Ken Borland

Simon Harmer has not played for South Africa for six-and-a-half years but he has done the job for the Proteas with runs and wickets on the second day of the first Test against Bangladesh at Kingsmead in Durban on Friday.

Harmer scored a crucial 38 not out with the bat as South Africa rallied from a moderate 298/8 to a very tidy first innings total of 367 all out. The off-spinner then took all four Bangladesh wickets to fall as the tourists battled to 98/4 at stumps.

South Africa have played 55 Tests since Harmer last appeared, against India in Nagpur in November 2015, which is the most Tests missed between appearances for the country, beating the previous record of 47 by Justin Kemp between 2001 and 2005.

He had taken 491 first-class wickets in that period and he wasted no time in making a similar impact at international level, ending the second day with 4/42 in 20 overs.

He broke through with his ninth delivery, which was quicker and flatter but still well pitched up. Shadman Islam was beaten by the flight and went back, the quicker ball whizzing into his stumps to bowl him for 9.

After tea, Harmer won an intriguing battle with Nazmul Hossain Shanto (38), bowling him with a beautiful delivery that drifted into the left-hander, who stretched forward in defence, but the ball spun past his outside edge and just clipped off-stump.

In his next over the 33-year-old had Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque brilliantly caught by Keegan Petersen at silly point for a duck and he followed up four overs before stumps with the important wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim, well-caught down the leg-side by wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne for 7.

Opening batsman Mahmudul Hasan Joy has fought through it all to score 44 not out.

While the Proteas enjoyed an excellent day, there was sorrow for Temba Bavuma, who once again fell frustratingly close to a second Test century.

Bavuma scored a marvellous 93 in the testing conditions,  but fell in the 90s for the second time in his career when he was bowled by off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz (40-8-94-3).

Playing in his landmark 50^th Test, Bavuma received a short delivery from Mehidy and went back to cut, but the newish (less than 20 overs old) ball inexplicably turned extremely sharply, cramping the batsman, coming off his pad and ricocheting on to the stumps.

Keshav Maharaj was then bowled for 19 by Ebadot Hossain (29-10-86-2), who nipped a fine delivery through his gate, in the next over. Bavuma and Maharaj had done the bulk of the scoring for South Africa on the second morning as they added 53 for the eighth wicket.

The home side had begun the day on 233/4 after 76.5 overs and the third over with the second new ball saw Bangladesh break through.

Khaled Ahmed (25-3-92-4) seamed the ball back into Verreynne (28), who was trapped lbw in the crease as he did not play with much foot movement. Khaled’s next delivery was a lifting ball outside off stump, which Wiaan Mulder (0) sparred at, sending an edge to gully which was brilliantly caught by a diving Joy.

But Harmer then combined with pace bowlers Lizaad Williams and Duanne Olivier, who both scored 12, to provide a late hurrah for the innings.

So South Africa’s gritty women’s cricket side fell once again at the semi-final stage of the World Cup, bringing an enthralling campaign to an end. So where to next for Hilton Moreeng’s plucky Proteas?

It is vital that the feel-good factor surrounding the women’s Proteas is maintained. While there has been a substantial improvement in the amount of investment into the women’s game in recent years, thanks to the sponsorship of Momentum and the increased focus from Cricket South Africa, there is still a sizeable gap when it comes to the amount of money flowing to the men’s game as compared to our ladies.

It is the same with every sport and Momentum issued figures this week which show that 61.1% of commercial investment in South African sport goes to the men, and only 4% of television coverage goes to women’s sport. This despite 40% of all sports participants being women.

The reason for this disparity is partly because of the lower viewership numbers for women’s sport. So if you want to support the Proteas women, make sure you watch all their televised games and encourage others to do so too. Of course they also need the backing of the television stations to actually broadcast their matches and it would also help if South Africa’s ladies could play more often.

Having unequivocally proved that they are one of the best sides in the world, and with superstars like Laura Wolvaardt, Marizanne Kapp, Sune Luus, Shabnim Ismail and Dane van Niekerk (when she returns from injury), there should be teams eager to play against us.

Although South Africa were rather heavily beaten by England in their semi-final, it will please coach Moreeng that his side won several desperately tight encounters at the World Cup. That showed their mental toughness. The main reason they lost by 137 runs to defending champions England was their shoddy catching, with centurion Danni Wyatt dropped five times on her own!

But that sort of fielding sloppiness can be fixed. It is actually a malaise that needs to be rectified across the board in South African cricket.

One also needs to give Moreeng enormous credit for the work he has done in moulding such a powerful team.

He became national women’s coach at the end of 2012, when they had recently finished fourth in the Women’s World Cup Qualifier, behind Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the West Indies, all teams they are now beating with regularity.

They only finished sixth in the 2012/13 World Cup, but the growth of players like Ayabonga Khaka, Luus, Lizelle Lee, Lara Goodall and, most especially, the magnificent Wolvaardt, has lifted them clearly into the top three in the world.

With the national team in such a good space, it is now time for CSA and their sponsors to give more attention to the domestic women’s game.

While CSA, thanks to the support of Momentum, now provide the 14 top national players with full-time contracts, wouldn’t it be great to see our leading provincial sides hiring players on a fully professional basis as well.

Of course they will need financial support from sponsors to do that, and sponsors need exposure, which in this day and age generally means television coverage.

Broadcasters want to know there will be thousands of eyeballs glued to whatever they put on the screen.

But there is no doubt the interest in women’s cricket is growing exponentially at the moment. The time is right for major steps in the development of the game.

Coming after their impressive ODI series win over South Africa, the opening day of the Test series was a tough one for Bangladesh as they probably made the wrong decision at the toss by sending the Proteas in to bat and then bowled poorly in the morning session to compound the mistake.

Openers Dean Elgar (67) and Sarel Erwee (41) added 113 for the first wicket, before Bangladesh fought back in the afternoon to reduce the hosts to 180/4. But Temba Bavuma (53*) and Kyle Verreynne (27*) then made sure it was South Africa’s day at Kingsmead as they added an unbeaten 53 to take the Proteas to 233/4 at stumps.

Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo admitted a lack of confidence in batting first and an inexperienced attack was the cause of their woes. Pacemen Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain and Khaled Ahmed only have 25 Test caps between them.

“We’re still trying to improve our Test cricket and there is still a bit of uncertainty over our batting on pitches with pace and bounce, that was behind the decision to bowl first,” Domingo revealed on Thursday evening.

“We’re trying to address the confidence of the batsmen so they are able to front up when batting first on wickets that are tough. There was not too much in the decision and it would have been nice to actually start at 10am because the delay meant the clouds had burned off.

“A few of the batsmen are playing their first Test here and we’re trying to get them to have confidence in their ability, but there’s still a long way to go.

“We also have a very inexperienced attack and we bowled poorly in the first session. Obviously the guys were a bit nervous or over-eager, on a pitch they thought would assist them. But we were much better after lunch,” Domingo said.

The Bangladesh attack did clearly miss left-arm quick Shoriful Islam, one of the stars of the ODI series.

“Shoriful is injured, he has an ankle niggle which is why he missed selection, and is back is troubling him too,” Domingo revealed. “With only four bowlers, we could not risk one who was 50/50.

“The pitch has not done as much as we thought it would, but Khaled ran in hard, he bowled one ball at 150km/h and his attitude was fantastic. He showed good pace and control.

“We kept it nice and tight in the last session and the new ball is just four overs away. Obviously it will be fantastic if we can get one or two early wickets with it.

“If we can keep the Proteas to around 320 then we’re very much in the contest,” Domingo, a former South Africa coach, said.

The Proteas are always a bit hesitant about what they will find on the opening morning of a Test at Kingsmead and they will go into the first Test against Bangladesh starting in Durban on Thursday with even more uncertainty as a newly relaid pitch will be used for the match.

South Africa have lost seven of their last 10 Tests at Kingsmead, dating back to 2008, with just two wins and a rain-ruined draw against New Zealand in 2016. Their last Test there was the infamous one-wicket loss to Sri Lanka in 2019.

The Proteas have seldom found the sluggish pitch to their liking, their bowlers struggling to drag much life out of it, and their strokeplayers also unsure of themselves. The home side was happy to see a fair covering of grass on the wicket on Wednesday, but it was of a hue that left even KZN Dolphins star Keshav Maharaj confused as to how it might behave.

“It’s difficult to know how the pitch will play because we have not seen this colour of grass here before,” left-arm spinner Maharaj said on Wednesday. “It is a newly relaid surface and it is difficult to read.

“From my point of view, I hope it does spin of course. We’re expecting it to be a good four-day pitch and I’m sure there will be some thought of playing double spinners.

“I’ve never played a match with Simon Harmer, so I will be really excited if he does get the opportunity. He’s been an exceptional performer at domestic and franchise level, and he’s followed that up this season.

“He’s also done well when he played international cricket,” Maharaj said of the off-spinner who took 20 wickets in the five Tests he played up to 2015 before his Kolpak departure, at an average of 29.40.

With some new faces in line to take the place of the players unavailable because they are at the IPL, Maharaj is expecting the Proteas to play with great energy as they look to win their first Test at Kingsmead since 2013, when Jacques Kallis signed off his Test career with a memorable century against India.

“We’ve had a phenomenal year since touring the West Indies. Yes, there have been some lows, and the ODI loss to Bangladesh has hurt, but this is a different unit and hopefully we can carry the confidence from the Test series against India,” Maharaj said.

“This team has come a long way, we make training uncomfortable to try emulate what we will come across in terms of conditions, and we are ready to turn the tide at Kingsmead.

“There’s a new buzz in the camp because there are a lot of youngsters, hopefully those new faces help us start on the front foot because it will be difficult in a two-Test series if we make a slow start,” Maharaj said.