Ken Borland

George Linde may be playing just his sixth game for the Proteas but the 29-year-old spin bowling all-rounder is rapidly establishing himself as a resident tough guy in the team.

Left-arm spinner Linde has brushed off the ill-fortune of taking a fierce blow to the little finger on his bowling hand after bowling just 17 deliveries in the second Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi, and on Saturday he was outstanding with the ball taking three for 12 in nine overs as South Africa reduced Pakistan to 129 for six in their second innings, giving the visitors a sniff of levelling the two-match series.

Linde revealed after play on Saturday just how bad his injury was when he was struck on the finger by a powerful drive by Babar Azam, and he also said he was confident the Proteas will be able to chase down 270 in the final innings. Pakistan’s lead is currently 200 with four wickets remaining.

“I thought my season was done when I saw the bone in my pinkie finger sticking out. I ran straight off the field when I saw that and popped the bone back in on the way. I had stitches and then some scans and I’m just lucky that it wasn’t broken. The physios and the doctor have been awesome, and the finger has been okay actually. I’ve just needed a small adjustment to my grip.

“You don’t know when you’re next going to get the opportunity to play for your country so I’m not going to let it get me down. It’s just some pain I have to deal with, it’s nothing much compared to people being out of work or dying back home because of Covid. So it’s not a lot to put up with my injury, I’m playing for my country and I won’t stand back for anything. You have maybe 10 minutes of pain, get an injection and carry on,” Linde said.

South Africa disappointed once again on the second afternoon and on Saturday with their ill-judged batting, taking their overnight score of 106 for four to just 201 all out, giving Pakistan a first-innings lead of 71. Linde is confident the Proteas can make up that deficit though.

“They bowled well in the first innings but I’m sure the batsmen have their game-plans for tomorrow and I’m pretty confident we can get over the line. Some balls are keeping low, there’ve been a couple of up-and-down deliveries, but I still believe we have good game-plans. Maybe there have been some technical issues, but chasing anything under 300 – we’ll take it.

“Hopefully we’ll be chasing less than 250 but even 270 is realistic and I’m pretty confident we can chase that. We have a very good chance to win if we can take the last four wickets quickly in the morning, we do that and we’re certainly deep back in the game. I’m positive we’ll take it – the team is very hungry to level the series,” Linde, who scored a quickfire 21, said.

The Cape Cobras star is part of an encouraging growth in South Africa’s spin-bowling depth and he was very impressive on Saturday, bowling accurately as he quickly settled on a line and length, and getting the ball to bounce awkwardly out of the footmarks. Now playing in his third Test, to go with three T20 internationals, Linde has taken seven Test wickets at an average of 28.57.

The Imperial Lions and the Dolphins were forced to share the Momentum One-Day Cup trophy on Friday as their final in Potchefstroom was washed out with half-centuries by Lions middle-order batsmen Dominic Hendricks and Nicky van den Bergh being the most notable performances.

Early morning rain had delayed the start of play and reduced the match to 45 overs a side, and after being sent in to bat, captain Hendricks produced another fine innings as he scored 65 of 74 balls, while Van den Bergh scored a fighting 56 off 75 deliveries. They shared a fourth-wicket stand of 116 off 139 balls which was the foundation of the Lions total of 225 for seven.

The Lions would have wanted a few more but pace bowler Eathan Bosch produced a fine spell of bowling at the death to finish with four for 41 in his nine overs.

Off-spinner and captain Prenelan Subrayen put pressure on the Lions up front and bowled opener Wesley Marshall (22) with a beautiful turning delivery as he finished with one for 26.

Opening bowler Sisanda Magala then did the business for the Lions up front with the new ball as he took two wickets in the second over, Grant Roelofsen (1) and Marques Ackerman (0) failing to handle his heavy balls.

Michael Erlank (20*) and Ruan de Swardt (13*) were busy rebuilding the innings, taking the Dolphins to 37 for two in the 11^th over when the bad weather returned.

The Dolphins, who were awarded the title last season because they were top of the log when the Covid pandemic struck, also shared the trophy in 2017/18 with the Warriors.

For the Lions, it is their first Momentum One-Day Cup crown since 2015/16.

Proteas fast bowler Anrich Nortje hails from Uitenhage, the centre of automotive industria in the Eastern Cape and if there were two characteristics to his superb bowling on the second day of the second Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi on Friday, they were that he certainly had wheels and how industrious he was in delivering 24-and-a-half overs and taking five for 56.

Nortje cranked up the pace on Friday, but his aggression was wonderfully controlled as he spearheaded a fine day in the field for South Africa as they took Pakistan’s last seven wickets for just 127 runs to bowl them out for 272.

It was a great shame that South Africa’s top-order batsmen couldn’t show the same controlled aggression as they slumped to 106 for four at stumps.

After close of play though, Nortje bore the satisfied demeanour of a man who knew he had put in a proper shift of work, and was confident his batting colleagues could do the same on the third day on Saturday.

“I think we restricted them to a good total and it is definitely manageable for us to exceed that, hopefully we can have a good, long bat tomorrow and the guys can build some partnerships. The major thing when bowling was to have controlled aggression and the right lines and lengths. It was really good bowling by all the bowlers, the energy we bring and lines and lengths are things we can control.

“Coach Mark Boucher said to the fast bowlers that he wants us to create something in our spells, he wants us to bring something energy-wise and that’s exactly what happened. We didn’t bowl long spells, but we just tried to hit the wicket and dig it in as much as possible. I just tried to bring as much energy as I can when I came on. And the work I’ve done on my lines and control has definitely helped,” Nortje said on Friday.

Most fast bowlers dread coming to the subcontinent with its slow, flat and low-bouncing pitches, but Nortje said he was able to make the most of whatever assistance he could find as he notched his third five-wicket haul, and his first away from home, in his 10^th Test.

“There was a bit more bounce out there than there was in the last Test, and trying to utilise whatever you get is important. Otherwise I was just trying to be as tight as possible and not give any width. When the ball was a bit harder I saw the opportunity to get the ball through a bit more, there was more bounce with the harder ball. There’s not a lot in it for the seamers so it’s important to utilise what is in your favour.

“One or two balls stayed low as well so maybe inconsistent bounce will come more into play, so the pace bowlers are not completely out of it, you just have to employ different methods than at home. I played my first Test in India and, looking back, I’m quite happy about that because conditions were not easy and I learnt a lot. It means a lot to me to get a performance like this in the subcontinent,” Nortje said.

One of the most vital aspects of the Bulls’ success this season has been belief and in this respect they have reminded me a bit of the last great side to play out of Loftus Versfeld, the one that won three SuperRugby crowns and five Currie Cup titles between 2002 and 2010.

Even when Jake White’s team were 10 points down with less than 20 minutes to go in the Currie Cup final against the Sharks last weekend, there seemed to be a singleminded focus that even though they had looked an ill-disciplined, ragged lot for long periods of the game, there was no way they would allow themselves to be beaten in the end.

Arno Botha was one of the heroes of the match as he came off the bench and scored two tries, and he spoke this week about the confidence a coach like White and a captain like Duane Vermeulen give the team.

Heyneke Meyer, the coach of that Super Rugby winning Bulls side of more than a decade ago, had a similar effect on his team, having done the same rebuilding job after years of failure in Pretoria. And reading Meyer’s recently-released book 7 – My Notes on Leadership and Life, written with journalist Marco Botha, it seems as if the coach almost brainwashed his players into believing they could achieve the extraordinary if not what was considered impossible.

One of the seven points in order to be successful that Meyer expounds on in his book is “You must believe in your vision”.

Of course all top sportspeople and teams have a belief that they can win, but the type of belief Meyer is talking about is what happened at the end of the 2007 SuperRugby campaign when the Bulls won their last four round-robin games with bonus points including the scarcely-believable 92-3 win over the Reds which gave them a crucial home semi-final, something they had earlier identified as being crucial if they wanted to win the daunting competition.

The book is full of the sort of motivational stories, aphorisms and mind tricks that Meyer employed on his team. Whether or not these ploys would still work today is a matter of conjecture, but there is no denying that belief was one of the key characteristics of that superb Bulls side.

Obviously belief alone is not going to win trophies and Meyer also explores the importance of having all the team’s energy flowing in the direction of a vision – the more unrealistic the better; having the willpower to keep fighting whatever the hardship and the mental toughness to always go another round; and the work ethic that set apart players like Morne Steyn (now a driving force in White’s team) and Victor Matfield.

Meyer also rightly devotes chapters to how no-one can achieve success on their own and on the importance of enjoying the journey. 7 – My Notes on Leadership and Life is certainly an enjoyable journey through Meyer’s extraordinary achievements as a Bulls coach but also his time in charge of the Springboks.

The foreword is written by former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen and it was Gauteng’s privilege to host some of the best Test matches ever played when Meyer’s South Africa hosted Hansen’s New Zealand. The book tells the story of their friendship and there is no doubting the mutual respect between the two.

Like Hansen, White has also won rugby’s biggest prize in the shape of the World Cup and he is also undoubtedly building something special at Loftus Versfeld. Much of that revolves around the inspirational presence of Vermeulen and Meyer also talks about the Springbok great and how highly he rates him for his mental toughness.

Let’s hope that the success in Pretoria can also translate to players coming through and contributing to the continued success of the Springboks.