Ken Borland

“This is not the standard of fielding you are used to from a South African team,” coach Mark Boucher admitted on Thursday before explaining his frustration over the performance in that crucial department ahead of the fourth and final T20 against Pakistan at Centurion on Friday.

The Proteas have to win on Friday to level the series, but it has been an uphill struggle for a bowling attack shorn of its first-choice fast bowlers and not being particularly well-backed in the field. It was particularly apparent in the third T20 when Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan survived a few half-chances before putting the bowling to the sword as Pakistan chased down 204 with two overs to spare.

“We are pushing the guys so hard in training and the frustration is that they are brilliant then, taking unbelievable catches and the intensity is great. But then in the last game from the second over already we gave away soft runs. We need the guys to stand up in the field and we have been asking the players why the energy and intensity is not there always?

“It’s almost like they take a step back when they get into a match and this is not the standard of fielding you are used to from a South African team. We need to change that, it is something we are addressing and fielding is largely about attitude. Maybe the players are lacking confidence to bring it on match day?” Boucher mused on Thursday.

South Africa also need to be much better under pressure than they were in the third T20, which was as one-sided as the Proteas’ big win in the second match at the Wanderers.

“Under pressure, the guys have not responded the way we know they can. They’re not used to being attacked like that at this level, they got rattled and we did not stick to the plan, we ended up chasing the ball a bit. We’ve gone from the absolute high three days ago to the last game, that’s T20 cricket. We just looked completely rattled under pressure and it was a bad day.

“But three days ago we were very good and that shows things can change quickly in T20 cricket, as long as the energy is right. So we need to come with the right attitude and intensity, yes we have to execute our skills as well, but in our meetings all morning with the players, I got the sense that they know they were not up to scratch and they really want to put that right,” Boucher said.

The Proteas don’t seem to be close to resolving who their Test captain should be, which certainly seems to be negatively impacting the performance of the struggling outfit, but I guess knowing who definitely shouldn’t be the skipper is a step in the right direction though.

Sadly for one of South African cricket’s favourite sons, Quinton de Kock has produced a pretty open-and-shut case for why he should not be captain as he has scored just 74 runs in six innings at an average of only 12.33 since taking the reins. A struggling batting line-up that had become used to De Kock bailing them out really cannot afford the flow of runs from his dashing blade to be stopped like that.

The 28-year-old wicketkeeper/batsman is just too valuable to not have playing well and whatever is hindering him from producing his usual world-class performances needs to be removed from his burden.

There is no shame in him standing down: He took on the job with some reluctance but out of a sense of duty as a senior player in a rebuilding side. For me, there are parallels with the great Hashim Amla, who relinquished the captaincy in January 2016 because he felt the team would be better served by him focusing on his batting.

In his press conferences, De Kock certainly does not seem to be enjoying the captaincy (although bubble life is probably also not making him happy) and personality-wise he is never going to be the sort of skipper who inspires through rousing speeches and being demonstrative out on the field. Sometimes his head doesn’t even seem to be in the game, such is his laidback demeanour.

So who are they going to appoint as the new Test captain? ‘When are the Proteas going to be playing Test cricket again?’ is probably the question that needs to be answered first though. As things stand, there are no confirmed Tests for the rest of the year.

But it seems obvious the new leader is going to come from one of three, maybe four, candidates – Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma, Dean Elgar or Rassie van der Dussen.

Whoever gets the job, they are going to need to bring new energy, intensity and fight to the team. The kind of enthusiasm that the new-look T20 side showed at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, even though they made mistakes and ended up losing to the home side by three runs.

The answer to the old question about whether leaders are born or made is pretty clear to me: sure, the leadership skills of someone can be improved by the right programs and mentors, but the innate ability to lead is either there or it is not. The best captains are those who truly enjoy and embrace the role, and the troops respond to the assuredness that is projected. The team will have direction.

Who is the captain-elect who has the loyalty of the whole team? Who is ready for the burden and will flourish under it, lifting the team’s performances at the same time?

Is it Markram, who has been groomed and anointed as the future skipper ever since he led the SA U19s to the World Cup title? The determination of the 26-year-old is clear as the runs have mercifully started flowing again after a tough couple of years.

Or is it Bavuma, the talisman of the team is so many ways and the face of the hopes of millions of cricket fans? The tenacity and energy he shows can only be inspirational.

What of Elgar, the senior statesman, the reliable one, the guy who constantly puts his body on the line on the field and is one of the biggest characters in the changeroom?

Or Van der Dussen, the relatively new face, still making his way in Test cricket but who exudes the sort of calm and composure that is also vital in the make-up of a leader?

We wait with bated breath for whoever the successor is going to be. They will carry our hopes as the Proteas try and re-establish themselves as a world power, it is going to be a very tough job with so many external challenges, and whoever gets the captaincy is going to need the support of the whole country.

But South Africa has a proud cricketing heritage that needs to be restored by this man, whoever it ends up being.

A decidedly undistinguished performance by the Proteas saw them lose the first Test against Pakistan by the large margin of seven wickets. The batting, after posting totals of just 220 and 245, will once again be in the spotlight, but the fielding was also far inferior to that of the home side and the bowlers, while toiling manfully, lost the plot badly on the third morning.

A couple of key catches were missed in Pakistan’s first innings after they had been reduced to 27 for four, and there were also numerous ground fielding errors that released whatever pressure had been painstakingly built up by the bowlers. Pakistan were able to effectively rotate the strike and the intensity, which creates its own pressure, that one normally associates wit the South African fielding effort just wasn’t there.

Speaking of intensity, it was dismaying to see how flat the Proteas were on the crucial third morning. Pakistan began the day on 308 for eight, already 88 ahead, and it was vital for the visitors to wrap up the innings as quickly as possible. But apart from the persevering Rabada, the rest of the bowling was woeful as the lower-order lashed 70 runs off 74 balls to almost double the lead. They were vital runs that put the home side in firm control.

South Africa had also lost their way with questionable choices of bowlers and tactics with the second new ball. Pakistan were 214 for six when it was taken, still six runs behind. But Rabada only had three overs with it and soon it was part-time off-spinner Aiden Markram using it. The first 14 overs with the new ball saw 61 runs rattled up as the momentum clearly shifted.

But it was the batting that yet again let the Proteas down. They have scored more than 300 just once in their last 23 innings in Asia dating back to July 2014. To say they have a problem with spin is an understatement. Debutant Nauman Ali removed Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock in the first innings and his left-arm spin ripped through the batting in the second innings as he took five for 35. Leg-spinner Yasir Shah also took seven wickets in the match.

The pitch was certainly conducive to spin but there were several soft dismissals. I wonder if the Proteas batsmen have full confidence in their skills against the turning ball? I say that because they tended to get stuck at one end, unable to rotate the strike, and then the ill-judged expansive shot would come, trying to break the shackles with a boundary rather than ticking over the scoreboard by manipulating singles.

Quinton de Kock was probably the biggest disappointment with the bat and his performance as captain also raised question marks.

In the first innings, instead of setting the example, he succumbed to impatience and tried to belt Nauman over the top of the infield but was caught at a wide mid-on, and in the second dig he went hard at a Yasir delivery, bat well in front of his pad, and was caught at short-leg.

De Kock has the air of a laid-back dreamer, and would never be described as being full of words. He is certainly more shy than outgoing and, while there is no doubting his cricketing intelligence, he’s never going to be the most vocal captain. On that flat third morning, South Africa needed someone, however, to stoke their fires.

But the most important reason for being concerned about De Kock as captain is that he does not seem to be enjoying the added responsibility. The joy of playing cricket has been his energy in the past, but in recent press conferences, the captaincy seems to be a chore for him, a duty rather than something he really enjoys. And worst of all, it seems to have robbed the Proteas of a batting genius who is at his best when playing with freedom. De Kock has now scored just 45 runs in four innings as captain.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt praised replacement wing Sbu Nkosi for his performance against the Pumas in their Currie Cup match in Durban on Friday night, saying his brace of tries were a fitting demonstration of why the 24-year-old Springbok is a World Cup winner.

Nkosi has had his share of injury problems this year as well as a brush with Covid-19 that forced him into quarantine, necessitating Everitt’s decision to play him off the bench. But it seems inevitable the Sharks coach will be finding a way of fitting him into the starting line-up when they return to action against the Bulls in a fortnight.

Nkosi scored with his first touch in the 53^rd minute when he spectacularly claimed the restart after the Pumas’ only try and then blazed away to score, and then he scored again with 10 minutes remaining with an intercept try completed with impressive pace.

“Sbu’s performance tonight was definitely the highlight with his two tries, he was phenomenal and showed why he is a World Cup winner with the Springboks. What a difference he made for us, he’s world-class in the air. He helped us win in Kimberley as well against Griquas. We scored some good tries through big defence tonight and we’re ecstatic with scoring seven tries,” Everitt said after the impressive 45-10 victory.

Because the Currie Cup fixtures have merely been a continuation of Super Rugby Unlocked, the Sharks now quirkily have a bye after just one Currie Cup match. They then host the Bulls at Kings Park on December 12 and they will certainly need to be more consistent in maintaining the level of performance they showed in the first half against the Pumas for the full 80 minutes against the log-leaders.

“I’m very proud with how we stood up in the first half, conditions were not easy but we were brave enough to move the ball around and score some good tries through big defence. I’m very happy with the way we played in the first half, the forwards laid a really good platform and there were three maul tries, we scrummed well and stuck to the plan.

“For the second half, the plan was to stick to our processes but unfortunately the Pumas put us under the pump at the set-pieces. You have to give them credit for that, putting us under pressure in the second half, especially at the scrums. But we also put a lot of pressure on ourselves and we certainly could have been better in the second half. But to win 45-10 definitely deserves credit,” Everitt said.