Ken Borland

With South Africa’s automatic World Cup qualification in doubt and with them not having played an ODI in India for an astonishing seven years, there are many questions surrounding the Proteas as they go into the first ODI against the hosts in Lucknow on Thursday.

But at least they will be going into the series with several in-form batsmen, with confidence high from the T20 series. David Miller, Quinton de Kock and Aiden Markram all looked in prime form by the end of that series, while Temba Bavuma returns to 50-over action having missed the series in England due to injury. He will welcome the less frenetic tempo and his form has been decent in this format, averaging 36.75 in his last 10 innings, including a brilliant 110 against India in Paarl in January.

Bavuma is also likely to bat at three given the return of Janneman Malan to continue his successful opening partnership with De Kock. Although his form has dropped a bit of late since his sensational debut in 2020, Malan still averages 52.70 at a strike-rate of 85 in his 20 ODIs.

Heinrich Klaasen is another who did not feature in the T20s but should play tomorrow given that there is no Tristan Stubbs in the squad.

Malan pointed to be there being more time and less pressure for the South African batsmen in the ODIs.

“As an opener, I’ve definitely experienced, a couple of times, not being in form or not having a lot of matches under your belt. There can be a lot of pressure when that happens in T20, because it is quick-moving and you have the pressure of the run-rate,” Malan said on Wednesday.

“You feel like you have to make a move, but ODIs are easier, you can take your time a bit to get in.

“We’re all just showing Temba some love because he’s in a bit of a patch at the moment. But that can change quickly and he has a chance now to find some form before the World Cup.

“We’re all pulling for him because he’s a good leader and very valuable in our space,” Malan said.

The last ODI series South Africa were scheduled to play in India was in March 2020. The first match was washed out without a ball being bowled in Dharamsala, and then the terrible Covid pandemic struck and the next two games were cancelled. Their previous ODI series in India was in October 2015, when they won the series 3-2. They scored 438 for four in the decider in Mumbai, De Kock, Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers all scoring centuries, and they then bowled the hosts out for 224.

The Proteas’ record in ODIs in India is far from awful – they have won 13 and lost 15.

Keshav Maharaj has been one of the consistently brilliant performers for the Proteas this year and also took to the stand-in captaincy with aplomb, but he admitted that he and his fellow leaders in the squad will be restless sleepers when it comes to automatic qualification for the next ODI World Cup following their series loss in Sri Lanka.

South Africa were beaten by 78 runs in the third and decisive ODI on Tuesday night, meaning they took just 10 points out of a possible 30 from the series. That leaves them languishing in ninth place in the standings, with the top eight qualifying automatically for the World Cup in India in 2023. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have leapfrogged the Proteas into fifth place, eight points ahead of them.

“It is a bit concerning, we have to start winning series and taking care of those points. The first two games were very good in terms of how the batting approached playing spin-bowling, we scored a lot of runs. But tonight was disappointing and we need to reassess how we bat when the ball is turning a bit more. There was more turn and bounce today, but Sri Lanka bowled really well though.

“Maybe we need to change our mental strategy and approach, but I’m sure it’s not a lack of skills because the batsmen have worked very hard on that. But also maybe we focused a bit too much on spin tonight and were caught a bit unawares by their pace bowler [Dushmantha Chameera]. Not many teams lose four wickets in the powerplay and still win, even though I thought 203 was a fair score to chase,” Maharaj said after the Proteas were bundled out in only 30 overs for just 125.

Coach Mark Boucher admitted to struggling to get the right team balance on the night, with the two seam-bowling all-rounders, Wiaan Mulder and Andile Phehlukwayo, bowling just two overs between them and scoring a combined tally of only 19 runs. But a fair arbitrator would surely also point to the difficulties caused by quotas when it comes to balancing a team, especially with two Black African stars not available in Temba Bavuma and Lungi Ngidi.

And the first question Boucher was asked in the post-match press conference was whether he was happy with the balance of the side from a transformation perspective. To which he simply answered “Yes”.

“We needed to play an extra spinner and that threw us a bit. But with the rain, Anrich Nortje would have been a handful on that pitch as well. We wanted three seamers too and the batting is full of guys who have been in good form too. In hindsight, an extra batsman today would have been nice, but losing four wickets in the first 10 overs means we were always going to be under pressure no matter how deep our batting,” Boucher later explained.

Dolphins spin twins Keshav Maharaj and Prenelan Subrayen destroyed the Imperial Lions, bowling them out for just 110 and clinching a bonus point win that will assure the KZN team of first place on the log and an automatic place in Sunday’s final.

The Lions were chasing 152 for victory, a challenging target on a pitch that was getting slower and slower. But they would never have expected to gift the Dolphins a crucial bonus point and a place in the final as they were bowled out in the last over.

The Lions can only draw level with the Dolphins on the log if they beat the Cape Cobras with a bonus point on Friday, and then the result between the two teams takes preference over run-rate.

Spinners Maharaj and Subrayen opened the bowling and immediately exerted pressure. They returned in the middle overs and had combined figures of four for 28 in their eight overs. Orthodox left-armer Maharaj only conceded 10 runs in his four overs and off-spinner Subrayen took three for 18.

Rassie van der Dussen was the only batsman to briefly break free from the stranglehold, scoring 33 off 29 balls before holing out to a Subrayen delivery that held up in the pitch and turned.

Kagiso Rabada (15) and Aaron Phangiso (16) hit the ball cleanly as they tried to prevent the Dolphins getting the bonus point in a ninth-wicket stand of 27, the biggest partnership of the innings, but they fell 11 runs short.

Seamers Robbie Frylinck and Ottneil Baartman provided excellent support to the spinners as they both took two for 26.

The Lions bowlers were able to continue their impressive form in the competition, restricting the Dolphins to 91 for four in the 15th over, with opener Keegan Petersen scoring a run-a-ball 35.

But the evergreen David Miller was still at the crease and he batted through to the end, belting 56 not out off just 38 balls with some great death batting that took the Dolphins to 151 for four.

Mangaliso Mosehle (18*) shared a vital unbroken partnership of 60 off 37 deliveries with the Proteas star, who showed again that he is one of the best T20 batsmen in the country.

Fast bowlers Rabada (4-0-25-1) and Beuran Hendricks (4-0-22-0) were the best of the Lions bowlers.

Detail for the log

The Dolphins have automatically qualified for the final on Sunday.

The teams that finish second and third on the log will play each other in the playoff on Saturday to decide who the Dolphins’ opposition will be.

If the Titans beat the Dolphins on Friday they will qualify for the playoff. But if they lose, then the Cape Cobras can qualify, depending on the outcome of Thursday’s match between the Knights and Warriors, if they win with a bonus point against the Lions, who are guaranteed second place.