Ken Borland

The Proteas are going to take a lot of confidence from their form in the last eight months, having won Test series against the West Indies and the No.1-ranked Indians, drawn with the reigning world Test champions in New Zealand, won 13 out of 16 T20 internationals and also hammered India 3-0 in an ODI series.

So there are definite signs of regrowth in a team that seems to have turned the corner under Mark Boucher and Dean Elgar.

In a month’s time they will be playing another Test series as they host Bangladesh in Durban and Gqeberha, and coach Boucher is keen to keep climbing the World Test Championship table, having already taken crucial points off the two finalists of the previous edition. The 12 points gained this week in Christchurch move South Africa into fourth place.

“It’s been a tough couple of months without a lot of time at home with our families and then there’s Bangladesh, which will be another tough series,” Boucher said.

“We are still very much in the World Test Championship and we will take confidence from this series in New Zealand and learn from our mistakes in the first Test. But it’s clear we are heading down the right road.”

Given the enormous resilience the team has shown in coming back from 1-0 down against both India and New Zealand, it was only fitting that Boucher should pay tribute to his captain Elgar for his leadership.

“Dean talks a lot but he follows it up with action,” Boucher said. “We knew we would be under pressure in the second game and we chatted about walking towards the challenge, not running away.

“We understood what was required in the second Test and there were a couple of brave calls like Dean winning the toss and batting first, and then batting the way he did. It’s not as if he was batting No.5.

“He’s the opening batsman and he fronted up and walked straight into the pressure. He’s been fantastic and I know the team really look up to him and back him in a very strong way.

“The way we lost the first Test was very disappointing. The guys showed a lot of character though and there was no panic, just the realisation that we just did not rock up for the first game,” Boucher said.

So what to do about Aiden Markram remains the big question for the Proteas to sort out despite the talented batsman’s return to form (almost) in scoring 42 in the first innings of the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch.

While 42 is a big enough score to generally get one’s name in the scores in brief of leading cricket publications, it is also the sort of so-so score that does not really answer any questions, especially when it comes after your 10 previous innings have only realised 97 runs.

Markram should get one more innings at the Hagley Oval, one last chance to ram home his case, but then the Proteas return to South Africa and will begin preparations for their series against Bangladesh, which includes two Tests in April.

Keegan Petersen should be available again after his positive Covid test stopped him travelling, and he was man of the series against India so he should come straight back into the team. And Sarel Erwee made his mark in just his second Test by scoring a great century on the first day of the second Test, so he surely can’t be dropped.

Of course, if Markram goes on to score big runs in the second innings then it could become very awkward for the selectors. Or the Proteas could go back to the far-from-ideal days when they had seven batsmen and just four bowlers.

Of course having to fit too many batsmen into too few places is a very nice problem to have for any team.

After having exploded on to the international stage with 1000 runs in his first 10 Tests in 2017/18, including two centuries against Australia, very few would have predicted that by 2022 Markram would be at a crossroads in his Test career, playing for his future.

But having struggled against spin on the subcontinent, scoring just 84 runs in eight innings in India and Sri Lanka, seam bowlers now seem to have the wood on Markram as well.

Part of the problem would seem to be that the 27-year-old is a victim of his own tremendous talent. He is such a wonderful stroke-player, but one gets the impression sometimes that he is a bit too keen to feel bat on ball.

That was certainly the case in the first innings of the second Test. Having fought hard to get in on a Hagley Oval pitch that was still providing the pacemen with some assistance, Markram was looking set for the type of big score that he is desperate to get behind his name as he went from 17 off 69 deliveries shortly after tea to 42 off 103 balls.

The boundaries were coming and Markram looked to be in firm control of proceedings. And then he contrived to edge a wide half-volley from Neil Wagner into the slips.

New Zealand then managed to get through Erwee’s defences in the next over, but the left-hander’s 108 had brought some much-needed solidity to the top-order and carried the Proteas to a dominant position.

It was an innings of enormous maturity and composure by Erwee. There were shots, like the cover-drive, that he refused to visit until he had been at the crease for over an hour. New Zealand’s probing bowling also took him to some dark places, especially as he neared his maiden Test century before tea.

But the 32-year-old rode the ebbs and flows of his innings superbly. He stuck to his determined game-plan of playing as straight as possible and leaving well.

Astute shot-selection was the hallmark of Erwee’s innings. It is a quality Markram needs to revisit, post-haste, if he is to continue his Test career.

Heinrich Klaasen continued to display the form of old that first made him a Protea back in 2018 as he led the Northerns Titans to a comfortable 33-run win over the North-West Dragons in their CSA T20 Challenge match at St George’s Park on Tuesday.

Having been sent in to bat, Northerns were given a fine start by Quinton de Kock (34 off 17) and Theunis de Bruyn (25 off 19), but they still needed a good finish as they slipped to 78/4 inside the 10^th over.

Klaasen responded with a hard-hit 54 not out off 41 balls, his second half-century of the tournament, taking him to the fourth-most runs [226] at an average of 75.33.

With Donovan Ferreira scoring 37 not out off 35 balls, Northerns posted a highly-competitive 167/4.

Left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy was outstanding with the ball for North-West with 2/14 in his four overs, while Dwaine Pretorius took 1/26.

Veteran left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso then bowled the Titans to victory as his 2/13 in four overs played the major role in North-West limping to 134/7.

All the Northerns bowlers were tight, though, with Aya Gqamane and Dewald Brevis also both picking up a brace of wickets.

In the afternoon game, the Boland Rocks were left hiding their heads in shame as they failed to chase down a target of 165 against the Free State Knights, despite only losing two wickets.

Free State won a thriller by three runs thanks to an outstanding final over of yorkers by Alfred Mothoa (4-0-33-0), who had 11 runs to defend.

Boland always looked in control with Janneman Malan scoring 33 off 25, Pieter Malan batting through for 60* off 51, Clyde Fortuin dashing to 46 off 31 and Christiaan Jonker adding 17* off 13, but in the end it was an ill-judged chase.

Spinner Gregory Mahlokoana (4-0-24-1) and Nealan van Heerden (4-0-30-0) also bowled tightly to leave the Rocks with too big of a mountain to climb in the end.

Free State posted 164/6 thanks to a solid batting display led by Chris Klijnhans (52 off 47) and Raynard van Tonder (38 off 33), while seamer Ziyaad Abrahams took 5/34, the best figures in the tournament so far.

Western Province will top the log if they beat the KZN Dolphins, who are also still in contention to join Northerns and Boland in the semi-finals, in Wednesday’s last day of round-robin matches. If KZN lose, then the winners of the Eastern Province Warriors versus North-West game will be the final qualifiers.

In what could unfortunately become the norm in coming years, 60% of South Africa’s cricket matches in 2021 were T20 internationals, but the Proteas did show an encouraging run of form in the format, culminating in an unfortunate early departure from the World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

South Africa played 23 T20s in 2021 and won 15 of them, making them one of the most successful teams globally over the last year in that format. Considering that they began the year by losing home and away T20 series against Pakistan 2-1 and 3-1, it meant they won 13 of their last 16 matches, an impressive achievement.

The turnaround happened when the Proteas went to the West Indies and beat the defending T20 World Cup champions in that series. With a more settled squad and confidence growing, Ireland could not handle them and were swept aside 3-0, and nor could Sri Lanka, who were also whitewashed on their home turf.

South Africa went into the T20 World Cup in form and they were unlucky to not qualify for the semi-finals having lost just one game in the group stage. That was to Australia in their opening match when a below-par batting performance on an unhelpful pitch for strokeplay left the valiant Proteas attack with just a little too much to do.

Despite South Africa then upsetting the previously unbeaten England team, Australia’s nett run-rate was just a little better than their’s and the eventual champions snuck through.

Wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi was the main man behind South Africa’s T20 success and he took 36 wickets in 22 matches in 2021 at an average of just 13.36 and an economy rate of 5.72; amazing figures that saw him ranked the No.1 T20 bowler in the world for much of the year.

Aiden Markram was a revelation in the shortest format and was the leading run-scorer for the Proteas in T20s in 2021 with 570 at 43.84 and a strike-rate of 148.82. Second to him was Quinton de Kock (524 at 43.66, SR 131.32), a man who hogged the headlines for much of the year.

De Kock was man of the series, with brilliant innings of 141 not out and 96, as South Africa won both Tests in the West Indies, which was the turning point of their year. He also made an ODI century in Ireland.

But it was a day on which he did not take the field which created the most stir. CSA’s board rashly decided to issue a directive that all players must take a knee in support of Black Lives Matter on the morning of their crucial T20 World Cup game against the West Indies. It is an issue that the Proteas had discussed at length without coming to a united way of showing support, but the board made a sudden and unilateral decision without consultation. De Kock opted not to play rather than make the prescribed gesture.

Fortunately all parties then talked it out and, going forward, the national team will all take the knee.

Other players to make strong statements on the field during 2021 were fast bowler Anrich Nortje, potent in the Test matches and one of the best bowlers at the T20 World Cup; Markram across formats and with encouraging gains in his back-up off-spin; Rassie van der Dussen, who finally made his maiden Proteas century with his 123* in an ODI versus Pakistan; Keshav Maharaj, who also led impressively in white-ball cricket when Temba Bavuma was injured; and David Miller, who played some matchwinning innings in limited-overs cricket.