Ken Borland

South Africa’s women’s cricket team head into their first Test match in eight years – and just their 13th overall – in Taunton on Monday when they tackle the side with the widest experience of the format: England.

Monday’s historic encounter will be England’s third Test in just over a year and they have played 97 in all. Most of their team were involved in an Ashes Test against Australia in January.

The Proteas’ preparations for what is really a daunting step into the unknown have been rocked by the unavailability due to injury of leading fast bowler Shabnim Ismail (calf strain) and all-rounder Chloe Tryon (hip). The in-form Ayabonga Khaka will also not be playing because she declared herself unavailable for Test cricket before the start of the tour.

“We would love to have had those three seniors, with their experience and skillsets, but it’s not a big setback,” captain Sune Luus said on Sunday.

“We still have a very good team, the youngsters have shown they can step up in the recent series we’ve played and I have full confidence in them. The team is the future of South African cricket.

“It’s our first Test in eight years and we’re just going to enjoy it as much as we can. We’re picking up the red Dukes ball for the first time and we’re delighted to have the opportunity.

“Test cricket hasn’t always been the biggest thing for women’s cricket, but hopefully we can play more of them in the future,” Luus said.

Playing successful Test cricket will require a range of skills from a Proteas team that are very inexperienced in the long-form game.

“It’s all new for us in Test matches and we’re very excited,” Luus said. “We do not really know what Test cricket is about and how it goes, but it will be a good challenge for our skills.

“You need to concentrate for long periods and you’ve got to be on top of your game. We’ve worked on our game-plans and what is required at certain times.

“It’s going to be a work in progress, we’ll take it session-by-session, we’ll be learning all the time. It’s going to be a great introduction and opportunity.

“It’s a real honour to wear our Test caps for the first time. There are going to be a lot of Test debuts and it’s going to be a special day for us,” Luus said.

• Play starts at 12pm SA time

The timing of the serious knee injury suffered by Bulls flyhalf Johan Goosen was so frustrating that it would be little wonder if Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber was pulling the hair out of the top of his head. If he had any there of course.

The 29-year-old Goosen has played 13 Tests for the Springboks, the last in 2016, and he said on Wednesday that he is hopeful of getting back there. Since being encouraged back into rugby at the Bulls, his exceptional displays last year saw him set to return to the international fold, before he tore his ACL ligament last October. But he is clearly in Nienaber’s long-term 2023 World Cup plans.

“The rehab is going well but I still have two-to-three months to go before I can get on the pitch and train again,” Goosen, who was walking unaided, said at a Castle Lager media launch in Tembisa on Wednesday.

“It’s been tough mentally and I had to have a second surgery about two months ago because something was loose in the knee, so that was the 11^th operation of my career, so I’m used to it.

“Coming back to South Africa, I played well enough that I really thought I had a chance at the Springboks, so I was sad to get injured. But Jacques Nienaber did phone me and ask if I still wanted to play for the Boks.

“I’ve been at the two alignment camps this year and from being a little boy, I just wanted to play in a World Cup. In 2015, Heyneke Meyer said I was going and then didn’t pick me, and in 2019 I had stuff going on off the field,” Goosen said, referring to his controversial retirement from the game.

It really does seem like the experienced flyhalf’s deepest desire is indeed to return to the Springbok squad for next year’s World Cup and, if all goes well and he is back playing in September, then there is plenty of time to earn his recall. There may not be any Currie Cup for him to use to ease back into action though, and it will be straight back into Europe for the former France-based player.

“My new goal is to work really hard and make the World Cup squad. I’m targeting a return in the United Rugby Championship, and hopefully I will just miss the first two or three matches.

“It’s going to be tough in Europe next season because there’s the Champions Cup as well. I played in the Challenge Cup final and even that is a level up from the URC,” Goosen said.

South Africa are in firm control of the second Test against Bangladesh with the tourists needing the wee small matter of 386 more runs, having already lost three wickets, for an unlikely series-levelling victory as they head into the fourth day at St George’s Park.

Having quickly wrapped up the Bangladesh first innings for 217 in less than 20 minutes after lunch on Sunday, earning the Proteas a first-innings lead of 236, South Africa then declared on 176 for six to set the visitors a highly-unlikely 413 to win.

That task became even more daunting when left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj removed Mahmudul Hasan Joy with just the third ball of the innings, wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne parrying the catch to second slip Wiaan Mulder. Joy, having scored an epic century in the first Test, completed a pair in the second.

The delivery to dismiss Joy went straight on and bounced a bit more than expected, but in his second over, Maharaj ripped a delivery from outside off-stump into the pads of left-hander Nazmul Hossain Shanto and had him lbw for 7.

And then, on what became the last ball of the day, Simon Harmer obtained sharp turn and bounce, the ball coming off the shoulder of Tamim Iqbal’s defensive bat and looping to second slip. Tamim was out for 13 and Bangladesh were reeling on 27 for three at stumps.

Another solid, positive top-order display saw South Africa easily set up their declaration as they scored at 4.45 runs-per-over, calling time on the second innings in the 40^th over.

Sarel Erwee (41) and Dean Elgar (26) continued their effective opening partnership with a stand of 60 off just 69 balls, and Temba Bavuma (30) and Kyle Verreynne, with 39 not out off just 30 deliveries, both batted brightly.

Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam took three for 67 in 15 overs and fell just short of becoming the first Bangladeshi bowler to take 10 wickets in a Test against South Africa.

Bangladesh had started the third day on 139 for five in their first innings and Yasir Ali made a pugnacious start by hitting the first three balls of the morning, bowled by Lizaad Williams, to the boundary behind square on the off-side.

Yasir and an obstinate Mushfiqur Rahim added 60 for the sixth wicket but the Proteas attack don’t give up and Yasir was eventually caught-and-bowled by Maharaj for 46.

Just five minutes before lunch, Mushfiqur then played an ill-judged reverse-sweep against Harmer and was bowled for 51.

That opened the door for a collapse of four wickets for just seven runs after lunch, spinners Harmer and Maharaj taking three wickets in three overs.

Harmer finished with three for 39 in 10.2 overs and Maharaj claimed two for 57 in 24 overs, while the contributions of seamers Wiaan Mulder (13-7-25-3) and Duanne Olivier (15-4-39-2) should not be forgotten either.

Sarel Erwee will head to the Hagley Oval in Christchurch next Thursday feeling he is on the verge of being dished up something he has waited a long time for.

And no, it is not a creamy prawn pasta, his favourite meal, at one of the Italian restaurants that surround Hagley Park, to break the monotony of room service in their MIQ hotel.

Instead, it could be a long-awaited Test debut for the 32-year-old as he replaces Keegan Petersen, who most unfortunately had to miss the tour to New Zealand due to a positive Covid test. Proteas captain Dean Elgar recommended the left-handed Erwee as the fill-in No.3 batsman for the second time on Thursday.

“Sarel has been part and parcel of the squad for over a year now, so he’s maybe the favourite to come in,” Elgar said. “Zubayr Hamza has also scored a lot of runs for SA A, so I would say it’s between those two.

“Sarel is a great team man, he’s rolled a lot of energy into his 12^th man duties, he’s earned respect, and if there is a pecking order than I would think he’s next in line.”

Erwee’s batting is stuffed with the same sort of determination and solid defence as his captain. The son of a formidable Natal rugby centre, he is not a small man either and brings a certain presence to the crease.

It will be a tough introduction to international cricket for the Pietermaritzburg product. New Zealand have tended to run rings around their opposition at the Hagley Oval, losing just one of their 10 Tests there. They have been in rampant form in their last four games there – beating Bangladesh and Pakistan by an innings, India by seven wickets and Sri Lanka by 423 runs.

“Their attack may be a little down on pace compared to India’s, but they execute their skills perfectly and use their home conditions to the full,” Elgar said.

“Hagley Oval is known for its pace and bounce, it’s the quickest venue in the country and we know they are going to come out all guns blazing.”

Whatever the final starting XI that gets sent through to CSA by the selectors, the facts of the matter are it is going to be an intense two-Test series. Much like against India, there are going to be frustrations for the Proteas to adapt to on and off the field.

And the Black Caps, the world Test champions, will come hard.

“It’s a bit disappointing that we don’t get to play them a lot because I’ve loved the series I’ve had against them,” Elgar said. “They are fierce competitors who have played brilliant cricket of late.

“It’s going to be a great test for us against a team that is at their peak at the moment. We have a great rivalry with New Zealand.

“The competitiveness of matches against them has been right up there with some of the best. They are a fearsome side and we both play with a lot of pride,” Elgar said.