Ken Borland

South Africa aren’t fielding their usual sort of bowling attack against Bangladesh in the first Test at Kingsmead in Durban, with debutant Lizaad Williams one of just two frontline pacemen alongside Duanne Olivier.

Even at domestic level, one would very seldom see a team fielding just two specialist pace bowlers.

So it’s all a bit of a strange experience for Williams, the 28-year-old playing in his first Test after a journeyman career that has taken off spectacularly since his move to the Titans in 2020.

But he has adapted well and he finished his first innings as a Test bowler with impressive figures of 3/54 in 18.5 overs as Bangladesh were bowled out for 298 on the third day. That gave the Proteas a 69-run first-innings lead, which they extended to 75 by reaching 6/0 in the four overs possible before bad light and rain stopped play.

“We’re two different kinds of bowlers, Duanne gets more bounce while I just try and hit the pitch six-to-seven metres out and the ball squats a bit,” Williams said on Saturday.

“That combination worked well for us but we could have bowled even better. I must say, it is a bit of a weird pitch, both new balls seemed to do a bit less, which is not normal and I don’t know why.

“But in Test cricket not everything is going to be in your favour, but I do still think this is a result pitch.

“I was very delighted to get my first wicket. It was always my dream to play Test cricket, growing up, it was always what I was working towards. It’s your most difficult format and to be able to contribute to my team was great,” Williams said.

Lithe and athletic, with a straight-lines action and the ability to zip the ball around at good pace, the 5’10 Williams certainly has the fast bowling gene. He is slippery, consistently touching the 140km/h mark, and he has the confidence of fine form in domestic cricket to bolster him.

A graduate of the University of the Western Cape, having been schooled at Weston Secondary School and Hugenote Hoerskool, he was born in Vredenburg on October 1, 1993. Having played for Boland Schools for three years, his talent was obvious and he was capped for SA Schools in 2010, from where he made the SA U19 team in 2011 and 2012, also playing in the Junior World Cup.

When you post 367 in your first innings and then reduce the opposition to 101 for five and your spinners have been as dominant as South Africa’s were, there is bound to be some disappointment when your lead is whittled down to just 75 by the end of the day, but that’s what happened to the Proteas on the third day of the first Test against Bangladesh at Kingsmead on Saturday.

Thanks to the epic defiance of opening batsman Mahmudul Hasan Joy, who was last man out for 137 made in 442 minutes off 326 balls, Bangladesh made it all the way to 298 all out.

It meant South Africa still emerged with a handy lead of 69, which openers Sarel Erwee and Dean Elgar extended to 75 as they reached six without loss in the four overs of their second innings that were possible before bad light and rain stopped play at 4.10pm.

But it could have been so much more with better bowling and catching. Most crucially, Liton Das was dropped on 16, a straightforward chance to Dean Elgar at first slip off Lizaad Williams, and he went on to score 41 and share an 82-run partnership with Joy that lifted Bangladesh from 101 for five to 183 for six.

There were three other half-chances that went down too through the innings, and South Africa, who were able to take the second new ball in the second over after lunch with Bangladesh on 186 for six, will be disappointed by how Williams and Duanne Olivier lost the lengths that they had been bowling earlier.

Williams had bowled Liton in the 79^th over with a beautiful delivery with the old ball that nipped back sharply, but Joy and Yasir Ali were flourishing against the new ball, having added 33 when Yasir fell for 22 to a car-crash of a run out.

But Bangladesh’s next partnership between Joy and Mehidy Hasan Miraz was smoothly underway as they added 51 for the eighth wicket before Wiaan Mulder had Mehidy caught at slip for 29.

Joy then accelerated, quickly cutting the deficit from exactly 100 to 69 as he struck 27 runs off his next 17 deliveries with five fours and a six.

But the promising Williams ended his fun by having him caught at slip, to finish with three for 54 in 18.5 overs in his debut Test.

Simon Harmer failed to add to his wicket-tally of the previous day, finishing with four for 103 in 40 overs as the Bangladesh batsmen showed much more intent against him and Keshav Maharaj on Saturday.

Simon Harmer has not played for South Africa for six-and-a-half years but he has done the job for the Proteas with runs and wickets on the second day of the first Test against Bangladesh at Kingsmead in Durban on Friday.

Harmer scored a crucial 38 not out with the bat as South Africa rallied from a moderate 298/8 to a very tidy first innings total of 367 all out. The off-spinner then took all four Bangladesh wickets to fall as the tourists battled to 98/4 at stumps.

South Africa have played 55 Tests since Harmer last appeared, against India in Nagpur in November 2015, which is the most Tests missed between appearances for the country, beating the previous record of 47 by Justin Kemp between 2001 and 2005.

He had taken 491 first-class wickets in that period and he wasted no time in making a similar impact at international level, ending the second day with 4/42 in 20 overs.

He broke through with his ninth delivery, which was quicker and flatter but still well pitched up. Shadman Islam was beaten by the flight and went back, the quicker ball whizzing into his stumps to bowl him for 9.

After tea, Harmer won an intriguing battle with Nazmul Hossain Shanto (38), bowling him with a beautiful delivery that drifted into the left-hander, who stretched forward in defence, but the ball spun past his outside edge and just clipped off-stump.

In his next over the 33-year-old had Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque brilliantly caught by Keegan Petersen at silly point for a duck and he followed up four overs before stumps with the important wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim, well-caught down the leg-side by wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne for 7.

Opening batsman Mahmudul Hasan Joy has fought through it all to score 44 not out.

While the Proteas enjoyed an excellent day, there was sorrow for Temba Bavuma, who once again fell frustratingly close to a second Test century.

Bavuma scored a marvellous 93 in the testing conditions,  but fell in the 90s for the second time in his career when he was bowled by off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz (40-8-94-3).

Playing in his landmark 50^th Test, Bavuma received a short delivery from Mehidy and went back to cut, but the newish (less than 20 overs old) ball inexplicably turned extremely sharply, cramping the batsman, coming off his pad and ricocheting on to the stumps.

Keshav Maharaj was then bowled for 19 by Ebadot Hossain (29-10-86-2), who nipped a fine delivery through his gate, in the next over. Bavuma and Maharaj had done the bulk of the scoring for South Africa on the second morning as they added 53 for the eighth wicket.

The home side had begun the day on 233/4 after 76.5 overs and the third over with the second new ball saw Bangladesh break through.

Khaled Ahmed (25-3-92-4) seamed the ball back into Verreynne (28), who was trapped lbw in the crease as he did not play with much foot movement. Khaled’s next delivery was a lifting ball outside off stump, which Wiaan Mulder (0) sparred at, sending an edge to gully which was brilliantly caught by a diving Joy.

But Harmer then combined with pace bowlers Lizaad Williams and Duanne Olivier, who both scored 12, to provide a late hurrah for the innings.

So South Africa’s gritty women’s cricket side fell once again at the semi-final stage of the World Cup, bringing an enthralling campaign to an end. So where to next for Hilton Moreeng’s plucky Proteas?

It is vital that the feel-good factor surrounding the women’s Proteas is maintained. While there has been a substantial improvement in the amount of investment into the women’s game in recent years, thanks to the sponsorship of Momentum and the increased focus from Cricket South Africa, there is still a sizeable gap when it comes to the amount of money flowing to the men’s game as compared to our ladies.

It is the same with every sport and Momentum issued figures this week which show that 61.1% of commercial investment in South African sport goes to the men, and only 4% of television coverage goes to women’s sport. This despite 40% of all sports participants being women.

The reason for this disparity is partly because of the lower viewership numbers for women’s sport. So if you want to support the Proteas women, make sure you watch all their televised games and encourage others to do so too. Of course they also need the backing of the television stations to actually broadcast their matches and it would also help if South Africa’s ladies could play more often.

Having unequivocally proved that they are one of the best sides in the world, and with superstars like Laura Wolvaardt, Marizanne Kapp, Sune Luus, Shabnim Ismail and Dane van Niekerk (when she returns from injury), there should be teams eager to play against us.

Although South Africa were rather heavily beaten by England in their semi-final, it will please coach Moreeng that his side won several desperately tight encounters at the World Cup. That showed their mental toughness. The main reason they lost by 137 runs to defending champions England was their shoddy catching, with centurion Danni Wyatt dropped five times on her own!

But that sort of fielding sloppiness can be fixed. It is actually a malaise that needs to be rectified across the board in South African cricket.

One also needs to give Moreeng enormous credit for the work he has done in moulding such a powerful team.

He became national women’s coach at the end of 2012, when they had recently finished fourth in the Women’s World Cup Qualifier, behind Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the West Indies, all teams they are now beating with regularity.

They only finished sixth in the 2012/13 World Cup, but the growth of players like Ayabonga Khaka, Luus, Lizelle Lee, Lara Goodall and, most especially, the magnificent Wolvaardt, has lifted them clearly into the top three in the world.

With the national team in such a good space, it is now time for CSA and their sponsors to give more attention to the domestic women’s game.

While CSA, thanks to the support of Momentum, now provide the 14 top national players with full-time contracts, wouldn’t it be great to see our leading provincial sides hiring players on a fully professional basis as well.

Of course they will need financial support from sponsors to do that, and sponsors need exposure, which in this day and age generally means television coverage.

Broadcasters want to know there will be thousands of eyeballs glued to whatever they put on the screen.

But there is no doubt the interest in women’s cricket is growing exponentially at the moment. The time is right for major steps in the development of the game.