Ken Borland

Kyle Verreynne and Andile Phehlukwayo scored valiant half-centuries in a record sixth-wicket stand, but once that partnership was over, the Proteas bowed to the inevitable and lost the series-deciding third ODI against Pakistan by 28 runs at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday.

Chasing a testing 321 for victory, South Africa started brightly with openers Janneman Malan and Aiden Markram putting on 54 in nine overs. But although Markram (18) and Jon-Jon Smuts (17) looked good, the slow pitch and the Pakistan spinners began to take effect, with the required run-rate quickly climbing to above seven to the over.

Captain Temba Bavuma added a run-a-ball 50 with Malan to regain some momentum, but the 24^th over, bowled by left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz, was pivotal. A magnificent delivery that drifted in, gripped and turned, trapped Malan lbw for an impressive 70 off 81 deliveries. Given that he has now scored 222 runs in four innings, it may be difficult to overlook Malan in future.

Three balls later, Bavuma over-ran a quicker delivery and was bowled for 20. Heinrich Klaasen (4) quickly fell to Nawaz (7-0-34-3) as well, and at 140 for five in the 28^th over, South Africa’s hopes of winning seemed over.

But Verreynne, playing in just his fourth ODI, looked an accomplished veteran with a composed 62 off 53 balls, Phehlukwayo showing his experience and a welcome return to best form with the bat as he made 54 off 61 deliveries. Together they added 108 for the sixth wicket in 16 overs, a record for SuperSport Park.

It was asking too much for them to win the match though as both eventually fell to attempted big hits.

In the final analysis, South Africa’s last two overs going for 43 runs provided much food for thought.

After opener Fakhar Zaman had feasted again with a superbly controlled 101 off 104 balls, putting on 112 for the first wicket with Imam-ul-Haq (57), South Africa, led by Keshav Maharaj’s outstanding three for 45, fought back as they reduced Pakistan from 206 for one after 35 overs to 277 for six after 48 overs.

The back-up spinners had also contributed well, off-spinner Markram bowling his full 10 overs for the first time in an ODI and taking two for 48, while left-armer Smuts had gone for a run-a-ball through seven overs. His eighth over, though, the penultimate one of the innings, went for 25 as Hasan Ali (32* off 11) blazed four sixes.

Phehlukwayo bowled the last over and conceded 18 as Babar Azam made merry to finish with a classy, composed 94 off 82 balls.

It’s an axiom in cricket that batsmen should be picked when in form and no-one in the country has been in better touch this summer than Aiden Markram, who scored 945 runs in 12 innings in the Four-Day Franchise Series.

Which is why the Proteas have welcomed him back into their ODI squad, but it is an interesting selection because the 26-year-old has not played a 50-over innings since March 15 last year for the Titans in the Momentum One-Day Cup, and his last ODI innings was at the end of the 2019 World Cup against Australia in Manchester. In white-ball cricket generally, Markram has this season only played a handful of domestic T20 games without much success.

“It’s been a while since I played 50-over cricket and it felt a bit foreign at the start of the week. For me it’s about getting back to the game-plans when things were going well in franchise cricket, it’s more the mental side, bringing options that I think will work for me in these conditions. I still need to do a lot and I understand my white-ball cricket for the Proteas was not where I would like it to be.

“I certainly didn’t expect selection, you never do, but more so in this case. But I’m very grateful to be back and glad that the Proteas still see me as being in their plans, it’s a step back in the right direction for me, Markram, who averages 27.95 with a strike-rate of 85 in his 26 ODIs, said on Wednesday.

Run-rates in ODIs are on a steep incline at the moment, with England and India leading the way, and it is the top-order that have been the oxidising agents for these fiery pyrotechnics, rather than the old big-hitters at the death. It is a trend Markram says the Proteas want to follow, but there are still question marks over what their top-order combination will be.

Quinton de Kock and Janneman Malan are the incumbent openers from the whitewash of Australia a year ago, but where do captain Temba Bavuma and Markram himself fit in?

“We’re fortunate to be able to experiment still and in my few discussions with the coach and captain they have told me to try and be quite versatile. So I’ll probably bat anywhere in the top four. I’m probably most comfortable right at the top, but I need to get to know batting at three and four a bit more. But wherever there’s a gap, hopefully I take it and put big runs on the board.

“England and India are probably the two best ODI sides in the world at the moment and their brand certainly works. So that’s what needs to be done to be up there at the top and we have discussed it as a squad. Conditions can change things, but the Highveld is generally good for batting and an aggressive and brave approach is what we want,” Markram said.

Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne is standing between the Proteas and victory in the second Test as he scored 91 not out to shepherd his team to 150 for four, a lead of five runs, at stumps on the second day at the Wanderers on Monday.

Karunaratne is certainly leading from the front as he has occupied the crease for 190 minutes, but the left-hander is putting away the bad ball effectively as he has collected 17 fours off 116 deliveries. With Sri Lanka trailing by 145 runs on first innings and losing master blaster opener Kusal Perera for just a single in the third over, bowled through the gate by a beautiful Lungi Ngidi delivery, it has been important for Karunaratne to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

Niroshan Dickwella is with him on 18*.

South Africa’s inexperienced attack endured a flat period as Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne (31) added 85 for the second wicket following the dismissal of Kusal, and it took a big moment of good fortune for the Proteas to shift the momentum.

Thirimanne, who had played a series of superb drives, tried to glance Ngidi off his hip and was caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock. Amazingly, Ngidi’s next delivery was similarly off-target but it dismissed Kusal Mendis for a first-ball duck, De Kock taking a stunning leg-side catch diving at full-length. The unfortunate Mendis therefore completed a pair and his third successive duck.

Anrich Nortje then bounced out debutant Minod Bhanuka for 1, Keshav Maharaj taking a brilliant running catch off a top-edged hook, and the Proteas attack looked much more threatening in the last hour of the day, but by then the luck seemed to have shifted and several edges went over the slips or through the gaps between them.

South Africa had begun the second day on 148 for one, just nine runs behind and with both Dean Elgar, on 92 and Rassie van der Dussen, on 40, approaching milestones.

Elgar reached the landmark of three figures first, notching the second-fastest of his 13 Test centuries as he got there in 133 balls, with 18 fours. Van der Dussen went to his half-century off 98 deliveries and the pair passed South Africa’s record second-wicket partnership against Sri Lanka (125 between Elgar & Faf du Plessis in Galle in 2014) and then also broke the Wanderers record of 182 set by Andrew Strauss and Rob Key for England back in 2004/5.

Elgar scored the couple of runs that took the partnership to 184, but he was dismissed by the next delivery, Dushmantha Chameera bowling a fine delivery that just nipped away a touch to find the edge of the left-hander’s bat. Elgar was caught at first slip for 127, ending four hours of quality batsmanship in which he showed a tremendous ability to bat fluently, absorb pressure and then lift the scoring rate again.

The wicket of Van der Dussen followed in the next over, Sri Lanka needing good use of the review system to confirm the 31-year-old had gloved a paddle-pull down the leg side off Dasun Shanaka, wicketkeeper Dickwella scrambling to take the catch.

Sri Lanka then quickly ran through the rest of the Proteas batting, the last nine wickets falling for just 84 runs as they were bowled out for 302, left-arm swing bowler Vishwa Fernando leading an excellent bowling comeback with five for 101, his maiden five-wicket haul.

He was well supported by skilful seamer Shanaka and feisty debutant Asitha Fernando, who took two wickets each.

Jacques Snyman scored the fastest ever franchise four-day century and Matthew Kleinveldt, Raynard van Tonder, Pite van Biljon and Farhaan Behardien also went past fifty as the Knights thoroughly dominated the opening day of the first-class 4-Day Domestic Series match against the Warriors in Bloemfontein on Monday.

Snyman reached three figures off just 71 balls, beating the previous record for fastest four-day century of 73 deliveries set by team-mate Shaun von Berg when he was playing for the Titans. The 26-year-old Snyman also became the first batsman to score a century before lunch on the first day of a franchise four-day match since fellow Free Stater Rilee Rossouw did it in 2010 against the Titans at Centurion.

Rossouw went on to score 319 in that innings, but Snyman’s fun ended at 109 off just 78 balls when he was run out after a terrible mix-up with Kleinveldt.

But their opening stand of 164 in just 28 overs had put the Knights well on the way to their close of play total of 405 for five, against a Warriors side that was thoroughly disrupted by the withdrawal of six players due to two positive Covid tests and other players needing to self-isolate.

Kleinveldt went on to score 73, and Van Tonder (85) and Van Biljon (53) then added 94 for the third wicket, Behardien then ramming home the advantage late in the day with 67 not out.

The Titans have made a good start to the new season with the ball as they restricted the Cape Cobras to 264 for nine declared at Newlands, but the visitors have lost a key wicket as they went to stumps on four for one with Aiden Markram (2) rather bizarrely treading on his own wicket as he jumped back to turn spinner George Linde away on the leg-side.

Linde had earlier shared in the biggest partnership of the Cobras innings, scoring 43 as he and Kyle Verreynne (39) added 69 for the sixth wicket.

Opener Pieter Malan was the top-scorer for the home side with 51, but the Titans kept plugging away with the ball and would have been pleased with their efforts after losing the toss. Former Cobras paceman Lizaad Williams must have enjoyed having a good day against his previous team and took four for 51 on his Titans debut, while spinner Tabraiz Shamsi took three top-order wickets.

The defending champion Imperial Lions made a solid start to their rain-affected match against the Dolphins in Durban, posting 153 for three at stumps. Captain Temba Bavuma (30*) has Ryan Rickelton (15*) for company and they have already added 45 for the fourth wicket. Durban had solid rain over the weekend and play could only get underway after lunch, but Reeza Hendricks played some great strokes as he raced to 76 off 86 deliveries to immediately allow the visitors to settle in at the crease.