffed it as Philander edged a drive at Rahat Ali which wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed dived for but could not reach, while first slip Hafeez hesitated.

Philander was obviously going to play his shots on Saturday morning and he went to his second Test half-century off 85 balls and made it to 74, a career-best, before Younis proved the surprise package and had him caught low down by Hafeez at first slip.

De Villiers continued to score freely, going to 121 off 215 deliveries, with 15 fours, before he chased after a short-pitched delivery from Rahat and Shafiq took a very well judged catch on the midwicket boundary.

South Africa were all out four overs later as Rahat claimed his fifth and sixth wickets, removing Kleinveldt (0) and Abbott, the debutant who showed some ability with the bat in scoring 13. The straight drive he hit off Rahat for his only boundary was the shot of the morning.

Rahat was the most successful of the Pakistan bowlers, the Centurion pitch providing him with just enough nibble, while the ball also swung for him, and the 24-year-old who entered the Test scene at the Wanderers finished with six for 127 in 27.2 overs.

The debutant, Ehsan Adil, was unable to bowl on the second morning due to the calf injury that took him off the field shortly before the close of play on the first day, so the visitors were grateful for the penetration Rahat provided.

South Africa were precariously placed on 201 for five at tea on the first day of the third Test against Pakistan at Centurion on Friday.

The second session was a particularly good one for Rahat Ali, bringing him his second and third Test wickets as the Centurion pitch helped him with just enough lateral movement.

Hashim Amla had been the mainstay of the South African first innings with a classy 92 filled with some great strokes that brought him 13 fours, but Rahat removed him with a wide delivery that was edged to wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed as the Bearded Wonder went on the slash.

It was a stirring fightback by Pakistan after lunch as they claimed three wickets for 97 runs in 26 overs, leaving South Africa in a sticky situation.

Amla and Faf du Plessis had been excellent in adding 66 for the third wicket to lift South Africa to 104 for two at lunch and were looking to crack on the pace after the break.

But Du Plessis would be gone in the fourth over of the session, caught behind for 29 off a fine delivery from Ehsan Adil that was back-of-a-length and nipped away.

AB de Villiers was quickly into his stride as he and Amla added 79 for the fourth wicket off just 112 balls but Pakistan would be the happier side at tea as Rahat struck twice in two overs.

Dean Elgar came to the crease when Amla left and only lasted seven balls when he was trapped in the crease by a Rahat inswinger, wasting a review to compound his error.

When South Africa return for the final session, much will depend on De Villiers, who had gone untroubled to 40 not out.

Much was asked of Robin Peterson in Cape Town and he delivered superbly, but South Africa need another contribution from him as well as he resumes on two not out.

To win the toss, bat first and be bowled out on the first day is not going to please captain Graeme Smith, and he will be looking to his lower-order to help De Villiers steer them to 300 before stumps with the loss of as few more wickets as possible.

The grossly inexperienced Pakistan pace attack were beginning to feel the strain at lunch as Amla and Du Plessis cruised along.

The Pakistanis had claimed two early wickets as the openers, Alviro Petersen (10) and Graeme Smith (5), fell cheaply in the first 10 overs.

The visitors had made two changes to their pace attack with Umar Gul unwell and Tanvir Ahmed dropped. With Junaid Khan still feeling the effects of the strange thigh wound that kept him out of the second Test in Cape Town, the Pakistanis brought in Rahat and debutant Adil.

That left Mohammad Irfan, who made his debut in Cape Town, as the leader of the attack, while Rahat had also played his first Test just 10 days earlier at the Wanderers.

It was Rahat who made the first breakthrough, trapping Petersen lbw for 10, although he had been innocuous up till then.

Petersen’s form may be one of the few items up for discussion in terms of selection, but he had looked good, stroking two boundaries, before receiving a fine delivery from the left-armer (practically his only one of the morning) that straightened sharply back into him.

Smith was less convincing as he scored his five off 21 balls, before he was dismissed in Adil’s first over in Test cricket, edging into the slips, where second slip Younis Khan dived in front of first slip to take the catch. It was a good delivery just outside off stump that bounced a bit more than expected, but Smith’s angled bat towards midwicket was as much to blame as anything else.

South Africa were in some bother at 38 for two, but Amla came in and immediately started middling the ball. He fed off the left-armer’s deliveries angled into him, scoring freely on the leg-side, and reached his 27th Test half-century in the over before lunch, in 102 minutes off 76 balls, with nine fours.

Du Plessis also looked in fine form as he went to 29, collecting three magnificent fours – through the covers, straight and square on the off side – in Adil’s fourth and last over of the morning.

With the inexperienced seamers struggling to regain the upper hand, off-spinner Saeed Ajmal was introduced in the 18th over, but both Amla and Du Plessis continued to score with freedom, using their feet well, and purring along to their 50 partnership off just 74 balls.

With the early moisture having been burnt off and the green tinge gradually disappearing from the pitch, the table is set for the South African batsmen to prosper, even in the absence of Jacques Kallis.

The master batsman injured a calf muscle on Thursday, on one of the rare occasions he attends optional training, and has been replaced by Kyle Abbott, the in-form Dolphins seamer who will earn his first Test cap after excelling in the Sunfoil Series with 49 wickets.

It took the lil’ old Free State and Griqualand West nearly 40 years to produce their first 15 SA Schools caps, but since 1980 that number has quadrupled to neatly signify the growing importance of the region as a feeder for South African cricket talent.

Allan Donald, Kepler Wessels, Hansie Cronje, Boeta Dippenaar, Nicky Boje, Peter Carlstein, Ryan McLaren, Gerhardus Liebenberg and Victor Mpitsang are SA Schools products from the region who have gone on to play international cricket and all told there have been 61 players from Free State and Griqualand West who have been honoured with selection at the end of the Coca-Cola Khaya Majola U19 Week, including the current captain, Diego Rosier from Noord-Kaap in Kimberley.

The Knights are the professional franchise that covers that central region of the country and they have excelled since domestic cricket’s premier level was reduced to six teams in 2004, winning seven trophies, second only to the nine of the Titans.

But there has been talk that the glory years of the Knights, based on the considerable talents of Morne van Wyk, Dippenaar, Boje, Dillon du Preez and Johan van der Wath, are waning and that one of the powerhouses of franchise cricket are slipping down a notch or two.

But the performances of the Knights feeder teams – in particular the Free State side in the CSA amateur competitions – have told a different story.

The Free State team are in contention for the CSA three-day title and made the final of the one-day competition, while the likes of fast bowlers Malusi Siboto, Duanne Olivier, Gino Vries and Corne Dry, wicketkeeper/batsman Rudi Second and all-rounder Patrick Botha have shown the ability to step up and succeed at franchise level.

“The last three years, we have been in contention in all three competitions, but this season has been badly disrupted by injuries and the national call-ups of Elgar and McLaren which have made our planning difficult.

“But the Free State team is right up there in their competition and we have some wonderful youngsters in those ranks. Shadley van Schalkwyk, Siboto, Gihahn Cloete and Michael Erlank have all been called up to the franchise side, while youngsters like Reeza Hendricks and Rilee Rossouw are still finding their feet but will probably play for South Africa one day.

“So I’m confident our planning is in order, I’m positive our plans are working. This season there have just been some things you can’t make provision for,” Knights chief executive Johan van Heerden said.

Both the national U13 and U17 weeks were held down in the Cape in December, with the Free State teams having mixed fortunes, while Griquas had a torrid time, losing all their matches at both tournaments.

The Free State U13s had a 50% winning record, while their U17s won four of their six matches.

The U19 side won three and lost two of their matches, with one drawn, while Griquas had just a solitary victory at the Khaya Majola Week. Vasili Orros of Grey College joined captain Rosier in the SA Schools XI announced at the end of the competition.

These are interesting times in Free State schools cricket with Grey College no longer the dominant force they used to be and St Andrews Bloemfontein challenging them for regional pre-eminence.

Johan Volsteedt is ideally placed to comment on the young talent in the area. As the highly respected coach of the Grey College first XI, he is as much a part of the Knights’ future as he was of their yesterdays, having overseen the early development of the likes of Wessels, Cronje and Boje.

“The standard is relatively good at the moment, there are some fine bowlers around. But the batsmen need a lot of work, especially in terms of good technique. But there are still good signs for the future, it’s very positive. Young cricketers have to prepare for many things to succeed in the game, and a lot of them you can’t coach, such as learning about match situations,” Volsteedt said.

The former Grey College headmaster also dares to suggest that the T20 game can be used to improve the techniques of batsmen.

“You can use T20 to train for the longer formats. Batsmen need to learn how to score quickly, but they also need to get in first.

“T20 is still very good cricket and it’s not going to disappear, so we need to see how it can make a difference in developing our talent. We must just use T20 correctly, not just close our eyes and smash.”

But, according to Volsteedt, cricket is still considered the little brother of rugby when it comes to importance in Free State schools.

“It’s very difficult because boys have to choose one of the two team sports, rugby or cricket. And the top rugby players started training for the 2013 season on October 4!,” Volsteedt said.

“The game of cricket was very foreign to us thirty years ago, but we have since taken to it and become more attacking in our play. I don’t know how big the pool of talent is, but the keenness is definitely still there.”

One of Free State’s greatest fast bowlers, Corrie van Zyl, now the general manager of cricket for CSA, was the coach of the Knights, then known as the Eagles, in their halcyon days, steering them to six of those seven trophies before moving upwards into the national ranks.

Sarel Cilliers, the former pace bowler and Eagles fitness trainer, took over as coach from Van Zyl, but the transition was not smooth, as Van Heerden admits.

“Sarel took over in very tough circumstances and two or three senior players made life difficult for him and demanded that he be ousted. We’d just come out of the Corrie van Zyl era and the team was balanced and happy, but then a young guy took over and dropped some of the older players, which caused a bit of unhappiness.

“I guess the players were trying to test the waters, but the board made a strong statement and said those players who want to leave must leave. Only CJ de Villiers left and we now have one of the happiest groups. The players agreed to stick it out and Sarel has now made a real impact. He’s a wonderful coach and very strong technically,” Van Heerden said.

With the players and the coach now on better-than-speaking terms, the Knights can now concentrate on what happens after the likes of Du Preez, Van Wyk and Van der Wath move on.

Mother Cricket has proven on many occasions that she can be a tough mistress and those who will be coming into the team once that trio of stars have been released will need time to settle.

But Van Heerden is confident that there is top-class talent waiting in the wings.

“Rosier is captaining SA Schools and in 2010 it was Keagan Rafferty. Every year we have a couple of players in the SA Schools and SA U19 teams, so there is still a nice strong pipeline here. I feel very comfortable with what’s coming up to play on the next level. A lot of them aren’t quite ready yet, but give them a couple of years,” Van Heerden said.

If the Knights’ succession planning goes to the letter, there is no doubt they should still be a formidable force in domestic cricket in the years to come.

Misbah ul-Haq and Asad Shafiq were fixtures at the crease for the last three-and-a-bit hours as defiant Pakistan ended the third day of the first Test against South Africa on 183 for four at the Wanderers.

The Pakistan captain and his 27-year-old partner had added 101 in 191 minutes for the fifth wicket as the tourists made the South African bowlers work hard. The victory target of 480 is still most probably out of reach and the Proteas will be hoping the second new ball, due in five overs time, will end the resistance.

The South Africans had declared their second innings 45 minutes into the morning on 275 for three, after the dashing AB de Villiers had completed his century, and the attack then chipped away to reduce Pakistan to 104 for four at tea.

But the white-knuckle determination of Misbah and Shafiq put thoughts of another three-day kill to bed as they batted through to stumps to finish on 44 and 53 not out respectively.

The 13 858 people at the Wanderers and the many others on their couches thought South Africa had finally broken through midway through the final session when Shafiq, on 40, edged the fourth ball of Vernon Philander’s fourth spell to Graeme Smith at slip.

But it was quickly revealed via TV replays that Philander had over-stepped and bowled a no-ball, and the batsman was hastily recalled. It’s a problem that has bedevilled South Africa in the recent past and there seems little serious effort to correct it as Philander was regularly over-stepping on Thursday in the nets and bowling coach Allan Donald was nowhere to be seen.

And to make matters worse, just five deliveries later, Misbah, on 31, sent a square-drive off Jacques Kallis to Robin Peterson’s right at backward point and the normally reliable fielder moved to his right but fluffed the regulation catch.

Dale Steyn had spoken the previous day about how the South African team can produce “power performances” at the right time.

“This team can definitely take a game away from anyone and it’s not just the bowlers, the batsmen can do it too, like in Perth and Adelaide. When we put our minds and forces together, we’re pretty hard to beat. It’s a very special team that can produce power performances,” Steyn said after his incredible six for eight in 8.1 overs had put South Africa in a match-winning situation.

But with the ball not swinging, the pitch probably at its best for batting and Pakistan putting in an improved batting display, the South Africans were de-powered on Sunday.

There was an element of risk in their early declaration on Sunday morning as it meant Pakistan would almost certainly win the game if they could bat for long enough. There are now 180 overs left in the match and they need “just” 297 more runs, a required rate of 1.6 per over.

“I was a little bit surprised by the timing of the declaration,” Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore admitted. “But the second new ball will be crucial tomorrow, we’ve got to get over that first and it won’t be easy, even for two set batsmen.”

“It crossed my mind that we should just totally bat them out of the game, but obviously Graeme and Gary [coach Kirsten] thought differently. We like to play a positive brand of cricket and no team has scored more than 400 on this deck. I don’t see Pakistan doing it because the cracks are opening up and we have the second new ball early tomorrow,” De Villiers said.

He and Hashim Amla had resumed on Sunday morning on 207 for three and quickly rattled up 68 more runs in nine overs, with De Villiers driving beautifully down the ground and square on the off-side as he scored 40 runs off 33 balls to go to his 15^th Test century.

Amla also scored at a run-a-ball and finished on 74 not out, his 25^th Test half-century and enough to give South Africa a lead of more than 450 which De Villiers later revealed had been the benchmark figure for Smith and Kirsten.

There is no confidentiality about how South Africa will go about winning this Test on Monday – Steyn and Philander will be given the second new ball as soon as it is due and, with the morning the best time for bowling at the Wanderers, and more cloudy weather expected, they will be roaring in against Misbah and Shafiq.

Having done so well on Sunday afternoon, it remains to be seen whether that pair of Pakistan batsmen can muster the same tenacity and sheer bloody-mindedness.