Ken Borland

Temba Bavuma’s hopes of starting his Proteas captaincy tenure with a series win were scuttled like a ship being hit amidships by multiple torpedoes when six of his first-choice starting XI were unavailable for the deciding match at Centurion, but it is always good to see what the fringe players can do out in the middle.

Unfortunately, South Africa’s depth would appear to be of rather middling quality at the moment. Especially in the pace bowling department.

Kagiso Rabada was classy as ever and although he only took a couple of wickets, his accuracy was such that his economy rate of 4.70 was the best for any seamer in the series. Lungi Ngidi had a poor series, but he has produced the goods many times before in white-ball cricket, so it should just be considered an aberration.

Anrich Nortje was a revelation, bowling with tremendous aggression and control, and the way he rips batsmen out in the middle overs is crucial for the Proteas. Unfortunately there does not seem to be a ready-made replacement for him yet in what bowling coach Charl Langeveldt described as the “enforcer” role.

Andile Phehlukwayo was relied on to bowl at the death, with mixed success. He did take five wickets, but finished as only a little bit less expensive than Ngidi; the all-rounder bowled some excellent overs, but there were some rubbish ones as well.

One big positive in terms of the attack, though, is that Keshav Maharaj is hot on the heels of Tabraiz Shamsi as the first-choice spinner. Slow left-arm orthodox may not be as sexy as Shamsi’s mystical wrist-spin, but Maharaj showed in his outstanding performance in the third ODI that tremendous accuracy allied with teasing flight and changes of pace make him a very effective limited-overs bowler as well.

The moment Bavuma probably regrets most in the series was when he called on Jon-Jon Smuts to bowl the penultimate over in the Centurion decider. The left-arm spinner had gone well up to that point, conceding just 42 runs in his seven overs, but Hasan Ali deposited him on the banks at SuperSport Park four times in an over that cost 25 and took Pakistan past 300 and enough for victory.

Smuts is the sort of gutsy cricketer that typifies the Eastern Cape’s make-a-plan, find-a-way attitude, and he is most certainly more than the sum of all his talents. He has done well for the Proteas in ODI cricket, averaging 45 with the bat and having an economy rate of 5.46 with the ball. But the time has probably come to call on George Linde, the left-arm spinner and hard-hitting batsman who has done so well for the Cape Cobras, and for South Africa whenever he has had the opportunity.

Coach Mark Boucher also spoke about the need for another left-handed batsman in the batting line-up, and Linde certainly fits the bill.

The batting as a whole looks in better shape and the middle-order is surely settled now with Bavuma steering the ship at three, along with Rassie van der Dussen at four and then David Miller and Kyle Verreynne in the finishing roles.

Heinrich Klaasen has not really set the world alight since being Player of the Series against Australia last year, and Verreynne, with two half-centuries and 163 runs in his four innings, deserves an extended chance now, having shown he has the temperament for international cricket.

Janneman Malan is another of the replacement batsmen who should keep his place. Aiden Markram has just not been able to capitalise on how damn good he has looked at the crease and an average of 25.33 for the series pretty much sums up his ODI career thus far. Malan, meanwhile, has put up the numbers – an average of 74 and a strike-rate of 89 in his four ODI innings – and those are figures that should not be ignored.

The other big positive from a batting point of view was the return to form of Phehlukwayo. His innings of 29 and 54 at Centurion were not enough to secure victory for the Proteas, but they were exactly the sort of contributions the team are looking for from their all-rounder.

Pink Day, the charity event raising funds for cancer research, has been hosted by the fast-paced city of Johannesburg at the Wanderers for the last 9 years and Sunday’s second ODI between South Africa and Pakistan may not have any spectators allowed, but the Proteas need to bring their usual intensity and action-packed approach in order to stay alive in the series.

The first ODI was lost on the back of a second-wicket partnership of 177 between Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq; Pakistan scraped to victory off the last ball of the match because the Proteas then fought back and claimed six wickets for 85 runs. They did that using aggressive fast bowling led by Anrich Nortje.

The Wanderers is traditionally a haven for pace and bounce and Autumn on the Highveld adds more moisture and swing into the equation as well. South Africa’s pacemen need to be smarter about exploiting the conditions more, they perhaps relied too heavily on slower balls and cutters at Centurion when an approach more in line with how they would bowl in a Test match was called for.

“The plan was to bowl more Test lengths and we started brilliantly, but as the pitch became harder and flatter it was really difficult to defend and the batsmen were able to score quite freely. But a lot of credit should go to the bowlers, I’ve been in a lot of situations like this on the Highveld and the team chasing gets home with five or six overs to spare,” centurion Rassie van der Dussen said after the first ODI on Friday night.

It was a valuable toss for Pakistan to win in the first game and it was tough going for the Proteas batsmen in the first hour. But some of the strokes offered were not well-executed as South Africa slumped to 55 for four before Van der Dussen came to their rescue.

The star batsman said the shot-selection could be excused, it was just the execution that let the batsmen down, and a similarly positive approach is likely to be brought to the Wanderers.

“Quinton de Kock and Aiden Markram gave us a good start and thought that they could then take on the powerplay. In hindsight they couldn’t because the pitch was a bit more difficult to bat on than they thought. You have to assess conditions and sometimes you make mistakes. But a guy like Quinny has played like that his whole career and we’re not too worried about the batting.

“England have probably been the best ODI team over the last two years and that formula works for them, so we want to give the batsmen the freedom to express themselves, especially up front in the powerplay. Quinny is usually brilliant there but it’s the nature of cricket that you won’t have success every time. Losing three wickets in a cluster is what we don’t want to do though,” Van der Dussen said.

Players who drop potentially crucial catches in the penultimate over of a tense ODI normally wish to remain anonymous, but Rassie van der Dussen did not have that luxury because it was his brilliant century, his first hundred for the national team, that had kept the Proteas in contention in the opening match of the series against Pakistan at Centurion on Friday.

Van der Dussen’s superb 123 not out off 134 balls lifted South Africa to 273 for six after they had slumped to 55 for four. The 32-year-old was himself dropped before he had scored, Asif Ali diving full length at second slip but failing to hold on to a very tough chance off Shaheen Shah Afridi, but no-one was talking about that catch after the game.

Instead, the talking point was the even more difficult, steepling catch Shadab Khan offered to Van der Dussen at deep midwicket off Lungi Ngidi with Pakistan needing 13 off nine balls to win. It was during that awkward period after the sun has set and floodlights are yet to take full effect, and the fielder had to race in from the boundary to try and take the catch. Shadab survived, getting two runs and Pakistan went on to win off the last ball of the match.

“It was a half-chance and if I was able to get under it earlier then things could have gone our way. But it was twilight and the floodlights hadn’t really taken effect yet and I barely got fingertips to it. But that’s just sport, it’s a game of fine margins and as a professional sportsman you have to be ready for that decisive moment. The bowlers fought brilliantly but it just didn’t go our way,” Van der Dussen explained.

Far more attention should be played to his determined effort with the bat though. A strike-rate of 91.79 may be considered relatively sedate in this day and age, but with South Africa sent in to bat at 10am on a tacky pitch and a trio of excellent Pakistani pacemen bowling with great discipline, it was no leisure cruise for Van der Dussen.

“You want to perform under pressure and we were early on, but I managed to get us to a competitive total. You have to assess conditions and the pitch was a bit difficult with the toss playing a big role. On the Highveld it’s always difficult in that first hour, hour-and-a-half, because the pitch retains moisture which allows the ball to sit up, it’s a bit two-paced and it’s difficult to hit through the line.

“It’s challenging batting first and you just try and give the team a base that they can capitalise on towards the end. But we lost wickets so our backs were against the wall early on. To get to that score was really positive, but the pitch got a lot better, getting flatter and it becomes really difficult to defend, the batsmen can score quite freely. I give a lot of credit to the bowlers because normally teams in that situation get home with five or six overs to spare,” Van der Dussen said.

An autumnal sun may be shining over SuperSport Park on Friday and the pitch could be a bit slower than usual, but Proteas coach Mark Boucher is still expecting good conditions and for wicket-taking firepower to be crucial in the middle overs of the first ODI against Pakistan.

The last time South Africa played a home ODI series in April was against Australia in 2009, the Proteas winning the rubber 3-2. While spinners played a big role in the series, the most interesting result came at Centurion when Australia were destroyed by early-morning swing, Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell sharing eight wickets, to be bowled out for just 131. Friday’s match has a 10am start time.

“It’s certainly cooling down, it’s why I’m wearing my tracksuit top and a couple of the guys have come down with a bit of flu,” Boucher said in his virtual interview on Thursday. “Generally, the colder it gets up here the slower the pitch, but it still looks pretty good. There hasn’t been as much cricket played on it this summer so it probably is a bit fresher than usual. And it’s a day game so I expect good conditions, but just a touch slower to what we’re used to.

“We’ve got the pace though and we need wickets in the middle overs. From overs 11-40 we want to be nice and aggressive, make the play and not just sit back and wait for things to happen. So I hope the quicks run in and be really aggressive. You tend to win games if you take wickets in that period and we’ve got the firepower and the spinner to do that.”

Boucher confirmed that all 22 members of the ODI squad are fit and available, including all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo, who injured his ankle in the first game of the domestic T20 competition and has not played since February 19.

The last time the Proteas played ODI cricket was when they whitewashed Australia 3-0 a year ago, but not all of those star performers are going to be in the starting XI on Friday.

“A lot of guys were rested from that series and there were a couple of injuries, plus it was a long time ago. So by rights certain players will come back and have got to fill their spots again, but we will also take form into consideration. It’s nice to have a full-strength squad to choose from and the guys who were given an opportunity really performed. But there will be honest conversations about who is first in line.

“Temba Bavuma will probably bat three and we see Aiden Markram as someone we can juggle, but he will probably start up front although he can bat three or four. We’ve selected a squad in line with what we want to do in the 2023 World Cup, but it’s more important to win now and we want give guys opportunities where they have really done well for their franchises,” Boucher said.