Ken Borland

Doing well in the Indian Premier League will obviously help, but CSA Director of Cricket Graeme Smith says free agents will need to prove their total commitment to the Proteas if they are to earn a recall to the national side.

Faf du Plessis, Chris Morris, AB de Villiers and Imran Tahir all put in noteworthy performances before the IPL was suspended earlier this week, one match away from the halfway stage, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many fans would want all four of them to be back in India in October, representing South Africa at the T20 World Cup.

Smith said that while the door was not closed for them to be selected, there were certain conditions that needed to be met first.

Asked specifically about all-rounder Morris, he said “I notice Chris said there have not been discussions with him, but he joined the high performance programme in Lockdown last year. No-one has a definitive right to play for the Proteas, it’s up to the selectors and their performance on the field. Lately Chris’s performances have been really good, both in the IPL and in our T20.

“But we can’t choose someone who is going to go in half-arsed, who is 50/50 about it. We need to know that the player is fully committed and will do everything required and everything for the team. It’s a question that applies to all of the free agents, who are technically still always available for the Proteas. AB de Villiers has officially retired so that’s a different discussion that is ongoing,” Smith said this week.

The West Indies have won two of the last three T20 World Cups despite many of their top players being scattered around the globe, and free agents like Chris Gayle, Samuel Badree and Andre Russell did the business for them in the last tournament, held in 2016 in India.

“The free agents are generally more experienced in the format than most players and we’ve seen the success the West Indies have had using them, so it’s definitely something we would consider. But the selectors also have to consider team dynamics and the type of players we have in our own system.

“Right now the focus is on trying to get the best squad together in the build-up. We have 15-17 T20s lined up, including plenty of sub-continent preparation, so the squad will have plenty of time together. It should be a nice build-up for October,” Smith said.

Pink Day, the charity event raising funds for cancer research, has been hosted by the fast-paced city of Johannesburg at the Wanderers for the last 9 years and Sunday’s second ODI between South Africa and Pakistan may not have any spectators allowed, but the Proteas need to bring their usual intensity and action-packed approach in order to stay alive in the series.

The first ODI was lost on the back of a second-wicket partnership of 177 between Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq; Pakistan scraped to victory off the last ball of the match because the Proteas then fought back and claimed six wickets for 85 runs. They did that using aggressive fast bowling led by Anrich Nortje.

The Wanderers is traditionally a haven for pace and bounce and Autumn on the Highveld adds more moisture and swing into the equation as well. South Africa’s pacemen need to be smarter about exploiting the conditions more, they perhaps relied too heavily on slower balls and cutters at Centurion when an approach more in line with how they would bowl in a Test match was called for.

“The plan was to bowl more Test lengths and we started brilliantly, but as the pitch became harder and flatter it was really difficult to defend and the batsmen were able to score quite freely. But a lot of credit should go to the bowlers, I’ve been in a lot of situations like this on the Highveld and the team chasing gets home with five or six overs to spare,” centurion Rassie van der Dussen said after the first ODI on Friday night.

It was a valuable toss for Pakistan to win in the first game and it was tough going for the Proteas batsmen in the first hour. But some of the strokes offered were not well-executed as South Africa slumped to 55 for four before Van der Dussen came to their rescue.

The star batsman said the shot-selection could be excused, it was just the execution that let the batsmen down, and a similarly positive approach is likely to be brought to the Wanderers.

“Quinton de Kock and Aiden Markram gave us a good start and thought that they could then take on the powerplay. In hindsight they couldn’t because the pitch was a bit more difficult to bat on than they thought. You have to assess conditions and sometimes you make mistakes. But a guy like Quinny has played like that his whole career and we’re not too worried about the batting.

“England have probably been the best ODI team over the last two years and that formula works for them, so we want to give the batsmen the freedom to express themselves, especially up front in the powerplay. Quinny is usually brilliant there but it’s the nature of cricket that you won’t have success every time. Losing three wickets in a cluster is what we don’t want to do though,” Van der Dussen said.

The Titans still need to address their batting but their bowling and fielding were outstanding enough for them to beat the Cape Cobras by 16 runs for their second successive victory in the T20 Challenge at Kingsmead on Sunday.

Defending just 149, the Titans bowlers were impressively accurate and adapted especially well to a pitch which did make it hard for the batsmen to score freely, bowling the Cobras out for 132.

Part-time off-spinner Aiden Markram opened the bowling and conceded just three runs and the seamers were then all bang on the money as the Cobras struggled to just 24 for two in the powerplay.

The Cobras just could not break the shackles and they were 87 for five after 16 overs, needing 62 runs from the last 24 balls when George Linde did put the Titans under some pressure by hitting spinner Tabraiz Shamsi for three consecutive sixes in the 17^th over.

It gave the Cobras a glimmer of hope as they then needed 39 off the last three overs to win, but the impressive Lizaad Williams then bowled Linde (37 off 21) with a superb yorker.

Lungi Ngidi and Chris Morris also bowled outstanding overs at the death as the Titans conceded just 22 runs and claimed five wickets in the last three overs.

Ngidi, using slower balls as his preferred weapon of attack, led the way with brilliant figures of three for 18, while Morris finished with two for 21 and Williams two for 25.

The Titans had chosen to bat first, but for all the talents of Proteas Markram (10), Dean Elgar (31), Theunis de Bruyn (12) and Heinrich Klaasen (7) they needed a wee gem of an innings by Sibonelo Makhanya to get to 148 for six.

Busy from the outset, Makhanya lifted the run-rate with his energetic intent and used the slog-sweep to great effect to score 47 off 33 balls.

The three Cobras spinners – George Linde, Imraan Manack and Siyabonga Mahima – were impressive, with Linde leading the way with two for 23 in his four overs.

Paceman Corbin Bosch also bowled extremely well for his one for 24.

The Cheetahs are famous for the expansive, running rugby they can bring, but Sharks coach Sean Everitt has warned that the Free Staters also have some industrial-strength forward power that his team will need to combat in their Super Rugby Unlocked match at Kings Park on Friday night.

Playing at a high tempo is something the Sharks are comfortable with, but matching big, powerful packs in the set-pieces and the collisions has been something they have struggled with at times this year, and the Cheetahs will surely be aiming to use physicality as a weapon on Friday night.

“I think the Cheetahs are going to pose the same challenge up front as the Pumas and Bulls did. They have a lot of synergy in their lineout and scrum, so those are an obvious threat then. Plus with Frans Steyn at 12 it gives them a different dimension in terms of his kicking, carrying and his running from set-piece. We’re going to have to keep them out with really aggressive defence.

“The Cheetahs also like to maul a lot, from all areas of the field, but fortunately JJ van der Mescht was outstanding for us in that department against the Pumas – he pretty much stopped three mauls on his own. But I think the break will have motivated the Cheetahs, they won’t be happy about just getting two points against the Lions and they’ll be raring to go after that abandoned game and a bye,” Everitt said.

Despite dominating the Super Rugby competition at the start of the year, the Sharks have been taking baby steps since the return-to-play. Everitt showed patience by not prematurely throwing his toys out of the pram, but he believes his team are now settled and have laid the platform to now improve every week. He does not expect to see any more signs of rust from the Sharks.

“We’re no longer finding our feet, we’ve been together for a while now. Our confidence is back and we should be improving weekly now. I’m expecting a high-tempo game and we need guys who are going to have an impact, and I’m certain our bench will bring that and give us the opportunity to change the game if necessary. There’s healthy competition in our squad.

“But this competition as a whole is really strong and everyone has strengthened their squads since the start of the year. It’s been a great platform for South African rugby and every one of the our players knows they have the opportunity to get noticed now. We’ve settled in well now,” Everitt said.

Teams

Sharks: Manie Libbok, Yaw Penxe, Jeremy Ward, Marius Louw, Madosh Tambwe, Curwin Bosch, Sanele Nohamba, Phendulani Buthelezi, Henco Venter, Dylan Richardson, Hyron Andrews, JJ van der Mescht, John-Hubert Meyer, Dan Jooste, Ox Nche. Replacements – Kerron van Vuuren, Mzamo Majola, Michael Kumbirai, Ruben van Heerden, Thembelani Bholi, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Grant Williams, Werner Kok.

Cheetahs: Clayton Blommetjies, Malcolm Jaer, William Small-Smith, Francois Steyn, Rosko Specman, Tian Schoeman, Tian Meyer, Aidon Davis, Junior Pokomela (captain), Andisa Ntsila, JP du Preez, Carl Wegner, Luan de Bruin, Reinach Venter, Charles Marais. Replacements – Jacques du Toit, Boan Venter, Khutha Mchunu, Oupa Mohoje, Jeandré Rudolph, Ruben de Haas, Reinhardt Fortuin, Chris Smit.

Kickoff: 19h00