Ken Borland

New Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad is not aiming to be the manufacturer of some dramatic new way of playing five-day cricket, but he has nevertheless made some brave calls as South Africa head into a new era in what most players still consider the pinnacle of the game as they take on the West Indies in the first of a two-match series in Centurion from Tuesday.

Conrad has not only installed a new Test captain in Temba Bavuma, whose predecessor Dean Elgar remains in the team but needs to regain his ability to make tough runs, but also cut a trio of players who would probably have expected to still be involved.

Dropping two of the three leading run-scorers in the series in Australia over the festive season is certainly a tough call if you are Kyle Verreynne, who scored two half-centuries in the three Tests, or Sarel Erwee, whose last Test innings was the dogged 42 not out he scored to help South Africa save the third Test in Sydney.

Lungi Ngidi has also been a regular in the Test team, playing 11 of the 18 Tests in the last two years. He has taken 33 wickets in that time, at an excellent average of just 21.63. Ngidi has also conceded only 3.06 runs-per-over in that time, all of which suggests he plays an important role in the Proteas attack, but Conrad has seemingly gone the bold route of wanting the express pace of uncapped Gerald Coetzee instead.

Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram are the batsmen to benefit from the axing of Verreynne and Erwee. There is no doubting that both are amongst the most talented strokeplayers in the country, but Klaasen has scored just 48 runs in four Test innings, and Markram makes yet another return based on just how damn good he looks whenever he picks up a bat, except when it comes to actually scoring runs at Test level.

Typically of Conrad, who is never afraid to back his big calls, he has already stated that Markram will return to opening the batting alongside Elgar. The new coach is not reinventing how the Proteas play Test cricket, but he is certainly aiming for a more aggressive, positive approach.

Conrad was walking around the SuperSport Park field on Monday morning during the Proteas’ final preparations like a sergeant major, but he is not all bark and bite; he found time to give the no-doubt hurting Elgar an arm around the shoulder and a rub of the neck.

If the 55-year-old Conrad is the equivalent of the Proteas’ chairman of the board, then Bavuma is the new CEO tasked with getting the best out of the staff.

Bavuma is no stranger to international captaincy, of course, having led the Proteas in 17 ODIs and 25 T20s. He is highly-respected by his team-mates for his tactical acumen, technical ability and tenacity.

Bavuma has been no stranger to tough times recently, and he was stressing the need for his team to embrace a fresh start against the West Indies.

“These are exciting times, it’s the start of a new journey and I would like us to start with a clean slate and play the way we want to play,” Bavuma said at Centurion on Monday.

“We have got enough resources in the 15-man squad to adapt to conditions and back up whatever tactics we want to employ. And there are other leaders within the team, guys who have been around for a while, who I can definitely lean on. We just need to ensure we are all speaking the same language.

“The brand of cricket we play is how we want to measure ourselves, but we still need to man up. We know as a batting unit that we need to score the runs, we need to go out and do what we need to do.

“A lot of these guys have won a series against India not long ago when no-one really backed us to do that. I always preach playing together as a team and we don’t want to lose that,” Bavuma said.

Fresh starts almost always involve a positive approach to things, and it seems the Proteas are as concerned with how they go about playing as what they produce. Conrad will have to live or die by his brave choices, and perhaps he will discover that sometimes producing the goods is all that matters, no matter how you look doing it.

South Africa have made a hash of handling the Bangladesh bowling half-a-dozen times in ODIs, but centurion Rilee Rossouw said for him the big difference on Thursday, when they hammered the subcontinent team by 104 runs in their T20 World Cup match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, was how well they played the spinners.

Rossouw thoroughly dominated the bowling in stroking a tremendous 109 off just 56 balls, and it was almost totally thanks to him and Quinton de Kock (63 off 38) that the Proteas managed to post a formidable 205/5 after electing to bat first.

A slick bowling display, led by Anrich Nortje (3.3-0-10-4) and Tabraiz Shamsi (4-0-20-3), then ensured South Africa wrapped up the win in clinical fashion by bowling Bangladesh out for just 101 in the 17^th over. They therefore successfully negotiated a team that has caused them World Cup embarrassment before – at Providence in 2007 and The Oval in 2019. The Proteas also batted poorly in series defeats to Bangladesh on the 2015 tour and at Centurion earlier this year.

“Taskin Ahmed was shaping the ball up front, he bowled nicely to Temba Bavuma (2), while The Fizz [Mustafizur Rahman] is world-class, a definite threat who you just have to play as you see it,” Rossouw said after his second successive T20 International century, a unique feat amongst Full Member teams.

“But what we did really well was to take on the spin. We took charge, we wanted to control that area of the game and we did that well. It definitely helped me that I played for three years in the Bangladesh Premier League and was the leading run-scorer twice, so there was nothing too unfamiliar out there today.

“I’ve definitely improved playing against spin because I’ve played a lot in the subcontinent – in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Dubai. I’m much more comfortable against spin than I was in my twenties. Being in pressure situations on pitches that are turning has made me a better player,” Rossouw said.

A top-class innings by the left-hander brought a spontaneous display of emotion when he reached his hundred off just 52 deliveries.

“This is really close to my heart and I’m just every chuffed, to do this on the main stage, at the World Cup,” Rossouw said. “Sometimes things go for you and this year has been an unbelievable rollercoaster ride for me.

“I’m so happy sitting here now, I never even thought about it being possible 12 months ago. I am a very passionate man, and to get across the line meant a lot to me and my family back home.

“It’s been amazing to play for South Africa again, when you give up the right to play for your country, you expect that to be your last chance. So I will cherish every moment.

“It’s been a great journey, a long journey, and hopefully it’s not finished yet. I hope I have another opportunity to do well in this World Cup,” Rossouw said.

Centurion David Miller and Quinton de Kock showed their enduring worths in T20 cricket with a magnificent partnership, but that must not pull the wool over the eyes of the Proteas management as to how many problems the side has following South Africa’s 16-run defeat to India in the second T20 in Guwahati on Sunday.

The Proteas problems began with their bowling, which was awful, allowing a hungry Indian top-order to plunder 237/3 after South Africa had sent them in to bat. It is the highest score the Proteas have ever conceded in a T20 International, beating the 236/6 the West Indies scored when they won batting second at the Wanderers in 2014/15.

Having played two spinners on a seamer’s pitch in the first T20, South Africa then brought in Lungi Ngidi for Tabraiz Shamsi in Guwahati, when the pitch probably suited a second spinner, judging by how well left-armer Keshav Maharaj bowled in taking 2/23 in his four overs.

All the pacemen were poor and were severely punished. They could not find their lines and lengths up front, and then, under pressure, their skills dissolved in a flood of full tosses and short, wide deliveries. A temperature in the 30s and 94% humidity meant there was lots of sweat around to make the ball slippery, but India’s bowlers were far more controlled having to deal with the same conditions.

Openers Lokesh Rahul (57 off 28) and Rohit Sharma (43 off 37) took full toll of the loose bowling to put on 96 in 9.5 overs for the first wicket.

Maharaj dismissed both of them, but there was no denying the thrilling Suryakumar Yadav as he ruthlessly smashed 61 off just 22 balls, while Virat Kohli showed his great class with 49 not out off 28 deliveries.

Kagiso Rabada (14.25), Anrich Nortje (13.66), Wayne Parnell (13.50) and Ngidi (12.25) all had economy rates that were extremely expensive.

It would be dumb to continue to ignore South Africa’s top-order woes, with Temba Bavuma making a seven-ball duck and Rilee Rossouw also making back-to-back ducks as he charged down the pitch second-ball to play a silly shot against Arshdeep Singh. The left-arm quick took two wickets in his first over, having snared three in the first T20.

Aiden Markram scored a free-flowing 33 off 19 balls before spinner Axar Patel knocked over his off-bail with a wonderful delivery.

With South Africa already needing 14.5 runs-per-over, Miller and the struggling De Kock then had some fun as they added an unbeaten 174 in 13.4 overs as the visitors reached 221/3.

Miller was sensational, scoring 106 not out off 47 balls, hitting seven balls out of the park. He fought incredibly hard for the team and showcased his amazing skill.

It will please the Proteas greatly that De Kock is back to something approaching his best as he finished with 69* off 48 balls, an innings which started in battling fashion but ended in a flurry of boundaries.

There were many who believed Aiden Markram would be in charge of the Proteas by now, but even though the product of Cornwall Hill College in Centurion admitted on Tuesday that “I have not got it all worked out yet”, he is clearly becoming one of the key generals in the South African white-ball team.

That side will be in action again on Wednesday evening as they take on Ireland in the first of two T20 matches in Bristol. It will be interesting to see what XI the Proteas field because they have often experimented against the Irish in the past. Paceman Kagiso Rabada has been ruled out of both games with an ankle injury.

But they are fresh off a 2-1 series win over mighty England in which they fielded a few players who may have been thought of as fringe members of the squad that is being built for the T20 World Cup in October.

Markram, although he is their highest-ranked T20 batsman, was one of the ones to sit out, but it says something of his standing in the team that he was given a full explanation of the reasons why it was done. He returned for the deciding match against England and scored a brisk 51 not out off 36 balls as the Proteas batted their hosts out of the contest. Markram also fulfilled the vital sixth bowler role.

“Not playing in India was incredibly frustrating, but it’s one of those things even though it’s strange to get Covid these days,” Markram said.

“But here in England, the communication has been really good from the coach, the management team and captain David Miller. We were told where we stand, we understand where the selection is coming from and why they did it.

“These things happen when you’re building towards a World Cup, you have to give everyone a fair opportunity. Rassie van der Dussen and I understood why we were sitting out.

“The communication made it a lot easier. We’re on a journey to the World Cup so we understand why we try things and different options. If it doesn’t work, then rather get it wrong now than at the World Cup,” Markram said.

The 27-year-old has been one of the most dominant batsmen at SuperSport Park in Centurion, which is one of the smaller grounds in South Africa but still bigger than the ground in Bristol.

England had the Proteas in disarray in the first T20 in Bristol last week but, as they arrange their plans for the World Cup, being able to perform on smaller grounds is one of the things they need to sort out.

“We’re maybe a team that’s better on slower pitches and bigger fields, we’ve played some of our best cricket in tougher conditions,” Markram said.

“But we definitely want to get better at smaller venues where the margin for error is a lot smaller. We’re going to try and nail that because we want to keep growing as a team.”

*Play starts at 7.30pm