Ken Borland

Farhaan Behardien, now playing in the dark blue and orange of the Knights, made just his second 4-Day Domestic Series century at SuperSport Park on Monday, an inspirational effort that put the visitors into a first-innings lead against the Titans in the match-up between the two pool leaders.

Behardien, who starred for the Titans with nine centuries in 98 four-day matches before joining the Bloemfontein side this season, came through a tough morning session in which the Knights had slipped to 49 for three in the first hour. The 37-year-old showed all his experience, determination and skill as he reached stumps on 126 not out, his 233-ball effort leading the Knights to 307 for six at stumps on the second day, already a handy 44 runs in front.

Raynard van Tonder began the fightback for the Knights with his controlled 52, adding 106 for the fourth wicket with Behardien, before Patrick Kruger took control in the afternoon with an aggressive innings of 69 off 99 balls.

Kruger and Behardien added 113 for the fifth wicket and the key partnership was only broken in the third over with the second new ball when Lizaad Williams was fortunate to win an lbw decision against Kruger.

Williams was the best of the Titans bowlers, sharp and consistently asking questions of the batsmen, as he finished the day with three for 63 in 19 overs.

He will need to be as good on the third morning as he was in Monday’s first session if the size of the Knights lead is going to be kept to manageable proportions by the home side.

Kagiso Rabada has won accolades all over the world but he has not smiled more broadly as when the Imperial Lions beat the Dolphins by four wickets with an over to spare in the T20 Challenge final at Kingsmead, the fast bowler playing a pivotal role in the victory and another trophy for his franchise.

After the Dolphins won the toss and elected to bat on their home ground, Rabada played a leading role as the KZN side could only post 107 for seven in their 20 overs. Rabada, who gave a superb demonstration of all his wonderful skills, removed key batsman David Miller for two, beat Mangaliso Mosehle for pace and bowled him middle stump for 18 just when the wicketkeeper/batsman was threatening to revive the Dolphins innings, and finished with superb figures of three for 12 in four overs.

He was ably supported by left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin, who bowled a sweeping Sarel Erwee for a duck in the first over and finished with one for 19 in his four overs, and paceman Sisanda Magala who was outstanding again with two for 19.

Opener Grant Roelofsen scored 20 for the Dolphins and Khaya Zondo scored a determined 24, but Robbie Frylinck, who has had a fine all-round tournament, scored 30 not out off 26 balls to post a total that proved challenging for the Lions with all the pressure of a final and a Dolphins side who showed an admirable never-say-die attitude in the field.

The Lions also struggled with the bat with the Dolphins’ key bowler, Keshav Maharaj, also showing his class. The left-arm spinner took one for 22 in four overs, and troubled all of the batsmen, having Temba Bavuma dropped first ball by Khaya Zondo at slip, who was diving and just failed to take a tough chance.

Opner Reeza Hendricks, the leading run-scorer in the tournament, held the innings together with his run-a-ball 39 and his 36-run partnership with Bavuma (22) almost took the Lions to victory. Wiaan Mulder showed his abilities with the bat as he steered the Lions to victory with his 24 not out off 23 balls.

Apart from Maharaj, the Dolphins seamers – Ottneil Baartman (4-0-20-2), Robbie Frylinck (4-0-16-1) and Kerwin Mungroo (3-0-14-1) also showed great determination.

They may not have Quinton de Kock nor Faf du Plessis, but the Titans are not in any way uncomfortable with their absence as they start their CSA T20 Challenge campaign against the Knights at Kingsmead on Friday morning, thanks to the riches in playing depth they have and their unavailability being communicated well in advance.

Even without De Kock, who is on a “mental health break”, and Du Plessis, heading to the Pakistan Super League to join Dale Steyn at the Quetta Gladiators, the Titans have six White Proteas to squeeze into the five slots allowed for them and it seems champion off-spinner Simon Harmer will not be playing in the opening game on Friday, thus allowing batsman Theunis de Bruyn to get a shot. The other White Proteas in the squad are captain Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, Dean Elgar and Chris Morris, who on Thursday became the most expensive overseas player ever in the IPL.

“We’re probably a bit overstocked to be honest and Quinny and Faf not being available was communicated to us early on. It wouldn’t make sense to force them to play. Quinny was very open and honest with us a while ago that he would need a break after the Pakistan tour and Faf put in his request to skip the competition a while ago too. It doesn’t make sense to force people to play when they’re not in a good space, they’re unlikely to perform well,” Titans CEO Jacques Faul told The Citizen on Thursday.

Pace bowler Kyle Abbott is another conspicuous absentee from the Titans squad having only played the one Momentum One-Day Cup match for them since his high-profile signing. But Faul confirmed they “still have long-term plans” for Abbott, who has played 11 Tests, 28 ODIs and 21 T20s for the Proteas.

The Knights only have three Proteas in their squad – veteran Farhaan Behardien, Pite van Biljon and new international Jacques Snyman, but it is surely only a matter of time before Raynard van Tonder and Migael Pretorus earn their first caps and the Central Franchise are a well-balanced, powerful outfit.

South Africa will be playing in the evening again in Lahore on Saturday as they look to stay alive in their T20 series against Pakistan and opening batsman Janneman Malan said they will be better prepared having now experienced the interesting weather conditions in the ancient city and centre of culture.

Given it is winter in Pakistan and dew is prevalent in the evenings, the Proteas did the right thing after winning the toss and choosing to bat second in the first match of the series, but there was even more moisture than expected but it strangely had less impact than the visitors thought it would. They were hoping it would make a dry, slow surface more slick, allowing the ball to come on to the bat better and negating some of the turn. But that didn’t happen according to Malan.

“It was interesting weather, especially when the fog came in. Credit to Pakistan for taking two important catches in the closing stages in those conditions. There was a wet outfield, the ball was wet, but it still didn’t skid on as much as we expected, so it was quite a challenge against the spinners at the start. So we just tried to capitalise on the seamers while they tried to figure out what to do.

“But now that we’ve seen what works and what doesn’t work, we’ll have better plans for the second game. Some deliveries were more difficult to hit and it wasn’t so much about execution as having the right plans. So there’s room for improvement – we probably need to commit harder and have clearer, better plans. But as a batting unit, we’re not far off where we want to be,” Malan said after blasting 44 off 29 balls in the first T20.

But after Malan’s opening stand of 53 off 42 balls with Reeza Hendricks, South Africa’s next biggest partnership was 32 for the fourth wicket between Hendricks (54 off 42) and skipper Heinrich Klaasen (12) as wickets fell regularly after Pakistan made the initial breakthrough via exciting leg-spinner Usman Qadir. Just one more sizeable partnership would have made the Proteas’ chase so much easier.

“As a batting unit, we want to win games and we’re not far off clicking. Just one more big partnership and we would have won the game. We just need to come up with the best options for each batsman. Experience is important and we’re obviously missing some of that, but it’s more important that every player focuses on doing their job, we can all add value.

“Reeza was in a difficult position when I got out because he had not faced a lot of balls, but he kept a cool head and got the strike-rate up again. He was obviously upset that he didn’t finish the game, but his dismissal was unlucky and he played a very good innings. The second game is a good opportunity for us to bounce back hard and hopefully change the momentum so we can take that into the final game on Sunday,” Malan said.