Ken Borland

One of the triumphs of this current Proteas team has been the way they have been able to bounce back from disastrous performances relatively quickly and they will need to do that again on Sunday as they play the English side that tore their batting apart to level the series in Manchester, in the decisive third ODI at Headingley.

South Africa, having impressed with the ball to bowl England out for 201 inside their 29 overs at Old Trafford, were bundled out for just 83 in reply. Having made their highest ever score [333/5] in England in the first ODI, the Proteas then slumped to their joint-worst total against the hosts. Their 83 all out in Nottingham in 2008 and Manchester on Friday night are their second-lowest totals in all ODIs, behind their 69 against Australia in Sydney in 1993.

But South Africa’s two highest run-scorers, Heinrich Klaasen (33) and Dwaine Pretorius (17), were both exuding positive vibes after wasting a good chance to win the series.

“We don’t need to change anything, our blueprints are good and we bowled extremely well. With the bat, if our risks come off on Sunday then it will be a different ball-game,” Klaasen said.

“We are playing good cricket, they just bowled extremely well up front, put us on the back foot and we never recovered. We still believe in our plan.”

Pretorius, who led an outstanding bowling display with career-best figures of four for 36, echoed Klaasen’s view.

“All our options to take a risk with the bat just did not come off, but I’m sure we’ll bounce back. It was our first innings here under lights and that definitely had an impact.

“The next game is a day game and it will be interesting to see if that swing England found is still there. The batting unit has really been on fire and it was just one of those days.

“They mustn’t let it go to their heads, they must stay confident. England put the performance in in this match, and we did in the previous game. So it’s going to be a great game on Sunday.

“What happened is not a massive issue, teams are allowed to play well against you and England did, they outskilled us. But the rub of the green did not go our way and cricket does not always work out perfectly,” Pretorius said.

Alarmingly, both Pretorius and Klaasen said the Proteas had practised hard at the swinging ball, which was their undoing as they crashed to 6 for four, their worst ever start in an ODI, in terms of their total when the fourth wicket fell.

“We have been preparing exactly for that swing, we’ve done a lot of work against the swinging ball,” Pretorius said.

“We trained hard for the left-armers and the ball coming in,” Klaasen assured. “But credit to them, they bowled extremely well, kept their lengths and swung the ball nicely.”

The third ODI starts at 12pm SA time.

Travelling to Kimberley and not having the right preparation, cohesion and mindset is often disastrous and that is why the Bulls on Friday named a powerful, URC-strength side for their Currie Cup match against Griquas at Tafel Lager Park on Saturday.

Eight of the starting XV who played last week in Italy have been included for Saturday’s Currie Cup encounter, and another eight who were on the bench against Zebre Parma will also be travelling to the Northern Cape.

“You can never underestimate Griquas,” Bulls Currie Cup coach Gert Smal explained, “and going to Kimberley can be really difficult if you’re not prepared. That’s why our team looks like that.

“It’s an important match for us to win and we haven’t played Currie Cup for a month, we are trying to get some rhythm and so it’s important for the team to have played together a bit.

“It’s always tough playing Griquas on their home ground but we want to see if we can beat them there. They are the giant-killers, but we will be ready for whatever is thrown at us, ready for the challenge.

“There are four areas we need to concentrate on and if we do them well then we will get the result: Griquas maul quite a lot, contestables, the breakdown and our mindset,” Smal said on Friday.

The top-of-the-log Sharks played the Pumas in Nelspruit on Friday night, going into the match with a four-point lead over the Bulls in third place, so the importance of Smal’s team getting four points in Kimberley is clear, because the last thing they want is for the KwaZulu-Natalians to open an eight-point lead on them.

“We take the Currie Cup seriously, we want to make sure we can win it,” Smal said. “We look at each game and choose the best team for that specific match, depending on how badly we feel we need the points.”

With the schedule allowing the Bulls to pick many of their best players, they will be looking to unleash their full might on Griquas.

Bulls team:Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, Stedman Gans, Cornal Hendricks, Richard Kriel, Chris Smith, Embrose Papier; Muller Uys, Arno Botha, Marcell Coetzee (CAPT), Janko Swanepoel, Walt Steenkamp, Robert Hunt, Bismarck du Plessis, Simphiwe Matanzima. IMPACT-Schalk Erasmus, Lizo Gqoboka, Kowie Roos, Reinhardt Ludwig, WJ Steenkamp, Keagan Johannes, Juan Mostert, Lionel Mapoe.

Chasing boundaries and trying to get to 200 on a subcontinent turner can be as tempting as the allure of a huskey-voiced temptress, but it can be disastrous and Proteas batsman Aiden Markram says these are the lessons he has had to learn as he adapts to a new role in T20 cricket.

With South Africa enjoying so many top-order options – Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma, Reeza Hendricks and Janneman Malan are all in the mix to open – Markram has slipped down a bit into the middle-order. Particularly on the subcontinent, that can be the toughest place to bat, but the 26-year-old seems to be learning when to be patient and when to go for it, judging by his well-paced 48 off 33 balls that took the Proteas to a winning total of 163-5 in the first T20 in Colombo on Friday night.

“It’s quite tough to judge what a winning total will be sometimes, and I haven’t been in that situation too often. You have to trust the information you get from the sidelines, Quinton de Kock usually gives a rough ball-park figure and I was able to chat with David Miller, who is very experienced. We thought 160 was good, slightly above par in those conditions, but we still had to bowl well.

“It’s a new challenge not opening the batting, obviously I have not done it much. But I’m enjoying it and it requires you to be street-smart in how you approach your innings. I’m used to being up front where your game-plan is fixed, set in stone. But you can’t be like that at No.3 or 4, your approach has to be flexible and it changes from game-to-game,” Markram said.

The Proteas cross swords again with Sri Lanka at the same venue on Sunday and stand-in captain Keshav Maharaj wants the same intensity to ensure his team wrap up the series at the first opportunity. They will then be able to go into next month’s T20 World Cup in good form having won eight of their last 10 matches. The home side will be angered by their defeat and will come out firing.

“It’s really important for us to show intensity and energy. We understand what’s at stake and we want to be as clinical as possible. We need to stick to the basics and repeat what was good from the previous game. In terms of our preparation for the T20 World Cup, we must make sure we take care of the series by winning the next game, knowing that Sri Lanka will bounce back.

“I’m a very open-minded captain, but I do demand a lot of energy and intensity. That’s the best way to bring out your character and the best things in your game. Body language is also important because it conveys a message to the opposition.

“The batting is starting to get better with Quinny and Reeza Hendricks setting a foundation and Aiden and David were sublime at the end. The bowlers set the tone in the powerplay – to only concede 34 runs is almost unheard of on the subcontinent – and then they were superb in finishing the game off,” Maharaj said.