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.

Babar Azam’s superb century cancelled out Rassie van der Dussen’s brilliant ton and set up victory for Pakistan in the first ODI at Centurion on Friday, despite a fiery burst of fast bowing from Anrich Nortje that threatened to steal the match for South Africa.

Van der Dussen’s 123 not out off 134 balls lifted South Africa to 273 for six after they were sent in to bat and it was a tremendously determined innings by the 32-year-old which sadly still left him on the losing side.

That was mostly due to Babar compiling a masterful 103 off 104 balls, as peerless a display of clean strokeplay and timing as you could hope to see. The captain added 177 off 181 balls for the second wicket with Imam-ul-Haq, the prolific ODI opener who helped lay a commanding platform for Pakistan with his slickly accumulated 70 off 80 deliveries.

Pakistan were cruising at 181 for one after 31 overs when Nortje returned for a second spell and, bowling fast and aggressively, with plenty of short-pitched deliveries, he caused much consternation in the visiting batting line-up with a ferocious spell of four for 20 in five overs, leaving him with career-best figures of four for 51.

Proteas coach Mark Boucher had spoken before the game about the bowlers being aggressive in the middle overs, but they rather paid lip service to that with the fast bowlers turning too quickly to slower balls and cutters when normal Test match pace bowling was still very effective on a pitch which assisted the seamers.

It was Mohammad Rizwan who continued his resurgence as a white-ball player and steadied Pakistan’s nerves, scoring 40 off 52 balls, adding 53 with Shadab Khan, whose 33 off 30 balls helped seal a three-wicket victory off the last ball thanks to Andile Phehlukwayo’s brilliant last over.

Van der Dussen will long remember April 2 as the day he made his first international century, having passed 50 in seven of his 16 ODI innings before Friday, but with a highest score of 95. His highest Test score is 98 and he has a T20 International best of 74 not out.

The phlegmatic right-hander reiterated that he is the man for a crisis as he lifted the Proteas from 55 for four, the home batsmen struggling against excellent Pakistan seam bowling on a tacky pitch that gave them plenty of assistance. Van der Dussen kept composed, was disciplined in his shot-selection, but also showed great placement when he capitalised on loose deliveries.

The questions over South Africa’s best top three will be ongoing, however, as Quinton de Kock (18) sliced a catch to a wide mid-off, Aiden Markram (19) played too early and was caught in a similar position, and new captain Temba Bavuma (1) threw his wicket away by steering an uppercut straight to deep backward point.

Heinrich Klaasen struggled to 1 off 21 balls before being caught behind off a loose drive, but the tide turned when David Miller came to the crease. The veteran left-hander matched Van der Dussen for calmness, playing beautifully through the off-side as he scored 50 off 56 balls and added 116 off 135 deliveries for the fifth wicket with the Pretoria-born player.

Phehlukwayo will also be pleased with his contribution with the bat as he scored a valuable 29 and added another 64, at a run-a-ball, for the seventh wicket with Van der Dussen.

The Pakistan pace bowlers were the chief threat with Faheem Ashraf leading the way with one for 25 in nine impressive overs. Mohammad Hasnain took one for 52 in his full quota of 10 overs, while left-armer Shaheen Shah Afridi removed the openers and finished with two for 61.

Playing all of their fixtures against the European sides on foreign shores is going to prejudice the hopes of the four South African teams in the Rainbow Cup, but Sharks coach Sean Everitt believes his team should still be competitive given their history of travelling well during SuperRugby.

The Rainbow Cup starts on April 24, with the South African franchises playing local derbies on the first three weekends. They then cross over to the Northern Hemisphere to play the existing Pro14 sides. While the fixtures for Rounds 4-6 have not yet been confirmed due to uncertainty over travel plans, those matches will all definitely be in Europe.

“We only have three domestic games and two of ours are not at Kings Park, but those are the cards we have been dealt and we just have to get on with it. But the Sharks have always travelled well and I expect the same. We will be there for two weeks before our first game so we can get used to conditions and I don’t think conditions will be as severe at the end of May as some people are expecting.

“We are looking forward to the challenge of playing against new teams and creating new memories and great experiences. But I think SuperRugby will be missed because it suited our style of play, we want to attack, it’s in our DNA, and it was a great competition. Our squad will stay the same as now, we’re only allowed to sign 45 players and I think we have to take 42 of them over there,” Everitt said at the weekend.

While the beloved free-flowing play of SuperRugby will be missed, Bulls coach Jake White said some of the less appealing features of the southern hemisphere competition once it expanded – such as the lopsided nature of the draw – will be repeated in the Rainbow Cup.

“We know our first three games are in South Africa so that’s our focus. But it’s not ideal to be playing all the European teams away, especially if conditions get helluva tough. But it’s going to be the same for all the South African sides. The Rainbow Cup is a very unique competition in that you have six games to get into the final and four of ours are away from home.

“But we’re lucky because some teams [the Sharks] have five away games. It’s a great opportunity to prepare for when we actually do play Pro16, but it’s a bit like SuperRugby if you didn’t have the favourable draw. Like if you had to play the Crusaders, Chiefs and Hurricanes away, you had a very much more difficult draw than the teams that played them in South Africa,” White said.

New South Africa limited-overs captain Temba Bavuma said on Monday that he hopes to define a style of play for the Proteas that will be fit for every condition and for every occasion.

Bavuma will lead South Africa for the first time in the three ODIs against Pakistan which start at Centurion on April 2, followed by four T20 Internationals.

The Proteas’ failure to win any of the world cups is well-documented and their performances in the global tournaments seem to be getting worse rather than improving, their most recent failure being their dismal showing in England when they failed to advance to the knockout stage. South Africa have not played an ODI since their tremendous 3-0 whitewash of Australia little more than a year ago, but since the 2019 World Cup they have completed just five matches.

“South Africa have always been more than competitive in ODIs, we’ve been No.1 in the world before. As the leader I’m just going to try and define a style of play that we will be able to execute in any conditions and under any occasion. To do that, mentally we need to improve a lot, we need to get stronger. I’ll be trying to inspire and get the guys into a space where they can perform as well as they can.

“We want to be aggressive and able to dominate in all conditions. We definitely want to test ourselves more in conditions that may be ‘unfavourable’ for us, we want to see if we can execute our brand of play at all times. The mood is optimistic and hopefully I can lead the team to a couple of victories as we build to 2023. We really want to define our style of play,” Bavuma said on Monday.

Bavuma’s landmark appointment – he is the first Black African to lead South Africa – comes after he has played just six ODIs, but has scored 335 runs at a strike-rate of 92 in those games. While the 30-year-old has now scaled the Drakensberg in terms of his career, he knows he needs to keep posting performances to add to the rocks already on his cairn on top of the mountain.

“Those conversations about where I’ll bat are still ongoing, but it will probably be in the top three, I would like to think no further down than number four. But being versatile is something I pride myself on, it’s something I’ve always had to do. I’ve got to make sure I’ve got the skills to achieve whatever role I’m in. Obviously I’m excited by the responsibility.

“I’m going to enjoy the journey and this new chapter in my career, and I look forward to adding value with the bat. I have to stamp my mark on the game and I will be the guy on the field who the players will look to for decision-making and plans. It starts with communication off the field and then hopefully we can execute the plans,” Bavuma said.