Ken Borland

Many people regard Chris Gayle as the greatest T20 batsman ever and Brendon McCullum did so much to popularise the format with his record-breaking feats in the early days, and now Reeza Hendricks has joined that illustrious pair as the only batsmen to score four successive half-centuries in internationals between Test-playing nations.

McCullum did it first against the West Indies, Australia and India (two) in 2008/9, followed by Gayle, who passed fifty in four consecutive innings against New Zealand (twice), Australia and England in 2012.

Hendricks will have the chance to claim the record for himself when South Africa play Ireland in the second T20 in Bristol on Friday night, having added to his 57, 53 and 70 against England with a brisk 74 off 53 balls against Ireland in Bristol on Wednesday evening, earning himself another Man of the Match award.

“I wasn’t aware of the record, but those are big names to rub shoulders with, to be mentioned in the same group as them is really special,” Hendricks said after his innings, which set up a 21-run win.

“A lot of work has gone into the run. I’ve seen how T20 has evolved and it’s a mindset shift as well. That’s the way the coach wants us to play.

“Starting the tour well gave me confidence and you just take that forward with you. There’s no secret to how it happens, I just go about my business and try and follow my process.

“It’s the nature of the game, how it goes sometimes. I’ve got on a good run and momentum is on my side. Hopefully that can continue in the next game against Ireland,” Hendricks said.

Aiden Markram lashed 56 not out off 27 balls in partnership with Hendricks, bringing up three successive half-centuries for the second time in his career (he first did it against Pakistan in Gauteng last year), so he can also join Gayle and McCullum on Friday.

The other South Africans to have scored a hat-trick of T20 fifties are Quinton de Kock, in the West Indies last year, and Hashim Amla, against England (two) and Australia in 2016.

De Kock has, of course, scored many T20 runs for South Africa – his 1887 runs is second only to JP Duminy’s 1934. But he has made just 129 runs in his last 10 innings; he was run out for just seven on Wednesday night, the second time he has suffered that dismissal in recent times.

Just has Hendricks has hit a wave, so De Kock is in a trough and the in-form opener can sympathise.

“The game can quickly turn and then you’re in the dark side,” Hendricks said. “Unfortunately Quinny is on the other side of things, but he just needs one good innings and things will turn.

“We know what quality he has and it’s just a matter of time before it all clicks for him.”

With the rest of the South African batsmen making merry in the UK, Friday night in Bristol would be a good time for De Kock to break his run of low scores.

There is no doubt the Bulls players and management crave the sort of pedigree and success in European rugby that Leinster enjoy, and coach Jake White is hoping upsetting the Irish giants in their United Rugby Championship semi-final in Dublin on Friday is the first step on that path.

Leinster have won the European Champions Cup four times, second only to Toulouse (5), and the Pro14 competition (the URC’s predecessor) eight times including the last four tournaments in a row. They also topped the final URC log by six points.

But while it’s obvious how much White respects Leinster, it’s also one of the great joys of sport that hot favourites are sometimes upset by the underdogs in knockout matches. It’s those games the fans live for, and the former World Cup winning coach is hoping Friday night is one of those days for the Bulls.

“Leinster are an incredible team, to put it in perspective, Sean Cronin, their reserve hooker, has played 206 games for them and Jonny Sexton has played 183. Together they have probably played more matches than our entire squad and they are both on the bench.

“We all want to become like Leinster in terms of our structures and we have massive respect for them. Who else has players like Cronin, Sexton, Cian Healy and Ciaran Frawley on the bench?

“Leinster used 60 players in this season’s URC, which is 16 more than us. Those learnings mean you will be so much better next year and after that. For us it’s about building a team over the next couple of years so we can be one of the strongest clubs in world rugby.

“But people follow sport because there’s always a chance, the players believe they can do it and I want them to give it a real crack. We’ve got confidence that on our day we can win,” White said.

For the upset to happen though, it’s going to be crucial for the Bulls to absorb the early blows Leinster, at their formidable RDS Arena, are going to rain down on them.

“We have to start well, Leinster score most of their points in the first 25 minutes,” White said. “It’s very difficult to play catch-up against them, especially at their home ground.

“La Rochelle stayed in the game well in the Champions Cup final a fortnight ago, but the last time we were here, we looked again and we were 15 points down.

“But it will be different this time because we won’t be overawed, we are more controlled now and we have more settled combinations.”

Having bished-and-bashed their way into the last four, there is no pressure on the Bulls, and whatever they get out of Friday night’s game will be a bonus.

“I think we have surpassed everything we were meant to do already,” White said after naming an unchanged starting XV on Thursday. “Now we see if we can live with the best standard of European clubs.”

Bulls: Canan Moodie, David Kriel, Cornal Hendricks, Harold Vorster, Madosh Tambwe, Chris Smith, Zak Burger; Elrigh Louw, Arno Botha, Marcell Coetzee, Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements -Bismarck du Plessis, Simphiwe Matanzima, Robert Hunt, Janko Swanepoel, WJ Steenkamp; Embrose Papier, Morne Steyn, Kurt-Lee Arendse.

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.