Ken Borland

Pakistan produced a perfect nine-over blitz with the new ball late on Saturday afternoon to bowl themselves back into the contest at the end of the third day of the first Test against South Africa at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

Having seemingly dominated the contest on the first two days, the Proteas dismissed Pakistan for 237 in their second innings, which with their 90-run first-innings lead meant they needed just 148 for victory and a guaranteed place in the World Test Championship final.

But in a torrid 50 minutes before bad light came to their rescue, South Africa crashed to 27 for three, Pakistan roaring back into the contest thanks to opening bowlers Mohammad Abbas and Khurram Shehzad.

Aiden Markram, so impressive in the first innings when he scored 89, is still there on 22 not out and looking good. His captain, Temba Bavuma, faced just one delivery before stumps. Their’s will be a vital partnership on the fourth morning.

Tony de Zorzi (2), Ryan Rickelton (0) and Tristan Stubbs (1) were all trapped lbw as the Proteas slumped to 19 for three. The modes of dismissal perfectly illustrated how well Abbas and Khurram bowled: they pitched the ball up and targeted the stumps, while showing their skills by getting considerable movement off the seam.

Left-handers De Zorzi and Rickelton were both targeted from around the wicket. De Zorzi tried desperately to get outside off-stump against Abbas, but the 34-year-old master manipulator of the ball jagged a delivery so far back into the batsman, and the delivery kept a touch low, that the opener was doomed.

Rickelton tried an open stance against Khurram’s mode of attack and, stepping into the ball, tried to punch it straight down the ground. But again the movement off the deck was so much as Khurram seamed the ball past his inside edge and struck him on the pads. Umpire Nitin Menon is not known for giving easy lbws, but this was so plumb it was surprising he turned down the appeal. The jubilant Pakistanis reviewed and were rewarded.

Then, just seven deliveries before play was stopped, Stubbs was trapped lbw by Abbas, who angled the ball into the right-hander and then straightened it past the outside edge and struck him on the back pad.

Marco Jansen had earlier shone with the ball as his six for 52 in 14 overs bowled Pakistan out in 59.4 overs. But he still cut a dissatisfied figure after the effort and he admitted that, despite his third five-wicket haul and his second in three Tests, it had been a struggle.

“I’ve struggled the whole game, to be honest. I haven’t been as consistent as I should have been in terms of line and length. But the wickets are what’s important at the end of the day. You just have to try stay in the battle, not give up and not have any negative body language.

“Not everything is going to click every day, and then it’s all about how you can influence the game positively for your team. It’s tricky when that happens because you train every day to hit that off-stump line, but it’s not about how you feel, it’s about how you impact the game positively. You have to find a way to perform.

“In the first hour today, the pitch felt a lot flatter and the ball didn’t move much. Now it nipped quite a bit when we were batting, plus one or two shot up or kept low. We bowled a touch too full or too short, but 148 really should not be too much on this pitch.”

Pakistan’s success late in the day showed up how poorly South Africa had bowled in extended patches earlier in the day, and especially with the new ball when Pakistan began their second innings after tea on the second day.

Resuming on 88 for three on Saturday morning, thanks to Jansen making two strikes in an excellent spell late on Friday, Pakistan cruised into the lead by lashing 64 runs in the first 14 overs of the third day, when play began at 1.40pm due to morning rain.

Babar Azam went to fifty for the first time in 20 innings dating back to December 2022, and with Saud Shakeel also looking set for a big innings, they had South Africa firmly on the back foot. But an ill-judged, loose cut shot by Babar (50), hitting a short and wide delivery from Jansen straight to deep point, was a vital moment in the Test.

It ended a 79-run partnership for the fourth wicket and shifted the momentum.

From 153 for three after the first hour of play, Pakistan had slumped to 212 for eight by the end of the first session.

That they made it to 237 and a lead that has at least kept them in the game, was thanks to Saud. Batting with excellent judgement, ensuring that his positive intent never strayed into the recklessness that typified the dismissals of Babar, Mohammad Rizwan (3), Salman Agha (1), Aamer Jamal (18) and Naseem Shah (0), the 29-year-old scored 84 off 113 balls.

With his two wickets, Kagiso Rabada joined Dale Steyn as the leading wicket-taker in Tests at SuperSport Park with 59 scalps each. Rabada has taken his in just nine Tests, at an average of 17.96. Steyn needed 10 Tests for his 59 victims, with an average of 17.94.

It is just one of numerous statistics that show that Rabada should be treated with as least as much reverence as Dale Steyn, even though he was not at his best in the second innings.

With 121 more runs needed and seven wickets in hand, the Proteas will be mindful of withstanding a huge effort with a still-new ball from Pakistan on the fourth morning. With a deep batting line-up – Corbin Bosch scored 81 not out from number nine in the first innings – they will still be favourites to win if Markram and Bavuma can bat through the first hour.

To lay up and play it safe or to take on the shallow, sloping 18^th green is always the question golfers face at the end of their round at Leopard Creek, and on Sunday young Ryan van Velzen made the wrong choice and paid the price as he let the Alfred Dunhill Championship title slip from his grasp.

Shaun Norris, who was six shots back at the start of the final round, was the beneficiary in Van Velzen’s mental implosion, claiming arguably the most prestigious title of his career, as his tremendous five-under-par 67 took him to 13-under-par for the tournament.

Van Velzen was on 13-under as he reached the final hole, a maiden DP World Tour title in sight in just his third tournament as a fully exempt card-holder on the European circuit. A fantastic drive saw him split the fairway and take advantage of the downhill slope. But then the 23-year-old decided to go for the green with his second shot, and his ball bounced off the firm surface and over the back into the water surrounding the famous island green.

Needing a birdie to win the championship, the sensible play for Van Velzen was surely to lay up down the left of the fairway, opening up a comfortable wedge with lots of green to work with towards the back right pin-location. But instead of having a 15-footer to win, with par enough to put him in a playoff, Van Velzen was left with a high-pressure 15-footer for par just to stay alive in the tournament.

Unfortunately for one of South Africa’s great young talents, the putt slid past the hole and he was left in a tie for second place with John Parry (69) and overnight leader Marcus Kinholt on 12-under-par. Van Velzen shot level-par 72 on Sunday, going out in 34 as he birdied the third, fourth and sixth holes, but also dropped shots on the par-five second and par-three seventh. On the back nine, his error of judgement on the last hole was his second bogey, while the only birdie he could gather as the pressure mounted was on the par-four 14^th.

Norris, meanwhile, was intent on making a charge. The 42-year-old South African eagled the par-five second to immediately climb up the leaderboard. He picked up further birdies on the sixth and eighth holes, but they sandwiched a double-bogey on the par-three seventh, when he landed in the water.

Norris was inspired, however, on the back nine as he birdied the 11^th,13^th and 15^th holes, and then parred his way home in a bogey-free finish. He then had to wait more than an hour to see if his clubhouse lead of -13 would be overtaken.

“I tried to stay calm, just asking my wife how the kids are and what are our dinner plans. I had a target of 14 or 15-under in mind, thinking if I can post that early, then the leaders will have to chase that and the last four or five holes at Leopard Creek are very tricky. But I didn’t think 13-under would be strong enough,” Norris said after winning his second DP World Tour title and his fourth in South Africa.

“Words can’t describe the unbelievable feelings that are going through me. Thanks to God, my wife and my family because this last year has been very tough, with lots of ups and downs, it’s been all over the place. I’m over the moon.

“I stuck to my own thing, I focused on every shot and doing what I needed to do. The good start was massive, it puts you into a nice rhythm and I was very happy with the eagle. But then I made a blunder on seven, but I told myself not to worry about it, just let it happen,” an obviously emotional Norris said.

Angel Ayora, just 20 years old and playing his first season on the DP World Tour, raced to 14-under-par with four birdies in his first five holes. But a bogey on the par-four eighth would portend a troubled back nine. The Spaniard still reached the final hole on 12-under-par though, but was another to choose badly and fall victim to the folly of youth as he too went for the green in two from far back in the fairway, also landing in the water and finishing with a bogey.

That left him in a tie for fifth place with Darius van Driel on 11-under-par. South Africa’s Keenan Davidse produced one of the best rounds of the day, a 68, to finish on 10-under-par, in a tie for seventh with Andy Sullivan (70), Dale Whitnell (71) and Martin Couvra (71).

They may not quite have ridden a wave to success in terms of winning trophies, but our DP World Lions women’s team were deservedly buoyant at the end of a 2023/24 season that saw them finish runners-up in both the one-day and T20 competitions.

Coach Shaun Pretorius expressed his delight at the progress the team has made and said the highlight for him was the improvement shown in the 50-over game, where they mounted a stirring charge up the standings in the second half of the season. Considering they were in fifth place at the end of November, and some people may have been calling for the lifeboats, to be in contention for the title in the last round of fixtures was a remarkable effort.

“If you measure where we were last season, in the 50-over competition we were down at the bottom, then it was a massive accomplishment to finish second. The One-Day Cup was definitely the highlight for me, to come back to second and really fight for that trophy showed the immense progress we’ve made and the respect we showed the format,” Pretorius said.

“Our ground fielding improved exceptionally well, we caused a lot more run outs this season, and we also chased down more than 250 twice. We beat Western Province at Newlands, where they are normally unbeaten, and we showed great fight in the ‘final’ against the Dolphins, but unfortunately could just not get over the line.”

Pretorius says next season there will need to be a similar shoulders-to-the-wheel attitude for T20 cricket; even though the DP World Lions finished second, they were nine points behind winners Western Province, a gap they are all keen to eliminate.

“In terms of T20, there are a few more tweaks needed in our game-plan. But the buy-in was evident this season in terms of the brand we are going for. The ladies were not scared to take chances, they played with higher energy and were more positive. You could see the fight in the team, especially among the younger players,” Pretorius said.

The coach had special praise for captain Kgomotso Rapoo and the burden she bore in not only leading the team, but also the bowling attack, as well as contributing valuable runs. The young skipper, who turns 22 on May 16, was the DP World Lions’ leading wicket-taker in the one-day competition, taking 13 wickets, with the next best being Relebohile Mkhize’s seven. Spinner Rapoo also took seven T20 wickets, second-best to Mkhize’s eight, in the T20 competition, conceding just 6.00 runs an over.

Rapoo also averaged 25.25 with the bat in 50-over cricket, at a strike-rate of 87.06.

“Kgomotso was phenomenal and it’s great to see the player she is growing into,” Pretorius said. “The type of leadership she brought and her bowling really inspired the team. She just never gave up, she never believes the team is beaten and she showed that with her better than a run-a-ball half-century in the last one-day match against the Dolphins that nearly won the game after we were well out of it.”

The 2023/24 season was also a great success for veteran batter Kirstie Thomson, who showed she remains as fruitful as ever with the bat as she averaged 51.66 in the One-Day Cup and was the leading run-scorer in the T20s with 253 at an average of 42 and a strike-rate of 117.

Pretorius was also happy for Nonkululeko Thabethe, who enjoyed a vastly improved season as she topped the 50-over run-scorer’s list with 299, including three half-centuries, and also made 114 T20 runs at a strike-rate of 99.13.

For those looking to the future, there were also good contributions from Madison Landsman, Jenna Evans, Karabo Meso and Relebohile Mkhize, with Pretorius predicting a bright future for the #PrideOfJozi’s young brigade.

Any team that can call on all that talent, as well as the input of Proteas stars Ayabonga Khaka, Tumi Sekhukhune and Sinalo Jafta, and the experience of Sunette Viljoen-Louw, is bound to shine.

Pretorius said any doubts that the DP World Lions would not be at the forefront of the women’s game when it turned professional have been dispelled by the excellent season past.

“You can really see that the women’s game has been uplifted and it has been a huge accomplishment made possible by all the support we have received from the management and staff of the DP World Lions,” Pretorius said.

The cricket season just past has seen Wiaan Mulder freed from his cell of self-imposed pressure and doubt, and the Central Gauteng Lions all-rounder’s reward has been a return to the Proteas T20 squad, albeit for the warm-up series against the West Indies in Jamaica at the end of this month and not the World Cup.

The Lions were the outstanding domestic team of the summer, winning both the four-day competition and the CSA T20 Challenge that ended last weekend in a final at the Wanderers, with the Gautengers easing past the KZN Dolphins by seven wickets with 14 balls to spare.

Mulder was at the forefront of that successful chase, blazing his way to a ferocious 55 not out off just 26 balls, with four sixes. It capped a superb tournament for the 26-year-old, who scored 248 runs at an average of 35.42 and a strike-rate of 139.32. Mulder also took 11 wickets and conceded just 7.10 runs-per-over, making him the only player to appear in the top-20 of both the batting and bowling averages.

It followed his destructive performances in the SA20 league, where he scored 297 runs at an average of 37.13 and a strike-rate of 157.14 for Durban Super Giants.

In the Lions’ triumphant four-day campaign, Mulder was their leading run-scorer with 549 at 54.90, which included a couple of centuries. He also claimed 16 wickets at an average of 26.50.

Little wonder then that the Proteas have come calling again. He played in the ODI series against India last December, but Mulder is set to play his first T20 international since September 2021 in Sri Lanka.

But in a candid interview before his selection was announced this week, Mulder admitted that he had not made the most of his previous Proteas call-ups.

“The biggest thing for me at international level is mental. I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself, which is made worse when you think every game could be my last,” Mulder said after the Lions’ T20 triumph.

“I do my best when I am just given the freedom to go out and play; unfortunately I’m an over-thinker and then I try too hard and get a bit down on myself. I’ve done relatively well with the ball for the Proteas, but I haven’t really shown what I can do with the bat. But maybe my time will come in the next couple of years,” Mulder said.

The all-rounder’s mantle is a tough one to bear in South African cricket because we have been blessed with arguably the greatest of them all – Jacques Kallis – as well as a succession of legends who could both win matches with the bat and double as a proper fast bowler: Mike Procter, Clive Rice, Kallis, Lance Klusener and Shaun Pollock have spoilt us.

Mulder does not bowl express pace, but he is a very handy practitioner who can fulfil a variety of roles. The St Stithians product says the presence of another great – Allan Donald – on the Lions coaching staff has helped him enormously in terms of growing his skills and even becoming a little quicker.

“Allan Donald has been massive for us and for me personally. I’ve been working with him to get more energy behind the ball, being able to bowl back-of-the-hand deliveries. It’s difficult bowling in the powerplay at the Wanderers, the ball really flies here, so I’ve had to up-skill a lot.

“I feel like I’m bowling well and it’s nice to be consistently bowling. Not bowling five matches in a row in the SA20 gets a little frustrating,” Mulder said.

The up-skilling Mulder has done on his batting will also hopefully pay off at international level.

“Russell Domingo [head coach] said there were certain things that have to get better in our game and there was an expectation to up-skill. There was a lot of hard work in the transition period after he became coach.

“And you could see when Reeza Hendricks and I were batting together in the final, we made sure the required rate never ran away from us even though we weren’t hitting boundaries. We were getting the ones and twos and making sure there were no dot-balls,” Mulder said.