Ken Borland

Having won the first match at Chester-le-Street, South Africa are one win away from clinching their first 50-over series triumph in England since 1998 as they go into the second ODI at Old Trafford on Friday, but being on the verge of claiming a trophy can bring challenges of its own.

In the five-match T20 series in India last month, the Proteas pulled off two impressive wins chasing in Delhi and Cuttack, but then lost the next two matches as conditions became more typically subcontinental. The decider in Bengaluru was washed out.

In their previous ODI series, they lost the deciding match against Bangladesh at Centurion for a shock series defeat.

But before that, their previous bilateral series in both formats saw them whitewash India 3-0 in home ODIs in January and Sri Lanka 3-0 in T20s in Colombo last September.

“In India we said the third game was our final,” fast bowler Anrich Nortje said on Thursday, “but we didn’t get it done. So the next game too was a final and the same thing happened, we didn’t pull it through.

“We’ve definitely taken some learnings from that. We can’t read too much into the past and we need to assess conditions as quickly as possible.

“We must do what we do well and not worry about England’s strategy, even though they have very good batsmen,” Nortje said.

South Africa used the big field at the Riverside Stadium, and a baking pitch that became harder to bat on, to their advantage in the first ODI, and Old Trafford, one of England’s grand old venues, also has a large outfield.

That will mean the Proteas spinners – Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi and Aiden Markram – will again be key players and England will want to shake off the impression that they played them a bit like Geoff Boycott’s grandmother with her proverbial stick of rhubarb.

All-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo has been ruled out of the series due to his concussion and is likely to be replaced by Dwaine Pretorius, but fast men Nortje and Lungi Ngidi gave the spinners great backing earlier this week.

Of the last 10 ODIs at Old Trafford, eight have been won by the team batting first.

“Hopefully we win the toss if that’s the case,” Nortje laughed. “Our spinners have really been crucial for us, they’ve done a great job in the middle overs and Kesh at the start too.

“It’s nothing fancy in terms of our attack, we all just contribute our little bits. We’ve got to adapt, and if there’s a bit in the pitch then you can be boring as a bowler, just try hit the top of off-stump.

“But if it’s flat and the batsmen are attacking, then you’re trying bouncers, yorkers, slower balls. We hear conditions will be better than the last venue, with more bounce and a bit more in it for batting and bowling,” Nortje said.

The game starts at 2pm SA time.

One would not have guessed from Mark Boucher’s face that he was celebrating another Proteas series win on Monday, but the lack of a big smile was probably because the South Africa coach knows his first priority now is to save his job in the face of those in South African cricket who are intent on his removal.

The Proteas ended their season on Monday in Gqeberha with a crunching 332-run win over Bangladesh for a 2-0 series win and an overall record of five wins from seven Tests this summer.

Combined with their unexpectedly good showing at the T20 World Cup and their brilliant 3-0 ODI whitewash of India, their coach should be sitting pretty and all smiles.

But instead Boucher will be facing a disciplinary hearing next month over charges of gross misconduct. In terms of his on-field job, in the here-and-now, about the only shortcomings of this Test side have been their annoying tendency to lose the first Test of a series, as they did against India and in New Zealand.

“It’s been a good summer, but we are still learning, we’re definitely not the complete team yet,” Boucher said sternly. “We’ve had our challenges, but we’ve played some very competitive cricket at times.

“There have also been times when we have played some bad cricket, like the first Tests against India and New Zealand. But we have grown a lot in a short space of time.

“For me personally, it has been tough. I’ve really enjoyed coaching the guys and the cricketing side of my job, it’s a tight unit. But outside that team environment, it’s quite difficult to say I enjoyed it.

“I don’t think anyone would be able to say they enjoy what has been put on my plate,” Boucher said.

The 45-year-old was famous for being a fighter though in his playing days, and overcoming challenges is his trademark, something his team managed to do against Bangladesh when they were lumped with a second-string side due to five players choosing to go to the IPL instead.

“It gave us the opportunity to play a couple of other guys and see what sort of players we have in the system. And also the opportunity to play a different brand of cricket, which has been good to watch.

“It’s a nice position to be in. The IPL guys did vacate their spots, and there is good competition now for those places. Through Covid we’ve looked at a lot of players and I think it’s paying off now,” Boucher said.

But even though things on the field are going well right now, the sum of all real South African cricket lovers’ fears could well come true if Boucher is fired for incidents that happened in the changeroom two decades ago.

A wasteful Sharks team suffered their first home defeat of the United Rugby Championship and it was a heavy one as Edinburgh beat them 21-5 at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday evening.

Kings Park was a quagmire and Edinburgh showed top-class skills in the wet to score three tries. The Sharks could only score once, but they had a host of other opportunities which they messed up inside the Edinburgh 22.

The Scottish team only had 35% of territory and 43% of possession, but, having fulfilled their defensive duties in sterling fashion, they would then rise like a phoenix and strike just about every time they were inside the Sharks’ 22.

Sharks wastefulness

The Sharks spent so much time inside the Edinburgh 22 that just scoring one try was nothing short of a disgrace. But more often than not, when they got into the red zone, they would make an unforced error.

Balls were dropped a couple of metres from the line, the rolling maul would be set and advancing but would then give away a penalty, Curwin Bosch failed to kick a couple of penalties to touch and missed all three of his shots at goal, one of them from in front of the poles.

Bosch did kick one excellent touchfinder which put Edinburgh under pressure five metres from their line. The visitors tried a lineout variation but the pressure was released when centre Marius Louw tackled flyhalf Blair Kinghorn in the air and was yellow-carded.

There was no coming back from such profligacy.

Outstanding Edinburgh halfbacks

In treacherous conditions and behind a retreating scrum, halfbacks Ben Vellacott and Kinghorn formed an outstanding partnership. Vellacott’s service was clean and slick, despite the pressure he was under, while Kinghorn would go over for two tries, he kicked out-of-hand well and showed an acute eye for the gap.

Kinghorn’s first try came in the 20^th minute, while Louw was in the sin-bin, as he sliced through midfield after a lovely half-break by outside centre Mark Bennett.

The Scotland flyhalf’s second try sealed victory with 11 minutes to go as he was first to a loose ball on the ground and twice kicked through before dotting down.

Boffelli defused Sharks’ kicking game

Given the conditions, the Sharks were always going to kick long and often, but Edinburgh fullback Emiliano Boffelli was far from chasing shadows at the back. The Argentine star was superbly solid under the high ball and his positional play was excellent. The Sharks found it hard to find grass inside the Edinburgh 22.

Boffelli also evaded three tacklers to score a try in the 56^th minute, following a storming run by eighthman Ben Muncaster, who also profited from missed tackles.

Scrum success only area of joy for Sharks

The starting front row of Thomas du Toit, Ox Nche and Bongi Mbonambi dominated the scrums but the Sharks were not able to build on that platform. The elation was shortlived as, more often than not, in an instant the advantage had been frittered away.

Scorers

Sharks – Try: Thomas du Toit.

Edinburgh – Tries: Blair Kinghorn (2), Emiliano Boffelli. Conversions: Boffelli (3).

The Sharks will continue to hide their leading URC players away from doing dual duty in the Currie Cup even though they are hosting the table-topping Free State Cheetahs in a vital match at Kings Park on Wednesday, but one star player who will feature, albeit off the bench, is Dylan Richardson.

Following their defeat to a star-studded Bulls team last week, the Sharks have slipped to third place on the log and are four points behind the unbeaten Cheetahs. But while the Bulls have regularly targeted key Currie Cup games by fielding several URC starters, the KwaZulu-Natalians are following a different policy.

But Richardson, named as a replacement loose forward on Tuesday, will certainly bring some quality. The 23-year-old Scottish international is a bit of a hoodlum on the field and he has already been bringing an edge to the Sharks’ training sessions following his return from a stress fracture in his leg.

“Dylan has been out for a while with a succession of unfortunate injuries and we can see he is really champing at the bit,” Sharks Currie Cup coach Etienne Fynn said on Tuesday.

“We’ve had a bit of niggle in training recently and it has been driven by him mostly,” Fynn added with a smile.

The feisty Richardson, who made his debut for Scotland towards the end of last year, will bring dynamism and power to the Sharks team and targets the breakdown hard, all valuable assets against a free-flowing Free State side.

As for the Sharks’ decision to not load their side – they also have a United Rugby Championship match against Edinburgh on Saturday evening – Fynn says the union’s management are rating the Currie Cup players just as highly as the URC regulars.

“I told the forwards today after a lineout session that not one of them is not good enough to be picked for the URC,” Fynn said. “We have a decent side with quality individuals.

“The opposition does not matter, we still have proper rugby players like Dian Bleuler, Hyron Andrews, James Venter and Fez Mbatha. We just try to field our most competitive team every time.

“Because of the URC, and playing two competitions at once, sometimes players have to double up and then it’s tough. The Free State Cheetahs are privileged to have consistency of selection.

“So we decided to go with the same pack as against the Bulls last week. That way you have the understanding of what the guy next to you is doing. The Cheetahs are really polished in the opposition 22 and that comes with playing together,” Fynn said.

Sharks team – Jordan Chait, Yaw Penxe, Jeremy Ward, Ethan Fisher, Curwin Gertse, Tito Bonilla, Cameron Wright (v/c), Celimpilo Gumede, Thembelani Bholi, James Venter (c), Hyron Andrews, Emile van Heerden, Wiehahn Herbst, Fez Mbatha, Dian Bleuler. Replacements: Dan Jooste, Braam Reyneke, Lourens Adriaanse, Jeandre Labuschagne, Dylan Richardson, OJ Noah, Sanele Nohamba, Lloyd Koster.