Ken Borland

Springbok centre Lukhanyo Am is not only the Sharks’ captain but he has been the provider of numerous moments of beautiful magic on the field, so wing Sbu Nkosi acknowledges the team are certainly going to miss him against Scarlets in Durban on Friday night, but they have confidence the large hole he leaves will be adequately filled.

Am has left for Japan for a lucrative two-month stint with Kobe Steelers, meaning he will miss the Sharks’ next seven United Rugby Championship matches, returning in time for the last game of the round-robin phase, away to Ulster on May 21.

“It would be very difficult for any team in the world to lose Lukhanyo,” Nkosi said on Tuesday. “But we have very capable replacements and they are learning quickly.

“But it’s a huge loss for any team, Lukhanyo has exceptional quality and the ability to produce some great moments on the field when they are really needed.

“We will take time to adjust, but if each player brings 10% extra then that will more than make up for Lukhanyo’s loss.

“In terms of the captaincy, Siya Kolisi has played a leadership role since he arrived, he’s been very influential and involved. He’ll bring the same energy now, he’s just got the authority of the captain’s title now,” Nkosi said.

The Scarlets have travelled from the rain and temperatures of less than 10° of Llanelli to Durban perhaps expecting the weather to be a bit milder on the coast than it is currently in a place like Limpopo. But the temperature will be pushing 30° in Durban this week with humidity of 85%.

“It’s not gonna happen!” Nkosi laughed when asked about the potential for cooler weather now that summer has entered its last month. “It’s still very hot and humid and the ball is very slippery.

“That’s just how it is and I expect that on Friday night as well. We’ve been training in that, we are moulded in heat and our coaches have us training when the sun is at its highest.

“We want to use the humidity and heat to our advantage. Scarlets are flying from the cold to extremely hot weather.

“But it does not matter where they are placed on the log [12^th], that does not always reflect the quality of a side. We ourselves were in a totally different place on the log three weeks ago, so we will approach them with respect,” Nkosi said.

The Northerns Titans and the Central Gauteng Lions clash at SuperSport Park from Friday in what could be the decisive fixture in deciding this season’s winners of the 4-Day Domestic Series, with both teams looking to field players who have just returned from the Proteas tour of New Zealand.

The Lions, runaway leaders of the four-day competition for most of the season, go into the final round under severe pressure from not just the Titans but also the Eastern Province Warriors.

There is just a 0.48-point gap between the Lions at the top of the log and the Warriors, who travel to Bloemfontein to play the Free State Knights. Northerns are in third place just 6.30 points behind the Lions, so if they beat their Gauteng neighbours and the Warriors are held to a draw by the Knights, then the Titans could claim the four-day crown.

Pivotal to Northerns’ hopes is whether ace off-spinner Simon Harmer, who was in the Proteas squad in New Zealand but did not play, is able to get on the field on Friday. The competition’s leading wicket-taker, with 35 in six matches, is apparently keen to play despite only landing back in South Africa on Thursday afternoon.

With pacemen Dayaan Galiem, Junior Dala and Okuhle Cele all out injured, Harmer would provide some much-needed bite to the attack. In fact, with Tabraiz Shamsi technically available and always keen to show he is not just a white-ball bowler, could the Titans try and surprise the Lions with a spinners’ pitch?

The Lions have lost the most players to the Proteas and have been trying to get permission from CSA to field the likes of Ryan Rickelton and Duanne Olivier, their most successful batsman and bowler respectively. Without them, they have slim pickings to choose from.

Rumours that the Warriors have signed leg-spinner Imran Tahir for the last round of matches are apparently incorrect, but EP coach Robin Peterson will be keeping an anxious eye on the weather. Sources in Bloemfontein say the outlook is for lots of rain, but Peterson said “your guess is as good as mine” when asked about it.

Scenarios

(courtesy official CSA statistician Andrew Samson)

If Lions beat Titans and Warriors don’t win, Lions will finish 1st.

If Titans beat Lions and Warriors don’t win, Titans will finish 1st.

If Lions beat Titans and Warriors win, the team between them with most bonus points will finish 1st.

If Titans beat Lions and Warriors win, the team between them with most bonus points will finish 1st.

If the Lions v Titans match is drawn and Warriors win then Warriors will finish 1st.

Bonus points needed

Assuming that all teams have the same bowling bonus points and results are as above, then in the first 100

overs of their first innings:

Warriors will need to make 25 more runs than Lions to finish above them.

Titans will need to make 292 more runs than Warriors to finish above them.

Titans will need to make 316 more runs than Lions to finish above them.

For every 1 point difference in bowling points between any of these side the run requirements will be adjusted by 50, e.g.

The Proteas may have spent the last couple of days off the field in reflection, but Test vice-captain Temba Bavuma said there was no shelter from the honest, harsh discussions they needed to have in the wake of their humiliating innings-and-276-run defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the first Test in Christchurch.

With the second Test against the reigning world champions starting at the same venue at midnight on Thursday evening South African time, the Proteas need to produce a drastically improved showing after their awful batting, bowling and fielding in the first match.

“We had conversations as a team and they were mostly around honesty surrounding our performance,” Bavuma said on Tuesday. “Losing like that in practically a two-day Test match is not good enough.

“We did not produce the standards we pride ourselves on in all three disciplines. We are all very disappointed and we know we have to improve.

“Yes, our energies were down in the first Test, but that’s no excuse. We have to make sure we’re in a better mental and physical state to compete this week.

“And it starts with being honest. The performance was simply not good enough,” Bavuma said.

Although it may seem like the Proteas are buried under an avalanche of soft dismissals, poor deliveries and dropped catches, Bavuma is still confident they can dig themselves out of their predicament and still level the two-match series, maintaining their proud record of having never lost a series to New Zealand.

“We’ve had to remind the guys that over the last while we have overcome a lot and this is not a foreign situation. We know how to come back when our backs are against the wall,” Bavuma said.

“We do have the character and we can take confidence from how we have performed over the last while, as a team we can take a lot of positives from how we have fought before.

“Last week is now gone and it’s important how we come back. We are preparing as best we can to put our best foot forward.

“The sun has come out and the Hagley Oval pitch should be a bit more pleasant to bat on. We expect conditions to be a bit different,” Bavuma said.

For only the second time under Dean Elgar’s captaincy, South African cricket fans could see a Proteas team take the field without spinner Keshav Maharaj when the first Test against New Zealand starts at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch at midnight on Wednesday, South African time.

The only previous time the Proteas have gone into a game with an all-pace attack under Elgar was against Pakistan at the Wanderers in January 2019, but the gritty opening batsman was just standing in on that occasion for Faf du Plessis.

But since Elgar has been appointed as the official Test captain, he has always had Maharaj in his team, unsurprisingly in the West Indies but also in all three Tests against India earlier this summer on seamer-friendly pitches. The skipper has spoken previously about his reluctance to go into a Test without a spinner, but on the eve of the game in New Zealand, he admitted this was a possibility.

“Whether or not we play the spinner is obviously the hot topic for us, whether there is space for one is one of the bigger decisions we have to make,” Elgar said.

“Conditions won’t necessarily suit a spinner and history shows that a spinner does not have much of a role at Hagley Oval.”

Indeed, New Zealand have confirmed that they will be going into the match with four frontline pacemen and will probably also play two all-rounders who can bowl seam-up in Colin de Grandhomme and Daryl Mitchell.

Apart from settling on the starting XI with coach Mark Boucher and the other selectors, Elgar was also doing the admin on Wednesday of ensuring everyone in the team is on the same page in terms of their mindset going into the Test.

“We’re in a good mental space, although I mighty have answered differently if quarantine had been longer. I’m touching base with the guys and making sure we are all aligned with the goal,” Elgar said.

“The focus must now be more on the team. I’ve spoken to most of the team and the rest I’ll do today, but each guy will be in a different mental space and now we just need to align everybody.

“We knew what we had to fulfill in terms of quarantine, but the last three days have been brilliant, it’s like the players have a new lease on life and we’re all appreciating the outside world more,” Elgar said.

Either way, the Test series is going to see the Black Caps either remedy their terrible record against South Africa or continue their marvellous run at the Hagley Oval.

New Zealand have failed to win any of the 16 series they have played against South Africa, who have won 13 of them. It is the worst record amongst ‘top eight’ nations in cricket.

But the Black Caps have lost just one of their 10 Tests at the Hagley Oval – against Australia in 2016. They have been in rampant form in their last four games there – thrashing Bangladesh and Pakistan by an innings, India by seven wickets and Sri Lanka by 423 runs.