Ken Borland

Heinrich Klaasen ensured that he will remain one of the most sought-after players in whatever T20 league auctions he wishes to put his name forward for with a breathtaking, extraordinary innings at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Friday that blew Australia away and allowed South Africa to level the ODI series at 2-2.

Klaasen plundered 174 off just 83 deliveries to lead the Proteas, who had been sent in to bat, to an imposing 416 for five. Australia were then bowled out for 252, as South Africa registered their second biggest victory over their great rivals, triumphing by 164 runs.

The first half of the Proteas innings was a cautious affair as the top-order never seemed entirely sure what a two-paced pitch that also provided some nibble off the seam was going to do. After 25 overs, the score was 120 for two, Quinton de Kock (45), Reeza Hendricks (28) and Rassie van der Dussen (62 off 65 balls) having done a fine job in laying a solid platform.

The first ball of the 26^th over saw Aiden Markram (8) caught at extra cover off Michael Neser, bringing Klaasen to the crease. Even though he breezed to a 38-ball half-century, he did not look as though he had hit top gear.

In fact, as Klaasen said later, it was actually Van der Dussen’s aggression that provided the spark. The pair of Pretoria-born batsmen had added 74 off 59 balls for the fourth wicket when Van der Dussen was caught behind attacking Josh Hazlewood, leaving South Africa on 194 for four in the 35^th over.

What followed was utter mayhem as Klaasen and David Miller (82 not out off 45 balls) lashed another 222 runs off just 100 deliveries, including a scarcely-believable 173 runs in the last 10 overs. From eyeing 300 to hoping for 350 and then totally exceeding that too, it was an onslaught that brought back memories of the famous 438 game against the same rivals down the road at the Wanderers in 2006.

Remarkably, the Australian attack actually did not bowl as badly as the figures suggest. It was just that whatever plan they came up with for the rampant Klaasen, the 32-year-old had an answer and it almost always involved a boundary. He hit 13 fours and 13 sixes in less than two hours of batting. Middle-stump yorkers were blasted back over bowlers’ heads; full and wide deliveries were steered with an open blade over backward point.

And, counter-intuitively given how he seemed to have a shot for every delivery, Klaasen said his success these last couple of years is down to him actually decreasing the number of options he employs.

“In the last few years, the turning point for me has been taking a lot of options out of my bag. When I was young, you look up to a guy like AB de Villiers and you try and play all the shots.

“But the genius is in knowing when to play them. Like a golfer who’s trying to hit the green every time, you have to stick to the game-plan and use the right clubs. Now I have three different options for every game and I play every ball as it is, I don’t try and recap the previous ball.

“I didn’t know how many sixes I had hit, which shows I was only focused on the next moment, my mind was in the right space. I went through a bad phase in my career when I was taking a risk too early in my innings and I ended up being dropped from the Proteas.

“I came back to my domestic team [Titans] and my coaches [Mark Boucher, Richard das Neves and Matthew Reuben] said I’m using too many options. Richard and Matthew have done lots of work throwing thousands of balls at me, and Albie Morkel has also given me some great ideas,” Klaasen said on Friday night.

The willingness to avail himself of advice was also backed by an enormous amount of work in the nets.

“I never used to be one for hitting a lot of balls, but I had to because I had to invest in my batting. I developed a blueprint in training and it’s still working. Now I stand still and watch the ball and almost just let my body take over with what I’ve practised. It also involves a lot of homework on the opposition, it’s all about options and taking what’s on offer from the bowlers,” Klaasen said.

In the field, the Proteas were also much improved up front with the new ball. Lungi Ngidi removed both David Warner (12) and Mitchell Marsh (6) in the first five overs, and his final figures of four for 51 in eight overs were a welcome return to form for him.

The dangerous Travis Head was struck twice on the hand by the pacy but inconsistent Gerald Coetzee, and retired hurt for 17 off 11 balls, and it fell to wicketkeeper Alex Carey to try and keep things going with the bat for Australia.

Although never ahead of the steep required run-rate, the tourists were also not too far behind and when the towering frame of Tim David (35) began unveiling the big hits in a stand of 72 off 53 balls with Carey, it looked possible that the Proteas might still be involved in a close finish.

But Ngidi returned to remove David, Markram taking an excellent running catch at extra cover, and Kagiso Rabada then wrapped things up with three for 41 in 7.5 overs. Carey was the last wicket to fall, Rabada denying him a century when he had him caught behind gloving a hook for 99 off 77 deliveries.

The Proteas have discovered a new lease on life in the last two matches, setting up a series-decider at the Wanderers on Sunday. With Klaasen and Markram riding high after their extraordinary centuries in Potchefstroom and Centurion, and the rest of the batsmen in the runs too, the batting unit will go to the World Cup in good shape.

Spinner Keshav Maharaj, Ngidi and Rabada were impressive with the ball and the bowling attack will want to build on the progress shown.

In the meantime, Klaasen can bask in the glory of what he said was the sort of innings that only comes around once or twice in a career.

That’s how special it was.

The Bulls planted plenty of attacking seeds and the important ones bore fruit as they showed they remain one of the best sides in the United Rugby Championship at home, thumping Cardiff 45-9 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.

Cardiff were certainly more competitive than the scoreline suggests, but they lacked the same ability to convert chances in the 22, while the Bulls also deserve credit for a stout defensive effort.

But it was the Bulls attack that will be the focus as they scored six tries to stay fourth on the URC log. Not every pass stuck for the Bulls though, there were plenty of handling errors, but they won comfortably just through the sheer number of chances the combination of strong forward carries and a dashing, inventive backline creates.

The Bulls took a while to find their flow and Cardiff were leading 6-3 as the half-hour approached through two Jarrod Evans penalties. But when the home side finally managed to hang on to possession for several phases, fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie combined superbly to send the wing over for the opening try. Their work in tandem was beautiful to watch right through the match.

Another Evans penalty meant the Bulls were only 10-9 ahead as halftime approached, but the home side made a crucial strike on the hooter as they won a scrum penalty, set the lineout and flyhalf Johan Goosen put Arendse over for the try.

The Bulls, leading 17-9 at the break, continued to gain great dividends from their combination of power and pace and flair in the second half.

Goosen split the defence and scored three minutes after halftime as the Bulls took firm control with a 24-9 lead. They were on the back foot for the next 15 minutes, but dug in in defence, with Cardiff’s maul a threat, but a weapon they failed to capitalise on through their own errors.

The Bulls then buried Cardiff in the final quarter with three more tries. Penetrative eighthman Elrigh Louw made big inroads off the back of a lineout, lock Ruan Nortje then crashing over for the try.

Arendse then produced a lovely little dink-kick over the top of the defensive line for Moodie to score his second try, while Louw scored a deserved try with three minutes remaining as he went over from a brilliantly-deceptive splinter-maul.

Scorers

Bulls: Tries – Canan Moodie (2), Kurt-Lee Arendse, Johan Goosen, Ruan Nortje, Elrigh Louw. Conversions – Goosen (5), Chris Smith. Penalty – Goosen.

Cardiff: Penalties – Jarrod Evans (3).

Chasing down 305 in the last innings on a SuperSport Park pitch offering variable bounce and plenty of movement will remain a quixotic prospect for South Africa as they struggled to stumps with four wickets down on the fourth day of the first Test at Centurion on Wednesday.

Led by captain Dean Elgar’s defiant 52 not out, the Proteas closed on 94/4, which leaves them with 211 runs still to get on the final day for an unlikely victory. No team has ever reached 300 in the fourth innings of a Test at SuperSport Park.

Elgar has been at the crease for more than three hours, facing 122 deliveries, and has been unfazed by the many times he has been beaten, or struck on the body. He and a similarly phlegmatic Rassie van der Dussen (11) spent 102 minutes together defying the conditions and the venomous Indian attack, lifting the hopes of the home team and their supporters.

But India’s spearhead, Jasprit Bumrah, returned to the attack five overs before the close and struck a vital blow with just his fourth delivery. Van der Dussen misjudged a leave and Bumrah, who has been bringing the ball back sharply so often in this Test, slanted the delivery straight into off stump.

Nightwatchman Keshav Maharaj was then showing his mettle with the bat to reach 8 with just two balls remaining in the day when Bumrah cleaned him up with a tremendous yorker into the base of leg-stump.

South Africa have also lost the wickets of Aiden Markram (1), who was also trying to leave the ball but withdrew his bat too late and bottom-edged Mohammed Shami into his stumps, and Keegan Petersen (17), who was beaten by some late away movement by Mohammed Siraj and caught behind the wicket.

India’s batsmen were also exposed to the whole gamut of difficulties posed by the surface in their second innings, being bowled out for just 174 in 50.3 overs.

Opener and first-innings centurion Lokesh Rahul (23) and Cheteshwar Pujara (16) batted time and both survived for nearly two hours before both fell to Lungi Ngidi (10-2-31-2).

Ajinkya Rahane (20) and Rishabh Pant (34) decided attack was the way to go and both scored at around a run-a-ball, as did Ravichandran Ashwin (14) in a 35-run seventh-wicket stand with Pant.

Their positive approach threatened to really take the lead far beyond South Africa’s reach, but Kagiso Rabada returned to wrap up the tail and finish with 4/42 in 17 hard-working overs.

Marco Jansen completed a satisfactory debut with 4/55 in 13.3 overs.

South Africa’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus posted a classic put-down on social media before the series against the British and Irish Lions about a lion not concerning himself when a sheep offers an opinion. Despite the Springboks proving those naysayers wrong with their brilliant effort to win the series, the critics somehow remain.

The bitter losers up north have been complaining non-stop about the ‘boring’ style of play of the Springboks, forgetting that it was the Lions who set the tone for the series when they dominated the second half of the first Test through their kicking game and driving maul.  Australasian critics have deliberately ignored the massive intensity and physicality of the series by saying the rugby was boring; maybe for the neutral, but certainly not for the supporters of the two teams.

Erasmus himself has been roundly criticised, and charged with misconduct by WorldRugby, for his video expose’ of refereeing mistakes in the first Test. Again, it has been forgotten that Lions coach Warren Gatland started that war by disgracefully questioning the integrity of a South African TMO who had to fill in at late notice due to Covid travel restrictions. Gatland denies doing this, but how did multiple British journalists have the same story? There is no doubt it was a calculated strategy to put pressure on the TMO, and Erasmus responded in kind a week later.

Rugby at that level is often brutal and the mind-games and off-the-field tactics are not for the fainthearted either. It is just a game, but we are not talking about hugging fluffy bunnies here – the Lions brought a manic determination to win at all costs and the Springboks were also extremely fired up to prove themselves and also bring some happiness to a society that was fraying around more than just the edges.

It was all very reminiscent of the 2009 Lions series. The tourists brought the same streetfighting attitude and had the same backing from their embedded one-eyed media. It brought out the best in the South African management, although Rassie’s video was probably not his finest moment.

But what Erasmus achieved was the same as what 2009 Springbok coach Peter de Villiers ensured. Following a predictable outcry from the touring media about dirty play by the Springboks, De Villiers took all the pressure off the players by making himself the lightning rod for all the attention with his comments about putting on tutus and doing ballet.

The players loved Snor for that and it was one of the prime examples of what a good man-manager he was. Erasmus did the same ahead of the crucial second Test, allowing the Springboks to produce one of their greatest second-half displays.

From the high point of 2009, when the Springboks also won the Tri-Nations Championship, their fortunes began to drop off, culminating in their nightmare years of 2016 and 2017. And then Erasmus arrived to give the Springboks their meds … turns out there was nothing wrong with their bodies, it was all in their heads.

Following the triumphs of 2007 and 2009, the same old chorus of boring Springboks echoed around the rugby landscape and, unfortunately, we listened. The Springboks must play more like the All Blacks, was the consensus. And we believed the narrative, which was always meant to take the Springboks away from their strengths. No-one can copy the All Blacks, that is their own, brilliant style, forged in their rugby-DNA.

The All Blacks now loom large in the Rugby Championship and I am sure the Springboks, rapidly regaining their confidence and peak conditioning, are not going to be distracted by the many words being published which are somehow trying to belittle their remarkable achievements.

By many accounts, the All Blacks were fortunate to win their last meeting, in the opening game of the 2019 World Cup, and since then they have lost record-breaking coach Steve Hansen and great players such as Ryan Crotty, Sonny Bill Williams, Ben Smith and Kieran Read.

This is not the same imperious New Zealand team and, although they are trying to rediscover the same high-intensity, high-tempo game as before, they have been spluttering over the last couple of years. And the ferocious Springbok defence, set-piece excellence and strong kicking game is a rather large obstacle for them to overcome.

No wonder they want the Springboks to change the way they play.