Ken Borland

I don’t know whether Proteas captain Dean Elgar was boarding or not when he went to St Dominic’s College in Welkom in the early 2000s, but much of his language in the week building up to the second Test against Bangladesh was straight out of the manual of boarding school lingo.

To my horror as I wishfully think of myself as still being young, Elgar was born in 1987, the same year that I matriculated from boarding school.

But to hear phrases like “harden up”, “man up” and “dry your eyes” certainly took me back to my education, both at school and university.

Now I know Elgar’s statement that Test cricket is a man’s game has raised some eyebrows for bordering on sexism, but, as ever, it is important to consider the context and intent of such a declaration. What is far more sexist to me is that the world’s best women cricketers hardly ever play any Test cricket at all these days, which is why such a legend as Mignon du Preez retired this week having played just one Test in her 15-year career.

I also believe Bangladesh have deserved such criticism.

They won the toss at Kingsmead in the first Test, but were too scared to give their batsmen first use of the facilities. This was basically admitted by coach Russell Domingo – who it later emerged had urged them to bat first – when he used words like “uncertainty”, “lack of confidence”,  and “not able to front up” to explain the decision at the toss.

While the inconsistency of the Proteas team suggests they could do with the services of a sports psychologist on the staff, Bangladesh, it seems, should hire a mental toughness coach.

They matched South Africa blow-for-blow for most of the Test match, following on the steel and intent they showed in the ODI series, only to then fold completely in the last two sessions.

I would suggest their problems started when they began to blame the umpires, and judging by the reports coming out of Bangladesh media, some of the team went so far as to accuse Marais Erasmus and Adrian Holdstock of being biased in favour of the Proteas.

Covid has forced the ICC into dispensing with neutral umpires – although it probably is time to reinstate them – and for an umpire of Erasmus’s quality (he is also the reigning ICC Umpire of the Year award-winner), he did not have the best of matches. Holdstock, who has proven he is a quality umpire as well, also made a few mistakes.

But to accuse them of bias was ridiculous, particularly since of the eight decisions overturned on review, four of them were against South Africa.

The Proteas certainly don’t have a reputation for being silent on the field, and we’ve got a real chatterbox in Sarel Erwee, although his talk is more a stream-of-consciousness jumble designed to distract rather than a concerted plan to annoy.

But for Bangladesh to allege that South Africa’s sledging was “unbearable” or “deplorable” does not fit with the reality of what was seen at Kingsmead, either at the ground or for those watching and listening on TV.

The only memorable flashpoint of the Test was when Ebadot Hossain had a go at Elgar, and even that was within the bounds of normal fast bowler grumpiness.

Without detracting from the way Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer weaved their magic in the second innings, it was clear Bangladesh had lost focus and had become distracted by their perceived grievances at the umpires and opposition.

There is a reason teams talk about focusing on the controllables (like your own performance) and not the uncontrollable (what other people are doing or the conditions). Bangladesh’s focus was on matters they could not control and it led to a batting display that rapidly spiralled into ignominy.

There is another phrase from my boarding school days that could be used to describe the tourists in the first Test – sore losers.

Keshav Maharaj took wickets in each of his first three overs of the day to send Bangladesh crashing to a miserable 53 all out and giving South Africa an overwhelming 220-run victory early on the fifth and final day of the first Test at Kingsmead in Durban on Monday.

Left-arm spinner Maharaj finished with 7/32 in 10 overs, the best ever figures for South Africa against Bangladesh, and combined with off-spinner Simon Harmer (9-3-21-3) to send the tourists crashing from their overnight woes of 11/3, their last 7 wickets falling in just 13 overs and 55 minutes.

Overnight batsman Mushfiqur Rahim (0) failed to see out the first over as the fifth ball, a trademark Maharaj delivery that slid straight on with the arm, trapped him lbw.

Liton Das (2) lamely drove Maharaj to mid-on in his next over, but Maharaj went to his eighth five-wicket haul in Tests with a tremendous, almost unplayable delivery that bowled Yasir Ali (5). Quicker and flatter but still drifting in, the ball then ripped viciously across the right-hander and knocked over his off-stump.

Harmer, who took the first four wickets to fall in the first innings, had Mehidy Hasan Miraz (0) caught at slip and top-scorer Nazmul Hossain Shanto was stumped by Kyle Verreynne for 26 to bring the tailenders to the crease.

That went as you would expect with Maharaj wrapping up the innings for the second-best figures of his career, behind his 9/129 in Sri Lanka in 2018.

Bangladesh’s total was their second-lowest ever and the worst at Tests in Kingsmead, the previous mark being India’s infamous 66 all out on a greentop in 1996/97.

New history was witnessed at the ground on Monday and this time it was spinners who you will remember rather than fast bowlers.

Normally before the great North/South derby between the teams based at Loftus Versfeld and Cape Town, Bulls coach Jake White has enjoyed making a few mischievous digs at the opposition, like the harlequin in early pantomime, but on Friday he was refusing to take the bait and very much focused on his own team ahead of their United Rugby Championship match against the Stormers in Pretoria on Saturday.

As White correctly pointed out, the Bulls, while so dominant in domestic rugby, have fared the worst of the South African franchises so far in the URC and are second from bottom. The Stormers are two points and two places above them in 13^th.

“This is a chance for us to get off the bottom of the table,” White said on Friday. “It’s our second North/South derby this week, but our first home game in the URC. I don’t think many teams have played five away games.

“We have some momentum from the two Currie Cup wins, but it’s not just about preparing for Saturday, we’re building for three years’ time. We are still a work in progress, we are still looking to fill certain positions.

“It’s about playing teams like Leinster and Munster; we’re not a long way off but we are off. We have to find some depth and the right player profiles.

“And we’re looking forward to playing a couple of home games now. It looks as if Europe is getting back to normality and the competition will become more balanced. Hopefully by mid-tournament we’ll be more in it in terms of the table,” White said.

Because White has been willing to field many of his URC players in the first two rounds of the Currie Cup, his whole squad for Saturday have had game-time and he is hoping they start well against a Stormers side that has been inactive since being hammered by the Lions 37-19 in Cape Town in early December.

It also means the likes of flyhalf Chris Smith, hooker Johan Grobbelaar, props Gerhard Steenekamp and Mornay Smith and 19-year-old debutant flank Reinhardt Ludwig all have experienced and in-form cover on the bench.

“We have a bit of experience that can come off the bench,” White acknowledged. “We’re trying to balance the whole team and the players coming off the bench will help someone like Reinhardt.

“Playing at 5pm in 30° and at altitude and all our players have played recently – hopefully that will give us a head-start. But the Stormers are just ahead of us on the table and they will back themselves.

“Obviously they’ll be disappointed with the Lions game. If you look at their backline, there are a lot of Sevens players, so they won’t be scared to play. They’ll want space and time though … ” White said.

Bulls team: David Kriel, Madosh Tambwe, Lionel Mapoe, Cornal Hendricks, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Chris Smith, Embrose Papier; Elrigh Louw, Reinhardt Ludwig, Arno Botha, Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. Impact – Bismarck du Plessis, Lizo Gqoboka, Jacques van Rooyen, Janko Swanepoel, Marcell Coetzee, Zak Burger, Morné Steyn, Harold Vorster.

“In our minds we will be back in the game if we get Virat Kohli early tomorrow,” Proteas batsman Keegan Petersen admitted on Wednesday after the Indian captain steered his team to 57/2 and a lead of 70 runs at stumps on the second day of the third Test at Newlands.

Having surrendered a 13-run first-innings lead despite Petersen’s defiant career-best innings of 72, South Africa rocked the Indian second innings by removing both openers with just 24 runs on the board. But Kohli (14*) and Cheteshwar Pujara (9*) then steadied the innings. The pair of experienced batsmen shared a first-innings stand of 62, Kohli going on to bat for four-and-a-half hours, scoring 79, and the Proteas know just how important it will be on Thursday morning to nip their current partnership of 33 in the bud.

“We’re a bit behind the eight-ball and these two batsmen have been a bit of a headache for us,” Petersen said. “Virat is one of the best batsmen in the world, he’s shown that time and time again.

“If we can get him early then it will break open the game, in our minds we will be back in it. Taking a few early wickets on Thursday will be key.”

Petersen initially struggled to establish himself in Test cricket, scoring just 76 runs in his first five innings, but he was not helped by having to come to the wicket with less than 10 runs on the board in all those knocks. There was speculation that he should drop down the order in order to ease his passage into the international game, but he has now scored half-centuries in successive Tests in his beloved No.3 position.

“It has been a challenge, the most difficult attack I’ve ever faced, but I like batting at three, I’ve batted there for most of my career,” Petersen said.

“It’s been tough for the openers on the pitches we’ve played on, and Aiden Markram is just going through a rough patch, but he’s a quality batsman who will pull through.

“But if I can make the No.3 position mine, I’d be very happy,” Petersen added.

Scoring 162 runs in his last three innings there suggests he is well on course for that.