Ken Borland

Babar Azam’s superb century cancelled out Rassie van der Dussen’s brilliant ton and set up victory for Pakistan in the first ODI at Centurion on Friday, despite a fiery burst of fast bowing from Anrich Nortje that threatened to steal the match for South Africa.

Van der Dussen’s 123 not out off 134 balls lifted South Africa to 273 for six after they were sent in to bat and it was a tremendously determined innings by the 32-year-old which sadly still left him on the losing side.

That was mostly due to Babar compiling a masterful 103 off 104 balls, as peerless a display of clean strokeplay and timing as you could hope to see. The captain added 177 off 181 balls for the second wicket with Imam-ul-Haq, the prolific ODI opener who helped lay a commanding platform for Pakistan with his slickly accumulated 70 off 80 deliveries.

Pakistan were cruising at 181 for one after 31 overs when Nortje returned for a second spell and, bowling fast and aggressively, with plenty of short-pitched deliveries, he caused much consternation in the visiting batting line-up with a ferocious spell of four for 20 in five overs, leaving him with career-best figures of four for 51.

Proteas coach Mark Boucher had spoken before the game about the bowlers being aggressive in the middle overs, but they rather paid lip service to that with the fast bowlers turning too quickly to slower balls and cutters when normal Test match pace bowling was still very effective on a pitch which assisted the seamers.

It was Mohammad Rizwan who continued his resurgence as a white-ball player and steadied Pakistan’s nerves, scoring 40 off 52 balls, adding 53 with Shadab Khan, whose 33 off 30 balls helped seal a three-wicket victory off the last ball thanks to Andile Phehlukwayo’s brilliant last over.

Van der Dussen will long remember April 2 as the day he made his first international century, having passed 50 in seven of his 16 ODI innings before Friday, but with a highest score of 95. His highest Test score is 98 and he has a T20 International best of 74 not out.

The phlegmatic right-hander reiterated that he is the man for a crisis as he lifted the Proteas from 55 for four, the home batsmen struggling against excellent Pakistan seam bowling on a tacky pitch that gave them plenty of assistance. Van der Dussen kept composed, was disciplined in his shot-selection, but also showed great placement when he capitalised on loose deliveries.

The questions over South Africa’s best top three will be ongoing, however, as Quinton de Kock (18) sliced a catch to a wide mid-off, Aiden Markram (19) played too early and was caught in a similar position, and new captain Temba Bavuma (1) threw his wicket away by steering an uppercut straight to deep backward point.

Heinrich Klaasen struggled to 1 off 21 balls before being caught behind off a loose drive, but the tide turned when David Miller came to the crease. The veteran left-hander matched Van der Dussen for calmness, playing beautifully through the off-side as he scored 50 off 56 balls and added 116 off 135 deliveries for the fifth wicket with the Pretoria-born player.

Phehlukwayo will also be pleased with his contribution with the bat as he scored a valuable 29 and added another 64, at a run-a-ball, for the seventh wicket with Van der Dussen.

The Pakistan pace bowlers were the chief threat with Faheem Ashraf leading the way with one for 25 in nine impressive overs. Mohammad Hasnain took one for 52 in his full quota of 10 overs, while left-armer Shaheen Shah Afridi removed the openers and finished with two for 61.

Proteas coach Mark Boucher on Thursday singled out the services of the recalled Aiden Markram as being potentially vital for their 2023 ODI World Cup campaign, suggesting the 26-year-old is going to be in the starting XI for the series that starts against Pakistan at Centurion on Friday.

Markram has an astonishing record in franchise 50-over cricket, averaging 63.04 with seven centuries in 22 innings; in his last three campaigns his strike-rate has been 109.95. Based on that and his current phenomenal form, his ODI record – averaging just 27.95 with a strike-rate of 85 – seems an anomaly.

Boucher, his coach at the Titans when the franchise won two Momentum One-Day Cup titles, certainly thinks so.

“We understand how good a player Aiden is, he’s that good that we believe now is the time for him to resurrect his ODI career. He had a funny start to his ODI career, being made captain after a couple of games; I don’t know if it was the right call. But he now has a clear direction of the way we want him to bat – like he has in franchise cricket, we want to get him into that same mindset.

“When he’s in form like he is now then he really stands out and we see him as a potential matchwinner in 2023, so we need to get him in the side. In red-ball cricket he can just go out and bat, but being a humble character, sometimes in white-ball cricket if he’s not striking at 140 he feels he’s holding up the team, he feels pressurised. But if he or Quinton de Kock get to a hundred then not many batsmen will outscore them.

“If Aiden’s batting in the 40^th over, he’ll probably have a hundred at close to a run-a-ball and we have seen what he can do at the back end of an innings. We hope he clicks and gets really big runs, we’ve worked on a couple of different shot options for him and we feel he is just one or two knocks away,” Boucher said on Thursday.

Other players who I would like to see involved in the series:

Wiaan Mulder

It’s been a long time since the 23-year-old played the last of his 10 ODIs, against Sri Lanka at Centurion in March 2019, but the Proteas need more consistent output from their all-rounder than Andile Phehlukwayo has been delivering lately. Mulder is an accurate bowler who is developing more variety and is capable of hitting the ball far, as his List A strike-rate of 87.67 shows.

Heinrich Klaasen

Since he was the Player of the Series in the whitewash of Australia a year ago, Klaasen’s international career has stalled largely due to illness and injury. But the Proteas need to start thinking about a viable replacement as a finisher for the great David Miller and Klaasen has shown he can fit the bill. One of the better players of spin in the country, he is also a composed fellow ideally suited to the madness of the death overs.

Sisanda Magala

Deeply admired by his fellow domestic professionals and highly-rated by no less of a legend than Dale Steyn [https://citizen.co.za/sport/south-african-sport/cricket/proteas/2465546/dale-steyns-appreciation-for-sisanda-magala-he-has-fight-in-him/],the time has come to see if Magala can transfer his impressive franchise displays to the international stage. The burly 30-year-old bowls with deceptive pace and his greatest strength comes in the death overs with his potent yorkers. Batting at eight, he would also provide a powerful hitter down the order.

That Cricket South Africa are taking no chances with Covid was borne out on Wednesday as Titans batsman Theunis de Bruyn was pulled from the final day of their 4-Day Domestic Series match against the Knights in Centurion.

De Bruyn has had close contact with someone who has subsequently come down with symptoms of Covid and tested positive for the virus. Although the Proteas batsman has himself tested negative, the decision was made on Friday morning to pull him from the game between the two pool leaders as a precautionary measure, with another international, Heinrich Klaasen, replacing him.

Wicketkeeper/batsman Klaasen was initially rested from the game with a knee niggle, but now could well get a bat in the afternoon with the Titans on 258 for two in their second innings at lunch, leading by 107.

The 28-year-old De Bruyn has a franchise batting average of 46.98 and was considered a hot property in the early stages of his career. But in recent years he has been dogged by injuries, eye problems and illness and has lost his Proteas place after playing 12 Tests and two T20 Internationals.

De Bruyn scored a century in the opening match of the season against the Cape Cobras, but in 10 innings since then he has just 146 runs to his name, including 28 in the first innings of the game against the Knights.

With the injury-decimated Sri Lankan side succumbing to an innings defeat midway through the fourth day, it may have seemed there was not much resistance from the tourists in the first Test against South Africa at Centurion, but Proteas captain Quinton de Kock said it was still a hard-fought win and there are plenty of positives the hosts will take from the game.

Sure, Sri Lanka were bowled out for just 180 in their second innings, with only Kusal Perera (64) and Wanindu Hasaranga (59) providing much resistance as they went down by an innings and 45 runs, but rewind to two days earlier and South Africa were certainly under pressure.

Having conceded 396, the third largest first innings total they have ever managed to overcome to win a Test, South Africa made it to lunch on 45 without loss. Openers Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram provided the ideal platform by taking that first-wicket stand to 141, but even then there was a mid-afternoon wobble as the Proteas slid from 200 for one to 220 for four.

And then enter Faf du Plessis with a magnificent 199, and Temba Bavuma and their crucial fifth-wicket partnership of 179, added to with great effect by Wiaan Mulder and Keshav Maharaj.

“A Test win never comes easy and we still had to earn it. We fought really hard with the bat after Sri Lanka came out with plenty of intent. It was quite a difficult pitch and we knew we had to be positive. Aiden and Dean started really well and their momentum really helped the rest of the batsmen. Then Faf showed how important is to have senior guys with experience, we needed that under pressure.

“And then the bowlers came back really nicely in the second innings. A guy like Wiaan Mulder is still a youngster but he bowled with maturity, he showed what he’s about and really added value with the ball. Lutho Sipamla made a great comeback, the first day all came down to his Test debut and nerves, he began to bowl like he has been in the nets and it was great to see that fight from him,” De Kock said after starting his Test captaincy tenure with a win.

De Kock said the presence of other leaders who have been captains in the franchise system in the Proteas team had helped him deal with captaincy for the first time in long-format cricket.

“I’ve never captained before in a first-class game but you do have more time to think about things and it helps to have good leaders in the team around me – guys like Dean, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba and Faf. I’ve been standing next to Faf for most of my Test career so I very much knew what Test captaincy is about.

“People always talk about youngsters coming through but you need a balance. Faf really showed his experience in this Test, we needed that under pressure. He showed his leadership and how to handle that pressure because he’s been through those situations many times before,” De Kock said.