Ken Borland

The Imperial Lions will be playing in the Momentum One-Day Cup final in Potchefstroom on Thursday against the defending champion Dolphins without the two left-arm spinners who have inspired their impressive title run thus far.

Regular captain Aaron Phangiso, who has been the Lions’ most economical bowler and taken five wickets, has had to leave the Potchefstroom bio-secure environment for personal reasons. Bjorn Fortuin, their leading wicket-taker with seven scalps, is in the Proteas T20 squad in Pakistan.

Losing both of them is a massive blow for the Lions because they have played such an integral role in the middle overs. Dominic Hendricks will captain the team in Phangiso’s absence, which was not announced in Wednesday’s pre-final virtual press conference, but he did talk about how other players will be needed to step into the void created by Fortuin’s unavailability.

“Obviously it’s tough losing someone as good as Bjorn, who adds a lot of value. He can bowl a couple of overs up front with the new ball and in the middle overs, the way he controls the game is fantastic. And he’s good with the bat. So it’s a massive loss but an opportunity for younger guys like Johannes Diseko and even Bryce Parsons to put their hands up.

“Conditions are not the usual ones at Potch where you chase well over 300. Now you have to be more measured, bat well for the first 40 overs and then explode. The teams that set their innings up best have been the most successful. It’s going to be about setting up against the new ball, and then how you play spin from overs 10 to 40. It all depends on those middle overs, how you set up for the last 10 overs – you need wickets in hand,” Hendricks said.

While the Lions had their semi-final against the Knights washed out, progressing to the final because they topped their pool with three convincing wins, the Dolphins can rest in the knowledge that they have been tested under pressure and came through their thrilling knockout match against the Cape Cobras.

But were it not for Senuran Muthusamy or Robbie Frylinck’s half-centuries they would have lost and, in the absence of David Miller, they need Marques Ackerman, Khaya Zondo or Ruan de Swardt to step up and provide more support to Grant Roelofsen up front.

Captain Prenelan Subrayen does not seem the type who is prone to rants though and he put a positive spin on their last performance.

“We took our semi-final as our bad game and yet we were still able to come out on top, we showed a lot of character and depth, and Senuran and Robbie are obviously very key players in both bowling and batting. We’ll be striving for that perfect game and we still have a lot of momentum. The conditions in Potchefstroom suit our game as well, they play into our hands,” Subrayen said.

Patience and building pressure are the key lessons South Africa’s bowlers have taken out of their loss in the first Test against Pakistan, paceman Anrich Nortje said on Tuesday as the Proteas prepared for the second Test starting in Rawalpindi on Thursday.

The Proteas fast bowlers certainly had their moments in the first Test, reducing Pakistan to 27 for four in their first innings, and it took an outstanding century by Fawad Alam for the home side to turn the tide. South Africa were probing, without much luck, on the second morning before erring tactically with the second new ball late in the day and then lacking intensity and accuracy on the third morning.

“We learnt quite a lot from the first Test, the pitches are low and slow, there’s not a lot of bounce but there is some spin. Patience was very key and in stages we bowled really well, but at other times we were a bit off the mark, myself included. Kagiso Rabada bowled really well throughout and his economy rate [2.59 & 2.63] showed that.

“We mustn’t go searching for wickets, instead we need to be trying to build a lot of pressure. There were a couple of short periods where we lost it a bit as an attack, but hopefully we can still take some momentum into the second Test. We had a good chat after the game about what was good and what we didn’t do so well and we are pretty clear about what we need to do now,” Nortje said on Tuesday.

Impatience was also one of the ills of the Proteas batsmen – who treated their innings as rentals rather than trying to take permanent occupancy of the crease, and Nortje said the tourists will be better for their chastening experience in Karachi.

“It opened our eyes a bit to the important areas when we gave the game away. But the mood in the camp hasn’t changed, if anything we actually have more energy and positivity. There are no outside disturbances here, it’s more relaxed and we are outside more and the weather is really nice, the hottest it’s been is 18⁰.

We know more now about what to expect from the Pakistan team and the conditions, and hopefully we can use that experience. We’re keen to get started again now,” Nortje said.

Not even calling in the service of government to grant the Australian cricket team VIP travelling status to South Africa was enough for Cricket Australia (CA), as they pulled the plug on their scheduled three-Test series against the Proteas on Tuesday.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) released a statement on Tuesday recording there “immense disappointment” at CA’s decision, which they described as “regrettable”. In the diplomatic world of corporate press statements, this was a strongly-worded criticism.

Which was not surprising considering how CSA have bent over backwards to try and accommodate the Australians.

Apart from granting the Australian touring party VIP passage to and from the airport, CSA had also offered up the Irene Country Lodge for their exclusive use, meaning the Proteas would have moved to a different hotel. They have also altered their travel plans for the ongoing Pakistan tour, bringing the Test squad back early and sending a second-string outfit for the T20 series.

“The protocols we had proposed to CA were unprecedented. Firstly, we had agreed that our own Proteas team would enter the bio-secure environment [BSE] 14 days prior to the arrival of the Australian team, thus altering our planning during the current tour of Pakistan. Amongst some of the other key arrangements made were that all four areas – two hotels and two venues – had a protocol to implement a strict BSE with no contact with anybody outside this area. 

“We subsequently agreed to two separate BSEs and had granted Australia full and exclusive use of the Irene Country Lodge, which we shared with Sri Lanka, with a minimum staff present on site. In terms of the arrangements, the Proteas were to move to a separate hotel altogether. Furthermore, all hotel staff, match officials and even bus drivers were to enter the BSE 14 days prior to Australia’s arrival. 

“In addition, CSA had also committed to importing an Australian tracking system at great cost to ensure proper tracking of close contacts in the event of a positive test. The touring team was also going to be granted VIP access through the airports, after government intervention to ensure this privilege. These are just some of the protocols that CSA was to put in place. We had really gone the extra mile to make sure that the tour would proceed,” CSA’s chief medical officer Dr Shuaib Manjra said.

Given the suspicion of CSA’s BSE protocols, which have enabled them to host a Test series against Sri Lanka without incident, and a visit by England in which none of the touring players contracted Covid-19, as well as stage the Momentum One-Day Cup in Potchefstroom without a single positive test, it seems South African cricket’s station in global cricket in the near future will be a long way removed from the Big Three of Australia, England and India.

“It is indeed sad that after all the engagements and effort made to ensure a secure visit by our Australian counterparts, the tour has been derailed. CSA has incurred significant costs related to the planning stages and the cancellation of the tour represents a serious financial loss. In this challenging period for cricket and its member countries, we believe the stance taken by CA is regrettable and will have a serious impact on the sustainability of the less-wealthy cricket-playing nations,” CSA acting chief executive officer Pholetsi Moseki said.

Given how late CA have pulled out – they were due to arrive in two weeks time – those losses are estimated to be around the R50 million mark.

The size of their target may have been a meagre 197, but the Dolphins needed a tremendously determined partnership between all-rounders Senuran Muthusamy and Robbie Frylinck to get them home by three wickets in their exciting Momentum One-Day Cup semi-final against the Cape Cobras in Potchefstroom on Monday.

The Dolphins had crashed to 58 for five when the pair came together, but they negotiated a big-turning pitch with aplomb, adding 112 off 132 balls to all but seal victory.

The burly Frylinck was the more imposing of the two as he hammered 62 off 60 balls, while Muthusamy played the ideal support role with his 57 off 82 deliveries.

They were dismissed in successive overs but by then the Dolphins only needed 17 more runs, which captain Prenelan Subrayen and Eathan Bosch sorted out with a trio of boundaries.

Eathan’s brother Corbin had struck two big blows up front, swinging the ball late to remove Mangaliso Mosehle and Marques Ackerman for ducks in the first over.

Off-spinner Imraan Manack, opening the bowling with Bosch, then left the Dolphins with a daunting task as he bowled both Grant Roelofsen (34) and Ruan de Swardt (5) with deliveries that turned a mile.

But the size of the fight, as well as their skill and composure, was too great in Muthusamy and Frylinck and the Dolphins will now meet the winners of Tuesday’s semifinal between the Imperial Lions and the Knights in Thursday’s final.

Opening bowler Frylinck (9.2-0-25-2) and left-arm spinner Muthusamy (9-0-34-2) had also played starring roles in the Dolphins attack as the Cobras, who were sent in to bat, were bowled out for just 196 in the 47^th over.

The Cobras were well-placed at one stage as Tony de Zorzi, who showed great composure in battling through a tough time up front and making 61 off 71 balls, and Jason Smith (37) took them to 83 for one in the 19^th over.

But paceman Ottneil Baartman produced an inspired spell as he took three for 15 in five overs, and the rest of the Dolphins attack just continued to squeeze pressure on the Cobras batsmen.