Ken Borland

A superb bowling performance by the Proteas saw them bowl Bangladesh out for just 84 and, although their batsmen had some troubles of their own on a spiteful pitch, they managed to cross the line with six wickets and 39 balls to spare in Abu Dhabi.

Bangladesh, having been sent in to bat, were thoroughly undermined by fiery fast bowling at its best by Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje.

Rabada began the rout in the fourth over when he had Mohammad Naim (9) caught at a wide mid-on and then trapped Soumya Sarkar lbw first ball with a brilliant late inswinging yorker.

In Rabada’s next over, Mushfiqur Rahim (0) was superbly caught by a juggling Reeza Hendricks at slip, South Africa’s pace spearhead finishing with career-best figures of three for 20.

There was no respite for Bangladesh as Nortje continued his outstanding tournament, bouncing out Mahmudullah (3) and then returning to wrap up the innings with two wickets in two balls as he finished with three for eight in 3.2 overs.

In between, spinner Tabraiz Shamsi did his usual fine job in the middle overs with two for 21 in his four overs.

Opener Liton Das (24 off 36) and Mehedi Hasan (27 off 25) were the only Bangladesh batsmen to contribute much.

Paceman Taskin Ahmed (4-0-18-2) made it anything but easy for the South African top-order as he jagged a delivery back into Hendricks (4) to trap him lbw and then a fine ball that held its line had Aiden Markram (0) well-taken at slip by Naim.

Quinton de Kock looked promising for his 16 but then missed a straight one from spinner Mehedi, to leave the Proteas in trouble on 33 for three.

But captain Temba Bavuma was unflustered and batted through to the end with his 31 not out off 28 balls including some great strokeplay that brought him three fours and a six.

Rassie van der Dussen (22) also helped weather the early storm before Shoriful Islam took a fine outfield catch off spinner Nasum Ahmed.

Perhaps the most important thing to come out of the match was the boost to the Proteas nett run-rate as they won in the 14th over, taking their nett run-rate to +0.74, stretching their lead over Australia’s -0.63.

Reasons why Mark Boucher sleeps easy going into the T20 World Cup

The middle-order batting is sorted – Batting in the subcontinent is easiest up front against the harder ball, so a strong middle-order is vital. It is also where South Africa have lost the most experience recently, with Faf du Plessis, Rilee Rossouw, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy and Farhaan Behardien all missing from the last T20 World Cup squad. But Rassie van der Dussen scored a brilliant, matchwinning, unbeaten century against Pakistan this week, showing how effective he is at accelerating after a somnolent start, Aiden Markram’s talent in white-ball cricket is starting to come through, and David Miller is in form and has played some rousing innings this year.

The Proteas have excellent spinners – Spinners are the dominant bowlers in T20 cricket these days, especially on the subcontinent. And South Africa have an excellent trio of left-arm slow bowlers to turn to. The unorthodox Tabraiz Shamsi is having an exceptional year and is No.1 in the T20 rankings for good reason, controlling the middle overs superbly. Keshav Maharaj is pure class when it comes to control of pace and length and can bowl up front or in the middle overs. Bjorn Fortuin has made his mark in the powerplay and has a fine record of 14 wickets in 13 T20 internationals and an economy rate of just 6.58.

Proteas have an excellent pressure game – The favourites for this World Cup – England, India and the West Indies – have not been shy to advertise their intent to aim for complete dominance with the bat, smashing as many boundaries as possible. But on sluggish, increasingly tired pitches, this could also get them into trouble. The Proteas – a bit like the Springboks – have shown that they are very good at playing a pressure game. As the win in the West Indies showed, a team that just chases boundaries and does not look after the ones and twos, can implode against the strangling South African attack and their sharp fielding.

Why Mark Boucher is tossing & turning at night ahead of the T20 World Cup

Previous World Cup selection dramas – There has been choking and there has been some unfortunate tomfoolery when it comes to selection at these premier cricket events in the past and Boucher, as a veteran of several of these campaigns as a player, will be keenly aware of those. Given that South Africa are underdogs at this tournament, they will need to be at their best and there is little room for error if they are to contend for the title. There could well be crucial selections that need to be made, such as when it comes to the bowling attack: If the Proteas are to continue to play both Shamsi and Maharaj, then only two of Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi will be able to play. Nortje was probably the best of those bowlers in the recently-completed IPL on the same grounds, but will he be selected?

Do Proteas have a false sense of their own ability? – The Proteas certainly seem to be peaking at the right time, beating Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Ireland and the West Indies on their way to the World Cup. The ease with which they dispatched Sri Lanka at home was particularly impressive, but the West Indies and Pakistan are both famously inconsistent. South Africa are yet to play one of the big guns during their winning run.

Is there too much pressure on Quinton de Kock? – It is almost certain that if the Proteas are to challenge for the title then Quinton de Kock, their leading batsman, is going to have to have a great tournament. De Kock only passed 50 once in the second leg of the IPL and, by the end of their campaign was being left out of the Mumbai Indians starting XI. But his pedigree is undoubted. The only thing maybe holding him back from his usual daring self is the sometimes fragile nature of the Proteas batting. Hopefully he can put those worries aside and be the dominator we know he can be.

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber said he will be looking at the replay of their first Rugby Championship Test against Australia again just to check whether they should have been given more reward in the last couple of scrums and whether their chasers were obstructed in getting to the aerial ball, but he was clear that the Wallabies deserved to win and his team lost 26-28 because of their own ill-discipline.

South Africa were leading 26-25 in the final minutes when they dominated successive scrums, but referee Luke Pearce only ordered resets. Then, after the final hooter, the Wallabies wheeled a scrum to isolate the eighthman and won a turnover penalty, which Quade Cooper slotted from long-range, on the angle, to snatch victory at the death.

It was Cooper’s seventh penalty and he also converted Australia’s try in a faultless kicking display in his first Test in four years. But it was those seven penalties conceded which cost the Springboks, according to Nienaber.

“Conceding 23 points off the tee, that sums it up, our discipline was poor. We scored three tries to one, but we gave them 23 points and that’s the reason we lost. We did brilliantly to get back in the game in the second half, but then we lost in the 82^nd minute, again because of discipline, we conceded a penalty. Australia played well and they deserved to win.

“In our third-last scrum I thought we had good dominance, but obviously the referee saw a different picture that didn’t show clear dominance. We need to make sure our pictures are aligned with the referee’s and we knew that it would be a struggle to get our wings into the aerial contest, but it’s tough to say now if there were any line-changes, I can’t say with absolute conviction,” Nienaber said.

The Springbok coach clearly did not want to make excuses and he also did not want to use the fact that his team have recently been released from their Covid bubble and returned to normal life on the largest island in the world, and were playing in front of a crowd for the first time since the World Cup, to justify an unfocused performance.

“We weren’t great today, we were just a bit off our game, especially discipline. It was not a polished performance, so we need to fix those things we got wrong. Conceding anything beyond 10 penalties in a game makes it a real grind to win and we must be smarter than giving away stupid penalties. Our scrums were fairly solid but there were two scrums which Australia got points off at crucial times –just before halftime and then the last kick.

“But it was lovely to play in front of a crowd again, it’s what the players wanted. In the first 20 minutes we were quite dominant, we had control of the game but then we lost it. We created opportunities, we scored three tries and Sbu Nkosi and Lukhanyo Am were both over the line. But Australia are a quality side and this is a tough place to win,” Nienaber said.

The 2021 Currie Cup final will be a repeat of last season’s match-up between the Bulls and the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld, and Sharks coach Sean Everitt, while acknowledging the brilliance of the defending champions in their semi-final win over Western Province, and the errors of his own team in struggling past Griquas, says the visitors can still win the title.

The Bulls hammered Western Province 48-31 after racing to a 24-5 lead in the first quarter, while the Sharks hung on grimly at the death to beat Griquas 28-24 in Durban.

“We beat the Bulls the last time we played them and we know they have a massive pack and they were sublime in the first 20 minutes of their semi-final. We know what’s coming and the big emphasis is going to be on stopping the momentum of their big ball-carriers. But our defence has improved, I’m happy where we are and in finals, defence wins the game.

“Under pressure we did make mistakes from a skills perspective against Griquas and we should have put them to bed earlier. It’s about making the right decisions at the breakdown, our reaction time was a bit slow and against the Bulls that will be suicide. But I’m not worried, we didn’t do a helluva lot wrong, we just need to neaten up our game and be squeaky clean in terms of our discipline,” Everitt said.

Bulls coach Jake White praised flyhalf Johan Goosen, who was as elusive as a cat on the prowl on attack with the way he exploited space and spotted the gaps. The well-travelled coach said his performance reminded him of the great Australian flyhalf Stephen Larkham.

“When I was coaching the Brumbies, my assistant coach Stephen Larkham used to run the B side attack in training against us and I saw the value of having a flyhalf who did not just see the space but could put the ball there so close to the defensive line. Johan Goosen is no different and we saw tonight what he’s like when he’s on song.

“Obviously the forwards got us front-foot ball, but before that he took control of the game, he was phenomenal and we basically won the match in the first 20 minutes. I’m very happy with the way we played, some of the plays we used were outstanding and the players also chose the right plays at the right time, in the right place. We don’t want to be one-trick ponies,” White said.