Ken Borland

Every Proteas cricketer knows that defeat is going to bring criticism, but George Linde, the man of the match in South Africa’s overwhelming victory over Pakistan in the second T20 at the Wanderers on Monday, called on the public to be patient because the national team is confident they will make their supporters proud again soon.

South Africa hammered Pakistan by six wickets with six overs to spare, a real statement win that almost seemed to be motivated by anger. The Proteas were clinical with the ball, starting with left-arm spinner Linde, who opened the bowing and took three for 23 in his four overs, and batted with great confidence. Linde was there at the death with 20 not out off 10 balls and he took three well-judged outfield catches.

“We always get abuse, no matter what we do, but I would just ask people to be patient, we’ve got this. There are a lot of new guys and we just need time and experience, and then I promise you we will scare some teams. If we look back at the first game, we should have won and we did not play that badly. It’s just we weren’t good enough in the last five overs.

“Today the bowlers really stood up and a lot of guys showed real character. I’m just very happy for everyone, but especially Sisanda Magala, who really showed his character. Myself and a lot of other players believe he is the best death bowler in the country so we weren’t worried after his first over. We know he’s got the skills,” Linde said.

Magala’s first over was a horrible 12-ball affair littered with no-balls and wides that cost 18 runs, but the rookie international bounced back superbly to concede just 14 runs in his last three overs. That included the wicket of Pakistan kingpin Babar Azam, bowled for 50, and Magala conceded just five runs in the last over of the innings.

Other than the bowlers, the batsmen came out blazing, led by Aiden Markram’s 54 off 30 balls, and Linde said they were just following the plan set in place for the T20 World Cup later this year. “This is the game-plan heading towards the World Cup, it’s what we’ve all bought into. If we play that type of cricket then we can reach another level, and we know exactly how we want to go about things. I do practise my six-hitting, I train a lot so hitting my first or second ball for six is no problem, I just have to back my game. Being able to attack in any situation, I practise these things on my own,” Linde said.

George Linde and Aiden Markram may not be first-choice white-ball players for the Proteas, but it was their brilliance in the early overs that enabled South Africa to thrash Pakistan by six wickets with six overs to spare and level their T20 series at the Wanderers on Monday.

Pakistan had won the toss and elected to bat, and the Proteas again opened the bowling with left-arm spinner George Linde. Mohammad Rizwan charged down the wicket to the first ball of the match, was nowhere near the pitch but went through with the hit over the top, Markram taking a well-judged steepler at deep mid-off.

With their nemesis getting out to the first ball, South Africa’s bowling suddenly clicked, the visitors being restricted to 140 for nine.

The other opener, Sharjeel Khan (8) fell in the same fashion, although he just stood in the crease and swiped, and Linde finished with career-best figures of three for 23 as he returned in the 11^th over to have the dangerous Mohammad Hafeez caught behind for 32. Linde also took three catches in the outfield.

Markram, playing in just his fourth T20 International, destroyed the Pakistan bowling up front with consummate ease, hammering seven fours and three sixes off the 30 balls he faced, as he improved on his 51 off 32 deliveries in the first T20 over the weekend, by blazing 54 off 30 on Monday.

Although Markram’s dismissal, caught at long-on off leg-spinner Usman Qadir, left the Proteas needing less than a run-a-ball for victory, they had a bit of a wobble as they sipped to 92 for four in the 11^th over. But captain Heinrich Klaasen (36 not out off 21 balls) and Linde (20 not out off 10 deliveries) had all the finishing power required as they added 49 off just 22 balls to race South Africa to a morale-boosting victory.

While Linde had been the best of the South African bowlers, fellow spinner Tabraiz Shamsi was again excellent, taking one for 22 in his four overs and left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks was also tight, conceding just 27 runs in his four overs.

Lizaad Williams bowled well at the death to take three wickets and even Sisanda Magala, who bowled a horror 12-ball first over littered with no-balls and wides, came back brilliantly. Having gone for 18 runs in his first over, he conceded just 14 runs in his next three overs, including only five in the last over of the innings.

Magala claimed the wicket of Pakistan’s kingpin Babar Azam, skidding a good ball through his attempted pull to bowl the captain for 50. South Africa did well to keep him quiet though, Babar taking 50 balls to score his runs.

There were many blemishes in the Proteas finishing game with both bat and ball in the first T20 against Pakistan at the Wanderers on Saturday, with captain Heinrich Klaasen admitting one of the black marks goes against his name for getting out when he did when South Africa were batting.

Klaasen scored an explosive 50 off 28 balls, producing some great six-hitting, but he was caught at short fine leg trying to scoop Hasan Ali, with the Proteas on 159 for three after 16.2 overs. They ended on 188 for six, a decent total but well short of what looked likely when they already had 151 on the board after 15 overs.

Pakistan won the match by four wickets with a ball to spare as South Africa again failed to execute their skills in the last five overs, conceding 60 runs, as well as missing a couple of catches. Opener Mohammad Rizwan steered the visitors home with his clinical 74 not out off 50 balls.

“We were in a very good position to take the game away from Pakistan, but unfortunately I got out at a bad time. The job of the set batsman is to go deep but unfortunately I couldn’t do that. It was not all bad execution in the end stages, just one or two overs and we had a bit of bad luck too. But we still need to fine-tune that area of our game.

“We may be forced to experiment with players, but the game plan is set and we need to do that going forward to the World Cup. Now we just need to execute it and fine-tune it. Things like the angles we bowled to Rizwan, we need to stay out of his hitting zone, he scored a lot on the leg side. Sisanda Magala and Lizaad Williams are probably our two best yorker bowlers so we needed to stick to that plan,” Klaasen said after the match.

One positive from the match was Aiden Markram reaching a white-ball international half-century for the first time since March 2019. The elegant opener top-scored for the Proteas with 51 and he did not eat up too many balls getting there either – he only needed 32 deliveries.

“I’m really happy for Aiden, he’s fought hard to get back in the white-ball sides and today he really made a statement, he showed that he can play in this format. In the ODIs he just needs to not get out when he is set, but today’s knock was a big step in the right direction,” Klaasen said.

Heinrich Klaasen called himself an “unexpected” captain on Friday and stressed that he will be sticking very closely to Temba Bavuma’s plan when the Proteas’ T20 series against Pakistan starts on Saturday afternoon at the Wanderers.

With Bavuma ruled out of action for the entire series with a hamstring strain suffered in the final ODI in midweek, Klaasen was on Friday morning once again thrust into the stand-in captain role he fulfilled in the three T20s in Pakistan in February. But the 29-year-old was clear that he will not be trying to stamp his mark on the team, however subtly; Bavuma’s astute game-plan will be the one they will be using.

“We have a set plan for how we want to play, we are still fine-tuning it and the new guys in the squad need to play that way in order to fit in. But it’s the way we’ll be playing going forward, the way Temba wants it, and I will definitely be pushing that going forward. It’s just a positive brand of cricket, with a bit of streetwise play thrown in. I can’t really expand on the rest of it.

“But it’s the way the game is heading and we need to keep up with the new style of play. There’s a process we need to follow. It was unexpected to be given the captaincy, but a big honour again. It’s unfortunate we don’t have some big players again, but this is still a very strong side and the players have lots of confidence in this format,” Klaasen said on Friday.

Klaasen will obviously fill one of the middle-order slots, but the job of wicketkeeper could go to Kyle Verreynne. The stand-in captain said the brilliance of the youngster in the third ODI showed that he could “play for South Africa for a very long time”.

Janneman Malan was praised in the same vein by Klaasen and the departures of Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks and Bavuma himself from the squad means the recruitment of a new opening partner for the Cobras talent is necessary. Aiden Markram has been added to the T20 squad as cover, but could the selectors go the less-obvious route and introduce debutant Wihan Lubbe at the top of the order?

The 28-year-old took on the might of the Imperial Lions attack in the recent T20 Challenge and showed he fits the bill as an opener with a great knock of 52 off just 38 balls.

The fitness of the exciting Sisanda Magala, a star of the Lions’ triumphant T20 campaign, is apparently still an issue for the Proteas management, but the introduction to international cricket of him or Lizaad Williams of the Titans is a possibility.