Ken Borland

Two bad days in a row for South Africa at Kingsmead has left them needing a miracle to save the first Test against Australia.

The Ball in Play

Oct 12, 2026

The current Proteas team’s capacity to bounce back from poor performances has been impressive, but after two bad days in a row at Kingsmead, it is going to take something miraculous for them to escape from the first Test against Australia with a draw.

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South Africa go into Tuesday’s final day on 102 for four, chasing 421 for the most unlikely of wins, but more realistically they are going to have to not lose six wickets in at least 75 overs of stern examination from the brilliant Australian attack.

Aiden Markram is holding firm on 45 not out after nearly three hours and 115 balls at the crease. He has Wiaan Mulder for company, with Ryan Rickelton (2), David Bedingham (46), Temba Bavuma (1) and Tristan Stubbs (1) all dismissed and out of the equation.

Keshav Maharaj, who put some of those batsmen to shame in the first innings with his gutsy 34, was the unfortunate player who had to front the media. His bowling has not been much to talk about in this Test – overall figures of 29-0-131-2 – so it was batting that he spoke about, with some honesty.

“We’ve lost a couple of soft wickets again if we’re honest. The application that Aiden has shown is what we’re looking for, but a lot of our dismissals have been self-inflicted rather than due to good bowling. Maybe it’s because of the transition from white-ball cricket and you want to feel bat on ball, which has led to our demise.

“We need to zone in and be strong-minded in terms of shot-selection and match awareness plays a big hand too. Whatever happens, we need to dust ourselves off because there’s still a series at stake. What stands out about this team in the last while has been our ability to find a way in difficult situations. We’re focused on our first task, which is to take care of the first hour tomorrow,” Maharaj said.

What is highly likely is that South Africa will once again be tested by an outstanding attack. The famed Australian quartet is relentless, consistent and highly-skilled. And on Monday Matt Renshaw, fresh from scoring 82 to take his match tally to 272, joined Hazlewood, Cummins, Starc and Lyon in being an absolute handful with his part-time off-spinners.

It was if Renshaw was bowling grenades as he took one for 16 in seven overs, Bavuma being his victim. That was the one South African wicket to fall on Monday for which one could safely give all credit to the bowler.

Renshaw landed his off-break on exactly the right length to have the diminutive Bavuma stretching as far forward as he could, but the delivery turned more than expected, and there was good bounce, an inside-edge going on to the pad and then being snaffled by Nic Maddinson, lunging to his left at short-leg.

As Maharaj correctly pointed out, the other dismissals were down to batsman error.

Rickelton edged behind an attempted hook at a brilliantly-directed Hazlewood bouncer in the fourth over of an innings that was meant to be a rearguard battle for survival and not about flashy strokeplay.

Josh Hazlewood gave Bedingham as strenuous an examination as a proctologist, testing him over and over outside off-stump. Bedingham, despite getting on to off-stump, so he must have known where it was, often sparred well away from his body. Hazlewood kept dragging him across his stumps before the inevitable full in-ducker came and he was trapped plumb lbw for a promising, but ultimately unfulfilling 46.

Stubbs was the last wicket to fall, shortly after Bavuma, and he left the field shouting at himself and little wonder. He reached for a full and wide delivery from Pat Cummins, but was he trying to drive or was he defending? It was the sort of indeterminate shot that is often fatal and he too edged behind.

How Australia, starting the day on 33 without loss and already leading by 139, went about their batting on Monday was similarly clinical.

Nic Maddinson has recently survived cancer, so his controversial selection and then making a 33-ball duck in the first innings were brushed off as he played with tremendous freedom in scoring 48 off 38 balls. He hooked his first ball, a Marco Jansen bouncer the previous afternoon, for four and collected five more fours and two sixes on Monday.

Marnus Labuschagne (37) and Steve Smith (27) added 53 for the third wicket. The former Australian captain was on two when he was belted on the helmet by a fired up Anrich Nortje and, while he lashed the fast bowler through the off-side for three fours soon after, he was being tested for concussion while South Africa batted. He had passed all the tests at the ground, but the Australian medical team will apparently continue the testing until satisfied that he has no symptoms.

Renshaw fell when Smith holed out to off-spinner Simon Harmer, and once again went about his business with clarity and composure. He was understandably more aggressive, however, and once again playing spin superbly, with numerous reverse-sweeps, was how he needed just 99 deliveries for his breezy 82.

Alex Carey (24) and Beau Webster (39 not out) both chipped in, and Cummins’ 32 not out off just 12 balls, hitting Harmer for four sixes in five balls was exactly how to emphasise your sheer dominance over a team that has not been nearly sharp enough.

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Proteas star Tazmin Brits will make her debut for the DP World Lions Ladies team this weekend as #ThePrideOfJozi look to continue their impressive start to the season in the Gauteng derby with the Fidelity Titans at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

Brits was signed from South-Western Districts by the DP World Lions in the off-season and is coming off an outstanding T20 World Cup, where she was the tournament’s second-leading run-scorer behind captain Laura Wolvaardt.

Apart from being a world-class opening batter, the 33-year-old Brits is also a prolific run-scorer at domestic level and her presence in our DP World Lions team could provide that little bit extra that takes our Pride from being runners-up in both the 50-over and T20 competitions last season, to champions.

So far this season, #ThePrideOfJozi have enjoyed two bonus point wins in the HollywoodBets Pro50 Series, while they have won one and lost one of their T20 games.

The batting has largely been led by the middle and lower-order, with the top-order getting starts but so far not converting. Brits and her enormous experience and ability could well change that.

“Now that the Proteas have been back for a while, Tazmin will be joining us and that will be good for our top-order,” coach Shaun Pretorius said. “Hopefully they will now fire. They’ve had a bit of a slump, but we support them and we know they are motivated to build a way through this passage of form.

“The middle and lower-order have been really good, but imagine the freedom they could play with with a good foundation up top. We just need to make sure we take care of that phase, get through the first 10 overs and not allow any soft dismissals. The number of wickets we’re losing is a bit concerning,” Pretorius said.

A Jukskei Derby is always a massive match for DP World Lions Cricket and Pretorius said the Ladies camp is buzzing ahead of their visit to SuperSport Park, especially since the men’s team beat the Titans twice last week to win the CSA T20 Challenge.

“I’m a bit of a nervous man,” Pretorius chuckled, “because the men have set the tone with two wins of note against the Titans. They will also have Proteas back and we don’t look down on teams who are losing, especially if they’re at the bottom because then they will be very hungry and you never know when they will click.

“For us, it’s very important we make sure we execute properly and win the different phases of the game. We’ve had good execution of our plans so far and I’m definitely happy with our performances, but there are still areas for us to improve on, especially in the T20,” Pretorius said.

The Titans are currently situated in fourth place on the Pro50 table and are fifth in the T20 standings. So, playing at home, they will be desperate to turn things around against their arch-rivals.

Our DP World Lions will be without SA U19 stars Fay Cowling, Karabo Meso and Diara Ramlakan, who are currently in Pretoria excelling against the Irish U19s, for Saturday’s 50-over match, but Pretorius will see where they are in terms of energy levels for Sunday’s HollywoodBets Pro20 Series game.

The character of the Bulls was enough for them to weather the loss to injury of key players and the stern challenge of the tenacious Lions side as they registered an impressive 37-22 victory at Ellis Park in their United Rugby Championship derby on Saturday afternoon.

The joy of the bonus point victory was tempered, however, by the awful injury toll the Bulls suffered. Both the co-captains, Ruan Nortje and Elrigh Louw, both key Springbok forwards, face lengthy time on the sidelines.

Nortje limped off the field in the first five minutes with a leg problem, but it was the terrible injury to Louw that was most disturbing. A typically barn-storming run by the 25-year-old had ended with his leg trapped and then twisted. The agonising pain was obvious and he was already in surgery by 5pm.

The in-form Cameron Hanekom was also off the field at the time, for a head impact assessment. If the Bulls seemed shellshocked early in the second half as they tried to overturn a 10-11 deficit from the first half, then it was understandable.

But Hanekom returned and so did the Bulls’ mojo. The bench, boasting four Springboks in Akker van der Merwe, Nizaam Carr, Willie le Roux and Canan Moodie, played a key role in turning the tide and it was the visitors who certainly finished the game the stronger side. The Lions could only put up with the high-tempo battering for so long and the different financial positions of the two teams was clearly seen in the bench depth.

But the temptation to think everything was going against them and it was just not their day was there for the Bulls. But the champion character was what shone through in the end.

“I’m really proud of the team, after all the disruptions and then we went 10-14 down, some teams would have thought ‘well that’s it’. They could have capitulated,” coach Jake White said.

“But it says a lot about their character and they got the bonus point as well, you’ve got to play really well to do that at Ellis Park. We needed our bench to be really strong in terms of accuracy and the bottom line is we had four Springboks on our bench, which is a massive bonus.

“We needed that collective impact to come on and it was probably the best we have finished a game for the last two or three seasons. The Lions looked a bit tired and we could put pressure on them in a very high-tempo match. It was good to see that we had that vasbyt, that we could play at that tempo for the full 80 minutes, and it means a lot to the team to turn a potential loss into a bonus point win,” White said.

The Bulls began well and led 10-0 after 16 minutes. A tremendous steal by prop Gerhard Steenekamp was followed by flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain kicking across the field and into the Lions’ 22; busy wing Sergeal Petersen snaffled the ball out of the air and fed David Kriel on his inside for the opening try.

But the Lions enjoyed a strong second quarter, the Bulls’ efforts being deflated by some ill-discipline, soft mistakes and inopportune turnovers. Two penalties by flyhalf Sam Francis were followed by Henco van Wyk charging over for a try, having gathered a clever little kick by his midfield partner, Rynhardt Jonker.

A sombre mood settled over Ellis Park following the Louw injury, but then an excellent game of rugby emerged. The Lions were leading 17-13 after 53 minutes, but that was when the Bulls bench began to make their presence felt, along with the returning Hanekom and lock Cobus Wiese, who enjoyed an outstanding game.

The Bulls showed their composure and went back to basics, their scrum winning penalties, their forwards carrying powerfully through the middle and using the maul to good effect. Wiese and flank Marcell Coetzee both powered over for tries and it was replacement hooker Van der Merwe who claimed the bonus point as he rounded off a whirling dervish of a lineout drive.

“It’s disappointing because at one stage in the second half I thought we had turned the momentum,” Lions coach Cash van Rooyen said. “But under pressure we just started to do things differently. Some parts of the game we handled really well, others not. But you can’t buy experience and speeding up learning when we only had 205 caps in the whole team is difficult.

“Decision-making, communication and execution in the moment, these are things we work on every day. But inexperience makes a difference,” Van Rooyen said.

HARARE – Michael Hollick kept the door firmly closed on prolific winner Darren Fichardt on Sunday as he shot an impressive final-round 67 to win the FBC Zim Open by two strokes at Royal Harare Golf Club, claiming his second Sunshine Tour title.

The Mount Edgecombe Country Club golfer and Fichardt, the 48-year-old with 18 Sunshine Tour titles and five on the DP World Tour, engaged in a tense final round, last two-ball duel on Sunday, with Hollick starting the fourth round with a one-stroke lead.

But with Hollick showing incredible composure and control, he never allowed the vastly-experienced Fichardt to get ahead. Hollick, who turns 37 on Wednesday, had opened up a three-shot lead by the fourth hole, but, unsurprisingly given his pedigree, Fichardt staged a fierce late charge that saw him close the gap to just one stroke on the 16^th green.

Fichardt, who birdied the par-five 16^th, would have drawn level but for Hollick sinking a clutch 30-foot par-putt. The Durban resident then birdied the 17^th to go two ahead and almost certainly quell Fichardt’s challenge.

“Thanks to Darren for a helluva battle, well-played and we certainly had a good go at each other out there,” Hollick said at the prizegiving.

Fichardt closed with a 68, recovering from a bogey at the par-three second hole with three successive birdies from the fifth to the seventh hole. He dropped another shot at the par-three 11^th, as did Hollick, and they both rebounded with birdies on the par-five 12^th. Fichardt then began to push really hard with birdies on the par-three 15^th and on 16, but Hollick held his nerve and repelled his admirable adversary.

Hollick showed his maturity on the front nine as he started patiently with three pars before embarking on his own hat-trick of birdies from the fourth to the sixth hole. He gained another shot on Fichardt with his birdie on the par-four 10^th and, apart from the par-save on 16, he also showed his BMT with a superb approach to four feet to set up his crucial birdie on the penultimate hole.

Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent also shot a 68 on Sunday to climb into third place on the final leaderboard on 14-under-par, six behind Hollick. His younger brother, Kieran, shot a 71 to finish in a tie for fourth with Sweden’s Fredrik From (67) on 12-under.

A third Zimbabwean finished in the top-10 in Benjamin Follett-Smith (71), who shared sixth place with MJ Viljoen (71) on 11-under-par.