Ken Borland

Not even the downpours that washed out the entire second day’s play of the first Test between the Proteas and India in Centurion on Monday could put out the fires Cricket South Africa’s selection convenor was fighting as critics continued to lambast the inclusion of Marco Jansen ahead of Duanne Olivier as adulterating the home attack.

But Victor Mpitsang, the convenor of the selection panel, did confirm The Citizen’s report on the first day of the Test that Olivier had been left out due to his bowling workloads not being sufficient to last a five-day match due to a bout of Covid he suffered at the start of the month.

The 21-year-old Jansen was therefore brought into the team for his debut and struggled, along with the rest of the Proteas attack. India, having won the toss and elected to bat, amassed 272/3 led by Lokesh Rahul’s unbeaten 122. The left-arm quick’s first day of international cricket could have been very different though if wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock had taken a sharp catch off Mayank Agarwal in Jansen’s fifth over.

Jansen ended the first day with 0/61 in 17 overs. Lungi Ngidi, another man whose fitness was in question given how little competitive cricket he has played in the last few months, was the only wicket-taker for South Africa with 3/45 in 17 overs.

“Duanne Olivier is healthy and well, but did return a positive Covid-19 test result a number of weeks ago, which forced him to quarantine and took time away from his training ahead of the current Test series against India,” Mpitsang was reported as saying on the second day of the Test.

“His workloads were not where the selection panel would have wanted them to be by the time he entered the team bubble ahead of the first Test.

“He also picked up a hamstring niggle during the two-day inter-squad match at the start of the camp, and the selectors did not want to risk him unnecessarily when there are two more Test matches to think about,” Mpitsang said.

“Marco Jansen was the standout performer with the ball against India A in their recent tour to South Africa and the selectors backed him to take on the senior India team and do well,” Mpitsang added.

“Every player who has been selected for this Proteas team is believed to be capable of representing the national team and giving a performance of the highest level. The absence of one player does not take away from the quality that another brings to the set-up.”

Unfortunately for CSA, the fact that the explanation only came out on the second day of the Test has seen the press exercise their autonomy to react negatively to being kept in the dark.

Conspiracy theories also abounded on social media.

The good news is that Olivier is expected to be fully fit for the second Test at the Wanderers starting on January 3.

Glenton Stuurman is reportedly also carrying a leg niggle.

Bulls coach Jake White may be saying he will be looking to play more from scrums in the United Rugby Championship going forward, but that is not going to weaken the resolve of his front row to make a point when they come up against the Sharks at Kings Park on Friday night.

White said one of the differences in northern hemisphere rugby that his team will need to adapt to is that sides tend to use the scrum as an attacking platform and not something from which to earn penalties.

But the outspoken coach made a point of saying how much he was looking forward to seeing former Springbok hooker Bismarck du Plessis taking on Bongi Mbonambi, the incumbent in the Green and Gold No.2 jersey. He is also keen to see how another Springbok, Lizo Gqoboka, does as he comes off the bench as tighthead cover, having switched back to the other side of the scrum, where he started his career.

“I don’t really want a whole lot of penalties at scrum time,” White said on Thursday. “In South Africa you see the scrum is used as an opportunity to get out of your half or get points, via penalties.

“But in the rest of the URC, teams see it as an opportunity to attack, with eight forwards all tied in there. They try and get the ball in and out quickly.

“The Sharks have been speaking for months about how strong they will be when all their Springboks return and then it will just be a matter of time before they dominate. Well this is it now, it’s a home game for them and their Boks are back.

“Bongi has been the dominant hooker for South Africa, while Bismarck is also a World Cup winner who has played 79 Tests. I’m sure he will introduce himself to Bongi and I’m looking forward to that battle,” White said.

While the likes of Ox Nche and Aphelele Fassi have for some undisclosed reason been blacklisted from playing for the Sharks on Friday night, the KwaZulu-Natalians will have Siya Kolisi, Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi and Sbu Nkosi also lining up alongside Mbonambi.

Am has moved to inside centre, setting up an intriguing tussle with a Bulls backline that sees David Kriel playing at outside centre and Kurt-Lee Arendse at fullback.

“You never really know how a pitch is going to play,” Kagiso Rabada said, “but we had an idea from the warm-up that it would favour the seamers and bowled accordingly.”

And brilliantly.

South Africa bundled Bangladesh out for just 84 in their T20 World Cup match in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, a total they then chased down with six wickets in hand and 39 balls to spare to significantly boost their nett run-rate.

Rabada led the way with an outstanding display that brought him career-best figures of 3/20. On a pitch that almost demanded Test-style bowling, he was bang on the mark with both his lengths and skills from the outset.

“There was a lot of grass on the pitch and a bit of zip, as well as being a bit two-paced. We learnt from the Australia game here and we also noticed a bit of swing in the warm-up,” Rabada said after the win.

“You never really know how a pitch is going to play, but we had an idea that it would favour the seamers and we bowled accordingly. In my three overs up front there was a bit of bounce, seam movement and swing.

“So conditions were in my favour and you just try to get the ball in the right places. Anrich Nortje [3.2-0-8-3] is also bowling pretty rapidly at the moment and every bowler that came on stuck to the game-plan and got us into an even stronger position,” Rabada said.

South Africa also know full well that their semi-finals qualification could come down to nett run-rate and they used the small target as an opportunity to boost that figure to more than one run per over better than rivals Australia: 0.742 to -0.627.

After a rocky start, they won in the 14^th over largely thanks to Temba Bavuma’s quickfire 31 not out off 28 balls. Rabada said criticism of the captain has been ill-informed.

“There’s nothing more to say about Temba, the results are there. You are always going to have critics and we make peace with that, we take the good with the bad.

“You can’t control what is said outside the game, but we probably put more pressure on ourselves than the public do.

“Obviously we chatted at halfway about nett run-rate and we wanted to try and finish the chase as early as possible. There was a clear instruction to finish before 15 overs, we did that and we are happy,” Rabada said.

The Wanderers pitch, sterilised by the sun and wind, began to play easier on Saturday and the Central Gauteng Lions capitalised by piling on the runs and then taking three quick North-West wickets on the second day of their CSA Four-Day Domestic Series match.

The Lions, led by Ryan Rickelton’s superbly compiled 159, amassed 408 in their first innings to stack up a 249-run first-innings lead.

In the 10 overs they then bowled to the North-West Dragons before stumps, they claimed three wickets for 50 runs, setting up the possibility of a three-day finish on Sunday.

Rickelton resumed on 33 not out on Saturday morning and was in dazzling touch as he collected 22 fours, his shot-selection and placement being immaculate.

Kagiso Rapulana (26) and Muhammed Mayet (34) shared the key partnerships with Rickelton, adding 80 for the third wicket and 86 for the fourth wicket respectively.

Malusi Siboto then ushered the Lions past 400 with his quickfire 52.

Left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy was the most effective North-West bowler with 4/61 in 24.1 overs.

Duanne Olivier, who took four wickets in the first innings, then removed both North-West openers before stumps to leave the Lions firmly in charge.

Up the road at SuperSport Park, Sibonelo Makhanya (64*) and Jordan Hermann (56*) ended the day strongly for the Northerns Titans with their unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 123.

This stand rescued Northerns from 95/4, when they were still trailing by 29 runs, and they now lead the Eastern Province Warriors by 94.

This was debutant Hermann’s second half-century of the match and the U19 star is certainly an exciting talent.

Eastern Province made it to 258 all out in their first innings and this was largely due to opener Ed Moore’s determined 110, which spanned 188 deliveries.

Diego Rosier, who scored a dashing 85 on the first day, and Tiaan van Vuuren (20*) were the only other batsmen to reach double figures.

Paceman Corbin Bosch and off-spinner Simon Harmer each took three wickets.

At Newlands, Khaya Zondo’s magnificent unbeaten double-century meant there were many funerals for the Western Province bowling figures.

Zondo compiled a thoroughly dominant 203 not out and, with Jason Smith stroking a fine 101, the KZN Dolphins piled up 489/9 declared.

Western Province then struggled to 101/4 in reply, including the demise of key batsman David Bedingham, caught-and-bowled by spinner Bryce Parsons for 62.

In Bloemfontein, veteran Free State Knights captain Pite van Biljon played some adorable strokes as he scored 137 with 14 fours and three sixes to lead the home side to 320 all out.

He marshalled the tail particularly well because Free State were 185/7 at one stage.

Fast bowler Hardus Viljoen (25-6-62-4) led the attack for Boland, who were 2/0 at the close.