Ken Borland

The Unlimited Titans beat the Knights by seven wickets in their Sunfoil Series match in Kimberley over the weekend to climb off the bottom of the log, but the most significant aspect of their triumph is that it sees them abandon a 15-game winless streak in four-day cricket.

Coach Rob Walter was obviously a delighted man on Monday, the pleasure of seeing all his plans finally come together in the Sunfoil Series just adding to the joy of getting engaged recently to the girl of his dreams and the satisfaction of seeing Albie Morkel and Farhaan Behardien back in the national squad.

“It was the type of performance that I knew we could produce. For the first time the bowlers really worked as a unit, stuck to the plan and were able to hold their skills for a long time.

“I was very chuffed, it was a significant performance and the most important part of it was the way we played in different, crucial phases of the game,” Walter told The Pretoria News yesterday.

While it was a solid team effort that earned them victory over the previous log-leaders, CJ de Villiers, Shaun von Berg, David Wiese and debutant Vincent Moore were the stars for the Titans.

CJ de Villiers - batting hero

De Villiers, chosen in the team for his bowling, scored crucial half-centuries in each innings. The seamer top-scored with 57 in the first innings, combining with Moore (48) in a 106-run partnership for the last wicket that lifted the Titans to parity with the Knights.

The 27-year-old then came in as a nightwatchman and made 52 not out to take the Titans to a tricky little target of 156 on the final day.

“For CJ to make a fifty in the first innings at number 10 and then back it up was awesome. That partnership with Vincent got us back in the game and I was especially pleased with his application because it’s easy to bat like a number 10 in those situations,” Walter said.

In terms of the bowling, the match brought outstanding figures of 10 for 129, including a career-best seven for 66 in the second innings, for leg-spinner Von Berg, a five-wicket haul in the first innings for Wiese and a highly-encouraging match analysis of four for 87 for Moore, the 19-year-old left-arm quick.

“David bowled superbly well in the first innings and Vincent bowled really nicely too. He got the key wicket of Rilee Rossouw in the first innings at a key time and consistently executed his skills,” Walter said.

But it was Von Berg who the coach was most excited about, the 27-year-old producing a potentially career-defining performance on a pitch that did begin to turn towards the end of the game.

“It was as well as I’ve seen Shaun bowl, a top-class effort. I’m very hesitant to tag players and expect too much, too early from them, but if he can consistently do what he did over the weekend, then he’ll be a candidate for higher honours.

“He never struggles to turn the ball, but he nailed his pace and where to land the ball and he bowled around the wicket exceptionally well,” Walter said.

Albie Morkel shows his walloping power

Albie Morkel is back in the national team for the series against Australia and the ICC World T20 in Bangladesh, giving South Africa one of the most threatening batting line-ups in the competition.

The Unlimited Titans all-rounder is returning to the Green and Gold after an absence of two years, stretching back to the previous edition of the T20 world cup, in Sri Lanka.

Morkel is back to his best form, showing in the RamSlam T20 Challenge that he can still tan the hides of bowlers with 202 runs at a strike-rate of 127 and an average of 28. With the likes of AB de Villiers, JP Duminy and David Miller batting above him, South Africa can be bullish about the hitting power they will bring to Bangladesh.

“When you look at his experience, we all know what Albie has done in the past; the conditions we’ll be playing in, he’s played in the sub-continent for a long time and done well; and his domestic form, he’s a great finisher to bat behind David Miller at 7; then it was an easy decision,” selection convenor Andrew Hudson said yesterday.

Despite his international career seemingly being over, Morkel did not allow the disappointment to curdle his work ethic or ambition and he put in plenty of hard work to ensure he was one of the Titans’ stars as they claimed a couple of last-ditch victories to make the T20 Challenge playoffs, where they lost to the eventual champions, the Dolphins.

“I’m excited about being back, it’s something that wasn’t part of my plans at the start of the season. I put in the hard work, but that doesn’t always guarantee success. My mindset has changed and I’ve learnt to let go of the disappointment that comes with the territory in my role: You need to make a play and score quick runs under pressure, and the success rate of the best finishers is around 50/50. So you have to understand that you’re going to have more disappointments than successes,” Morkel told The Pretoria News.

Morkel has effectively taken the place of fellow Titans all-rounder David Wiese, who endured a wretched T20 Challenge, but there was also good news for Farhaan Behardien, who returns to the national squad after a great run in the domestic competition. The 30-year-old was the sixth highest run-scorer with 288 at a strike-rate of 129 and an average of 36.

Behardien is another man who has bounced back after being dished up disappointment by the national selectors following a dreadful ODI series in Sri Lanka in the middle of last year, when he scored just three runs in three innings.

“I was a little bit disappointed to not be in the mix against Pakistan because I felt I still had something to offer in the T20s. But I’ve learnt from my experiences in Sri Lanka and I’m enjoying the responsibility of generally batting anywhere between three and six for the Titans and trying to manage the innings,” Behardien said.

Those activists striving for a more representative national team will be pleased that two Black Africans have made the cut in Highveld Lions bowlers Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Aaron Phangiso, while Quinton de Kock and Imran Tahir were also chosen from the struggling Southern Gauteng franchise.

The Mumbai Indians were clearly not the only ones to be impressed by Cape Cobras speedster Beuran Hendricks, as he received his first call-up to the national squad days after receiving an IPL contract.

Captain Faf du Plessis said the Proteas were now blessed with plenty of bowling options, with another left-arm quick in Wayne Parnell joining the established duo of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.

“Beuran is right up there in terms of skill and he brings a lot of variety. Our fast bowlers have been very successful in the sub-continent plus we have good options in our spinners, with JP bowling very well at the moment and I can also turn my arm over if need be,” Du Plessis said.

Hendricks forced his way into the squad by taking a record 28 wickets, at an economy rate of marginally over 7 in the T20 Challenge and Hudson said he had the ability to both strike up front and bowl at the death.

Morkel is going to be a key figure for South Africa at the death when it comes to batting and he said it was a daunting challenge he was looking forward to.

“There’s always pressure in that role whether you’re playing for Tukkies or the Titans, and I look forward to it. In those conditions, it’s very difficult to bat at the end of the innings, it’s easier against the new ball. You’re often up against lots of spin and slower balls, with the wicketkeeper up, so you can’t use the pace of the ball.

“I’ve been working on ways to get off strike otherwise the opposition can put you under pressure early on,” Morkel said.

Convenor of selectors Andrew Hudson: 'Massive selection changes will not sort out the problem'

The news from the national selectors in the wake of South Africa being massacred by Australia at Centurion is that the debate over the balance of the side has been reopened but Proteas fans should not expect widespread changes for the second Test starting in Port Elizabeth on Thursday.

“From a personnel point of view, we have no doubt that the 15 chosen for the series is the right group of players. Massive selection changes will not sort out the problem, which was application – by the players’ own admission they did not play as well as they could,” convenor of selectors Andrew Hudson said yesterday.

“There may be a change, a tweak from within that squad, but it’s unlikely we’ll bring anyone in from outside that group. We weren’t unhappy with Ryan McLaren, but it has just reopened the debate about the balance of the side. Do we play seven batsmen or a spinner, it’s about the balance for Port Elizabeth.”

While McLaren can quite rightly protest that he performed the role expected of him with the ball, while there were glaring failures all around him, it seems the selectors are toying with the idea of following Australia’s gamble of only playing three seamers and a frontline spinner.

“Australia went in batting-heavy and played three seamers and a spinner. Perhaps we’ll play a batsman at seven and then have three quicks and Robin Peterson.

“But that does leave you hanging a bit if the spinner gets hit out of the attack or there’s an injury. That’s the dilemma: having the all-rounder at seven as insurance or backing four bowlers to do the job like Australia does,” Hudson admitted.

Australia’s march to victory was very much achieved on the back of Mitchell Johnson, however, and the South African batsmen played the other touring bowlers with relative comfort. South Africa don’t have a Johnson and the Australian batsmen have already shown a liking to Peterson, which could leave their attack incredibly vulnerable.

Hudson also admitted that JP Duminy, who successfully blocked out Johnson in the first innings and then fell to an extraordinary catch at short-leg off his bowling in the second innings, would come under discussion.

“JP’s place in the team – we’d need to chat about that and whether the top six are doing what we expect from them. JP hasn’t had great form but he is a quality player and he’s done well against Australia before. There’s no doubt he’s a class player,” Hudson said.

Australia captain Michael Clarke saluted his wrecking-ball fast bowler Mitchell Johnson for his top-class effort in destroying South Africa in the first Test at Centurion over the weekend, but added that he expected the hosts to be a much tougher proposition in the second Test starting in Port Elizabeth on Thursday.

“Everyone who loves cricket around the world knows that Mitchell Johnson is bowling at 150km/h and executing his skills better than anyone else in the game at the moment. It’s an amazing skill to bowl fast, but to also hit the mark like he did is top-class,” Clarke said after the 281-run walloping at SuperSport Park.

“But there’s still a lot of skill left in that South African changeroom and I’m sure they’ll be a tougher proposition when they come out in Port Elizabeth and we’ll have to be at our best again. Against the number one side in the world, away from home, the only way to beat them is to be at your best all day, every day. They are a world-class team, there’s no doubt about it.”

South Africa captain Graeme Smith denied that there would be any mental scarring after the Johnson working-over, but it is certainly going to take a mental shift for the home side to rebound and stay in the series.

“We’ve only lost a cricket match, even though we were beaten comprehensively. There’s still a lot of confidence in our side and we still have reference points, not long ago we put Mitchell Johnson under pressure.

“We need to find a way to curb him. Our game plan and mindsets are good, but the surface really suited him with indifferent bounce. He obviously bowled well, but the pitch played a big role. The key is to make sure our top-order builds big partnerships against him,” Smith said.

Clarke himself admitted that the pitch, on which the bounce became more and more inconsistent, had played a large role in South Africa’s fourth-day capitulation.

“It was quite a nasty wicket to be honest, you’d not like to see any team batting second on that. That’s why I declared after 3.2 overs, which certainly wasn’t the plan. But I saw enough to know the pitch was quite dangerous and we got off as quickly as we could. The conditions had a lot to do with what happened today,” Clarke said after South Africa were bundled out for 200 in 59.4 overs.

Apart from Johnson, who boasted match figures of 12 for 127, the best by a fast bowler against South Africa since readmission, the other noticeable difference between the two sides at Centurion was the amount of intensity Australia showed in everything they did. It comes from the pain they have suffered recently before turning their fortunes around in the Ashes at home.

“I’ve addressed the group several times about attitude and hunger and the response has been outstanding. We keep finding ways to get back into games and we’ve been able to run with momentum when we have it.

“Our batsmen deserve a lot of credit for making runs on quite a tough pitch and Shaun Marsh and Alex Doolan really showed that hunger against the best attack I’ve played against.

“You have to go through tough times to really cherish these moments and we take nothing for granted. We want to get back to number one and we’re showing a large amount of hunger to do it,” Clarke said.

South Africa, number one for so long, have received a huge wake-up call and hopefully their pride has been sufficiently stung for them to produce the massive improvement required in Port Elizabeth to keep the series alive.

“Again we’ve started a series very slowly, but this result will benefit us long-term,” Smith said. “We need to make good leadership decisions and not get caught in the emotion. We deserve every bit of criticism coming our way, but we need to be smart and respond well.”