Ken Borland

Having last week given the impression he believed it was only a matter of time before the middle-order clicks, Proteas captain Dean Elgar now seems to have lost patience and said changes were going to happen for the third and decisive Test against England starting at The Oval on September 8.

South Africa will be forced to make at least one change to the batting line-up, with Rassie van der Dussen returning home with a fractured left index finger.

Van der Dussen’s place has been under pressure as he has now gone 13 innings without a Test half-century, although his 41 in the second innings at Old Trafford, spending nearly three hours at the crease when his finger was obviously causing him pain, was a substantial effort. It probably would have saved him, but ironically he now cannot play.

Aiden Markram is still very much in the firing line, having gone 15 innings without reaching fifty. His only chance of survival would seem to be if the Proteas management decide it would be too risky bringing two inexperienced players into the middle-order for the series-decider.

Van der Dussen is likely to be replaced by Ryan Rickelton, who has played two Tests against Bangladesh at home, or Khaya Zondo, whose only Test cap came as a concussion substitute on the final morning of the Gqeberha Test against Bangladesh, and he did not bat.

“There are a few tough decisions coming our way,” Elgar said after the Proteas’ innings defeat in Manchester. “Obviously we have to replace Rassie, so that’s a definite change.

“But whether that’s the only change, we’ll have to see, we’ve got a few days to get ourselves a better combination. The bottom line is that we need runs from the middle-order and they have let us down quite a bit. The guys know it already.”

Markram’s cause is not helped by both his dismissals at Old Trafford making him look like a clot: In the first innings he fell crucially just before lunch, skying a pull at a Ben Stokes long-hop outside off-stump; in the second innings he got a nick to an ambitious drive on the up, outside off-stump, against Stuart Broad.

Kagiso Rabada, the top-scorer in a miserable Proteas total of 151, backed both the decision to bat first and the rest of the South African batting line-up to come good despite seven of them shuffling back down the aisle to the changeroom with just 92 runs on the board before he had to come to the crease on the first day of the second Test against England at Old Trafford.

Rabada scored a determined 36 to ensure the Proteas did not make some dreaded history on Thursday for beating their lowest ever completed innings in Manchester: the 130 they made back in 1929 when England beat them by an innings thanks to leg-spinner Tich Freeman’s career-best 12 wickets and centuries by Bob Wyatt and Frank Woolley.

Rabada then produced a top-class delivery, a back-of-a-length ball zipping and bouncing at the key England batsman, Joe Root, to find the edge of the bat and Sarel Erwee completing a juggling catch at first slip.

“We played two spinners for a reason and generally if you’re playing two spinners then you need to bat first. The pitch is getting drier and it’s quite slow.

“Simon Harmer is already in the game with his second ball ragging quite a bit. So I’ll say it is the right decision to bat first. We know the batting unit have quality but it is a young one as well.

“So it’s about gaining experience, but our batsmen know what they have to do, they don’t get out on purpose. They know what went wrong and as a team we back each and every player.

“Individuals take responsibility and I know they are all trying their utmost best. I’ll not be pointing fingers because that is just energy-sapping,” Rabada said.

Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad shared six wickets as they bowled with wonderful skill and nous to exploit the overcast conditions and a pitch that provided plenty of seam movement.

Rabada was asked about Anderson in the press conference at the end of the day’s play and he praised the paceman who is 40 years old and playing in his 174^th Test.

“Jimmy has had a remarkable career, particularly in Test cricket. He is still getting wickets and he is a legend of the game. He’s a phenomenal bowler, he showed that again today,” Rabada said.

“Only playing Tests has helped his longevity, but England play quite a few Tests every year. I guess I will need to have a beer with him at the end of the tour and ask him how he does it.”

Anderson has 661 wickets now halfway through his 174^th Test, a rate of 3.80 wickets per match. Rabada has 251 wickets in his 54^th Test, striking at 4.71 dismissals per game.

South Africa’s spearhead will need 140 Tests at this rate to post the same figures as Anderson, so 86 more. But given that the Proteas play so few Tests in comparison to England and are slated to play even less over the next few years, Rabada will need to keep playing until he is about 42 and show the same sort of longevity to overtake the numbers England’s leading wicket-taker is churning out.

DULLSTROOM, Mpumalanga – When Tandi McCallum tore through the front nine at Highland Gate Golf and Trout Estate on her way to a seven-point victory in the Sunshine Ladies Tour section of the Vodacom Origins of Golf ProAm, one could not help but cast one’s mind back to the evening before the first round and her comments as she spoke about how sports performance coach and mental wellness therapist Joanne Mountford has helped her regain peak form.

Mountford, who has been working with the South African women’s hockey team for their World Cup and Commonwealth Games campaigns, is also the Sunshine Ladies Tour’s coach and therapist for the player wellness programme sponsored by BetWay. Because Vodacom firmly believe that Health is Wealth, Mountford was invited as the keynote speaker for the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series ProAm at Highland Gate.

McCallum was on hand to back up Mountford’s methods, and her ProAm victory in the Dullstroom mountains was her third in a row, testament to the success of the player wellness programme.

“It’s crucial to understand what makes you tick, and Jo’s programme makes it very apparent what functions best in your game. If you’re always working on what you’re not good at, then you kind of end up chasing your tail,” McCallum said.

“It’s about consistency and how I manage myself and what I’m good at. It’s about keeping on track and staying in the flow with myself. She has given me techniques I can tap into that lead to better results.

“It had been a while since I had won and I felt like a bridesmaid for three years, getting into contention several times but then just not pushing through. You always find that there are one or two shots down the stretch that make the difference.

“As golfers, we know the value of each and every shot, but you also don’t want to put yourself under pressure. So when your thoughts start running away with you, that’s when I use Jo’s breathing techniques,” McCallum said.

As all golfers know, it can be the most frustrating of hobbies for those who play it socially, but imagine the pressures when it is your livelihood.

“It’s actually very difficult to just play one shot at a time, you can’t help but think about how winning might change your life, extend your playing privileges, get you into certain tournaments etc,” McCallum said.

“So it’s about staying in control of your thoughts and emotions for 18 holes. When I won again, I was leading by three and I was thinking ‘it’s great to be here’, but I was very nervous.

“You need reassurance that what you are doing is working and something as simple as controlling your breathing can get you over the line,” McCallum said before putting it all into practice and sweeping to another victory.

“I try and give the golfers actionable goals so they can stay focused in the moment,” Mountford explained. “I try and help them get rid of anything that hinders, like even perfectionism, which can be great, especially in a golf swing, but there can be a point where you need to let go, otherwise the mind can be very destructive.

“Pressure leads to anxiety, which feeds your sympathetic nervous system which activates fight or flight. So I work with their breathing so they activate their parasympathetic nervous system, which brings their heart and breathing rates down,” Mountford said.

South Africa rushed to victory by an innings and 12 runs as their combination of brilliant fast bowling and the beguiling spin of Keshav Maharaj saw England bundled out for 149, 20 minutes before tea on the third day at Lord’s on Friday.

England began their second innings an hour before lunch, trailing by 161 runs, and a brutal wake-up call for Brendon McCullum’s team was completed in 37.4 overs.

The innings will be remembered for the blistering fast bowling of Anrich Nortje, who ripped through the middle-order with three wickets in two overs. The quick-scoring Jonny Bairstow was a key dismissal, caught behind for 18, edging a beautiful delivery that was angled in and nipped away just outside off-stump.

Nortje then had dogged opener Alex Lees (35 off 83 balls) and Ben Foakes also caught by tidy wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne in his next over.

But it was Maharaj who began the rout with two wickets before lunch.

Captain Dean Elgar’s decision to bring the spinner into the attack after just seven overs, even though new-ball bowlers Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada looked likely to take a wicket imminently, will be considered a masterstroke as Maharaj trapped both Zak Crawley (13) and Ollie Pope (5) lbw.

Ngidi has bowled beautifully in this Test match with scant reward, but he will be delighted that his one wicket was a major one as he had Joe Root caught in the slips for just 6. It will be a long time since Root has managed just 14 runs in a Test.

Rabada returned to claim the wickets of Stuart Broad (35) and Ben Stokes (20) and Marco Jansen wrapped up the thumping win with a couple of wickets as well.

But it was Nortje who most rattled England with some of the fastest bowling seen in the UK for many years. It must be remembered too how well he batted on Friday morning, scoring 28 not out, a fighting innings that saw him unleash some memorable strokes.

The lower-order produced crucial runs to bump up South Africa’s lead after Stokes had inspired a collapse to 210 for six on the second evening. But Jansen and Maharaj (41) turned the momentum by adding 72 runs in 12-and-a-half overs and Jansen, with Nortje’s help, scored a career-best 48 to lift the Proteas to 326 all out.