Ken Borland

Routing the opposition for just 53 in 55 minutes on the final day made for a memorable triumph for the Proteas over Bangladesh on Monday, but the fact the remarkable victory in the first Test happened at Kingsmead will add to the elation for Dean Elgar and his team.

Keshav Maharaj destroyed the Bangladesh batting with 7/32 in 10 overs, the best ever figures for a South African bowler against them, and was ably supported by Simon Harmer (9-3-21-3) as the Proteas surged to victory by 220 runs.

It is only the Proteas’ second win at Kingsmead in their last 10 Tests there dating back to 2009; as a venue it had become a nemesis for them and finally enjoying a tremendous win at their hoodoo ground no doubt contributed to the emotion the players displayed.

“I’ve caught quite a few hidings here,” Elgar, who seemed to be choking back tears during the post-match presentation, said later. “This is the first Test I’ve been part of a winning side here.

“So it’s nice to have victory on our side for a change. The way we played is not the style we are generally used to or the way we want to play, but we showed a lot of character and the resources to adapt.

“Fast bowling is still our prime source of attack, but we play quite a lot in the subcontinent so it’s great to have two spinners bowling in tandem like Keshav and Simon did.

“How awesome was it to see them have the ball on a string and absolutely dominating. It was great to see them competing at such high levels and I think most batting line-ups would have had a tough task against them,” Elgar said.

South African cricket has certainly undergone a sea change in terms of mindset towards using spinners. Given the assistance that an excellent Kingsmead pitch also provided the seam bowlers, Elgar could have resorted to type and backed his pacemen more, especially with the new ball.

“Even if the IPL guys were here, Keshav and Simon would still have bowled most of the overs,” Elgar stated. “My style of captaincy is to play positive cricket and to be ruthless.

“It’s about making bold, brash decisions to take the players out of their comfort zone. It was purely my gut feel to give the spinners the new ball, and the coaches allow me to do me during the game.

“I want to see players put their hands up and make big contributions for the team. I could have bowled the seamers, but I wanted to be ruthless.

“It’s about exposing the players to the level I expect them to play at, and the only way guys coming in are going to know what is needed at this level is through exposure,” Elgar said.

There was more relief than elation for Cell C Sharks coach Gary Gold after his team bounced back from an opening loss to secure an impressive bonus-point win over the Emirates Lions  in their weekend SuperRugby match at Kings Park.

“I think relief is the word, it’s certainly not a big celebration. It’s such early days now, you can throw all these cliches around and say you move on from a loss like last week. But you don’t really move on from a loss like that. It was disappointing and really it was our own fault.

“We didn’t perform well enough last week, so it was weighing heavily on our minds. That’s the psychological challenge you have as a coach, it’s hopefully to give the players confidence that they’re good enough and they can come back from something like that,” Gold said after the Sharks’ 29-12 triumph.

The scrum was the outstanding facet of play for the Sharks, with the Du Plessis brothers, Jannie and Bismarck, showing their class and being ably assisted by loosehead Dale Chadwick as the highly-rated Lions set-piece was dismantled.

Lions coach Johan Ackermann pinpointed Bismarck du Plessis’ return at hooker for the dramatic improvement in the Sharks scrum.

“Bismarck made the big difference there,” said Ackermann. “He outsmarted our young front row and was exceptional. Those scrum penalties against us were very disappointing, we are far better than that, but credit must go to the Sharks.”

For the Sharks to score four tries in sodden conditions that almost saw the game postponed was also highly impressive and Gold admitted it was far more than he had hoped for.

“I didn’t ever imagine we would score four tries in those conditions, but I’m very grateful it did end up that way. I thought we managed the game well to be able to keep the momentum that got us to those opportunities that led to the tries.

“I was happy with the urgency and the general play all round. So I’m very proud of the performance,” Gold said.

The former Springbok forwards coach also praised Bismarck du Plessis for his display, especially since his shoulder is still troubling him.

“His presence was a factor, there’s no doubt about it, because we know what a world-class player he is for so many reasons. He threw into the lineouts particularly well today, he led the team well and obviously he stabilised our scrum,” Gold said.

Other high points for the Sharks were the burgeoning relationship between halfbacks Pat Lambie and Cobus Reinach, which looked a marriage made in heaven in conditions in which their tactical play was always going to be vital.

Lambie made liberal use of the crosskick to set up two of the Sharks’ tries, while opposite number Marnitz Boshoff failed to adapt his game-plan to the wet conditions, and the superb displays of the Du Plessis brothers, lock Pieter-Steph du Toit, Reinach and Lambie are surely not going to go unnoticed by Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer with the World Cup in the northern hemisphere later this year.