Ken Borland

South Africa and Australia have always been great World Cup rivals but they meet for just the second time in the T20 showpiece on Saturday in what has been a massively contrasting year for the two teams.

While the Proteas have won nine of their last 10 matches and were impressive in winning their warm-up games against Afghanistan and Pakistan, Australia have lost eight of their previous 10 games and are on a losing streak in their last four series. Their warm-up displays were also mixed, with a narrow win over New Zealand followed by a thrashing at the hands of India.

But Proteas captain Temba Bavuma said on Friday that he expects the toughest of tests for his side in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

“Australia are a very competitive side and I’m sure they won’t be deterred by their past results,” Bavuma said. “They will take learnings from them and they have good resources in terms of players.

“Obviously their bowling is strong and they’ll look to strike up front and get into our middle-order. We’ll have to play the powerplay well and not allow their slow bowlers into our middle-order.

“Their batting is quite top-heavy with Warner, Finch and Smith. So we’ll want to put their middle-order under pressure and the earlier we get them in, the more we can do that.

“But both teams are under pressure. We have come under heavy attack from our fans and media the last while and we understand how unforgiving the demand for excellence is from us,” Bavuma said.

While South Africa have clearly thrown off their old reliance on pace bowlers, Bavuma said they were still deciding whether to play all three frontline spinners in Tabraiz Shamsi, Keshav Maharaj and Bjorn Fortuin, or just two.

Against a strong bowling side like Australia and pacemen who have terrorised the Proteas before in Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, it would be risky to go in with just six batsmen.

“We are considering both options of going in with three spinners or a longer batting line-up,” Bavuma confirmed. “If we do go the slower bowlers route then we do have the guys at our disposal, and the same if we go the extra batsman route.”

Australia are the old foe and they walloped the Proteas by eight wickets with 14 balls to spare in their previous T20 World Cup meeting, in 2012 in Colombo. They also won their last series, triumphing 2-1 in 2020 in South Africa as they twice bowled them out for less than a hundred.

“There’s no bigger motivation than playing against Australia, games against them are always full of fire and we don’t expect anything less this time,” Bavuma said.

“It’s obviously a big game and we want to start well, get some momentum going. It’s always important to throw the first punch early on and then ride that momentum.

“There isn’t really time in this tournament to be behind the eight-ball, so we really want to hit the ground running and play our best cricket tomorrow [Saturday].”

Even without the No.1 T20 bowler in the world or much contribution from Quinton de Kock, South Africa enjoyed a highly encouraging dress rehearsal for the T20 World Cup as they beat Pakistan by six wickets off the last ball of their warm-up match in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday night.

Left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi bowled just four balls in the match before going off the field with a tight groin, and not playing any further part in the match.

And his absence was felt as Pakistan amassed 186 for six in their 20 overs.

But thanks to Rassie van der Dussen’s magnificent 101 not out off just 51 balls, the Proteas reached their target, he and David Miller scoring the 19 tuns required off the last over bowled by Hasan Ali.

Van der Dussen’s brilliantly-paced innings came when South Africa made a shaky start, losing both Quinton de Kock (6) and Reeza Hendricks (7) to spinner Imad Wasim in the third over.

It was captain Temba Bavuma, this time batting No.4, who helped steady the innings in a partnership of 107 in 12 overs. Bavuma was dismissed with five overs to go and 65 runs needed, having scored 46 off 42 balls. Opinions will probably be divided as to whether he made his runs quickly enough, but his tenacity and calmness under pressure cannot be questioned.

Heinrich Klaasen helped keep the Proteas in the hunt with his 14 off 8 deliveries before Van der Dussen started the final over with a six, Miller launched the third ball out the ground and Van der Dussen struck boundaries off the last two deliveries.

In terms of the Proteas bowling, it was an added positive that Kagiso Rabada bowled well, conceding just 28 runs in his four overs, with the added bonus of three wickets.

Lungi Ngidi (3-0-17-0) and spinner Keshav Maharaj (3.2-0-25-1) were also tidy, but leaking would be the verb to describe the bowling of Bjorn Fortuin (3-0-41-0), Anrich Nortje (4-0-44-1) and Wiaan Mulder (2-0-23-0).

Fakhar Zaman led the Pakistan batting with a sparkling 52 off 28 balls before retiring, while Asif Ali added the finishing touches with 32 off just 18 deliveries.

The Proteas played their first warm-up game on Monday against Afghanistan and their campaign proper begins on Saturday against Australia in Abu Dhabi. A rebuilding South African team have not generally been counted amongst the contenders for the title, with that old chestnut of their previous record at ICC events always in the background.

In six appearances in the T20 World Cup, South Africa have reached the semi-finals only twice (2009, 2014).

“I don’t like talking about baggage too much, this is a fresh challenge in front of us,” Rabada said. “The confidence levels are there and the rebuilding is going to plan. Everything that happened in the past is in the past, but we do take some confidence from this year.

“It’s just about playing now and we know that if we apply ourselves well then we can beat anyone on the day. It’s not worth talking about baggage and we are just taking it one step at a time,” Rabada said.

Rabada was a key part of the SA U19 team that won their Junior World Cup in 2014, also in the UAE, which South Africans hoped would be a breakthrough triumph in ICC events. But since then the Proteas have reached two semi-finals (one in each format) and were knocked out of the 2016 T20 and 2019 50-over event in the group stages.

“There are a lot of good memories from the U19 World Cup here and it would be great to replicate that with the senior team. It would be extremely special to win this World Cup, my biggest life achievement in sport.

“It would be one of our highest achievements in South African cricket. A World Cup is really what is missing, just that.

“We hope that we’re the generation that can bring it back home. But I don’t let that expectation affect me, I don’t see it as a burden.

“I’ve learnt to embrace it, take it in my stride. Being a leader is something I’m eager to do, the team needs leaders.

“This team wants to express to the world how good they are and we are preparing as hard as we can. We will fight tooth and nail, that’s guaranteed,” Rabada said.

Aiden Markram is not sure whether or not his game has grown from his couple of weeks playing in the IPL in the UAE, but he does believe he has a better idea of the flexibility required in T20 cricket, which he says is going to be crucial for the Proteas in the forthcoming World Cup.

Markram joined the Punjab Kings for the completion of the IPL following the withdrawal of English star Dawid Malan, and, batting in the middle-order, made starts in every innings as he ended with 146 runs in six innings, averaging 29.20 with a strike-rate of 122.68.

When South Africa begin their T20 World Cup campaign on October 23 against Australia in Abu Dhabi, the middle-order is where Markram is most likely to find a place in the team.

“The pressure is always a lot more at a World Cup, the environment is all about pressure and you need to perform under it. The IPL is also high-pressured,” Markram said on Monday, “but I’m not sure if my game has grown or not.

“But it’s obviously a good standard of cricket and I was learning on the job, mingling with some seriously good players, chatting to legends of T20 cricket, but also trying to work things out in the middle during games.

“The important thing is that you have plans for the conditions before matches, the type of cricket you want to play, but if conditions don’t allow it then you have to have something else to fall back on.

“Trusting that back-up plan is important and we have certainly upskilled ourselves lately. I don’t think this team brings too much baggage from previous World Cups and we haven’t had too many chats about 2019,” Markram said.

In terms of the conditions, the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi is in the desert but within sight of the dhows in the Persian Gulf, and arguably the best place for batting in the United Arab Emirates. The Proteas have an attack to thrive in most conditions, but the question is whether South Africa does have the batting line-up to put up big enough scores.

“Conditions were not too bad in the IPL, but each ground was very different, which I didn’t expect because I thought the conditions would be pretty generic. But each ground poses a different set of challenges.

“The pitches are not the easiest to bat on, but once you get in, you can take the game away from the opposition. But it’s tough at first for the batsman coming in.

“Sharjah [where they play a qualifier and England] was probably the toughest batting pitch and Abu Dhabi the nicest to bat on.

“In general you’re looking to take pace off the ball, that’s the go-to, lots of changes in pace. And you have to bowl your spinners at the right time, getting that decision right is important,” Markram said.