Ken Borland

Temba Bavuma’s outstanding leadership – sensitive to the unity of the team but also decisive and intuitive – at the T20 World Cup has shown that he is the man to lead the Proteas in the next edition of the tournament which will be held in less than a year’s time in Australia.

To have such a strong, inspirational captain is a massive positive for South African cricket, and Bavuma also batted with trademark tenacity in tough conditions, averaging 30 for the tournament. He will want to work on his strike-rate of 108, but that was higher than Quinton de Kock’s!

The T20 World Cup in Australia should be a high-scoring affair and South Africa’s batting will need to become more attacking. Knowing Bavuma, whose overall strike-rate in T20s is 125, he will be working very hard on that aspect of his game in the interim.

But with the huge strides made by Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen, plus the continued reliability of David Miller as a finisher, Bavuma is likely to need to move up the order and open the batting with Quinton de Kock, who remains South Africa’s most dangerous T20 batsman.

But the way Markram has transformed into a boundary-clearing finisher, as well as still being able to play the building and changing gears role like Van der Dussen has done so well, is another huge positive for the Proteas.

South Africa’s bowling attack continued to perform as an outstanding unit in the UAE. They have a variety of skills to cover a pretty catholic range of conditions.

Anrich Nortje, who tormented batsmen with both his sheer pace and great control, and Kagiso Rabada are a fearsome pair of fast bowlers, with Lungi Ngidi waiting in the wings.

South Africa’s spin-bowling strength, led by Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj, has been the defining force of their great run in T20 cricket – their win over No.1 side England means they have won 13 of their last 15 matches.

Dwaine Pretorius, who took nine wickets and conceded just 6.88 runs-per-over bowling mostly at the death, has shown he is a cool and wily cat, and Wiaan Mulder is waiting in the wings with a package of all-round skills that might just be better suited to Australian conditions.

In terms of depth, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks and Heinrich Klaasen were also part of the squad in the UAE and they have all shown the ability to shine at international level. Add George Linde and Andile Phehlukwayo to that list and it is clear there is quality back-up in most positions.

Of course coach Mark Boucher would love some more players to put in consistently dominant performances at domestic level to add to that depth.

But there are a whole lot of reasons to feel hopeful about the future of this Proteas team and fans should be licking their lips in anticipation of their further development.

South Africa were left to brood over their poor batting in their opening game against Australia as they beat previously unbeaten England by 10 runs but were knocked out of the T20 World Cup in Sharjah on Saturday night on nett run-rate.

Losing an important toss and being sent in to bat first, South Africa’s batsmen produced a superb display, their best of the tournament, to hammer 189/2 in their 20 overs.

It means they had to restrict England to less than 131 in order to qualify for the semi-finals in front of Australia, who had earlier cruised past the West Indies by eight wickets with 22 balls to spare. Although they failed to do that, they showed impressive calm in the closing overs to limit England to 179/8.

England’s powerhouse batting line-up kept a cracking pace throughout and were not helped by Jason Roy having to retire hurt on 20.

Under pressure, where the Proteas did not err however was in still picking up wickets. Anrich Nortje bowled well and removed dangerman Jos Buttler for 26 off 15 balls, before Tabraiz Shamsi (4-0-24-2) struck two big blows by dismissing Moeen Ali (37), the ball after being hit for a huge six, and trapping Jonny Bairstow lbw for 1.

Dawid Malan (33 off 26) and Liam Livingstone (28 off 17) kept England very much in the hunt, but both were winkled out by Dwaine Pretorius.

England needed 14 off the last over and Kagiso Rabada had to bowl it, having travelled for 45 runs in his three overs up till then.

It’s not as if Rabada strew the ball all over the place, but rather that he bowled entirely the wrong length on a pitch with low bounce – instead of hitting the deck hard back-of-a-length, he bowled far too full and was belted for five fours and three sixes. For a bowler of his experience and skill, it was baffling and infuriating.

But pulling his length back and using variations in pace worked an absolute treat for him in the final over, as he took a hat-trick, Chris Woakes (7), Eoin Morgan (17) and Chris Jordan (0) all falling to catches in the deep. The villain turned match-winner.

The Proteas can take enormous heart from their batting display against such a strong bowling attack, especially considering how much the batting has improved in the last year.

Quinton de Kock again gave a tantalising glimpse of his abilities as he scored 34 off 27 balls before holing out at long-on off leg-spinner Adil Rashid.

He had given South Africa a solid platform though, departing on 86/2 in the 12^th over.

Rassie van der Dussen showed how effectively he can change gears, both helping to set up the innings and then accelerating brilliantly at the death as he struck a marvellous 94 not out off 60 balls.

Aiden Markram showed he can be a highly-effective finisher as he lashed 52 not out off just 25 deliveries, including four sixes. His fiery strokeplay means he now has two of the five fastest half-centuries in the tournament.

Van der Dussen and Markram added 103 for the third wicket in just 8.4 overs and South Africa’s top-order can certainly feel they did more than what was expected, setting up an impressive victory and ensuring the Proteas depart the tournament on a high.

“We did not bat according to plan but we threw everything into it in the field,” Proteas captain Temba Bavuma said after South Africa began their T20 World Cup campaign in disappointing fashion with a five-wicket loss to Australia in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

The comment about the batting is an understatement after the Proteas could only muster together 118 for nine in their 20 overs. As bad as their batting was, they certainly gave it their all with the ball and in the field as they made Australia sweat, the target only being chased down with two balls to spare.

Going into the last four overs, it even looked possible for South Africa to snatch victory at the death as Australia, having just lost two wickets in four balls, had two new batsmen at the crease, needing 36 runs off 24 balls to win.

But those batsmen were Marcus Stoinis (24* off 15) and Matthew Wade (15* off 10) and they fought hard to deny the Proteas with their unbroken stand of 40 off 29 balls.

“It was quite tough in the second half of the game knowing we only posted 118,” Bavuma said. “So I just asked the bowlers to stick with the plan and execute as well as they can, and for the fielders to throw everything into it.

“We wanted to try and build some pressure and I felt we did that. We spoke about being resilient and it was a great effort for the majority of the Australia innings.

“We did not bat according to plan and there’s a lot us batsmen need to improve. The bowlers did quite well, although at the end it was a bit frantic and maybe that’s something we can talk about.

“The fielding was good, barring one or two incidents. But we will obviously be looking to improve by a couple of percentage points in all departments,” Bavuma said.

If there has been one area of the game where South Africa have disappointed in recent times, it would be the batting, and they are relying on better starts from Quinton de Kock and Bavuma so the middle-order are able to come in and dominate.

The Proteas are now in a group with both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, who although they had to qualify, are now in groove and playing in conditions that suit them. South Africa play the West Indies next in Dubai on Tuesday and they are going to need their batsmen to stand up quickly, because another defeat would probably mean the end of their challenge.

“Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are two subcontinent teams playing in their own conditions, so that makes the group a lot tougher. We know now that every game we are going to have to bring our best cricket,” Bavuma admitted.

The Proteas have been swearing blind that they will give their all in the T20 World Cup and they certainly did in the field after their batting failed, but it was still not enough to deny Australia victory in the opening match in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Having posted just 118 for nine with the bat, South Africa made Australia sweat as they reached their target with five wickets down and only two balls remaining.

Anrich Nortje, save for a short penultimate delivery that Marcus Stoinis swatted away for a crucial boundary in the 19^th over, was outstanding as he took two for 21 in his four overs.

The four other South African bowlers all backed him superbly, but Marcus Stoinis (24* off 16) and Matthew Wade (15* off 10) added 40 off 29 deliveries to see Australia home and fend off a wobble when they lost two wickets for one run in the 15^th and 16^th overs.

Steven Smith top-scored for Australia with 35 off 34 balls before he fell to a wonderful running boundary catch by Aiden Markram off Nortje.

South Africa were sent in to bat and Temba Bavuma made a great start by driving Mitchell Starc through the covers for two boundaries in the first over.

But Bavuma then hung back in his crease to off-spinner Glenn Maxwell in the second over and was bowled for 12 and Josh Hazlewood (4-1-19-2) then struck two major blows by having Rassie van der Dussen caught behind with his first ball and then bowling Quinton de Kock in his next over.

De Kock made just seven and tried to paddle the paceman fine, but edged the ball on to his thigh pad and then it bounced on to his stumps, with the batsman unaware where it was and unable to knock it away.

From 23 for three, the Proteas were indebted to Markram for his 40 off 36 balls, putting away boundary chances with ease, that gave them an almost defendable total.

Heinrich Klaasen (13) and David Miller (16) hung around for a bit, and Kagiso Rabada landed a couple of good blows at the death in his 19 not out.

But with Pat Cummins (4-0-17-1) and leg-spinner Adam Zampa (4-0-21-2) both excelling, there was no let-up in the pressure on the Proteas.