Ken Borland

A magnificent century by Morne van Wyk led the Sunfoil Dolphins to an unlikely five-wicket win with five balls to spare in their Momentum One-Day Cup opener against the Unlimited Titans at SuperSport Park last night.

The Titans had posted a franchise record 340 for six in their 50 overs, thanks to a century on List A debut by Theunis de Bruyn and a blazing 105 not out off just 67 balls by Farhaan Behardien.

A 35-minute rain delay after the dinner break meant the Dolphins’ target was adjusted to 301 in 42 overs and Van Wyk played a top-class innings, finishing on 121 not out off just 112 balls with 14 fours and two sixes to see them home.

Van Wyk played with a zen-like calm even though the required run-rate began to climb steeply after Vaughn van Jaarsveld was dismissed for a fine 62 off 55 balls.

The promising Khaya Zondo helped his skipper add the finishing touches with his composed 32 off 18 balls as the Titans bowled awfully and fell apart in the field, much as the Dolphins had earlier after winning the toss.

De Bruyn took advantage of the three chances given to him to stroke 108 off 90 balls, while Behardien’s 64-ball century was the fastest ever for the Titans, but both innings were in vain thanks to the profligacy of the bowlers.

Hashim Amla is a captain who commands huge respect around the globe and South Africa’s leadership will not be perceived as a weakness, according to Dolphins coach Lance Klusener.

Amla, despite being a reluctant captain in the past, will lead South Africa’s Test team on a daunting tour of Sri Lanka next month and Klusener, who knows the new skipper well from his time with the Dolphins, is optimistic that Graeme Smith’s successor will prosper in his new post.

“Hashim will bring a lot of calmness, he has a smart head on his shoulders and he’s fairly innovative, he’s not scared to try things.

“But most importantly, Hashim has a lot of respect internationally, which is important as a captain. It means the opposition don’t see the captain as a point of weakness,” Klusener said.

Hashim Amla - globally respected

While Amla’s previous captaincy experience – a season in charge of the Dolphins in 2004/5 in which he averaged 54.38 in the four-day competition, scoring three centuries, including a superb 249 in the final against the Central Eagles – provides a clue as to whether the extra responsibility will affect his batting, Klusener said this was the only remaining question to be answered.

“The biggest question is how it will affect his game because he’s been reluctant to lead in the past. It’s a small question but it’s the most important one because he needs to prove he can do both jobs together. Someone like Morne van Wyk [current Dolphins captain] lives for that and that’s what I’d like to see with Hashim, that he can handle both being a key batsman and the captain on the highest stage.”

One of Amla’s imminent tasks will be getting the right team balance for the first Test starting in Galle on July 16 and Klusener said there were warning bells in this regard.

“We’ve been caught out in the past playing two frontline spinners. I know it’s tough for quick bowlers over there, but that is our strength. Is playing two spinners our best attack? Sometimes even when the pitches are dusty, you should play four pacemen and rely on them to get swing.

“We must play our best attack – do you field two average spinners or two good seamers, remembering too that Sri Lankan batsmen play spin very well,” Klusener warned.

“If the pitches are turning then inconsistent bounce can also be a massive factor. I would like the other spot to go to someone who can bowl 140-145km/h and will get reverse swing and inconsistent bounce,” Klusener said.

Former SA allrounder Lance Klusener

It seems the national selectors are leaning towards JP Duminy being the second spinner, leaving South Africa with the option of playing a specialist batsman at number seven or four pacemen and leggie Imran Tahir.

Klusener, who played 49 Tests and 171 ODIs in a stellar career, added he was also concerned that South Africa now had several captains – Amla in Tests, AB de Villiers in ODIs and Faf du Plessis in T20s.

“We have three captains and I would prefer just one but there are obviously demands on the body and that person’s time. But it must be easier to keep a handle on things if there is just one or maybe two captains.

“The other players are left wondering ‘does this other captain back me, where do I fit in under him?’ It does create some instability.

“I only had one captain at a time and I think it worked great,” Klusener added.

Whatever question marks still remain about South Africa’s new era, one thing that is certain is that Amla will bring tremendous conviction to his new role as captain.

Hashim Amla should have more to celebrate than just tons of runs

Hashim Amla has had one season of captaincy for the Dolphins nearly 10 years ago as a 21-year-old but is now set to be handed the reins of South Africa’s Test team as CSA’s board meet today in Sandton to decide the successor to Graeme Smith.

The fact that Amla had success in that solitary season in charge down in Durban, leading the Dolphins to a share of the 2004/5 SuperSport Series four-day title and the semi-finals of the 45-over Standard Bank Cup, will have little bearing on tomorrow’s decision, save for one important factor.

While Amla relinquished the captaincy after one season, and has been reluctant to lead ever since, the extra responsibility had no noticeable effect on his batting, as he averaged 54.38 in the four-day competition, scoring three centuries, including a superb 249 in the final against the Central Eagles, and went on to make his debut for South Africa that season.

Amla’s main rival for the Test captaincy is the early favourite, AB de Villiers, who has already led South Africa in 40 ODIs.

De Villiers has the advantage of added experience in the role, but if he does become Test captain, it could well force a change in the successful balance of the national team, with the wicketkeeping gloves likely to be taken away from him.

Former South African captain Shaun Pollock, who was Smith’s predecessor, admitted that it was a tough call between Amla and De Villiers.

“There’s no doubt Hashim is a very calm individual and I don’t think being captain will affect his batting too much, but it’s difficult to comment on his tactical awareness unless you’ve played under him. The advantage Hashim has is that he’s just a batsman and there’s not too much on his plate,” Pollock told The Pretoria News yesterday.

“AB has the experience, having led in ODIs already, and knows what the role entails. I’ve been impressed with some of his captaincy, he’s shown some flair and managed things well. But would he have to change his role and give up the gloves because there’s a lot on his plate?” Pollock added.

Faf du Plessis has also been mentioned as a candidate, but he is likely to be left to concentrate on cementing his place in the Test side as a specialist batsman.

Both Amla and De Villiers are going to be key batsmen as South Africa move into the post-Smith-and-Kallis era, and there’s no doubt both will be able to lead from the front and command the respect of their team-mates. Both are universally respected in the cricketing world and both enjoy a good relationship with the media, handling their PR duties with aplomb.

But the factors that are likely to tip the vote Amla’s way are the lesser disruption it would cause to the balance of the team and the strong transformation message it would send out on behalf of Cricket South Africa, who were recently accused of only paying lip-service to affirmative action by the sports minister.

The fact that Amla, a devout Muslim and the first Protea of Indian heritage, has been able to develop into such a key person in the national camp on and off the field suggests he will also be able to pull the different threads of the several cultures within the squad together into a strong unit.

The national selectors will also today announce the squads to tour Sri Lanka next month for three ODIs and two Tests and are likely to reel in Stiaan van Zyl and one of two off-spinners Dane Piedt or Simon Harmer, as new caps for the five-day games. The other off-spinner is still likely to travel to Sri Lanka as a net bowler to gain experience of sub-continental conditions.

Whoever the Test captain is will be mindful of South Africa’s previous tour to Sri Lanka in 2006 where Ashwell Prince wound up losing 2-0 and never captained the Proteas again.

Probable Test squad: Alviro Petersen, Dean Elgar, Faf du Plessis, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Stiaan van Zyl, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Morne Morkel, Dane Piedt, Quinton de Kock, Ryan McLaren, Wayne Parnell/Beuran Hendricks.

Probable ODI squad: Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, David Miller, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir, Wayne Parnell, Beuran Hendricks, Ryan McLaren, Simon Harmer.

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With the Unlimited Titans out of contention in the Sunfoil Series, coach Rob Walter will be testing the ability of young fringe players in four-day cricket in the last three games of the season, starting with the clash against the Dolphins which is scheduled to start at Willowmoore Park in Benoni today.

Batsmen Theunis de Bruyn and Cobus Pienaar and wicketkeeper Tumelo Bodibe have all been called up for this weekend’s match as the Titans desperately try and find batsmen who can bat time.

A reshuffled batting line-up will see captain Henry Davids move up the order to open with Heino Kuhn, while Roelof van der Merwe, who has scored four half-centuries in eight innings to top the Titans’ batting averages, will move up to number five.

Walter has indicated he is going to play both left-arm spinner Van der Merwe and leggie Shaun von Berg, their leading wicket-taker, and will retain pacemen JP de Villiers and Junior Dala, while also including fast man Marchant de Lange for the first time in the campaign. So the final place in the starting XI is going to come down to a choice between De Bruyn and Pienaar.

Francois le Clus, Mangaliso Mosehle and Vincent Moore (who is particularly unfortunate) are the players to make way for the new blood.

Mosehle, after averaging 40 in the Momentum One-Day Cup, has managed to score just 146 runs in 10 innings in the Sunfoil Series, while Le Clus was only marginally better with 179 runs in 11 innings.

“Tumelo has played before for the Titans, a couple of years back, and we just want to see if he can offer more with the bat than Mangi, who has kept wicket outstandingly well, so that’s not what we’re trying to replace,” Walter told The Pretoria News yesterday.

Dala gets another chance after trying too hard to make an impact with his brand new team against the Cape Cobras in Paarl – he arrived on loan from the Highveld Lions just two days before the match – but he does have pace and bowled progressively better last weekend.

More importantly, his selection allows the Titans to field two Black Africans and their eyes are also clearly on Cricket South Africa’s incentives for transformation.

Walter can also defend the selection on the basis that the pacemen will be rotated, along with other young prospects like Easterns opening batsman Ernest Kemm, in the last three games.

The good news for the Titans is that they won’t be coming up against the best fast bowler in the competition, Kyle Abbott, or hard-hitting batsman David Miller, who are in the South African squad for the T20s against Australia.

But the Dolphins are a team on the rise and Walter is aware that his side face another major challenge.

“The Dolphins played particularly well in their last game, against the Warriors, and they’ve had a very similar looking team the whole season. Which shows they’re stable and they have a good set-up,” Walter said.

The news from Willowmoore Park yesterday was that the ground still looks as if it had suffered numerous airstrikes from water bombers and a wet outfield is something that has ruined matches before in Benoni.

Play starting on time today is unlikely plus there is the threat of further rain, but, as much as people like to rail against the facilities at Willowmoore Park, this time there is very good reason for their difficulties.

The Titans have played one other four-day game in Benoni this season and that was against the Cobras at the end of November, and bad weather cost an entire day’s play and led to that match being a dull draw.

The Titans did at least bat well though and scored 491 for seven declared, and Von Bergh lashed the fastest century in Sunfoil Series history, off just 73 balls, with 11 fours and five sixes.

And Walter is hoping for a similar batting display this time round.

Titans squad: Heino Kuhn, Henry Davids, Graeme van Buuren, Qaasim Adams, Roelof van der Merwe, Cobus Pienaar, Theunis de Bruyn, Tumelo Bodibe, Shaun von Berg, JP de Villiers, Marchant de Lange, Junior Dala.