Ken Borland

South Africa produced a compelling all-round display as they paced their batting perfectly and then fried England’s batsmen in the hot oil of unrelenting pressure from the bowlers and fielders, beating the hosts by a massive 90 runs to win their T20 series in Southampton on Sunday evening.

The Proteas had been sent in to bat and conditions were tough early on for the batsmen as Quinton de Kock was bowled for a duck by David Willey (4-1-25-3) in the first over and there was early movement with the new ball.

But Reeza Hendricks dug in and Rilee Rossouw then blazed 31 off 18 balls to provide some impetus in the powerplay, which South Africa finished on 53/1.

Hendricks, in red-hot form, accelerated to his third successive half-century and went on to score a fine 70 off 50 balls as he and Aiden Markram (51* off 36) built towards the death overs with a fantastically-judged partnership of 87 for the third wicket in 10 overs.

An impressive Markram, David Miller (22 off 9) and Tristan Stubbs, who hit his first two balls for four, then provided the big finish with 50 runs in the last four overs taking the Proteas to an above-par 191/5.

South Africa were outstanding in the field, their bowlers giving nothing away and being backed by superb fielding, led by a magnificent catch by Stubbs to remove Moeen Ali for just 3.

England missed their usual rollicking start as Jos Buttler (14) was outfoxed by the Proteas’ plans and excellent bowling by left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, and Jason Roy struggled to 17 off 18 balls before Anrich Nortje had him caught behind.

Tabraiz Shamsi then continued his spectacular comeback from the mauling he took in the first game, ripping through England with career-best figures of 5/24.

Fellow spinners Keshav Maharaj (2/21) and Markram, who dismissed Moeen courtesy of an extraordinary catch by Stubbs, running from a widish midwicket towards mid-on and diving full-length to take a one-handed catch as the ball went past him, also contributed. Their success showed that England erred in only giving off-spinner Moeen one over, getting too carried away with match-ups when conditions and a big field favoured the spinners.

Former World Cup winning flyhalf Joel Stransky is far from suggesting it is all blue skies with the standard of South African domestic rugby at the moment, and he says the Springboks have a perfectly good pair of No.10s in Handre Pollard and Elton Jantjies, and yet he still believes in-form Bulls pivot Morne Steyn needs to be chosen for the squad to play the British and Irish Lions in July.

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber is set to call on more than 40 players for the Springbok squad and Steyn has been involved in the alignment camps held by Nienaber and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus. The 36-year-old star of the 2009 Lions tour has played a pivotal role in the Bulls’ dominance of local rugby over the last year and he produced a man of the match display when they hammered the top-of-the-log Sharks last weekend.

“Firstly, Morne was and still is a great player. But if Pollard and Jantjies were both here and firing, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation. But there is a bit of concern over the flyhalf position and there should always be a place for that kind of experience and the way Morne’s delivering on the field at the moment – the way he’s controlling the game, leading from No.10.

“So I absolutely think he should be involved but will he be our No.1 flyhalf? I think if Pollard is fit then he’ll be first-choice, but Morne could maybe even be involved in a mentoring capacity, or as back-up. You know what you’re going to get with Morne, and he is standing up and shining, no mater how weak or strong you think the local competition is,” Stransky told The Citizen on Monday.

While there is no shred of a doubt that Pollard is playing in a top-class league for Montpellier in the French Top 14 and will be appearing in the Challenge Cup final this weekend, Jantjies was outstanding for relegation-threatened Pau last weekend, scoring 19 points and nearly steering them to an upset win over the formidable Racing 92 team.

Stransky believes domestic rugby in South Africa has been a hit-and-miss affair.

“The quality has not been great, although there have been some good signs at times, and that has maybe allowed a guy like Morne to shine. If our rugby was fast and furious, of tiptop quality, then we maybe would be having a slightly different conversation. But I don’t feel our games have been of the highest quality. But you also can’t deny Morne is standing up and delivering,” Stransky said.