Ken Borland

Not even the downpours that washed out the entire second day’s play of the first Test between the Proteas and India in Centurion on Monday could put out the fires Cricket South Africa’s selection convenor was fighting as critics continued to lambast the inclusion of Marco Jansen ahead of Duanne Olivier as adulterating the home attack.

But Victor Mpitsang, the convenor of the selection panel, did confirm The Citizen’s report on the first day of the Test that Olivier had been left out due to his bowling workloads not being sufficient to last a five-day match due to a bout of Covid he suffered at the start of the month.

The 21-year-old Jansen was therefore brought into the team for his debut and struggled, along with the rest of the Proteas attack. India, having won the toss and elected to bat, amassed 272/3 led by Lokesh Rahul’s unbeaten 122. The left-arm quick’s first day of international cricket could have been very different though if wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock had taken a sharp catch off Mayank Agarwal in Jansen’s fifth over.

Jansen ended the first day with 0/61 in 17 overs. Lungi Ngidi, another man whose fitness was in question given how little competitive cricket he has played in the last few months, was the only wicket-taker for South Africa with 3/45 in 17 overs.

“Duanne Olivier is healthy and well, but did return a positive Covid-19 test result a number of weeks ago, which forced him to quarantine and took time away from his training ahead of the current Test series against India,” Mpitsang was reported as saying on the second day of the Test.

“His workloads were not where the selection panel would have wanted them to be by the time he entered the team bubble ahead of the first Test.

“He also picked up a hamstring niggle during the two-day inter-squad match at the start of the camp, and the selectors did not want to risk him unnecessarily when there are two more Test matches to think about,” Mpitsang said.

“Marco Jansen was the standout performer with the ball against India A in their recent tour to South Africa and the selectors backed him to take on the senior India team and do well,” Mpitsang added.

“Every player who has been selected for this Proteas team is believed to be capable of representing the national team and giving a performance of the highest level. The absence of one player does not take away from the quality that another brings to the set-up.”

Unfortunately for CSA, the fact that the explanation only came out on the second day of the Test has seen the press exercise their autonomy to react negatively to being kept in the dark.

Conspiracy theories also abounded on social media.

The good news is that Olivier is expected to be fully fit for the second Test at the Wanderers starting on January 3.

Glenton Stuurman is reportedly also carrying a leg niggle.

The last time the Sharks hosted Griquas at Kings Park was at the end of July when their own indifferent finishing saw them lose an extraordinary match 37-27, and coach Sean Everitt has blared out the lessons from that upset all week ahead of their Currie Cup semifinal against the same opposition in Durban on Saturday.

Griquas received five yellow cards in that match and the Sharks were almost always playing with extra men. But they wasted numerous scoring opportunities, rather aimlessly bashing away at close quarters when varying the point of attack would have surely seen the incredibly brave Griquas defence crack open.

Maybe it was because they had just come back from Covid-enforced inactivity and the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal, but all in all, it was probably the Sharks’ most bleh performance of the season.

“A lot of lessons were learnt that day, especially how to deal with the opposition getting yellow cards and how to break down defences on the tryline. And we have built some momentum since then, I think we are a better team now and that result has had a lot to do with it.

“Everyone wants to be in a Currie Cup final, so motivation won’t be an issue and there’ll be no questions over energy. Our lineouts and scrums have also improved since we played Griquas the last time,” Everitt said this week.

In order to get the better of Griquas this time, Everitt said his team are going to have to bring a mixture of their ruthless counter-attacking ability and forward grunt that ensures the Sharks can get some fluency with ball-in-hand.

“Griquas have kicked the most in the competition, mostly through Stefan Ungerer, who is an accomplished scrumhalf, and George Whitehead, an experienced flyhalf. They manage the game well, they strangle and squeeze you and I’m sure they will come here and try and disrupt our style of play. I hope we can match their physicality and the breakdown is a massive area we have worked hard on.

“Our flyhalf [Lionel Cronje] and fullback [Curwin Bosch] need to function well, they complement each other, they’ve produced some really good kicking and they can attack too, especially when we split the flyhalf channel on either side. Hopefully we can get the phases going to be able to do that,” Everitt said.

Since comfortably dispatching the Lions 48-21 at Ellis Park four weeks ago, the Bulls have struggled to put away the other two teams who did not make the Currie Cup semi-finals – the Pumas and the Cheetahs. But Arno Botha, captain for those three matches, says he does not believe his team have lost any momentum ahead of their knockout game against Western Province in Pretoria on Friday night.

The Bulls needed their set-piece prowess to squeeze past an adventurous, passionate Pumas side 33-26 in Nelspruit, and then struggled to an uninspired, messy 39-36 win over the fast-finishing Free State Cheetahs at Loftus Versfeld last weekend.

“I don’t think we have lost any momentum. We need to look at a couple of technical things, we had a few slip-ups, but individuals have put their hands up, myself included, for those. They are small things that are easy to fix, coming from just a momentary lack of effort or concentration. Rugby is never going to be easy every week – we would have lost if we thought that,” Botha said.

“We have a very strong group of leaders who are very relaxed, but we all take responsibility. Being defending champions doesn’t matter, we always want to win every game and our focus is really just on one thing and that’s this weekend’s semifinal. We don’t look too far ahead, but we’re in a good place and looking forward to what’s coming.”

The hero of last year’s Currie Cup final triumph with two tries, Botha has been very much the senior statesman in the pack, which is young and extraordinarily willing. And nothing much damages the confidence of the hugely exciting crop of youngsters currently at Loftus Versfeld.

“When I go back to when I was 21 or 22, we were not where this group of youngsters is now, they are so far in front of where we were back in 2012. They are already comfortable in the system, some of them have played in a Currie Cup final already. You’re no longer young as a rugby player as soon as you lift that trophy and we are all learning so much from each other,” the tough Springbok loose forward said.

Ensuring the Proteas can dominate in spin-friendly conditions and creating an environment of inclusivity within the squad are the two goals that have been occupying captain Temba Bavuma’s mind ahead of the South African cricket team’s departure for Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

The Proteas will play three ODIs and three T20s, all at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Sri Lanka also hosted India for three matches in each white-ball format last month at the same venue and spinners took 23 of the 37 wickets claimed by the home side.

“We had a look at that series to see what we will probably come up against and experience is on our side because a lot of the team have been to Sri Lanka before. We expect conditions to be in their favour, suiting the spinners, and Sri Lanka are a very strong outfit in their own conditions. So it’s going to be tough and our challenge is to be successful in those conditions.

“I definitely have a lot of confidence in our spinners – Tabraiz Shamsi is top of the T20 rankings and flying high on confidence, we know what quality Keshav Maharaj brings and we also have Bjorn Fortuin and George Linde. I believe we can be more than competitive, we can dominate. Our bowling group has been stretched and they adapted, now it’s the batsmen who will be put into a space that tests their skills,” Bavuma said on Monday.

The Proteas confirmed on Monday that paceman Junior Dala and bowling coach Charl Langeveldt are both still quarantining after testing positive for Covid two weeks ago and will not tour Sri Lanka. They have been replaced by Lutho Sipamla and Titans coach Mandla Mashimbyi.

In the four weeks that the Proteas have been home after the Ireland tour, the Social Justice and Nation-Building hearings have dominated the cricket discourse, and Bavuma said the team have kept a keen eye on the revelations and are eager to ensure they do not repeat the mistakes of the past.

“Most of what has been spoken about in the SJN has been thrown around the team with passion. We welcome the initiative, it is necessary and we want to learn from those experiences and mistakes. We’ve had informal conversations and everyone is positive. We have the opportunity to shape our team the way we like, so that down the line no-one can say the same mistakes happened.

“I’d be lying if I said the testimony has not had an impact because some members of the squad have been named. Our coach, Mark Boucher, has addressed us as a team and provided clarity and context, he has kept the guys in his confidence. For me, the biggest take from SJN is to create an environment that allows for a strong sense of belonging and acceptance,” Bavuma said.

The recently-appointed Proteas white-ball captain has been adventurous in pushing his team into potentially uncomfortable places, which must partly be because he feels comfortable in that space.

“The squad in 2021 is very different to what it was like in the early 2000s, guys walk into the team now and feel a lot more comfortable. It was no big struggle for me when I walked in in 2014. I really like to think things are different now and it starts with hard conversations, putting each other in uncomfortable positions to find a better way forward,” Bavuma said.