Ken Borland

Rassie van der Dussen was a virgin when it came to Test cricket on the subcontinent going into the first Test against Pakistan in Karachi last week and South Africa’s number three batsman pronounced himself satisfied with his efforts on Monday.

Van der Dussen, whose previous sub-continental experience has been limited to a first-class game for SA A in 2018 and a handful of T20s, made 17 and 64 in Karachi. His first innings saw him get off to a fluent start before he needlessly ran himself out, but his second innings was a fine 151-ball effort that reignited the Proteas’ hopes of winning the game along with Aiden Markram.

“For my first Test match in the sub-continent I was quite happy. You speak to players who have been successful here in the past, they prepare you for what to expect, and after spending time in the middle I can see it was exactly what we spoke about. So it’s nice to know my preparation and execution was good and I will take confidence from that into the second Test.

“The obvious difference to back home is the lack of bounce. Here the spinners come on quite early when the ball is still newish. There would be a lot more bounce for a spinner bowling with a newish ball in South Africa and slip would be in play but lbw would probably be out. But here the new ball skids through low, no ball is going to go over the stumps so all dismissals are in play all the time, for every ball,” Van der Dussen said on Monday.

The 31-year-old said the Proteas batting unit will be making an active effort in the second Test, which starts on Thursday in Rawalpindi, to bat time more than they did in their poor first innings of just 220 in Karachi after winning the toss.

“We were really disappointed to only get 220 after winning the toss. On the sub-continent, batting time is vital and we know as a batting unit that we weren’t even close to good enough. We prepared in bad conditions which is what we got to an extent, so we had the right game-plan, it was just the execution was lacking. It’s our responsibility if you get in, and a few of us got starts, to put pressure on the opposition.

“You need to get 350 at least and bat the whole day. But it was all of our’s first time in Pakistan, so it’s valuable experience that will hold us in good stead going forward. We will definitely be looking to rectify our batting. It comes down to the fundamentals of building an innings, give yourself a chance by surviving the first 20-30 balls. It was good bowling but there was also a bit of indecision,” Van der Dussen said.

Sharks director of rugby Gary Gold was happy with the result but not entirely satisfied by the performance in relation to the top-class standards he has set, after his team started their SuperRugby campaign with a 43-8 bonus point win over the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth.

The Sharks struggled in the first half against a tenacious Kings outfit, making numerous basic errors and showing lapses in discipline. They only led 15-8 at the break, with the home side spurning five points via missed kicks at goal, but the Sharks turned it on in the second half, scoring four more impressive tries as they stormed to victory.

“Obviously I’m by and large happy, to get five points on the first weekend is good, but there were a lot of opportunities we didn’t take, which we should have by the standards we set ourselves. I completely understand that you’re not going to get a perfect game first up, but there were some obvious opportunities we wasted,” Gold said.

When the Sharks were able to get quick ball, they looked dangerous, and the likes of Willie le Roux, Paul Jordaan, Joe Pietersen and wings Odwa Ndungane and Lwazi Mvovo broke free in the second half.

“We definitely asked some questions on attack and we’ll get better the longer we are together. The defence was also very good and we scrambled well, but there is definitely room for improvement, especially because we play the Jaguares next, who I thought were very good on the weekend. We’ll need a lot better set-piece,” Gold added.

Ndungane showed he is still a clinical finisher with two tries, with the others going to man of the match Jean-Luc du Preez, who produced another powerhouse performance in the loose trio, Le Roux, Jordaan, who showed very promising signs at outside centre, and Mvovo. Pietersen missed just one kick at goal as he slotted five conversions and a penalty, while also distributing the ball well from flyhalf in the second half.