Ken Borland

Two days made a world of difference to the Bristol pitch, but a poor start to the South African innings gave birth to a furious response from the middle-order as they posted a matchwinning 182/6 after being sent in to bat and beat Ireland by 44 runs in the second T20 on Friday night.

Wayne Parnell enjoyed one of his best days in Proteas clours as he took a brilliant 5/30 to lead an impressive Proteas bowling display that bowled Ireland out for 138.

On a pitch that had the bowlers celebrating more assistance than usual in a T20, South Africa struggled to 58/2 after 11 overs. Quinton de Kock (7 off 10 balls) and Rassie van der Dussen (4 off 14) again struggled, but opener Reeza Hendricks continued his hot form with a determined 42 off 40 balls.

Aiden Markram came in and provided some much-needed impetus as he slammed 25 runs off spinner Andy McBrine in the 12^th over, but both he, for 27 off 10 balls, and Hendricks were dismissed in the next over, bowled by leg-spinner Gareth Delany (4-0-24-2).

South Africa were 93/4 off 14 overs, but thanks to Heinrich Klaasen (39 off 16 balls) and David Miller (32 not out off 20), South Africa were given a crucial late boost. Dwaine Pretorius also chipped in with 17 off 7 balls.

Left-arm paceman Josh Little was the best of the Irish bowlers with 1/20 off four overs.

South Africa’s left-armer, Parnell, then struck twice in successive balls in his first over to rock Ireland’s chase from the start. Paul Stirling (28) and Harry Tector (34) lifted Ireland to 40/2 inside the 6^th over, but Lungi Ngidi (3-0-14-1) removed Stirling and Parnell returned to get Tector out.

Pretorius (3.5-0-33-3) then also took two wickets in two balls to all but seal victory.

Second-last man Barry McCarthy walloped 32 off 19 balls at the death to take Ireland over 100 and restore some dignity.

With the 2022 Rugby Championship now two weeks away we take a look at the form of the four teams involved, with today’s focus on the All Blacks.

What they did in July

All Blacks coach Ian Foster will be under immense pressure to very quickly reverse the poor results that saw New Zealand set all sorts of unwanted landmarks in going down 2-1 to Ireland. They were Ireland’s first ever wins in New Zealand, it was the first time they had suffered consecutive defeats at home since 1998, and they became only the third All Blacks team to lose a three-Test series at home.

Losing four of their last five Tests has seen New Zealand drop to fourth in the world rankings, their lowest ever place since the rankings began.

The All Blacks romped to a 42-19 win in the first Test at Fortress Eden Park, but the score was inflated by their ability to take their chances better than Ireland did, and 42% possession and 40% territory were warning signs.

A determined defensive effort by Ireland enabled them to win the second Test 23-12 in Dunedin, and the speed and intricacy of their attacking play, as well as monumental defence, saw them beat the All Blacks 32-22 in the decider in Wellington.

What they did in the Champs in 2021

The All Blacks showed no hint of their waning fortunes in the 2021 Rugby Championship, winning five out of their six matches to claim the title with a seven-point lead in the final standings over Australia.

New Zealand had already clinched the crown with a game to spare as they beat the Springboks 19-17 in Townsville, the 100^th Test between the two great rivals.

The All Blacks’ only defeat came in the last game as the Springboks rebounded to beat them 31-29 with the last kick of the match, the following weekend.

The campaign started on a high for New Zealand as they hammered Australia 57-22 at Eden Park, retaining the Bledisloe Cup and notching the most points they have ever scored over the Wallabies.

Australia were stiffer opponents in the next match, going down 21-38 as the All Blacks’ discipline faltered with a red card. They were also disrupted by a couple of key injuries, but two intercept tries sealed the win.

New Zealand used a lot of fringe players in their two Tests against Argentina, but saw the Pumas off comfortably – 39-0 on the Gold Coast and 36-13 in Brisbane.

Fixtures

August 6: Mbombela, v South Africa

August 13: Johannesburg, v South Africa

August 27: Christchurch, v Argentina

September 3: Hamilton, v Argentina

September 15: Melbourne, v Australia

September 24: Auckland, v Australia

Stand-in Proteas captain Keshav Maharaj is a cool, laidback customer and so he is not going to agonize over South Africa’s poor record in ODIs in England as they left for a three-match series starting on July 19.

The Proteas have played England in 26 ODIs on their home soil and have won just eight of them, losing 16 and two matches being washed out. In the last decade, South Africa have won just three of the last 10 matches against the reigning world champions.

“I’ve only personally played two ODIs in England, so it’s difficult for me to give deep insights,” Maharaj said on the eve of their departure on Thursday. “Maybe we have been a bit slow to adapt.

“That series I played in we lost 2-1 and we only really found our rhythm in the last game. England have done really well lately with their new coaches’ fresh philosophies.

“But it’s important for us to just play according to our game-plan, to focus on what we want to do and do the basics well. It’s going to be a good test and we always want to try and beat the best.

“I can’t really isolate facets of our game that haven’t worked, we just need to trust our process and execute much better. I’m sure the lots of hard work we have put in will bear fruit,” Maharaj calmly stated.

With the next 50-over World Cup now just 15 months away, Maharaj is hoping the desire to be in the squad for that showpiece tournament in India will provide the ignition for his side to make Jos Buttler’s first series in charge of England a torrid one.

“Obviously in our ODI performances over the last year or two we have not shown the execution we’ve wanted,” Maharaj said. “But we’ve picked a squad to suit various needs and combinations.

“I’m sure the game-plan will now come to fruition with the different combinations we have tried. World Cup time obviously causes selection problems because all the players want to put their hands up.

“As captain, you want to create space for everyone to thrive, but they also need to align with the game-plan. You want to give individuals the platform to shine within the team game-plan.

“It might be good to start the tours with the ODIs, we are so used to playing the Tests first and then filtering into the white-ball games. But now the guys are fresh and hungry to showcase their talent,” Maharaj, standing in for the injured Temba Bavuma, said.

The poor death bowling of the Proteas and their poor starts with the bat cost them as they were hammered by 82 runs by India in the fourth T20 International in Rajkot on Friday, allowing the hosts to level the series at 2-2.

The Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium pitch was obviously a factor as South Africa tried to chase down 170, with the variable bounce that was apparent in India’s innings of 169 for six becoming steep and dangerous in the second innings. Temba Bavuma was struck by a delivery that hit a crack and leapt off a length, while Marco Jansen received a potentially terrible blow on the side of the neck, the ball managing to scale the two metres needed to get there.

But the fact that India managed to get to 169 for six was thanks to Dinesh Karthik, a deserved man of the match, lashing a fiery 55 off 27 balls and Hardik Pandya belting 46 off 31 deliveries, with three sixes, as they added 65 for the fifth wicket in five-and-a-half overs. Their fabulous batting meant the Proteas conceded 73 runs in the last five overs, having held the upper hand as they restricted India to 96 for four after 15 overs after being sent in to bat.

The use of Test match lengths had served South Africa well up front, with Lungi Ngidi (3-0-20-2) and Marco Jansen, playing their first matches of the series, limiting India to 40 for two in the powerplay.

Dwaine Pretorius and Anrich Nortje (3-0-21-1) kept the pressure on, and spinner Keshav Maharaj (4-0-29-1) out-thought Rishabh Pant to reduce India to 81 for four after 13 overs.

Unfortunately, the death bowling of Nortje (15 runs off the 16th), Maharaj (13 off the 17^th), Pretorius (32 off the 18^th & 20^th) and Ngidi (13 off the 19^th) was not up to scratch.

Bavuma then had a torrid time opening the batting and retired hurt with an elbow injury on 8 off 11 balls. He was 1 off 7 before a boundary, but was then hit by a delivery that reared off a length, which does not do your confidence any good, or that of the rest of the batting line-up.

The real mess started when Quinton de Kock was sold down the river by Pretorius and run out for 14. De Kock squeezed Harshal Patel into the ground in front of him, Pretorius initially called for the run but then bailed out, leaving De Kock stranded as Harshal was already past him on his way to hitting the stumps.

With Heinrich Klaasen (8) and David Miller (9) both falling cheaply, Rassie van der Dussen was the last hope until he fell for a run-a-ball 20, one of three wickets Avesh Khan (4-0-18-4) took in the 14^th over.

With leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal taking two for 21 and slow left-arm orthodox Axar Patel one for 19, South Africa were all out for 87 in the 17^th over.