Ken Borland

Rilee Rossouw batted with power and precision and Tabraiz Shamsi bounced back superbly from his mauling in the first match as South Africa levelled the T20 series with an impressive 58-run win over England at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Thursday night.

Given how comprehensively they were outplayed in the first T20, the Proteas surprisingly fielded an unchanged XI and Rossouw, who scored just 4 in his comeback match, made the most of his second chance with a fiery 96 not out off 55 balls leading the tourists to a sizeable 207/3 after they had been sent in to bat.

Wrist-spinner Shamsi, who went for 49 runs in three overs in the Bristol battering, was the key bowler for South Africa, taking 3/27 in his four overs. That included the key wicket of Moeen Ali, who blasted England’s fastest ever T20 half-century in the first match and looked in similar touch in Cardiff as he blitzed 28 off 17 balls before Keshav Maharaj took a brilliant catch, running and diving at long-off.

It typified a vastly improved fielding effort by the Proteas as well, and when Sam Curran (2) fell to the same combination in the same over, England had slipped to 92/5 after 11 overs.

Earlier, Reeza Hendricks continued to fulfil the desire of the Proteas management for more aggression up front, stroking a fluent, impressive 53 off 32 balls up front.

He dovetailed brilliantly with Rossouw, the pair adding 73 in 7.4 overs for the second wicket.

The left-handed Rossouw showed his power game as he launched five sixes, but he also produced some superb touches that created some of his 10 fours.

Captain Jos Buttler gave England the rapid start they wanted with 29 off 14 balls, but Andile Phehlukwayo, another who rebounded extremely well with three wickets, had him caught off a leading edge.

Spinners Shamsi and Maharaj, with the important wicket of Dawid Malan (5) then did their job, and it was left to the outstanding Lungi Ngidi (2.4-0-11-2) to wrap up the game, England being bowled out for 149 inside 17 overs.

Senior Proteas spinner Keshav Maharaj on Saturday backed Wiaan Mulder as the all-rounder South Africa need after the pair dovetailed superbly to dominate the second day of the second Test against Bangladesh at St George’s Park.

Mulder and Maharaj shared an 81-run seventh-wicket partnership that laid the groundwork for the Proteas posting a formidable 453 in their first innings, and Mulder was then the star bowler with three for 15 in six overs as Bangladesh were reduced to 139 for five by stumps.

While Maharaj lashed a punishing 84 off just 95 balls, Mulder scored a determined 33. It was a welcome return to form for the talented 24-year-old, who was heavily criticised for his performance in the first Test.

“Wiaan has taken a lot of flak recently, but that innings he played in the second innings of the Test we won in New Zealand showed his capability,” Maharaj pointed out.

“He might not be scoring fifties but he is sharing very good partnerships, like he showed again today. He really knuckled down and he was unfortunate to get out to a really good ball.

“Wiaan played extremely well with Kyle Verreynne first thing in the morning and that allowed me to play with freedom.

“And then he showed his value with the swinging ball. I think today will be a huge confidence boost for him and he adds variety to our attack and batting depth,” Maharaj said.

Having made his career-best score and his fourth Test half-century, Maharaj said the lower-order needed to score runs consistently in order for the team to be able to field five bowlers.

“We have good depth to our batting, it’s just about us putting our hands up on a consistent basis and giving the coaches and selectors the confidence to play a more balanced attack.”

The KZN Dolphins star admitted that he had wasted a great opportunity for his maiden Test century, being bowled by fellow left-arm spinner Taijul Islam when he stepped down the wicket and tried to heave the ball over the leg-side. Maharaj said he should have aimed for long-on rather than cow-corner.

“When you get so close, it always crosses your mind about getting the hundred,” the maker of two first-class centuries said. “It was a golden opportunity for me, but the adrenalin is going.

“I probably should have gone straight like I had been doing before,” Maharaj said.

Given the Proteas’ history of being slow starters in series, there are those who would be tempted to arrange that they always lose the first match of a rubber like they did against India, before rebounding superbly to claim the spoils 2-1.

Even captain Dean Elgar admitted in the wake of the epic seven-wicket win in the decisive third Test at Newlands that he was aware, and rather bemused by, the trend. South Africa were well-beaten in the first Test against India at Centurion, going down by 113 runs. But they then staged a remarkable comeback, winning by seven wickets at both the Wanderers and in Cape Town, chasing down daunting targets of more than 200 on pitches with plenty of movement on both occasions.

“There were so many lows in that first game and losing first-up is never ideal at home,” Elgar said. “But it’s almost a trait of the Proteas that we need to be 1-0 down to realise that our backs are against the wall.

“So after losing the first Test we really knew we were up against it, but the guys really stood up from a character point of view. It worked to bring the best out of the players.

“I’m very relieved the guys responded the way they did and it was a proper squad effort, and a few individuals did exceptional things as well.

“Those were the highlights – the individual performances of players like Keegan Petersen, Marco Jansen, KG Rabada, Temba Bavuma and Lungi Ngidi. It boils down to the mutual respect we have in the squad,” Elgar said.

After all the turmoil over the last couple of years, the sensational victory over the world’s No.1-ranked side is evidence that things are stabilising in South African cricket. Under-fire coach Mark Boucher is comfortable that his national team are doing okay whatever his strident critics might be saying.

“I believe we turned the corner quite a while ago, actually. We’ve had pretty solid results for the last six months to a year,” Boucher said. “We’ve tried out a few players and they are coming good now.

“So we are getting some depth, but we are keeping our feet firmly on the ground because we know we are not the finished product. But I liked the intensity we showed, especially in the run-chases when we were looking to score,” Boucher said.

The SA A team – surely the Springbok shadow side – provided a little pocket of cheer for South Africans in these miserable times as they produced a superbly gutsy performance to beat the British and Irish Lions 17-13 in their match at Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday night.

The SA A side made a fantastic start to the game as their counter-attacking ability gave them a 17-3 lead in the first half-hour, but they then had to dig incredibly deep to hang on to that lead. They took it into halftime despite both scrumhalf Faf de Klerk, for a clumsy defensive effort on the line, and ubiquitous flank Marco van Staden (repeat team infringements) being yellow-carded. The Lions bashed away on the line with pick-and-goes instead of the more obvious option of a scrum, and they were kept out by magnificent defence.

Lock Eben Etzebeth was constantly in the Lions’ faces, and it was his charge-down of a strange attempted chip inside the SA A 22 by Owen Farrell that led to the opening try. The rebound was regathered by classy centre Damian de Allende, who soon passed to wing Sbu Nkosi to speed away to the tryline in the 13^th minute.

The second try was down to the astonishing magic of wing Cheslin Kolbe, who fielded a kick just inside his own half, five metres from touch. He jogged at first, but hen exploded, wonderful footwork taking him through the smallest of gaps before his superb offload to outside centre Lukhanyo Am, running a great supporting line, sent his skipper over for the try.

The Lions scored the only points of the second half as powerful loosehead prop Wyn Jones, who was denied a try on the stroke of halftime, went over from close range when SA A still only had 13 men on the field. Farrell kicked the conversion and a penalty for the tourists to close within four points.

The Lions dominated the second half, but when coach Warren Gatland rewatches the second half, even he will surely be impressed by the incredible courage and determination shown by the SA A side. Even though their physical dominance began to fade as their lack of match fitness told – as predicted by stand-in coach Rassie Erasmus – they just kept putting their bodies on the line to deny their opponents.

Gatland’s men overdid the crosskick, but it might have been a plan to fit into their preparations for the first Test, but they certainly showed what a threat they can be in the wider channels. Their kicking game outside of the 22 was also excellent, and they often put the home side under severe pressure by kicking into the corners.

But SA A closed out an enthralling game in solid fashion, using their rolling maul to earn penalties and count down the clock. The tour has now well and truly kicked off and, after a thrilling dress rehearsal, in nine days time many of these players will be out on the same field for what is now sure to be a real spectacle in the first Test.

Scorers

SA A – Tries: Sbu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am. Conversions: Morne Steyn (2). Penalty: Steyn.

British and Irish Lions – Try: Wyn Jones. Conversion: Owen Farrell. Penalties: Farrell (2).