Ken Borland

The Proteas once again showed little discretion with the bat, losing three wickets in their first session of batting in the third Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.

South Africa were 71 for three in their first innings at tea on the fourth day, Australia having declared on 475 for four after rain washed out the entire third day’s play and Saturday morning’s action.

The Australian attack, having five sessions to take 20 wickets to win the Test and claim a 3-0 sweep of the series, as well as assuring themselves of a place in the World Test Championship final, were bang on target from the outset on Saturday.

It made for a torrid time for the Proteas batsmen, especially opener Dean Elgar. The captain scored 15, but most of those runs were off the edge and he lived a charmed life, notably when he edged Josh Hazlewood to Steven Smith at first slip. Smith was diving forward one-handed, but the similarity to the Marnus Labuschagne/Simon Harmer incident on the first day saw third umpire Richard Kettleborough quite rightly disallow the catch because some part of the ball had touched the ground.

But Hazlewood dismissed Elgar four overs later when the left-hander got into a tangle against a well-directed lifter on leg-stump, gloving a catch to the wicketkeeper.

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon was introduced in the eighth over and he bowled opener Sarel Erwee for 18 in his sixth over, the left-hander making a terrible error of judgement and shouldering arms to a delivery that went straight on to off-stump.

Excellent use of the short ball again by Australia, this time by captain Pat Cummins, saw the departure of Heinrich Klaasen (2) in the next over, gloving a lifter aimed at his armpit through to the wicketkeeper.

South Africa were staggering on 37 for three, but Temba Bavuma and Khaya Zondo quietly went about the business of ensuring they did not give their wickets away.

At the same time they managed to massage the score with the addition of another 34 runs. Bavuma, used to having rescue the team in a crisis, looked especially calm and landed a couple of mighty sixes off the back foot off Lyon as he went to tea on 28 not out.

Proteas batting coach Justin Sammons says a large part of his team’s batting woes this year is due to their lack of experience because they do not play enough red-ball cricket.

While South Africa already play less Test cricket than most teams – a situation which will worsen markedly in the next couple of years – Cricket South Africa have also cut the number of four-day matches the provinces play to just seven per season due to financial constraints.

It means the country’s top batting talent may only play ten first-class innings a season when the effects of the weather and innings victories are thrown into the equation. Senior Proteas have also been conspicuous by their absence in domestic cricket, which weakens both the batting and bowling standard of the competition.

“What’s very important to realise is that there is no substitute for experience and you only gain that from playing,” Sammons said on Friday in Sydney. “The more you play, the more experience you get and the more lessons you learn.

“As a country, we need to look at how we look after the four-day system going forward. With the way the world is going, it’s a tricky balancing act, but we do need to find a way.

“The bottom line is that the players need to play as much cricket as possible. We’ve got to think out of the box, whether that’s the board or the director of cricket.

“But there has to be a way. We can’t just resign ourselves to T20 dominating and not playing enough first-class cricket. I believe the key for us is playing more four-day cricket,” Sammons said.

While the batting coach admitted that the batsmen were suffering from a lack of confidence, one positive has been the form of wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne, who has proven himself to be a tenacious customer. Verreynne was one of only three Proteas batsmen to average more than 30 (32.12) in 2022, the others being Temba Bavuma (40.07) and Keegan Petersen (38.38).

“The growth in Kyle’s game has been tremendous, both technically and obviously mentally,” Sammons said. “The key I think is that he has figured out his own way of playing at his tempo.

“He has stuck to the tempo that allows him to be successful. He will continue to work on that, but he’s clear in terms of his identity as a cricketer, he understands how to go about scoring runs.

“He’s like Dean Elgar, Jacques Kallis or Graeme Smith in that you knew what you would get from them. I think he has that clear identity of who he is as a cricketer, which goes a long way.

“Following the England series, in tough conditions, our batsmen’s confidence was dented a bit. And then the first Test here the conditions really favoured the bowlers and naturally the confidence was hit even more,” Sammons said.

South African spinner Keshav Maharaj expressed his frustrations on Thursday over what he described as “a very tough tour” coming up against a rampant Australian batting line-up.

With Australia roaring to 475 for four at stumps on the second day of the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the Proteas had conceded over a thousand runs and taken just a dozen wickets in their last two innings of bowling. Maharaj caught-and-bowled Steven Smith for 104 for his first wicket of the series in the final Test of the rubber.

“It’s been a really tough tour,” Maharaj admitted. “At the start of this game we expected the pitch to turn a lot more. I think the weather has been a big factor, the pitch getting a bit wet.

“I haven’t changed much, I’m still working hard. Sometimes you just have these ebbs and flows in your career, maybe my body is a bit tired, I don’t know. I wish I was a machine that you could just plug in.

“These are good pitches in Australia and there’s not as much spin as we are used to elsewhere in the world, although there is bounce you can work with. And bowling when you’re behind the eight-ball is tough, with spread fields and in-batsmen.

“It’s about being consistent and I probably haven’t been, I’ve dished up a few, which is something I need to address. It’s probably about keeping the mind fresh rather than bowling more,” Maharaj said.

South Africa’s first-choice spinner said Australia have one of the best batting line-ups in the game and they have been able to dominate thanks to the platform laid up front. David Warner scored a double-century in the second Test in Melbourne, and his opening partner Usman Khawaja was 195 not out at the end of the second day in Sydney.

“Fair play to Australia, their opening batsmen have created a good foundation for them to play freely. But you can’t take anything away from their batsmen, they have very sound, clear plans and they stick to them.

“Usman is a different player against spin than he was here in 2016 and in South Africa in 2018/19, he has played all around the wicket, taking his scoring opportunities and he has very good hands.

“Travis Head is probably one of the best timers of the ball in international cricket and he has played very well, scoring fifties in all three Tests. It comes from the platform set up front, it gives him licence.

“It’s one of the more experienced batting line-ups and the top-order makes sure there is a strong base so the middle-order can play aggressively. The Australian batting line-up is one of the best in the world,” Maharaj said.

The Northerns Titans suffered a shock thrashing at home on Friday when their extraordinary batting collapse and ill-disciplined bowling saw them hammered by eight wickets with 19 overs to spare by the North-West Dragons in their CSA One-Day Cup match at SuperSport Park.

When Dewald Brevis raised his bat and bowed to the changeroom upon reaching a sparkling 76-ball century, his first in List A cricket, it seemed likely that the wunderkind would steer the Titans to 400 with the total already on 168 for three in just the 26^th over.

But just two balls later, Brevis was back in that changeroom for 100, having slapped Kerwin Mungroo to long-on, where lanky Duan Jansen took a fine, low catch running in from the boundary.

Mungroo then produced a fine delivery to bowl Donovan Ferreira through the gate for a duck in the same over, although the Titans’ other key batsman was rather stuck in the crease to a fullish delivery.

From there the Dragons simply blew the rest of the batting line-up, missing Dean Elgar due to happy family reasons, away – an astonishing collapse of seven for 39 in 12 overs saw the Titans bundled out for just 207.

With Brevis in complete command and Matthew Kleinveldt having scored a bright 47 off 41 balls, it was an incredible turnaround. Credit must go to a North-West attack who sniffed the opportunity and rammed home the advantage given to them by Mungroo’s double-strike, but it really was a slack batting display by the Titans.

The 20-year-old Brevis will have learnt a hard lesson about giving one’s wicket away when in control, and how momentum can so easily and disastrously be relinquished.

Having seized the moment with such alacrity in the field, the Dragons then showed no tentativeness with the bat, openers Lesego Senokwane and Meeka-Eel Prince making a fiery start, racing to 50 in the eighth over.

Although the Titans employed the services of eight bowlers, no-one could make an impression or produce the discipline and control required on a pitch that did offer the bowlers something, although it was largely an excellent batting wicket.

Senokwane and Prince marched on to an opening stand of 115 off just 93 balls, a record for North-West, before left-arm spinner Neil Brand eventually made a breakthrough.

Senokwane missed a sweep at a delivery that was probably too full for the stroke, and was given out lbw, although the ball may have pitched just outside leg-stump. The in-form 26-year-old had cruised to 52 off 47 balls, timing the ball sweetly for seven fours and two sixes.

Prince, using his height and power well, went on to a devastating 89 off just 78 balls, crunching 11 fours and three sixes. The former SA U19 player is on a rookie contract in Potchefstroom, and his move from the Western Cape has certainly borne fruit for both player and province. Friday’s runs made him the leading run-scorer in the competition with 280 in five innings, but he was overtaken by team-mate Raynard van Tonder when he saw the Dragons to victory with 32 not out.