Ken Borland

Rilee Rossouw batted with power and precision and Tabraiz Shamsi bounced back superbly from his mauling in the first match as South Africa levelled the T20 series with an impressive 58-run win over England at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Thursday night.

Given how comprehensively they were outplayed in the first T20, the Proteas surprisingly fielded an unchanged XI and Rossouw, who scored just 4 in his comeback match, made the most of his second chance with a fiery 96 not out off 55 balls leading the tourists to a sizeable 207/3 after they had been sent in to bat.

Wrist-spinner Shamsi, who went for 49 runs in three overs in the Bristol battering, was the key bowler for South Africa, taking 3/27 in his four overs. That included the key wicket of Moeen Ali, who blasted England’s fastest ever T20 half-century in the first match and looked in similar touch in Cardiff as he blitzed 28 off 17 balls before Keshav Maharaj took a brilliant catch, running and diving at long-off.

It typified a vastly improved fielding effort by the Proteas as well, and when Sam Curran (2) fell to the same combination in the same over, England had slipped to 92/5 after 11 overs.

Earlier, Reeza Hendricks continued to fulfil the desire of the Proteas management for more aggression up front, stroking a fluent, impressive 53 off 32 balls up front.

He dovetailed brilliantly with Rossouw, the pair adding 73 in 7.4 overs for the second wicket.

The left-handed Rossouw showed his power game as he launched five sixes, but he also produced some superb touches that created some of his 10 fours.

Captain Jos Buttler gave England the rapid start they wanted with 29 off 14 balls, but Andile Phehlukwayo, another who rebounded extremely well with three wickets, had him caught off a leading edge.

Spinners Shamsi and Maharaj, with the important wicket of Dawid Malan (5) then did their job, and it was left to the outstanding Lungi Ngidi (2.4-0-11-2) to wrap up the game, England being bowled out for 149 inside 17 overs.

Brace yourself Pommies! The Proteas began their tour of England with an emphatic all-round performance as they beat the world champions by 62 runs in the first ODI at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday, a powerful batting display being backed by a dominant showing by the spinners and some skilful, impressive fast bowling.

South Africa had won the toss and elected to bat first in a heatwave that had the ground authorities put precautionary measures in place for spectators and extra drinks breaks allotted for the players.

A sensible start by Janneman Malan and Quinton de Kock (19) saw the Proteas reach 35 in the first six-and-a-half overs, after which Rassie van der Dussen came in and produced one of his greatest innings.

The 33-year-old got going from the outset of his innings, but seemingly without extending himself too greatly as he cruised to his half-century off just 45 balls.

Malan went to a composed half-century himself, but then struggled a bit with his pacing in the middle overs, ending with 57 off 77 balls.

Aiden Markram backed himself and was attacking from the start, but struggled to get the right tempo to his innings as he perhaps went a bit too hard at the ball early on. But as soon as he went back to his natural classy game he flourished, smashing 77 off 61 balls as he and Van der Dussen added 151 for the third wicket off just 123 balls.

Van der Dussen went to the most unflustered of centuries, needing just 90 balls to do it, as he pushed himself hard in the sweltering heat, placing the ball brilliantly, and running hard because he only hit nine fours as he posted a career-best 134 off 117 balls.

Both he and Markram fell in the 46^th over bowled by Liam Livingstone, which left new batsmen in David Miller (24* off 14) and Heinrich Klaasen (12) to bat out the last four overs, and they got South Africa to 333/5 when 350 was probably on the cards.

The Proteas might have been a little concerned at the break, but their attack did superbly.

Although England openers Jason Roy (43) and Jonny Bairstow (63) added 102 for the first wicket, they were limited to just 47 in the powerplay as Lungi Ngidi and captain Keshav Maharaj were excellent up front.

South Africa suffered a blow when seamer Andile Phehlukwayo collided with Maharaj in the field and left the field for stitches after bowling just three overs. It meant Markram had to come into the attack but far from leaving the attack deficient, it only strengthened the Proteas’ hand. Markram (4-0-25-2) claimed the key wickets of Bairstow (63) and Ben Stokes (5) in his last ODI, both lbw as they missed sweeps.

Fellow spinners Maharaj (10-1-42-1) and Tabraiz Shamsi (9-0-53-2) then strangled the middle-order, but Joe Root kept England’s hopes alive with a sweetly-struck 86 off 76 balls.

But fast bowler Anrich Nortje (8.5-0-53-4) bowled Root and claimed two other wickets in the 45^th over to seal the impressive victory as England were bowled out for 271 in the 47^th over.

Coming after their impressive ODI series win over South Africa, the opening day of the Test series was a tough one for Bangladesh as they probably made the wrong decision at the toss by sending the Proteas in to bat and then bowled poorly in the morning session to compound the mistake.

Openers Dean Elgar (67) and Sarel Erwee (41) added 113 for the first wicket, before Bangladesh fought back in the afternoon to reduce the hosts to 180/4. But Temba Bavuma (53*) and Kyle Verreynne (27*) then made sure it was South Africa’s day at Kingsmead as they added an unbeaten 53 to take the Proteas to 233/4 at stumps.

Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo admitted a lack of confidence in batting first and an inexperienced attack was the cause of their woes. Pacemen Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain and Khaled Ahmed only have 25 Test caps between them.

“We’re still trying to improve our Test cricket and there is still a bit of uncertainty over our batting on pitches with pace and bounce, that was behind the decision to bowl first,” Domingo revealed on Thursday evening.

“We’re trying to address the confidence of the batsmen so they are able to front up when batting first on wickets that are tough. There was not too much in the decision and it would have been nice to actually start at 10am because the delay meant the clouds had burned off.

“A few of the batsmen are playing their first Test here and we’re trying to get them to have confidence in their ability, but there’s still a long way to go.

“We also have a very inexperienced attack and we bowled poorly in the first session. Obviously the guys were a bit nervous or over-eager, on a pitch they thought would assist them. But we were much better after lunch,” Domingo said.

The Bangladesh attack did clearly miss left-arm quick Shoriful Islam, one of the stars of the ODI series.

“Shoriful is injured, he has an ankle niggle which is why he missed selection, and is back is troubling him too,” Domingo revealed. “With only four bowlers, we could not risk one who was 50/50.

“The pitch has not done as much as we thought it would, but Khaled ran in hard, he bowled one ball at 150km/h and his attitude was fantastic. He showed good pace and control.

“We kept it nice and tight in the last session and the new ball is just four overs away. Obviously it will be fantastic if we can get one or two early wickets with it.

“If we can keep the Proteas to around 320 then we’re very much in the contest,” Domingo, a former South Africa coach, said.

It looked like being another instalment in the Bulls’ woes on tour given their messy start, but the Currie Cup champions enjoyed an impressive second half as they hammered Zebre Parma 45-7 in their United Rugby Championship match at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi on Friday night.

Where the Bulls put things right

Having wasted half-a-dozen try-scoring chances through over-eagerness and impatience, the Bulls began demolishing their Italian opposition as soon as they turned to a more measured, patient build-up; attack by instalments if you like.

Allowing their massive ball-carriers up front to be more direct, the Zebre defence couldn’t just rush up on to the backline as they were doing before. Suddenly the Bulls were getting behind the gain-line with regularity and opening up the space for flyhalf Chris Smith to pull the strings and allow centre Lionel Mapoe and fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse to fulfil the attacking threat they displayed throughout.

Much to be happy about at flyhalf

Much has been said about the Bulls’ flyhalf crisis with Morne Steyn and Johan Goosen both unavailable at the moment.

So coach Jake White will be delighted by the assured showing of Chris Smith in the No.10 jersey.

Not only did he succeed with all six of his kicks at goal, a couple of them being right from the touchline, but his tactical game was excellent and he had much to do with the Bulls’ attacking flow.

He played a key role in the Bulls’ crucial first try of the second half, as they built on a 17-7 lead, staying on his feet really well under pressure from several tacklers and then freeing Arendse on a strong run that led to Marcell Coetzee’s try from close range.

Smith’s brilliant kick in the 62^nd minute gave the Bulls a 50/22 lineout, from which Mapoe burst through to score and make the game safe at 38-7.

Always trust the Bulls forwards to lay the attacking platform

While coach Jake White has ambitions of playing more expansive rugby, and he has exciting backs to do that, the Zebre win showed once again that he should always look to his superb pack to set the platform by dominating the gain-line.

Problems persist in the scrums & lineouts

The Bulls scrum did concede a couple of penalties in that set-piece, but it did not have a major effect on the game.

But the Bulls wasted several promising attacking positions due to their lineout failing, which will no doubt require work in the week ahead.

Scorers

Zebre Parma: Try – Antonio Rizzi. Conversion – Rizzi.

Bulls: Tries – Johan Grobbelaar, Embrose Papier, Marcell Coetzee, Arno Botha, Lionel Mapoe, Kurt-Lee Arendse. Conversions – Smith (6). Penalty – Chris Smith.