Ken Borland

Brace yourself Pommies! The Proteas began their tour of England with an emphatic all-round performance as they beat the world champions by 62 runs in the first ODI at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday, a powerful batting display being backed by a dominant showing by the spinners and some skilful, impressive fast bowling.

South Africa had won the toss and elected to bat first in a heatwave that had the ground authorities put precautionary measures in place for spectators and extra drinks breaks allotted for the players.

A sensible start by Janneman Malan and Quinton de Kock (19) saw the Proteas reach 35 in the first six-and-a-half overs, after which Rassie van der Dussen came in and produced one of his greatest innings.

The 33-year-old got going from the outset of his innings, but seemingly without extending himself too greatly as he cruised to his half-century off just 45 balls.

Malan went to a composed half-century himself, but then struggled a bit with his pacing in the middle overs, ending with 57 off 77 balls.

Aiden Markram backed himself and was attacking from the start, but struggled to get the right tempo to his innings as he perhaps went a bit too hard at the ball early on. But as soon as he went back to his natural classy game he flourished, smashing 77 off 61 balls as he and Van der Dussen added 151 for the third wicket off just 123 balls.

Van der Dussen went to the most unflustered of centuries, needing just 90 balls to do it, as he pushed himself hard in the sweltering heat, placing the ball brilliantly, and running hard because he only hit nine fours as he posted a career-best 134 off 117 balls.

Both he and Markram fell in the 46^th over bowled by Liam Livingstone, which left new batsmen in David Miller (24* off 14) and Heinrich Klaasen (12) to bat out the last four overs, and they got South Africa to 333/5 when 350 was probably on the cards.

The Proteas might have been a little concerned at the break, but their attack did superbly.

Although England openers Jason Roy (43) and Jonny Bairstow (63) added 102 for the first wicket, they were limited to just 47 in the powerplay as Lungi Ngidi and captain Keshav Maharaj were excellent up front.

South Africa suffered a blow when seamer Andile Phehlukwayo collided with Maharaj in the field and left the field for stitches after bowling just three overs. It meant Markram had to come into the attack but far from leaving the attack deficient, it only strengthened the Proteas’ hand. Markram (4-0-25-2) claimed the key wickets of Bairstow (63) and Ben Stokes (5) in his last ODI, both lbw as they missed sweeps.

Fellow spinners Maharaj (10-1-42-1) and Tabraiz Shamsi (9-0-53-2) then strangled the middle-order, but Joe Root kept England’s hopes alive with a sweetly-struck 86 off 76 balls.

But fast bowler Anrich Nortje (8.5-0-53-4) bowled Root and claimed two other wickets in the 45^th over to seal the impressive victory as England were bowled out for 271 in the 47^th over.

The counter-attacking pace of the Sharks team proved to be their pivotal weapon as wing Thaakir Abrahams scored a hat-trick, fullback Anthony Volmink a brace and both their scrumhalves caused huge problems as they demolished the rudderless Lions 56-14 in their Currie Cup match at Ellis Park on Saturday.

It took the Lions an hour to get on the scoreboard, by which time the Sharks had already gathered the try-scoring bonus point and a 35-0 lead. Flank Emmanuel Tshituka forcing his way over from close range came after the Lions had wasted half-a-dozen other opportunities five metres from the tryline. Their ill-discipline and lack of technique at the breakdown cost them dearly.

The Sharks themselves took 19 minutes to post their first points, mostly because they were buckled in the first three scrums by the Lions. But the home team failed to turn the attacking chances provided by those penalties into any points.

Instead, it was the Sharks who grabbed the first try, scrumhalf Grant Williams making the first of many breaks and centre Marius Louw then running a fine angle against the grain to score. It was one-way traffic thereafter.

Abrahams cruised over for his first try in the 23^rd minute after a phenomenal back-flip pass across the field by flyhalf Lionel Cronje, and eighthman Phepsi Buthelezi and Volmink dotted down too as the Sharks grabbed the bonus point before halftime.

Five minutes into the second half, after the Lions maul had won a couple of penalties, Tshituka was ruled to have been short of the tryline, which Gauteng supporters may well have a bit of a tiff with the official about, especially since the Sharks went from their own line all the way to score on the same phase. Louw grabbed the ball at the ruck and broke straight downfield, loose forwards Jeandre Labuschagne and Buthelezi supporting the breakaway before Volmink then fed Abrahams, who beat the defence with a beautiful inside-and-out to score his second try.

Tshituka was eventually the next player to score, but the Sharks continued to fill their boots as replacement scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba showed great pace too to score from 45 metres out and Abrahams and Volmink both scored again to complete the rout.

The Lions could use the fatigue caused by playing five matches in 15 days as an excuse for their failure to cope with the tempo of the game, but in terms of skills and technique, they look ill-equipped to handle their next venture, which will be the daunting United Rugby Championship in Europe.

Scorers
Sharks: Tries – Marius Louw, Thaakir Abrahams (3), Phepsi Buthelezi, Anthony Volmink (2), Sanele Nohamba. Conversions – Lionel Cronje (5), Boeta Chamberlain (3).
Lions: Tries – Emmanuel Tshituka, Jaco Visagie. Conversions – Jordan Hendrikse (2).

Sharks coach Sean Everitt praised replacement wing Sbu Nkosi for his performance against the Pumas in their Currie Cup match in Durban on Friday night, saying his brace of tries were a fitting demonstration of why the 24-year-old Springbok is a World Cup winner.

Nkosi has had his share of injury problems this year as well as a brush with Covid-19 that forced him into quarantine, necessitating Everitt’s decision to play him off the bench. But it seems inevitable the Sharks coach will be finding a way of fitting him into the starting line-up when they return to action against the Bulls in a fortnight.

Nkosi scored with his first touch in the 53^rd minute when he spectacularly claimed the restart after the Pumas’ only try and then blazed away to score, and then he scored again with 10 minutes remaining with an intercept try completed with impressive pace.

“Sbu’s performance tonight was definitely the highlight with his two tries, he was phenomenal and showed why he is a World Cup winner with the Springboks. What a difference he made for us, he’s world-class in the air. He helped us win in Kimberley as well against Griquas. We scored some good tries through big defence tonight and we’re ecstatic with scoring seven tries,” Everitt said after the impressive 45-10 victory.

Because the Currie Cup fixtures have merely been a continuation of Super Rugby Unlocked, the Sharks now quirkily have a bye after just one Currie Cup match. They then host the Bulls at Kings Park on December 12 and they will certainly need to be more consistent in maintaining the level of performance they showed in the first half against the Pumas for the full 80 minutes against the log-leaders.

“I’m very proud with how we stood up in the first half, conditions were not easy but we were brave enough to move the ball around and score some good tries through big defence. I’m very happy with the way we played in the first half, the forwards laid a really good platform and there were three maul tries, we scrummed well and stuck to the plan.

“For the second half, the plan was to stick to our processes but unfortunately the Pumas put us under the pump at the set-pieces. You have to give them credit for that, putting us under pressure in the second half, especially at the scrums. But we also put a lot of pressure on ourselves and we certainly could have been better in the second half. But to win 45-10 definitely deserves credit,” Everitt said.