Ken Borland

The Central Gauteng Lions did their bit for Mandela Day this week by packing boxes of food and hygiene products to be distributed by humanitarian aid organisations. A chain of players then relayed them from the field to the stands by throwing the boxes to each other. At the start of this chain was Lutho Sipamla, showing the sort of slick, consistent delivery that is demanded of Springbok scrumhalves.

Consistency is also what the 24-year-old paceman brings in his bowling; in his three Test appearances so far he has taken 11 wickets at an average of just 22.27. But he has also impressed with his ability to bowl regularly in a channel, which Sipamla believes is going to be important re the upcoming Test series against England, who have revitalised their fortunes with an aggressive approach to batting.

“Watching their past few games, whoever the bowlers, England have really come after them,” Sipamla told The Citizen. “Their brand of cricket has been a lot more attacking.

“So line-and-length is going to be really important and controlling your channel for as long as possible. It’s going to be about patience and sticking to simple plans.

“I think if we can do that, with our attack, then we can come out on top. Either way, I know I would have really learnt a lot by the end of the tour,” Sipamla said.

Given his inexperience at international level, there is little doubt England’s aggressive batsmen will target Sipamla, but the Port Elizabeth product says he is happy to carry the fight to the batsmen if they do go after him.

“If the batsmen do show a lot of intent, then you have your zone as a bowler and if the batsman makes a mistake then he gets out; that’s my game-plan,” Sipamla said.

“I like the challenge of it being you against the batsman, that contest in the moment, I want to own and win the battle.”

The other thing Sipamla wants is to enjoy a proper cricket tour to one of the great homes of the game.

“Grey High School went on a tour of England in 2016, my matric year, but this will be my first proper international experience and I’m really looking forward to it,” Sipamla said.

“Just to see England and explore it and the touring side of life, I’m just going to enjoy it because it’s going to be great to be back. There’s a lot to do in England.

“And the Tests are at such historic grounds [Lord’s, Old Trafford and the Oval] and to be at Lord’s is going to be unbelievable. I know our pace attack and what they have in the bag, and what better place to show it,” Sipamla said.

Another Aiden Markram century, 96 from Reeza Hendricks and five-wicket hauls for both Kagiso Rabada and Lutho Sipamla highlighted an excellent day’s cricket at the Wanderers on Thursday as the Imperial Lions go into the final day of their Four-Day Franchise Series match against the Titans with a lead of 251 runs and four wickets in hand.

Resuming on 169 for five, the Titans made it to 202, a deficit of just four runs, thanks to Markram’s brilliantly composed 100, an innings of great judgement and strokeplay.

The Lions endured a frustrating time in the field, Markram enjoying a couple more lives, before fast bowler Sipamla bowled superbly to the tail as the Titans crashed from 187 for five for 202 all out.

Rabada, who enjoyed impressive rhythm throughout, bowled overnight batsman Dayyaan Galiem (17) off the inside edge to finish with five for 51 in 23 quality overs.

Sipamla then took an extraordinary four wickets in an over to wrap up the innings, including trapping Markram lbw with a delivery that jagged back and kept a bit low. The exciting 22-year-old finished with career-best figures of five for 37 in 14 overs.

Buoyed by their excellent finish in the field, the Lions top-order quickly slipped into positive mode after the early loss of first-innings hero Dominic Hendricks, who was caught behind off Lizaad Williams for a single.

Ryan Rickelton threaded beautiful drives through the infield and hooked the first ball after lunch for six as he stroked a promising 58, while Reeza Hendricks scored 96 in languid but fluent fashion.

Proteas stars Rassie van der Dussen (14) and Temba Bavuma (5) both fell to the tricky skills of Galiem.

Okuhle Cele slipped up by having Wiaan Mulder caught off a no-ball when he had 17, and although he nicked off Reeza Hendricks, the all-rounder had gone to 35 not out when the sun slinked behind a cloud and the umpires stopped play for bad light just after 5pm.

*At St George’s Park, the Warriors, resuming 146 runs in arrears, began with caution as Ed Moore and Gihahn Cloete (65) took their opening stand of 88 overnight to 145 before Cloete was bowled by Ruan de Swardt.

Moore continued to dominate in a partnership of 100 for the second wicket with Yaseen Vallie (45), but then the wickets began to tumble.

Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj was once again the most lethal bowler, taking six for 93 in 33.2 overs as the Warriors collapsed from 245 for one to 345 all out.

Moore ended a tough season for himself on a high note as he fought his way to an impressive 155.

The collapse left the Dolphins needing just 112 for victory and they closed on eight without loss, needing just 104 more runs on Friday to confirm they will be hosting the final against the Titans next week.

*Thanks to Pieter Malan’s phenomenal record-breaking innings of 264, the Cape Cobras were able to declare on 523 for eight, with a lead of 342 in the kitty, against the Knights at Newlands.

Left-arm spinner George Linde had then grabbed four wickets for just two runs at one stage as the Knights crashed to 106 for seven at stumps. Farhaan Behardien is their only remaining recognised batsman, on 36 not out.

Malan’s 264 was the highest ever score for the Cobras, in their final game, beating the 260 not out JP Duminy made against the Lions in Paarl in 2015/16. The 655-minute innings, spanning 507 balls, was a monument to Malan’s patience and hunger to go big for his team.

Kyle Verreynne took his tally of runs for the campaign to 680 at 97.14 as he supported Malan in a stand of 217 for the fifth wicket with a brilliant knock of 109.

While an injury-depleted Sri Lankan side beaten 2-0 on the Highveld is not going to provide the best measure of the Proteas’ progress as a Test side, South Africa have nevertheless ticked some boxes in the recent series. These are the positives coach Mark Boucher can carry forward to the tour of Pakistan and then the home series against Australia.

• The Proteas have a pair of veteran batsmen in Dean Elgar and Faf du Plessis that the rest of the batting line-up can bat around.

The gritty, tenacious qualities of Elgar at the top of the order have always been apparent, but the 33-year-old is now also leading from the front with a more positive, aggressive mindset. Good starts are crucial for a batting line-up to consistently produce the goods and Elgar’s reliability is undimmed.

Du Plessis has brushed aside any suggestions his Test days may be numbered through his sheer hunger to still be playing, to still improve and still be scoring big runs. To have him in the crucial No.4 position, looking as good as he ever has, is a massive boon for the Proteas.

• Lutho Sipamla’s successful introduction to Test cricket has increased South Africa’s pool of quality fast bowlers.

Sipamla suffered a nervy first day in Test cricket when he bowled his first 12 overs for 66 runs, going maiden and wicket-less. But he ended the series with highly creditable stats of 10 wickets for 167 runs; in other words, after his tough start, he bowled 27.5 overs and took 10 for 101. Although obviously still raw, the 22-year-old showed he certainly has something. The spells where he was able to find a consistent line and length were especially probing.

With Kagiso Rabada making his way back from injury, Beuran Hendricks also in the picture and much excitement over the potential of Glenton Stuurman, the Proteas have half-a-dozen quicks to choose from.

• Wiaan Mulder has the potential to do a similar all-round job to Jacques Kallis.

Mulder is ostensibly a batting all-rounder, but we only saw glimpses of his talent with the bat during his useful innings of 36 in the first Test. But his bowling was a revelation as he finished the series with nine wickets at an average of just 20.55. The 22-year-old has wonderful skill with the ball and is clearly a thinking bowler. His control was also very good and, as Boucher said, he is not just a holding bowler but he also has a reputation for having a golden arm so he makes timely breakthroughs, as he did in both Tests. Which makes him an ideal fourth seamer, much like Kallis was. They are both bustling, strong bowlers and while Mulder will surely never touch the same heights of batting greatness as Kallis, he certainly has the ability to be an important run-scorer in the top six even.

• Rassie van der Dussen has made an encouraging start to life at No.3

Replacing the great Hashim Amla was always going to be massive boots to fill, but Van der Dussen has performed creditably at one-down in the batting order, averaging 45 there in four innings, with two half-centuries. His slow start at the Wanderers drew an unnecessary amount of criticism and the fact that his approach was perfect for the match situation was borne out by the collapse of nine wickets for 84 runs that happened after his matchwinning partnership of 184 with Elgar.

The fact that almost all of them have international playing experience was first and foremost in fast bowler Lutho Sipamla’s mind this week when he spoke about the effect the Proteas coaching staff have had on his own fledgling career for South Africa.

Since making his Proteas debut in a T20 against Pakistan at the Wanderers in February last year, the 22-year-old Sipamla has played four ODIs and five T20 Internationals. For all his inexperience, he has been quick to recognise the value of all the experience around him.

“Guys like Charl Langeveldt, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and Justin Ontong have walked the talk, they know what it takes to be a good international cricketer. It’s awesome to have them as coaches because they have been in our shoes and they have done it all before. So they can relate to what we are going through because they’ve experienced it themselves.

“Someone like Charl, when it comes to bowling at the death, he’s had to defend six or seven runs to win the game and done that. So he knows the processes involved, he’s been successful and he passes that on to the bowlers,” Sipamla said.

Bowling coach Langeveldt played 72 ODIs, but the respect he is held in by local cricketers suggests he should have played many more; head coach Boucher played 147 Tests and 295 ODIs, batting consultant Kallis is South Africa’s most-capped player ever with 166 Test and 328 ODI appearances, and fielding coach Ontong was unfortunate to play just two Tests, 14 ODIs and 28 T20 Internationals.

Last year was a pretty terrible one for the Proteas, but there were signs of the tide starting to turn when they whitewashed a powerful Australian side 3-0 in the ODI series in February/March.

“It was a great experience making my debut in the limited-overs format and it was a really good win over Australia, a wonderful experience and a great time for me. We had a very young squad but we all worked together towards our goal and gelled nicely. We all knew what we had to do, everyone knew their roles and we were able to execute.

“In that campaign we all grew as individuals and players, and it was something special to be part of it. And now we’ve had a long wait to play again and I’m really excited just to get back to practice and crafting my skills again. As my Dad always tells me when I’m having a tough time, I must just make sure I keep working hard and make sure I’m still doing all the right things,” Sipamla said.