Ken Borland

Anrich Nortje – 8

11 wickets @ 8.54, Econ 5.37, BB 4-10

Pushed himself farther than any of the other bowlers and enjoyed a superb tournament. High pace, good control and even some slower balls saw him twice take four wickets in an innings.

David Miller – 7

78 runs @ 78.00, SR 116.41, HS 59*.

The left-hander’s beloved finishing ability was to the fore against India, but unfortunately he could not repeat the heroics against the Netherlands, thanks to a spectacular catch.

Still South Africa’s best in the middle-order, he was sorely missed against Pakistan due to his back spasm.

Rilee Rossouw – 7

141 runs @ 35.25, SR 169.87, HS 109.

The crowds were cheering him after his magnificent century against Bangladesh, but he failed against India and Pakistan, while he looked threatening but gave it away versus the Netherlands. Shot-selection can sometimes let him down.

Wayne Parnell – 6.5

5 wickets @ 20.40, Econ 6.37, BB 3-15. 5 runs @ 2.50, SR 38.46, HS 3.

Did grand work up front with the new ball, but was expensive at the death, conceding 26 runs in the two overs he bowled there against Pakistan and the Netherlands. His batting was barely functional for an all-rounder.

Keshav Maharaj – 6

3 wickets @ 29.66, Econ 7.41, BB 2-27.

You can always rely on Maharaj’s left-arm spin to be tidy and controlled, which it once again was.

Quinton de Kock – 6

124 runs @ 31.00, SR 161.03, HS 63.

Magnificent in the first two games, and then his batting fell away as his feet often looked entombed in concrete. Also tended to be a bit solemn in the field, when teams normally look to their wicketkeeper to provide the spark.

Tabraiz Shamsi – 6

4 wickets @ 14.00, Econ 7.00, BB 3-20.

Only used by the Proteas in the two matches in Sydney; Bangladesh’s demise was hastened by his three wickets, but then Shamsi was put to the sword in one over by Pakistan’s Shadab Khan.

Lungi Ngidi – 5.5

7 wickets @ 16.57, Econ 8.92, BB 4-29.

Missed the match against Bangladesh but bounced back with an outstanding display against India. Was disappointing when the Proteas exited the competition in Adelaide, his performance not being up to scratch on a pitch that suited him.

Aiden Markram – 5.5

99 runs @ 24.75, SR 125.31, HS 52. 1 wicket @ 21.00, Econ 7.00, BB 1-16.

Always looks so technically correct at the crease, and his half-century against India was an innings of proper class. Got in and got out though against Pakistan and the Netherlands. Bowled three overs of tidy off-spin.

Heinrich Klaasen – 5

36 runs @ 18.00, SR 133.33, HS 21.

The difficulties of the role can be seen in the performances of the Proteas’ back-up finisher. Would obviously have liked to have changed the results of the two matches he played in, against Pakistan and the Netherlands, but his strike-rate was okay.

Temba Bavuma – 3.5

70 runs @ 17.50, SR 112.90, HS 36.

Again found life at the top of the order tough, although his 36 off 19 balls against Pakistan seemed to have revitalised him. Can there be any future for him in T20 Internationals?

Kagiso Rabada – 3.5

2 wickets @ 75.50, Econ 9.43, BB 1-24.

South Africa’s premier fast bowler was a bit like the husband who does not do his chores around the house. The expectation was there, in perfect conditions for him, and he looked good at the start of the tournament, but he was tardy in the last two matches.

Tristan Stubbs – 3

31 runs @ 10.33, SR 100.00, HS 18.

An unforgiving World Cup debut for the 22-year-old as he was just not able to provide much acceleration at the death. Perhaps he pushed too hard, too early, but the Proteas should certainly give him more opportunities.

The chance of rain scuppering the Proteas’ chances is apparently just 2% and South Africa will be obvious favourites when they take on the Netherlands in Adelaide in the early hours of Sunday morning with a semifinal place on the line.

It’s the simplest of equations for the Proteas – beat the qualifiers and they are in the semi-finals. A defeat or a washed-out match would mean the winners of the game between Pakistan and Bangladesh would go through. Zimbabwe will also still have a chance of progressing if they beat India, but for that to happen and the Dutch to triumph over the Proteas would be two of the biggest upsets in T20 World Cup history on the same day.

Although captain Temba Bavuma said he was not concerned by the performance of the team in their loss to Pakistan in their previous match, the sloppiness of their display is clearly something they cannot afford to repeat. Especially not when they are on the verge of reaching the knockout rounds.

What was frustrating about their showing was that they did everything right for the first 10 overs, knocking over the Pakistan top-order. But their failure to bowl the right lengths in the closing overs was once again the burr in their saddle, Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan lashing quickfire half-centuries as 106 runs were thrashed in the last eight overs.

It was a cold, wet night in Sydney but that did not excuse a messy fielding display, with catches being dropped and straightforward outfielding being duffed.

In terms of the batting, Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw both failed, but Bavuma and Aiden Markram did well enough to have the Proteas on track after the powerplay. But both of them losing their wickets in the same over, shortly before the rain delay, meant the revised DLS target was too stiff for Heinrich Klaasen and Tristan Stubbs.

The Proteas will be hoping the talismanic David Miller has recovered from his back spasm, and they know that winning their next three games will make this event their most memorable world cup campaign ever.

“You can’t afford to give teams momentum and I’m not going to look for excuses for our fielding display,” Bavuma said after the Pakistan loss. “We have been very good up to that game and we have fielded in the wet before.

“But mistakes were made and that was not the type of display you want at this level, especially in this part of the tournament. Maybe the intensity was down a bit, but it was definitely not the standard we pride ourselves on.

“Hopefully we play our best cricket in the next three games, the next one is a must-win and then we have the playoffs,” Bavuma said.

The International cricket stage is not the sort of place Joe Soap batsmen just come in and automatically do well and the recurring failures of the Proteas batting line-up this year showed that there is something more systemic to blame for the several dreadful collapses we have seen.

In the last 12 months, South Africa have been bowled out in Test cricket for scores of 95 and 111 in New Zealand, 118, 151, 169 and 179 in England, and 191 and 197 against India at Centurion. In ODIs, England have bundled them out for 83 and India shot them out for 99 earlier this week, while 154 all out against Bangladesh at SuperSport Park was a shock. In T20s, there was 87 all out and 106/8 in India, and 118/9 in the opening match of last year’s World Cup, against Australia in Abu Dhabi.

Some of these same batsmen that have been exposed a few times against overseas opposition take delight in scoring heavily in domestic cricket, and that is where Cricket South Africa need to look first.

The expansion from six to eight teams at the top level and the unfortunate fact that probably two-thirds of the transformation targets per team are filled by bowlers, has led to a dilution of the strength of bowling attacks in the local game.

Having watched plenty of domestic cricket in recent times, it is apparent that, for top batsmen, there is probably a pair of pacemen and maybe a spinner who will provide a suitable test for their abilities, but thereafter there is a drop in intensity and a batter who has international aspirations finds it relatively easy to rack up big scores.

The quality of pitches also needs to be looked at: We have had a few ‘roads’ around the country which barely test a batsman, and green tops and rank turners don’t help either because they lower the overall quality of the bowling by not forcing bowlers to develop the skills and patience required on the generally good wickets at international level.

And, as both England and India’s bowlers have capitalised on, there is precious little quality swing bowling seen in South Africa these days; gone are the likes of Richard Snell, Meyrick Pringle and Alan Dawson, who were leading wicket-takers season in and season out.

The ill-effects of quotas on local cricket are obvious, but it also needs to be pointed out that the wretched system of Apartheid enforced a 100% White quota, which had even more of a sickening effect on sport. Quotas are there to try and redress that iniquity and level the playing field, and if anyone has a better method of doing that, I’m sure CSA would love to hear from you.

It has certainly not helped the domestic game that there have been drastic financial cuts by CSA. These cost-saving measures came about due to the incompetence and misgovernance of the previous board, which caused sponsors to flee en masse.

In previous times, new batsmen came into the Proteas team with three or four seasons of strength-versus-strength, hard cricket behind them. They would play a dozen matches per season per format. Now the domestic game is no longer contested on a home-and-away basis, and our top local cricketers play much less cricket, thereby reducing their experience and learning opportunities.

So what are CSA to do about this, to ensure that we keep producing great batsmen of the same ilk as Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Graeme Smith, Faf du Plessis, David Miller, JP Duminy and Albie Morkel?

Hopefully the SA20 league is going to pump much-needed funds into domestic cricket to make it stronger, but CSA are also going to have to try and bring more of those illustrious former names into the fold to help advise and fine-tune our best young batsmen who are going to push for Proteas places in the future.

Reeza Hendricks was able to once again announce himself as ready and able for a regular place in South Africa’s white-ball teams as his brisk half-century provided the impetus for a Proteas innings that was cruising for 300 but fell away badly at the death in the second ODI against India in Ranchi on Sunday.

Hendricks, brought into the team for the first time on the Indian tour because regular captain Temba Bavuma was ill, stroked a classy 74 off 76 balls, with nine fours and a six, looking totally at ease on a tricky, low and slow pitch as he injected valuable momentum into the Proteas innings.

South Africa, having won the toss and elected to bat, were able to post 278/7 thanks largely to Hendricks and his run-a-ball partnership of 129 for the third wicket with Aiden Markram.

Markram took time to settle when he came to the crease at 40/2 in the 10^th over, especially against the wrist-spin of Kuldeep Yadav, which has troubled him in the past. But Kuldeep was surprisingly taken off after just three overs, and Markram then began to dominate as he struck 79 off 89 balls.

The former opener was able to find the boundary seven times and clear it once as he played some powerful strokes, off both front and back foot. But Markram’s dismissal, two balls after Heinrich Klaasen was out for a quickfire 30 off 26 balls, began a superb Indian comeback with the ball.

South Africa were 215/3 in the 38^th over when Klaasen was brilliantly, and surprisingly given how poor a fielder he generally is, caught by Mohammed Siraj, running in from long-on off Kuldeep. Klaasen, who had hit a couple of sixes already, played for turn as he tried to hit over extra cover, but the ball went straight on.

India conceded just 63 runs in the last 12 overs, their bowlers hitting the pitch hard with slower balls. The tactic even kept the in-form David Miller relatively quiet as he finished on 35 not out off 34 deliveries.

Siraj was the pick of the bowlers, claiming the wickets of both Quinton de Kock (5) and Hendricks, who picked out deep square-leg with a short-arm pull, and he finished with 3/38 in his 10 overs. Siraj bowled four overs on the trot at the death, conceding just 12 runs, an astonishing effort.

The pitch is starting to dust up though, and the slower ball is working more and more effectively, but the effect of dew and the floodlights may counteract that in the Indian chase.