Ken Borland

No real Proteas fan likes it when they lose and it gets even more frustrating when it seems like the obvious best available XI is not out on the field, but what’s even more infuriating is when people rage against the coach with all sorts of bizarre conspiracy theories about personal grudges and the like.

The latest thing that Mark Boucher has done to enrage the critics – most of whom seem to reside in the Cape – is to not choose Kyle Verreynne, Western Province’s exciting wicketkeeper/batsman, for the T20 starting XI against Pakistan.

The cricketing reason behind that decision – which is not just made by Boucher on his own but in consultation with three other selectors – is that South Africa have decided to follow the example set by the high-flying English team and play a much more aggressive brand of T20 cricket.

So of the batsmen in the squad for the Pakistan series, Verreynne has the lowest strike-rate in terms of his T20 career – 123.18 – which is why he was chosen as back-up wicketkeeper to captain Heinrich Klaasen. The only other batsman with a career strike-rate below what is now considered the benchmark of 130 is Aiden Markram on 126.76. Which is why he was not originally chosen, but only played because of injuries to Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen. And Markram has since been scoring at a rate of 180.64 in the series, looking a batsman transformed.

Hopefully these facts will act as a plunger to unblock the pipes of the current commentary around the team, the discourse being clogged up by execrable suggestions that Boucher is somehow anti Cape Cobras players and is deliberately favouring those from the Titans, the team he coached up until December 2019.

Verreynne has not been chosen because there are better options to bring the sort of long-handled hitting the Proteas require in the middle-order, it’s as simple as that. No, it has nothing to do with some grudge Boucher is alleged to have against Cobras coach Ashwell Prince, as one particularly obsequious Cape Town hack suggested this week.

It seems the fact that the Cobras last won a trophy in 2014/15 and have not beaten the Titans in any format since April 2019 has made some people ugly.

While I would personally give Verreynne a go in place of Pite van Biljon, given how well he batted in the last ODI, there is another change that needs to be made if the current Proteas XI is to meet its full potential.

The race targets in place for the national side were meant to help the development pipeline, but instead they seem to have tarred Andile Phehlukwayo with the disgraceful tag of being a quota player. He is way too good a cricketer for that to be acceptable, but when he bats seven and does not bowl, one can see why the whispers emerge.

Phehlukwayo is a talented all-rounder who began to find some form with the bat in the ODI series, while also being a stalwart of the white-ball attack. What is he doing in the team now though if he is not bowling? This is when selection starts to become a box-ticking, target-pleasing exercise.

And it’s not Boucher nor the selectors who should take the blame for this. Knowing the Cricket South Africa Members Council, they are way more likely to fire people over missed targets than actual results on the field of play, so one can’t blame the Proteas for sticking to those quotas even when it doesn’t make cricketing sense.

So when Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, the ombudsman of the new Social Justice and Nation-Building Commission, said last week that he would like to see CSA hold a transformation conference in July to discuss some of his findings, I immediately thought that would be a good time for the whole targets/quotas issue to be discussed.

And it is not the White former beneficiaries of Apartheid who should be involved in that conversation, but the Black players and coaches who have to deal with targets now that should plot the way forward.

*All stats from before the last T20 International on Friday evening.

You will not find a more determined person than new Proteas limited-overs captain Temba Bavuma, whose history of overcoming challenges has shaped his character and makes him the ideal choice to inspire the national cricket team to rise above their own testing circumstances at the moment.

Watching Bavuma lead his troops, ultimately to a 2-1 series defeat against Pakistan in the ODI matches that were his first appointment, determination oozes from every inch of that 5’3 frame. Leadership comes naturally to the 30-year-old and even in the most trying times of that series, Bavuma remained calm and seemed in control.

Such composure is indicative of the many testing times Bavuma has had to come through to become captain of his country.

Like most South African youngsters, as soon as Bavuma could walk, he was outside in the sun playing sport. But his arenas were not verdant lawns or spacious parks as many of his Proteas team-mates would have enjoyed, but rather the run-down streets of Langa, the Cape Town township whose name means “sun” in Xhosa. It was named after the folk hero, Chief Langalibalele, one of the earliest prisoners on Robben Island because he defied the British rulers in Natal.

Bavuma’s family were passionate about cricket and, whether it was his uncles, grandmother or parents, he had plenty of people willing to throw him balls after he first picked up a bat. His real mettle was shown though when he graduated to joining the other youngsters playing street cricket.

The small boy soon caught the eye as he took on teenagers much older than him and who were disinclined to show him any mercy on the shabby, potholed roads of Langa in the late 1990s. Thus was born one of the best techniques in the country, as well as the courage and determination that are Bavuma’s hallmarks.

His parents then showed bravery of their own as they made enormous financial sacrifices so that Bavuma, whose talent was clear, could attend South African College Junior School (SACS) at the foot of Table Mountain.

The talent was polished by the excellent coaching at SACS and, by the time he went to the big city of Johannesburg and enrolled at St David’s Marist in Inanda, he was already considered a player of enough promise to warrant a scholarship.

He spent his holidays playing for Soweto Cricket Club, where he was guided by Geoff Toyana, who would go on to become the first Black African coach to win trophies at franchise level.

“Temba was always small and people would underestimate him. He had to prove himself time and time again for whatever team he played for, but he just has this enormous drive and will to do well. That’s his biggest characteristic, but he has lots of skill as well,” Toyana told Saturday Citizen.

Having played for Gauteng Schools in 2007 and 2008, making the SA Schools team in the latter year, he made his first-class debut for Gauteng, scoring 32 in the second innings, when he was still 18 years old and before he went to study at the University of Johannesburg.

From there his career has followed the well-travelled road to success – dominating at franchise level for the Highveld Lions, becoming a Protea, scoring that memorable Test century at Newlands and now, having been dropped not that long ago, he is captain.

But it is vital that the influence of both the Langa and Soweto cricket clubs are not forgotten in Bavuma’s inspirational tale. He himself requested, upon his appointment as captain, that in the midst of all the celebrations of the first Black African skipper of the Proteas being announced, that people do not forget the journey that brought him to that place.

Bavuma knows the significance of being a symbol and the importance of his legacy, but he also stresses the importance of looking after the same grassroots that he sprang from.

And he also wants to be known as a fine cricketer, who helped the national team win many games, and not just the first Black African captain. Beating the odds and convincing people of how good he is are things Bavuma has done before, and revitalising a team as captain is also something he has done before – with the Highveld Lions.

“Temba was the most successful franchise captain over the last three years, he has a proven record that no-one can dispute. He inherited a strong squad at the Lions but we hadn’t won anything. Under him we won five out of eight possible trophies which you can’t argue with. He created a winning culture very quickly at the Lions,” Nicky van den Bergh, his vie-captain at the franchise, said.

Faf du Plessis has seen the Proteas crumple in more World Cups than is probably fair for one player to have to go through and yet the veteran former captain is still excited about the prospect of playing in two T20 World Cups in the next 20 months and even maybe the next 50-over tournament, scheduled for 2023.

It was revealed on Tuesday that Du Plessis will no longer be one of the 16 contracted Proteas for the coming year, but he told The Citizen on Wednesday that this was expected because he is only available for T20 cricket this year.

“I’m only available for T20 cricket this year as I mentioned in my Test retirement statement. I haven’t heard any communication from CSA regarding contracts, but I know they are looking into getting us involved in T20 cricket because there are two World Cups in that format in the next two years. Two T20 World Cups in a row is going to be fire [emoji],” Du Plessis said in a WhatsApp.

India will host the next T20 World Cup in October/November this year, while Australia, who were due to hold the event last year before the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, will stage the tournament at the same time in 2022.

“There isn’t much ODI cricket this season and the ODI World Cup is only in 2023. Next season might be different in terms of games and also then the 2023 World Cup preparation, but for now with it being so far away, it’s better to build with players that can gain plenty games under their belts,” the 36-year-old added.

Du Plessis averages 57.87 in his 23 50-over World Cup appearances at the 2011, 2015 and 2019 tournaments, while he also played in the 2013 and 2017 Champions Trophy events. He also played in three T20 World Cups, in 2012, 2014 and 2016.

Du Plessis, who has been a stalwart of the Indian Premier League with 84 appearances, has previously indicated he is eager to play in more global T20 leagues around the world. Following the Proteas tour of Pakistan, he played three matches for Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League before that tournament’s suspension due to a spate of Covid-19 cases.

Whatever holiday time he has had since then will be drawing rapidly to a close as the next edition of the IPL is due to start on April 9.

Kagiso Rabada has won accolades all over the world but he has not smiled more broadly as when the Imperial Lions beat the Dolphins by four wickets with an over to spare in the T20 Challenge final at Kingsmead, the fast bowler playing a pivotal role in the victory and another trophy for his franchise.

After the Dolphins won the toss and elected to bat on their home ground, Rabada played a leading role as the KZN side could only post 107 for seven in their 20 overs. Rabada, who gave a superb demonstration of all his wonderful skills, removed key batsman David Miller for two, beat Mangaliso Mosehle for pace and bowled him middle stump for 18 just when the wicketkeeper/batsman was threatening to revive the Dolphins innings, and finished with superb figures of three for 12 in four overs.

He was ably supported by left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin, who bowled a sweeping Sarel Erwee for a duck in the first over and finished with one for 19 in his four overs, and paceman Sisanda Magala who was outstanding again with two for 19.

Opener Grant Roelofsen scored 20 for the Dolphins and Khaya Zondo scored a determined 24, but Robbie Frylinck, who has had a fine all-round tournament, scored 30 not out off 26 balls to post a total that proved challenging for the Lions with all the pressure of a final and a Dolphins side who showed an admirable never-say-die attitude in the field.

The Lions also struggled with the bat with the Dolphins’ key bowler, Keshav Maharaj, also showing his class. The left-arm spinner took one for 22 in four overs, and troubled all of the batsmen, having Temba Bavuma dropped first ball by Khaya Zondo at slip, who was diving and just failed to take a tough chance.

Opner Reeza Hendricks, the leading run-scorer in the tournament, held the innings together with his run-a-ball 39 and his 36-run partnership with Bavuma (22) almost took the Lions to victory. Wiaan Mulder showed his abilities with the bat as he steered the Lions to victory with his 24 not out off 23 balls.

Apart from Maharaj, the Dolphins seamers – Ottneil Baartman (4-0-20-2), Robbie Frylinck (4-0-16-1) and Kerwin Mungroo (3-0-14-1) also showed great determination.