Ken Borland

As praiseworthy as Ireland’s brilliant display in the second ODI was, Proteas captain Temba Bavuma made it clear that he was not fine with the dismal performance his team produced in the field.

After South Africa won the toss and were able to bowl first, they were poor in the opening powerplay and dreadful at the death, conceding 95 runs in the last eight overs. Their fielding was also terrible, four catches that should have been taken were dropped and there were several fumbles and misfields.

“We were totally outplayed but the fielding was not the standards that we pride ourselves on and those dropped catches were always going to be costly. Bowling short and wide is never the plan, I’d like to give the bowlers the benefit of the doubt and say it was down to execution. But it’s happening all too often that we find ourselves trying to defend both sides of the field.

“In the death bowling there just hasn’t been any consistency, which makes it hard to set a plan. We’ve had enough conversations about it, we’ve exhausted those conversations now and we need to show it in action now. We trust these guys, but they must be able to bowl to a plan. We know there are guys on the sidelines who have the skills, so there is now a strong case for them getting an opportunity,” Bavuma threatened after the shock 43-run defeat in Dublin.

The batting, especially the middle-order, could also see changes beyond the expected return of Quinton de Kock.

On the bright side, Janneman Malan’s 84 off 96 balls showed that he is a young batsman who watches and learns from all that is going on around him. The 25-year-old has made a great start to his ODI career with 306 runs in five innings, including a century and now his second half-century.

“It was quite nervewracking because I haven’t had a lot of games or been able to get momentum, and it’s in different conditions. But watching Ireland bat twice before I had my first time at the crease gave me a bit of info and I was able to take all the learnings. Chasing 290, at halfway we were on a good path, Rassie van der Dussen and I had set it up well.

“But it would have been great if I could have batted through. I needed to get a big hundred, so I failed the team in that respect. We needed an in-batter at the end and to lose myself and Rassie bang-bang was not great. We needed to take it deeper and put pressure on them. They showed by scoring close to 60 runs in the last four overs what having a guy in could do at the end,” Malan said on Wednesday.

The first ODI between South Africa and Ireland may have been washed out, but it did provide the Proteas with a valuable demonstration of how accepting that conditions are going to be tough for batting up front and not pushing too hard in the first powerplay is going to be crucial when the second match is played at the same Malahide ground in Dublin on Tuesday.

Ireland had reached 195-4, after being sent in to bat, in the 40.2 overs that were played before the rain ended matters, and were well-placed to post a decent total. That was partly due to, and not despite, a fairly painstaking start in which they scored just 28 runs in the first 10 overs but did not lose any wickets.

It is the exact opposite situation to what the Proteas experienced in the West Indies, where batting up front in the powerplay was the time to cash in and the best chance to score quickly.

“The pitch was a tad slow, but it was a good wicket. We’ll have to assess again for the next game, but up front was the toughest time to bat. So you have to be very watchful the first 10 overs and then the ball doesn’t do as much. The game gets easier and then you can press on.

“It’s definitely the right thing to field first because then you know what score you’re chasing and you know the conditions better. We need to show what we’ve learned from the West Indies and be clinical with the bat. We bowled pretty well, but we just need to remind ourselves that we need to execute day in, day out. It’s about being consistent, that’s the key word, we need to repeat the good performances,” all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo said on Monday.

Given that South Africa never got to bat, any changes to the batting line-up are going to be unfair on the likes of Janneman Malan and Kyle Verreynne. But if Quinton de Kock is ready to go after his rest, then who wouldn’t want him in a game that has crucial World Cup qualification points at stake?

Consistent fast bowler Anrich Nortje was also rested for the first game and he could return at the expense of left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, who did not get any wickets but was tight, conceding just 38 runs in his nine overs.

Kagiso Rabada endured a 39-month break between five-wicket hauls before taking five for 34 on Saturday to wrap up an innings win for the Proteas in the first Test against the West Indies, but the fast bowler said even though he was relieved to end that dry spell, the failure to notch the statistical landmark was not frustrating for him.

“Cricket is a game where you’re measured by the highest accolades like scoring hundreds or taking five and 10-fors, so you always strive to do that, but it’s not like you’re looking for that or desperate for it because sometimes you can bowl really well and not get any wickets. It’s an old cliché but they do tend to repeat themselves.

“Unfortunately I haven’t been able to do the five-for thing for the last couple of years but I knew I just had to be consistent in my preparation. But I am quite relieved to get it, it’s like scoring a hundred, who wouldn’t be happy? I was really glad with my performance, but without the support of my team-mates this wouldn’t have happened.

“With Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje bowling exceptionally well and the batsmen coming to the party and putting runs on the board, this makes it easier for me. I just try and control what I can control and the cricketing gods were smiling at me today,” Rabada said after his 10^th five-wicket haul in just 46 Tests.

He is the seventh South African to join that club and he said the Proteas, by returning to basics and playing as a team, were ruthless as they battered the West Indies into submission.

“This game can be unforgiving but we have just tried to be consistent in our preparation and we’ve established how we want to play. And we stick to that. And if you do that then luck tends to be on your side more often than not. In previous games we were probably lacking in important periods, we let the game slip away. We would be good in patches and at other times quite sloppy.

“We’ve identified the moments in the past when we slackened off and in this Test we kept our foot on the throttle. We are a young team, we are rebuilding, and we will take a lot of confidence from this performance. We must keep building on what we have established in this Test and we will stick to our processes and not take anything for granted,” Rabada said.

Bulls coach Jake White was not expecting elusive wing Rosko Specman to be playing for the Stormers against his team in their Rainbow Cup match at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night, but he does know those thickset brutes in the visiting pack are going to be trying to wrestle his side into submission.

Specman, on loan from the Free State Cheetahs, was rushed straight into the Stormers starting line-up on Thursday, with Sergeal Petersen being relegated to the bench. Specman was one of the players released from the Bulls by White last year and there have been suggestions of some bad blood between the two.

But when White was asked on Thursday about Specman coming back to Loftus Versfeld to play against his former team, White said he was delighted for the Springbok Sevens star. Before adding a trademark bit of psychological warfare against the Stormers.

“It’s fantastic for Rosko, although I don’t know if he’ll play. I’ll be very pleased for him if he does and he’s also been in the Springbok alignment camps. But there are probably five other wings who have been in Cape Town the whole year, so it’s difficult for them to just parachute Rosko in ahead of everyone else, especially a guy like Edwill van der Merwe, who scored the winning try in their last match.

“So I don’t expect anything different from the Stormers, they have a formula that works for them and the last time they were here, they had six forwards on the bench. That’s working for them and they use their scrum and maul to attack you a lot. It’s going to be a massive, must-win game for us. Fortunately we have three Springboks [Marcell Coetzee, Ivan van Zyl & Gio Aplon] back for a huge game against the team that has the most Springboks in their pack,” White said.

While Coetzee playing with Springbok legend Duane Vermeulen and up-and-coming star Elrigh Louw, and Marco van Staden on the bench, in a loose trio White described as probably being the best in global club rugby is going to engender much excitement, the return of utility back Gio Aplon, to cross swords with his old team, and scrumhalf Ivan van Zyl is most welcome.

With less than a month to run on Van Zyl’s contract before he joins Saracens, many coaches would have ploughed on with Zak Burger and Keegan Johannes at halfback now that Embrose Papier is injured. But not White.

“It sums up everything about our culture. If Ivan had wanted to hide or protect himself before going to Saracens, I would have been disappointed. But it says a lot for him that he wants to be part of the team, he wants to finish here on a high and complete his contract properly. That’s a sign that things are where they should be.

“The reality is I do have other scrumhalves, but I’ve gone for the best one to get the job done in this match, and Embrose is injured and I don’t think he’ll be able to play for a couple of weeks. Ivan is one of the guys showing he has wonderful character, and that’s why we have been successful,” White said.