Ken Borland

Where Aiden Markram should bat in South Africa’s T20 team, if he should be selected at all, is one of the biggest issues to solve for the Proteas ahead of the World Cup in the shortest format of the game in the United Arab Emirates in October.

When South Africa take on Ireland in the second T20 international in Belfast on Thursday evening, Markram is likely to once again bat at No. 4, having top-scored there with 39 off 30 balls in the impressive victory in the first match in Dublin.

• Why has this become an issue?

            With captain Temba Bavuma probably best-suited to opening the batting in T20 cricket, Quinton de Kock in wonderful form up top and Janneman Malan showing he also belongs in the team, there is little space for either Markram or Reeza Hendricks in the top three.
            But Markram has, albeit in just 10 innings, the best record of all of them (see stats box). There has been a dearth of consistent finishers in the middle-order though, so moving Markram down the order has been mooted as a solution.

 

• What does Markram need to do in order to change his game to suit the middle-order?

“I’m doing a lot of work on my power-hitting and being able to go to that without having faced a lot of balls. As an opener, you’re used to getting to that stage having spent quite a long time in the middle already. So it’s important that I develop a power game that I can go to earlier on, I’ve been training to be able to pull the trigger after maybe just a few balls in my innings.

“As a middle-order batsman, your roles change based on the situation, so I try to go in with a lot of intensity. In the nets I look for the boundary every ball, if that’s not on then get the one or get it into space for two; I need the confidence that if the ball is in my slot then I am able to get it away,” Markram said on Wednesday.

In terms of a perceived lack of faith in the depth of the Proteas batting line-up, Markram said while George Linde and Kagiso Rabada are both really good ball-strikers who the team have faith in, it is the set batsman who needs to take responsibility for the last five overs and bat deep.


Top-order candidates’ T20I records

Aiden Markram                    349 runs at 34.90, SR 151.08; 4×50 in 10 innings

Temba Bavuma                     338 runs at 26.00, SR 125.18; 0x50 in 14 innings

Quinton de Kock       1578 runs at 32.87, SR 138.05; 9×50 in 53 innings

Janneman Malan      241 runs at 24.10, SR 130.97; 1×50 in 10 innings

Reeza Hendricks       812 runs at 25.37, SR 121.37; 5×50 in 32 innings

Judging by his debut for the Bulls, a great sleeper talent in South African rugby may have awoken in the form of flyhalf Johan Goosen.

The 28-year-old has already played 13 times for the Springboks, but the last of those appearances was nearly five years ago. Goosen has been out-of-sight, out-of-mind in France, apart from when he made headlines for all the wrong reasons by getting out of his contract with Racing 92 by retiring from the game, only to pop up less than two years later for Montpellier on an even bigger contract.

But his first game back for the Bulls last weekend was an unqualified success as his brilliance in the final quarter carried them to a shock win over the Springbok-laden SA A team.

“I took a couple of decisions that I regret, but I’m not looking back, I’m looking forward. I’m just trying to play better and better, if I can play at my best then maybe returning to the Springboks would be the cherry on top. But it was a massive honour to start at flyhalf for the Bulls and the match was one of the highlights of my career, I was very happy.

“For a franchise team, it was a massive opportunity to see where we stand. If we are going to be honest, the whole land expected us to lose by 30-40 points because SA A had a very good pack. But the team worked so hard, in the end it was a relief and it was lekker to win and bring the group even more together as a team. I still feel I have something to offer for the Bulls,” Goosen said on Tuesday.

Goosen admitted that being over-emotional at times had given him something of a brittle temperament, but there is now an element of steeliness to him and he certainly showed his mettle in Cape Town. It stems from when he moved to France as a 22-year-old and joined Racing 92 in Paris. He was not alone there – All Blacks legend Dan Carter and Irish great Jonathan Sexton were there too and they provided precious guidance.

“I had always been a flyhalf but when I played in France I was moved to outside centre and fullback because Dan Carter was there. It was a no-brainer and I learnt a lot from him. As a youngster at Racing, Jonny Sexton was there too for my first year and they are both top-class flyhalves that I could learn from. I asked a lot of questions and they were both very helpful.

“I can sometimes be a bit emotional so I asked Dan how he looks so calm and collected at pressure kicks. He said he just follows his processes, he just tries to stand back and take the emotion out of it. He’s not a very emotional person anyway. And then it was difficult at Montpellier because they just throw you the ball and expect you to play. You can sign the best players but you still need a coach to steer you in the right direction,” Goosen said.

The British and Irish Lions will have to tie down that most dangerous of beasts – a written-off Springbok team – in the first Test in Cape Town on Saturday with South Africa’s hooker, Bongi Mbonambi, saying all the talk about the home team being underdone is merely fuelling their fire.

There was more than a hint of colonial patronisation on Tuesday in some of the questions to Mbonambi from the British media, which were along the lines of “you haven’t played proper rugby for so long, while the Lions have been involved in the wonderful Six Nations, how are you going to cope, you poor dears?”

Let’s not forget that the Springboks were also roundly written off before the World Cup final and most of the team that will play in the first Test beat the tourists in the guise of the SA A team last week. Mbonambi’s parting words, to a question from a South African journalist, were defiant.

“There’s been a lot of talk about us being underdone, and that’s just throwing more fuel on the fire,” Mbonambi growled. “The whole team is really looking forward to Saturday and we know we have to step up and show we are here mentally and physically, there is an intensity we have to match. We have the whole week to get ready for that and we will make sure we pitch up on Saturday.

“We are at a bit of a disadvantage, that’s the reality of Covid, but we plan to make a good start, to start with great intent and get ourselves on the front foot. But it’s an 80-minute game and we need to be on that front foot for the whole 80 minutes. We know where our strengths lie and at training the coaches have been really lifting the intensity,” Mbonambi said.

Even if the Springboks are a bit underdone, it is still not going to be a spa day for the Lions. The Boks showed that by overwhelming England’s much-vaunted pack in the World Cup final and the SA A team exposed cracks in the Lions camp for the first time last week when their unrelenting defensive pressure brought mistakes.

“We’ve been trying to make training harder than the game will be because we know there is a certain intensity we have to match. We know we are representing the whole nation and there is a massive step up to be made. We’ve worked hard on the training pitch and the work has been done on analysis as well,” Mbonambi said.

The 30-year-old Mbonambi was one of the players who tested positive for Covid, but he will start on Saturday with the knowledge that he can go all out and empty his tank because there is quality front row cover on the bench in the form of Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe.

“Because of the quality of front rows we have available to us, we see the props as pairings. Is it more important to be there at the start and sing the anthems or to be on the field for the final whistle? Who knows, but if you are starting there are certain things you have to do and there’s a specific role for those coming off the bench. The players have bought into this,” coach Jacques Nienaber said.

South Africa’s bowling attack were on fire on a tricky Malahide pitch as they restricted Ireland to just 132 for nine to claim a comprehensive 33-run victory in the first T20 International in Dublin on Monday evening.

Having been sent in to bat, the Proteas put 165 for seven up on the board, which seemed a par score but nothing more.

Ireland started confidently with Paul Stirling heaving the first ball of the innings, from slow left-armer George Linde, on to the grass banks. But Linde responded with a fuller delivery that also drew a sweep shot, bowling Stirling around his legs second ball.

Kagiso Rabada came on at the other end and immediately caught-and-bowled opener Kevin O’Brien for a first-ball duck.

Lungi Ngidi then had Ireland on their knees as he had George Dockrell (2) and Andy Balbirnie (22) caught behind in successive overs that saw the hosts slump to 34 for four inside the first powerplay.

Tabraiz Shamsi, the runaway leader in the ICC T20 bowling rankings, hadn’t even come on to bowl yet. But when he did, the left-arm wrist-spinner was typically inspired, ripping through the rest of the Ireland batting with four for 27 in his four overs.

Linde was also excellent with two for 26 in his four-over stint.

South Africa had made a blazing start to their innings with Quinton de Kock (20) and Temba Bavuma (13) slamming 31 off the first 15 balls. But the Malahide pitch then showed her teeth. Slower balls and cutters were particularly effective, and the pitch took turn, batsmen struggling to find any rhythm.

Aiden Markram (39 off 30), Rassie van der Dussen (25 off 18) and David Miller (28 off 21) all worked hard to get South Africa to a respectable total.

The total was given a precious boost in the final over as Rabada hurled the bat at Mark Adair and hit the first four balls of the 20^th over for boundaries, on his way to 19 not out off nine deliveries.