Ken Borland

The law of averages suggests South Africa are due a draw in Test match cricket, and that likelihood became stronger on Friday as the entire third day’s play in the third Test against Australia in Sydney was washed out.

The last time the Proteas were involved in a Test that did not have a winner and loser was way back in March 2017, 47 matches ago, when rain washed out the final day’s play against New Zealand in Hamilton with South Africa five wickets down in their second innings and still trailing by 95 runs.

The weather is predicted to improve over the last two days in Sydney though, and the Proteas are going to have to bat the better part of 196 overs to save the game, with Australia having already posted 475 for four. That means, if the home side declare overnight, South Africa’s initial target will be 276 to avoid being forced to follow-on, which is surely Australia’s best chance of victory. The Proteas have failed to reach that mark in their last eight innings.

The fact that Australian opener Usman Khawaja is on 195 not out may buy the Proteas some more time if Australian skipper Pat Cummins is feeling sentimental and delays the declaration in order for the 36-year-old batsman to get his maiden Test double-century.

Cummins will also be mindful that he has unusually under-strength attack at his disposal, with just four frontline bowlers, only two of which are pacemen.

The Proteas Women’s team began their tour of England five weeks ago and their brave draw in the one-off Test seemingly gave them a toe-hold in the multi-format series. But since then it has been a mass of bad fortune and a litany of defeats, which does not augur well for their chances in the Commonwealth Games starting this weekend in Birmingham.

South Africa arrived in England with talk of competing on all fronts, having beaten their hosts in the T20 World Cup earlier in the year before the tables were turned on them in the semifinals. Sadly, there is little doubt that the Proteas have regressed since then, while England have powered on to new heights with a rejuvenated team introducing exciting new blood.

The Proteas have lost both the ODI and T20 series 3-0 since then, but there have been mitigating factors.

Regular captain Dane van Niekerk has still not returned to play since November last year, and key players like fast bowler Shabnim Ismail and all-rounder Chloe Tryon have also struggled with injuries. The shock retirement of Lizelle Lee, on the eve of the ODI series, must have been a damaging mental blow for the team and it is doubtful that it does not speak to some sort of cultural issues within the squad.

And now Marizanne Kapp, who has been turning in massive performances game-after-game, is back home, ruled out of the Commonwealth Games, due to a family emergency in which her brother-in-law suffered serious burns.

While it would be unwise to make a meal of the recent results given these setbacks, questions need to be asked about whether the pipeline is delivering the quality that is needed for South Africa to remain one of the top sides.

It has not helped that senior players like stand-in captain Sune Luus, stalwart batter Mignon du Preez and 33-year-old bowling spearhead Ismail have not enjoyed good tours.

It is turning into a very long tour for the Proteas Women and they need to pull things together with haste to ensure the wheels don’t come off properly in the Commonwealth Games. Coach Hilton Moreeng will need all his powers of inspiration to put this squad back together again.

Following Ben Stokes’ incredible heroics in winning England the 2019 World Cup, the all-rounder was almost officially designated as cricket’s golden goose, his golden eggs being the box-office draw he promised through his scintillating batting, ability to bowl match-turning spells and amazing catching.

Just three years later, that golden goose is almost on life support. Stokes hobbled his way out of ODI cricket this week, looking a shadow of the great player he is, well-beaten by the Proteas on his home ground at Chester-le-Street.

Fingers have been pointed at the England and Wales Cricket Board, and also the International Cricket Council, for the greed they have shown in their scheduling of matches. England have been expected to play 12 white-ball matches in 25 days this month, and their Test side has been playing at the same time as the T20 or ODI squad was preparing for matches against the Netherlands and India. If that’s not killing the goose that lays the golden eggs through diluting your product, then what is?

The ICC also now have a global white-ball event every year.

But it was most interesting to read the comments of another former England all-rounder (bowling), Derek Pringle, this week. The 63-year-old Pringle does not get quite the same amount of attention as the brilliant Athertons and Hussains of this world, perhaps because he is of an earlier generation, but his erudite views on the game are also full of cricketing nous.

Pringle pointed out in his column for the Metro that, in 1982/83, England played 10 ODIs in 25 days in the World Series tournament in Australia and none of those were in the yet-to-be-invented T20 format. Plus they travelled all over that vast land, the world’s sixth-largest country, straight after a five-match Ashes series.

But that doesn’t change the fact that today’s leading stars, playing for far greater riches than back in Pringle’s day, are battling to cope. The 31-year-old Stokes has not been helped by Covid bubbles, the death of his father and a perpetual knee niggle, as well as mental fatigue that saw him take a break from the game last year.

While I was privileged to be at the World Cup final at Lord’s on July 14, 2019 to watch Stokes fulfil his destiny as England’s most talismanic cricketer in an extraordinary triumph over New Zealand, that trumps the 438 game as the greatest ODI in my book, I was not overly surprised by his feats.

Back in February 2015 I had first laid eyes on him in the flesh, at the Mamelodi Oval of all places (and a lovely venue to boot). Playing for the England Lions against SA A, Stokes plundered an attack featuring Chris Morris, Marchant de Lange and David Wiese for 151 not out off just 86 balls, the left-hander smiting 15 mighty sixes. He then wrapped up the match with three wickets.

I had no doubt I had seen a future great.

The next January he scored his famous 258 off just 198 balls against South Africa in the Newlands New Years Test.

While there have been areas of his life off the field that have landed him in trouble (he is a red-head after all!), I have always liked Stokes as a person, too. On the field he is as competitive as they come, someone with an inspirational belief in his ability to pull off the impossible, but empathetic and supportive are the words most-often used to describe him in the changeroom.

Before the 2019 World Cup final, while travelling from Cardiff to Birmingham, we took a comfort break at one of the Services along the highway. England were on their way to Manchester to play Afghanistan and whose bladder should be co-ordinated with my own but Ben Stokes’s.

There he was in a cap and T-shirt, just wandering around without any pretences or ego.

I doubt he could have done that a month later after his sensational end to the tournament.

That is the Stokes we, as cricket lovers, want to see more of; get it sorted, please, administrators of the England and Wales Cricket Board and the ICC.

Look after your players, who are your product.

The South African women’s hockey team rebounded from a terrible start to their crunch World Cup match against Japan on Tuesday night, salvaging a remarkable 3-3 draw from 3-0 down with 20 minutes remaining to avoid elimination from quarterfinal contention in Terrassa, Spain.

Having conceded two goals in the first eight minutes, South Africa then went 3-0 down three minutes into the second half. Hesitant on the ball and porous in defence, the African champions’ hopes were faltering.

But they then fought back superbly with Onthatile Zulu giving the Japanese defence a torrid time with her attacking runs down the flank. South Africa were on the board in the 37^th minute through Kristen Paton’s reflex shot after a rebound from Kayla de Waal’s strike.

The team sitting in 16^th spot on the world rankings continued to pile pressure on the 10^th-ranked Japanese in the final quarter, with another fine run by Zulu earning a 54^th-minute penalty corner. Jean-Leigh du Toit’s slap was brilliantly guided in by Tarryn Lombard to cut the deficit to 1-2.

With two minutes remaining, Zulu won another short corner and Lombard steered the ball home again to complete a remarkable comeback.

“We started very slowly and conceding two goals in the first quarter really set us back,” stalwart goalkeeper Phumelela Mbande said afterwards. “We did well to come back, we knew we were never out of it, but it took pure grit and determination.

“We knew what it meant if we lost, now we are still in it, which we wanted so badly. We will fight even harder against Australia,” Mbande said.

South Africa and Japan both have one point in the standings, but the Cherry Blossoms are currently in third place in Pool D, the last qualifying spot, because they have a goal-difference of minus-two compared to South Africa’s minus-three.

South Africa have conceded seven goals and scored four, and if they can somehow prevent making it an octoplet of shots into the back of their net against Australia in the late game on Wednesday night, then they could pip Japan on goal-difference because they play Belgium, who beat Giles Bonnet’s side 4-1 last weekend.