Ken Borland

One never needs to blackmail players to go and tour the beautiful Caribbean, but the Proteas’ heads may have just dropped a bit when the schedule for their series in the West Indies starting next month was released on Friday and it revealed that both Test matches will be played on the island of St Lucia.

The tour starts with the two Tests from June 10-14 and June 18-22, and they will both be hosted by the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground at Gros Islet on St Lucia, a venue where South Africa have never managed to win a cricket match.

It was the venue of their infamous 2007 World Cup semi-final when “Brave Cricket” saw them crash to 27 for five against Australia, who cruised to victory by seven wickets with 111 deliveries to spare.

Their other two games at the then Beausejour Stadium in the hilly north-east of the beautiful tropical island were in the 2010 T20 World Cup when the Proteas lost to both India and Pakistan.

They have never played a Test there but the last five-day game at Gros Islet saw a good cricket pitch on which England beat the West Indies by 232 runs, both fast bowlers and spinners doing well as Mark Wood was man of the match with figures of six for 93 and Moeen Ali took seven for 135. The tourists scored 361 for five declared in their second innings.

Contrary to expectations emanating from the Caribbean that Trinidad would be South Africa’s main base for the tour, Grenada will then host the five T20 Internationals between June 26 and July 3 at the National Cricket Stadium at St George’s. The Proteas’ record there is better, winning all three of their ODIs against the West Indies, but being beaten by New Zealand during the 2007 World Cup on a pitch that made batting very difficult with plenty of assistance for the bowlers.

CSA director of cricket Graeme Smith said the change from the big island of Trinidad, that is closer to the South American mainland, to St Lucia and Grenada was for safety reasons in these times of Covid.

“We have been working with the West Indies cricket board weekly and they decided to go to islands that are safer because of Covid, St Lucia and Grenada have had less cases than other venues,” Smith told Saturday Citizen.

South Africa have not played a Test in the West Indies since June 2010, when Smith himself captained them to a 2-0 series win.

South Africa tour to West Indies fixtures:

There were many blemishes in the Proteas finishing game with both bat and ball in the first T20 against Pakistan at the Wanderers on Saturday, with captain Heinrich Klaasen admitting one of the black marks goes against his name for getting out when he did when South Africa were batting.

Klaasen scored an explosive 50 off 28 balls, producing some great six-hitting, but he was caught at short fine leg trying to scoop Hasan Ali, with the Proteas on 159 for three after 16.2 overs. They ended on 188 for six, a decent total but well short of what looked likely when they already had 151 on the board after 15 overs.

Pakistan won the match by four wickets with a ball to spare as South Africa again failed to execute their skills in the last five overs, conceding 60 runs, as well as missing a couple of catches. Opener Mohammad Rizwan steered the visitors home with his clinical 74 not out off 50 balls.

“We were in a very good position to take the game away from Pakistan, but unfortunately I got out at a bad time. The job of the set batsman is to go deep but unfortunately I couldn’t do that. It was not all bad execution in the end stages, just one or two overs and we had a bit of bad luck too. But we still need to fine-tune that area of our game.

“We may be forced to experiment with players, but the game plan is set and we need to do that going forward to the World Cup. Now we just need to execute it and fine-tune it. Things like the angles we bowled to Rizwan, we need to stay out of his hitting zone, he scored a lot on the leg side. Sisanda Magala and Lizaad Williams are probably our two best yorker bowlers so we needed to stick to that plan,” Klaasen said after the match.

One positive from the match was Aiden Markram reaching a white-ball international half-century for the first time since March 2019. The elegant opener top-scored for the Proteas with 51 and he did not eat up too many balls getting there either – he only needed 32 deliveries.

“I’m really happy for Aiden, he’s fought hard to get back in the white-ball sides and today he really made a statement, he showed that he can play in this format. In the ODIs he just needs to not get out when he is set, but today’s knock was a big step in the right direction,” Klaasen said.

South Africa looked like they were cleaning up in their T20 match against Pakistan at the Wanderers on Saturday with all the efficiency of a chamois cloth, but in the last five overs of both innings they were about as effective as a cheap calico cloth.

Not only did the Proteas batsmen only score 37 runs in the last five overs of their innings to go from a commanding 151 for three to a decent but far from impregnable 188 for six, but they then allowed Pakistan to go from 132 for three after 15 overs to winning by four wickets with a ball to spare.

It was wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi who had given the Proteas a strong position in the field with another brilliant spell of bowling, the world’s number one T20 bowler taking two for 29 in his four overs.

But in the last five overs there were several full tosses hit to the boundary and Pakistan went into the 20^th over needing 11 to win the first match of the series. Debutant Lizaad Williams actually bowled a decent over, the only boundary he conceded being an edge to third man, but there were two catches missed and the match came to a suitably farcical ending when the winning run came via a throw hitting the stumps and deflecting away.

Opener Mohammad Rizwan was the star of the show, scoring 74 not out off 50 balls, yet another clinical, remorseless innings by the wicketkeeper/batsman. Faheem Ashraf played a key role in the closing stages with his 30 off just 14 balls. Hasan Ali then helped finish the job with nine not out off three deliveries.

Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen were the busy bees at the wicket for South Africa, their half-centuries leading the way.

The pair added 61 for the third wicket, off 33 balls, putting the Proteas in a powerful position. Markram, a late addition to the T20 squad, looked extremely comfortable in his role opening the batting, scoring 51 off 32 deliveries.

Once he was dismissed, wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan taking a fine catch off left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz, Klaasen continued with his big hitting, collecting four sixes before he was caught at short fine leg trying to paddle Hasan.

The captain’s departure led to the buzz being lost as well, the rest of the innings rather fizzling out as Pakistan’s bowlers did exceptionally well, targeting the blockhole.

Pite van Biljon made 34 off 24 balls and the other main contributor to the innings was opener Janneman Malan, who scored a bright 24 off 16 deliveries, including a magnificent straight six off left-arm quick Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Debutant Wihan Lubbe hit his first ball in international cricket for four, but was deceived by a slower delivery from Hasan and caught at a wide deep mid-off two balls later.

Hasan, with two for 28, and Nawaz, who took two for 21, were the standout bowlers for Pakistan.

Only a run-out prevented spinners Senuran Muthusamy and Prenelan Subrayen from the unprecedented feat of both finishing the match with 10-wicket hauls as the Dolphins won the 4-Day Domestic Series final in extraordinary fashion at Kingsmead on Monday, beating the Titans by an innings and 76 runs.

The Titans were bowled out for 166 towards the end of the extended morning session on Monday, a vast improvement on their miserable 53 all out in the first innings, but still nowhere near enough to prevent the Dolphins from claiming the title outright.

Slow left-armer Muthusamy was the second-innings destroyer, taking six for 79 in 28.2 overs, giving him match figures of nine for 91. Off-spinner Subrayen claimed four for 56 in 38 overs, giving him 10 for 80 in the match.

It is the first time in South African first-class history that two bowlers from the same side have taken 19 wickets in a match. The other Titans wicket fell to a run out.

With almost the entire first two days of play being lost to the weather, it seemed something miraculous would have to occur for an outright result to be achieved.

The Dolphins had that magic in their kitbags though, their two magnificent spinners being accurate and relentless, backed by superb fielding, led by wicketkeeper Mangaliso Mosehle, Keegan Petersen’s catching up close and Ruan de Swardt in the ring.

The Titans batsmen just did not have the skill and intent available to them to break the stranglehold, although Rivaldo Moonsamy showed good fight on Monday as he scored 41 in two hours at the crease.

The Dolphins have been the dominant team in the domestic season, claiming two (one shared) of the three trophies available to them and reaching the T20 final.