Ken Borland

Temba Bavuma is recovering well from his dislocated finger and is expected to be in charge of the Proteas team for their T20 series against the West Indies that begins on Saturday, with all-rounder Wiaan Mulder and left-arm quick Beuran Hendricks also called into the squad after being in the Caribbean for the Test series.

Bavuma missed the two Tests in St Lucia after first suffering a hip injury and then dislocating his finger during training ahead of the second Test. But team management released a statement on Thursday saying he is “responding well to his middle finger dislocation rehabilitation and is expected to lead the team in the upcoming T20 series”. Bavuma has been lined up by the Proteas to do the traditional captain’s press conference on Friday on the eve of the game.

Mulder, who impressed with the ball and with some outstanding catching behind the wicket in the Tests, has remained in the West Indies as a replacement for Dwaine Pretorius, who unfortunately had to stay behind in South Africa after testing positive for Covid-19, but is asymptomatic. Swing bowler Hendricks has been added to the squad as extra pace cover.

The absence of Pretorius could be a lifeline for Andile Phehlukwayo, whose rather unkempt bowling of late has seen him concede 9.85 runs-per-over in T20 internationals since the start of last year, while he has also scored just 54 runs off 46 balls in nine innings in the same period of time.

South Africa’s four frontline bowlers are likely to be Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi, with George Linde favoured as a spin-bowling all-rounder. That leaves the Proteas with a choice between playing another all-rounder at number six or another specialist batsman.

Aiden Markram, who has been a clean striker of the ball lately in T20 internationals, can bowl a couple of overs of tidy off-spin, and South Africa do seem a little reliant on David Miller and, to a lesser extent, Linde to clear the boundary in the closing stages.

Having played on seam-friendly pitches with pace and bounce on the island of St Lucia, the Proteas are likely to find themselves back on a more usual Caribbean pitch that offers some turn, but T20 is all about runs so a true surface is expected, albeit a little slower than the Test wickets.

The West Indies will pose a formidable challenge because they are able to call on all their T20 stars such as Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle and Andre Russell.

Proteas T20 Squad – Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, George Linde, Sisanda Magala, Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams.

Proteas all-rounder Wiaan Mulder said on Saturday that his quickfire demolition of the West Indies lower-order on the second day of the second Test at St Lucia was a welcome consolation after all the hard work, without much to show for it, that he has been putting into his batting.

Mulder rounded off another clinical bowling display by South Africa as the West Indies were bundled out for just 149, giving the Proteas a gratifying 149-run first-innings lead. The 23-year-old seamer took three for one in four overs, equalling the best three-wicket haul by a South African in a Test innings, first achieved by fellow Johannesburg-born all-rounder Andrew Hall, against Sri Lanka at the Wanderers in 2002.

While Mulder’s Test bowling stats have now been boosted to 14 wickets in six matches at an average of just 20.07, he has scored only 143 runs in eight innings, averaging 17.87. But he has looked good at the crease, sharing in some important partnerships, but has then been dismissed by some excellent deliveries.

“The batting has been a bit frustrating, I’m working really hard in the nets and I’m spending a lot of time at the crease. But I don’t seem to get many bad balls and on this pitch there’s always a ball with your name on it. I actually had a long chat with Aiden Markram about it and he said I’m doing all the right things and my luck will change.

“It’s funny with the bowling, that was not at all expected. I’ve actually been struggling for rhythm, there was not much movement out there and the West Indies were stabilising, so it was a gamble to bring me on. I think the fast bowlers must have been tired. So I was just trying to land the ball in the right areas,” Mulder said with some modesty considering the couple of jaffas he bowled.

The Proteas team seems to be in a very good space at the moment, with Quinton de Kock leading the way and being all smiles behind the stumps after he added a pugnacious 96 to his unbeaten century in the first Test. Mulder said the health of the team environment at the moment is due to hard work.

“A lot of things are contributing but the biggest thing is that we are training incredibly hard and at a very high intensity. We’ve been hoping it clicks and Mark Boucher [coach] really believes in hard work being the key to consistency and not just putting in lucky performances now and then. So that’s our secret and since Dean Elgar has been captain, there’s been a policy of no hiding, we’re being honest with each other about our performances,” Mulder said.

The incredible fee of around R32 million Rajasthan Royals paid last week for Chris Morris shows just how highly the 33-year-old all-rounder is rated in the Indian Premier League, but it is a level of admiration he has battled to gain in South Africa and Morris said on Thursday that he has had no contact from Proteas management over a role in the national side.

In a World Cup year – the ICC World T20 will be held in India in October/November – that is strange. Not just because he is the most expensive player ever sold at auction in cricket’s premier T20 tournament but also because of his extensive knowledge of conditions in India and the fact that South Africa have battled to fill the matchwinning all-rounder berth in their team.

And Morris has been in outstanding form with the ball for the Titans in the ongoing T20 Challenge, conceding just 67 runs in 14.2 overs, his economy rate of 4.67 being second only to that of Keshav Maharaj. And he has taken five wickets, having figures that compare very favourably with those of Kagiso Rabada.

“I have no answer as to why I’m maybe not rated as highly back at home, it’s a difficult question, but I have had a few good tournaments in the IPL and consistency is a big thing over there. My focus at the moment is 100% on the Titans and then the IPL is coming up, but I would have a conversation with the Proteas if it happens. The thing is no-one has come to speak to me.

“We had many conversations in the past and just after the World Cup [50-overs in England in 2019] I sat down with Ottis Gibson [the then coach] and the decision was made that I should play in the leagues around the world. We agreed I was going to move on and that was a while ago. But the Proteas all-rounder spot has obviously been spoken about for a long time,” Morris said on Thursday.

Morris described the IPL bidding war that resulted in him securing the record fee as a “lottery” and “a very big surprise”. It’s a viewpoint supported by him being passed over for The Hundred in the United Kingdom this week.

“What happened in the IPL auction was a very big surprise. I’m not being funny but I was just happy to get a gig and being back in the IPL is special. The auction is out of our control as players, it’s an absolute lottery and as cricketers we don’t go into it thinking we’re going to get this amount. It’s an emotional rollercoaster. It does add a bit of pressure, but you always need to perform in the IPL.

“All sports is about big money now and cricket is actually a bit behind. These are professional sportsmen who are the best at what they do. But I don’t think anyone thought cricket would get to this level so soon and we are eternally grateful for that. My older team-mates from the start of my career are all working corporate now because cricket could not set you up for life like it does now,” Morris said.

Dwaine Pretorius was obviously the star of the show as South Africa levelled the T20 series against Pakistan on Saturday with the best figures in the history of Proteas T20 cricket, but the all-rounder said the efforts of spin bowlers Tabraiz Shamsi and Jon-Jon Smuts in the middle overs of the innings were as worthy of reward as his incredible return of five for 17.

Pretorius broke the record for best T20 figures for South Africa, previously held by Ryan McLaren, who took five for 19 against the West Indies at North Sound. He bowled the second over of the innings, trapping Pakistan kingpin Babar Azam lbw with his second ball and then returned in the 14^th over of the innings to remove top-scorer Mohammad Rizwan for 51 and claiming three other wickets in the closing stages of the innings.

But before his second spell, wrist-spinner Shamsi bowled brilliantly in the middle overs to take one for 16 in his four overs, while Smuts conceded just 20 runs in his four overs of canny left-arm orthodox.

“That was next-level bowing by Shamo and Jon-Jon and they could easily have taken the wickets instead of me. That’s why I say it was a collective effort by the attack and the two spinners tightened the noose superbly. And Heinrich Klaasen captained the team really well, changing the bowlers around a lot so no-one could get settled on the batting side.

“So the spinners did superbly and the other seamers also executed the plan really well, and I just tried to stick to my plan. Sometimes in T20, the simpler the better and I just tried to keep my plans simple, although I have learnt, especially from bowing coach Charl Langeveldt, that it’s vital that the batsman doesn’t know which ball is coming, you also don’t want the batsman to settle into facing one thing,” Pretorius said after the six-wicket win.

Pretorius also praised the batsmen, especially Reeza Hendricks and Pite van Biljon, who both scored 42 and played the spinners aggressively, showing that even a daunting leg-spinner like Usman Qadir is only human as he faltered under pressure, conceding 43 runs in his four overs.

“The batsmen have actually played a lot of good cricket lately, but then it’s just been one or two overs that we lose really badly. As a batting unit, they’ve tried to focus on making sure that when you hit a bad patch, you don’t lose a cluster of wickets. They’re trying to keep their intensity high and they did that unbelievably well today. It’s about the big moments and we played those better tonight,” Pretorius said.