Ken Borland

Pink Day, the charity event raising funds for cancer research, has been hosted by the fast-paced city of Johannesburg at the Wanderers for the last 9 years and Sunday’s second ODI between South Africa and Pakistan may not have any spectators allowed, but the Proteas need to bring their usual intensity and action-packed approach in order to stay alive in the series.

The first ODI was lost on the back of a second-wicket partnership of 177 between Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq; Pakistan scraped to victory off the last ball of the match because the Proteas then fought back and claimed six wickets for 85 runs. They did that using aggressive fast bowling led by Anrich Nortje.

The Wanderers is traditionally a haven for pace and bounce and Autumn on the Highveld adds more moisture and swing into the equation as well. South Africa’s pacemen need to be smarter about exploiting the conditions more, they perhaps relied too heavily on slower balls and cutters at Centurion when an approach more in line with how they would bowl in a Test match was called for.

“The plan was to bowl more Test lengths and we started brilliantly, but as the pitch became harder and flatter it was really difficult to defend and the batsmen were able to score quite freely. But a lot of credit should go to the bowlers, I’ve been in a lot of situations like this on the Highveld and the team chasing gets home with five or six overs to spare,” centurion Rassie van der Dussen said after the first ODI on Friday night.

It was a valuable toss for Pakistan to win in the first game and it was tough going for the Proteas batsmen in the first hour. But some of the strokes offered were not well-executed as South Africa slumped to 55 for four before Van der Dussen came to their rescue.

The star batsman said the shot-selection could be excused, it was just the execution that let the batsmen down, and a similarly positive approach is likely to be brought to the Wanderers.

“Quinton de Kock and Aiden Markram gave us a good start and thought that they could then take on the powerplay. In hindsight they couldn’t because the pitch was a bit more difficult to bat on than they thought. You have to assess conditions and sometimes you make mistakes. But a guy like Quinny has played like that his whole career and we’re not too worried about the batting.

“England have probably been the best ODI team over the last two years and that formula works for them, so we want to give the batsmen the freedom to express themselves, especially up front in the powerplay. Quinny is usually brilliant there but it’s the nature of cricket that you won’t have success every time. Losing three wickets in a cluster is what we don’t want to do though,” Van der Dussen said.

South Africa’s loss in the second ODI in New Zealand this week once again brought home the importance of death bowling in tight finishes. The Black Caps were able to get their yorkers in to great effect in the last few overs and won by six runs, a margin of defeat that flattered the Proteas because they hit the last two balls for fours when they were already out of contention needing 15 off two to win.

For my money, there has been too much emphasis in recent years in South African bowling strategy on bowling the ball into the pitch, varying pace, using the short ball etc. Tim Southee and Trent Boult simply got the ball in the blockhole when it really mattered and the batsmen found it impossible to do anything more than jab the deliveries away.

Sure, if there’s a set batsman in at the time then they can make the margin for error infinitesimally small by moving deeper into their crease or stepping out, but it’s been a long-standing weakness of South African bowlers that they cannot consistently get the yorker in. Perhaps because back at home in domestic cricket on pitches of bounce and seam movement there is less necessity, but in international cricket they get exposed.

This week I sought the wise counsel of Gordon Parsons, the bowling coach of the Highveld Lions team that won the 50-over competition last season, so they must be doing something right.

“The more things change in the game, the more they seem to stay the same. And I’m very much of the belief that nothing’s changed when it comes to a good yorker still being the best ball at the death. If a bowler can master three different variations then he’ll be a quality performer. Trying six, seven, eight different deliveries just complicates the mind and sometimes I feel using variations is an excuse for a lack of execution of the regular skills,” Parsons, the taker of 356 limited-overs wickets at an average of 30.75 and an economy rate of just 4.07, said.

“Sometimes bowlers hide behind the slower ball, but how many deliveries hit the same spot? The best bowlers do the simple things really well – look at Imran Tahir, who is the world’s number one limited-overs bowler and basically bowls wicket-to-wicket. He’s become better the simpler he’s made it. Bowlers have got to keep it simple,” Parsons, who took 809 first-class wickets in a 19-year career for two English counties and three South African teams, said.

The last time the Proteas were in New Zealand was for the 2015 World Cup and for the seventh time they fell short at the ICC’s premier tournament, conceding 9.8 runs per over in the last five overs of their fateful semifinal against the Black Caps.

With Tahir at number one and Kagiso Rabada ranked seventh, South Africa have the makings of a decent attack, but neither of them are known for their death bowling, both instead proving brilliant at breaking partnerships in the middle overs.

Rabada does have a lethal yorker, which I’d like to see him use more, and Chris Morris and Wayne Parnell could both be pretty effective if they can get swing and find the blockhole more consistently. Andile Phehlukwayo has the variations, but the same applies to him.

I saw an interesting statement this week from a radio sports broadcaster that the current attack is South Africa’s best ever in ODI cricket, but for me, the 1996 World Cup line-up of Allan Donald, Fanie de Villiers, Shaun Pollock, Craig Matthews, Pat Symcox and Brian McMillan, with Hansie Cronje and Jacques Kallis as the sixth and seventh bowlers, is hard to beat.

Hashim Amla and the consistent efforts of the bowlers led South Africa to a six-wicket victory, and the series win, with 70 balls to spare in the second ODI against New Zealand in Napier on Wednesday.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/sa-team/news/120229/Amla_consistent_bowlers_seal_series

South Africa’s bowlers – especially Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Morne Morkel – revelled in a McLean Park pitch that provided them with good pace and bounce and blasted New Zealand out for just 230.

Amla, after a poor tour thus far, then returned to his daily grind of making run-scoring look easy, breezing to 92 off 107 balls to make it a routine run-chase.

Amla telegraphed his intentions of doing the job as quickly and smoothly as possible by lashing six fours in his first 20 balls, while Faf du Plessis raced to 34 off 25 balls to ensure that South Africa were not affected either by the early loss of Jacques Kallis, who was superbly caught by wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum, diving forward, off Kyle Mills for four, or the fact that regular opener Graeme Smith was not playing due to a badly-bruised forearm.

Du Plessis and Amla laid down the law with a series of crunching strokes through the off side, adding 69 for the second wicket in just 8.4 overs, before a wonderful piece of cricket by Martin Guptill removed Du Plessis.

The in-form Nashua Titans batsman hooked Andy Ellis to deep square-leg, where Guptill took the catch but then quickly got rid of the ball as he tiptoed towards and then over the boundary rope. Having regained his balance, he then stepped back into the field of play and regathered the ball he had lobbed up, in a superb example of composure, calm and presence of mind.

This brought the Kiwis some respite from the flood of boundaries as JP Duminy came in, but the batsmen could afford to be selective as they needed only 151 runs from 231 balls.

Duminy was in even better touch than in the second ODI, and cruised to 43 off 39 balls before he was deceived by leg-spinner Tarun Nethula and offered a simple return catch.

Nethula was actually unfortunate to not finish with better figures than two for 60 off his 10 overs as he also gave Amla a tough time and could have had had three catches taken off his bowling.

Amla had reached his 17th ODI half-century off just 51 balls, but fell just short of his 10th century when Nethula finally claimed his scalp. It was a perfectly-pitched leg-break that Amla was tentative in playing off the front foot, edging the turning ball to wicketkeeper McCullum.

But that was the last wicket New Zealand took as skipper AB de Villiers (31*) and Justin Ontong (17*) applied the final touches to an impressive victory.

The bowlers had earlier done South Africa proud as they dismissed New Zealand for just 230, as a perfect batting pitch, short square boundaries and not even a second-wicket stand of 107 off 113 balls between Guptill and McCullum could faze the visitors as they claimed the last eight wickets for just 67 runs.

DIRECT AND UNYIELDING APPROACH

South Africa’s approach was direct and unyielding – the McLean Park pitch offered one consolation for the bowlers in the form of excellent bounce and the pacemen bombarded the New Zealand batsmen. The quality of the short-pitched bowling was such that the batsmen could not take consistent advantage of the short square boundaries.

Given that, it was unsurprising that South Africa’s two tallest bowlers were their most successful.

Morne Morkel was twice on a hat-trick as he claimed a superb, career-best five for 38 in 9.3 overs, while Tsotsobe continued his assault on the number one spot in the ICC rankings with outstanding figures of three for 43 in his 10 overs.

Captain De Villiers figured it would be a difficult ground on which to defend a total, so he sent New Zealand in and, after Tsotsobe had trapped Rob Nicol leg-before for 11, Guptill and McCullum put the home side on top.

Both batsmen devoured anything that offered width or was down leg, and those South Africans watching at home were facing an uncomfortable breakfast as New Zealand reached the halfway mark just one wicket down.

Smothering the run-rate was always going to be a difficult ask, so South Africa focused their attention on taking wickets.

The man who made the breakthrough was their very own version of the Bionic Man – Kallis.

The 36-year-old came rumbling in at good pace, Guptill had no business trying to cut a back-of-a-length delivery that leapt off the pitch, and wicketkeeper De Villiers had no problems taking the catch. The in-form opener had cruised to 58 off 73 balls without any problems, and his dismissal was nothing less than a waste.

McCullum was initially nowhere near as fluent as Guptill and little went for the South African bowlers early in his knock. The New Zealand captain had nevertheless regained his touch enough for him to take the batting powerplay in the 33rd over.

It turned out to be a disaster for the home side as they lost three wickets and scored just 20 runs in the five powerplay overs.

WELL-OILED ACTION

It was Tsotsobe who began the crash. The left-armer has such a well-oiled action these days and his accuracy quickly forced a false shot from Kane Williamson (13), who tried to drive the ball over the top. Kallis scooted backwards from mid-on and did superbly well to take the catch behind his head.

Tsotsobe’s next over brought the major scalp of McCullum, whose whip off his pads found a happy home in Ontong’s hands on the deep square-leg boundary. McCullum’s 85 off 96 balls, with 11 fours and two sixes, was a fine innings, but he missed the chance to really turn the knife.

The innings was done and dusted little more than an hour later, as fast bowlers Steyn and Morkel got down to business.

Jesse Ryder was caught behind off Steyn for a duck and Morkel used steep bounce to remove James Franklin (6) and Mills (0) with successive deliveries in the 38th over.

And Morkel did the same in the 46th over, removing Tim Southee, who had lashed a pair of fours and sixes in his 28, and Nethula (0) with successive balls.

Morkel then terminated the innings with 15 balls remaining when he bowled Ellis for 19.

New Zealand would have been in an even worse state if Tsotsobe had not given McCullum a life on 18 when he put down a relatively simple return catch. But it ended up not being a disaster, South Africa’s wonderful bowling attack being ample insurance against that.