Ken Borland

The Proteas are going to take a lot of confidence from their form in the last eight months, having won Test series against the West Indies and the No.1-ranked Indians, drawn with the reigning world Test champions in New Zealand, won 13 out of 16 T20 internationals and also hammered India 3-0 in an ODI series.

So there are definite signs of regrowth in a team that seems to have turned the corner under Mark Boucher and Dean Elgar.

In a month’s time they will be playing another Test series as they host Bangladesh in Durban and Gqeberha, and coach Boucher is keen to keep climbing the World Test Championship table, having already taken crucial points off the two finalists of the previous edition. The 12 points gained this week in Christchurch move South Africa into fourth place.

“It’s been a tough couple of months without a lot of time at home with our families and then there’s Bangladesh, which will be another tough series,” Boucher said.

“We are still very much in the World Test Championship and we will take confidence from this series in New Zealand and learn from our mistakes in the first Test. But it’s clear we are heading down the right road.”

Given the enormous resilience the team has shown in coming back from 1-0 down against both India and New Zealand, it was only fitting that Boucher should pay tribute to his captain Elgar for his leadership.

“Dean talks a lot but he follows it up with action,” Boucher said. “We knew we would be under pressure in the second game and we chatted about walking towards the challenge, not running away.

“We understood what was required in the second Test and there were a couple of brave calls like Dean winning the toss and batting first, and then batting the way he did. It’s not as if he was batting No.5.

“He’s the opening batsman and he fronted up and walked straight into the pressure. He’s been fantastic and I know the team really look up to him and back him in a very strong way.

“The way we lost the first Test was very disappointing. The guys showed a lot of character though and there was no panic, just the realisation that we just did not rock up for the first game,” Boucher said.

New Zealand may be the reigning world Test champions, but the weight of history is against them as they start a two-Test series against South Africa at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch at midnight on Wednesday evening South African time.

In the 16 series played between South Africa and New Zealand since 1931/32, the Proteas have won 13 of them and three have been drawn. Even at home, the Kiwis have only managed to draw two of the eight series.

The absence of the best Black Caps batsman and the regular captain, Kane Williamson, as well as Trent Boult, the fourth New Zealander to take 300 Test wickets, who is missing the first Test for the birth of his third child, levels the playing field even more.

But the Kiwis are the masters of playing in their own conditions, especially since South Africa’s last tour, in 2016/17, when New Zealand probably would have drawn the series 1-1 were it not for the last day of the final Test being washed out.

“I was aware that New Zealand have never beaten us in a series,” Rassie van der Dussen said on Tuesday, “but the team hasn’t spoken about it. We know our teams have been really successful here in the past, probably because conditions favour seam bowling.

“It’s a bit different in this series though, because New Zealand are the defending Test champions and they have been really successful over the last couple of years, especially at home.

“They have played at home a lot and they really know the conditions, which are quite good for seam bowling. There’s not much spin, but there’s quite a bit of bounce and the pace of the pitch needs some getting used to.

“The pitches always look very green and grassy, but the surface is quite hard underneath, which makes for consistent pace and bounce. The conditions favour swing and we know that’s the big challenge,” Van der Dussen said.

The way South Africa’s batsmen grinded their way to victory over India gives them a template for success, however. Their leading run-scorer, Keegan Petersen, has not been able to travel to New Zealand though because of a positive Covid test, clearing the way for Sarel Erwee to make his Test debut.

Van der Dussen said the way the left-hander has accumulated thousands of runs in domestic cricket suggest he will find a way to prosper at Test level as well.

“Sarel is a very experienced domestic cricketer and he has toured with us for the last year. He knows how to bat long and how to score big runs.

“For me, the step up to Test cricket was all about keeping the fundamentals the same, although there is more skill and intensity from the bowlers.

“Debut or not, he knows what his game is about and he has nothing to prove because we know what type of player Sarel is,” Van der Dussen said.

These are heady days for cricket at the University of Pretoria, with their Assupol Tukkies team being the reigning national club champions as well as the winners of the inaugural Red Bull Campus Cricket finals, and much of their success is down to great leadership that melds the considerable talent they have into a formidable outfit.

In Theunis de Bruyn they have a real four-in-one cricketer: powerful top-order batsman, a pace bowler who has shone with the new ball, a fine fielder and a thoughtful, astute captain who undoubtedly holds the respect of his team.

In the three matches against the Steinhoff Maties, De Bruyn scored a total of 83 runs off 68 balls as well as taking wickets up front in the first two games.

Having already shone in four-day domestic cricket for the Titans, there’s no doubt the 21-year-old is going to be a key player in England when Tukkies take on the other seven champion universities in the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals.

“It’s been a very exciting competition and beating Maties is like the first step for us. Our main goal is putting in a massive performance in England. I think we’ve only been playing to 60-70% of our capability in these matches.”

“But all the accolades must go to our head coach, Pierre de Bruyn. He’s brought 15 years of experience in first-class cricket and he’s introduced a culture where young people can really learn their game and how to be successful at higher levels. It’s a very professional environment here and that’s why our players are able to excel when they go up to first-class level,” De Bruyn says.

De Bruyn is one of those who has donned senior provincial colours this season and he made an impressive, immediate impact with the Titans, scoring 53 not out and 23 in the T20 Challenge and 79 and 35 on an assured Sunfoil Series four-day debut.

“I made my Titans debut before I’d even played for the amateur Northerns side, which doesn’t happen a lot. It was obviously all a new experience with the match being on TV, but the coach’s words [Pierre de Bruyn’s] were still in my ears and I was happy with my debut.

“It’s been a productive season and I’ve learnt a lot about my game, as well as being exposed to other cricketers who have played for a long time, like AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel. It’s been a good season,” Theunis de Bruyn says.

The third-year BCom Accounting student is also easing his way back into a full bowling role and he sees a future as being a Jacques Kallis-type player who can bat in the top-order and bowl seam.

“Jacques Kallis is the best cricketer ever for me, and maybe in a few years I’ll be able to fulfill a role as a fourth seamer and top-order batsman, that would be ideal. I had to have a hip operation a year ago, so my bowling’s still a bit raw coming back from that injury … ” De Bruyn says.

Coach De Bruyn was no doubt in his ear about converting that 79 for the Titans into a century, and Theunis de Bruyn says he is still getting used to opening the batting, having previously come in at number three or four.

“It’s new for me to be opening the batting, but I’ve learnt a lot about my game this season. You’re up against the new ball, against the best bowlers when the pitch is still fresh,” De Bruyn says.

While the tall Menlo Park product finds T20 cricket as the most physically demanding format of the game, he says four-day cricket is like scaling a crag inch by inch.

“In T20 cricket you have to think a lot and you sweat the most, but the longer format is really mentally draining. You’ll get a bad ball in maybe only the fourth over, while in club cricket you get two an over.

“But I like the mental challenge and the longer format is my favourite. That being said, T20 brings more aspects to grow your game, like learning to reverse-sweep,” De Bruyn says.

While De Bruyn’s favourite cricketer might be Kallis, his batting is more like that of another of his heroes, former Australian great Matthew Hayden.

His aggressive, positive approach has had the Maties bowlers fighting rearguard actions in all three matches; there might not be much particularly arty about his batting, but man does he hit the ball hard!

While the fizz and intensity out on the field is a pivotal part of Tukkies’ success, so too is the calm, assured leadership of De Bruyn.

http://www.redbullcampuscricket.com/southafrica/latest/theunis-de-bruyn/