Ken Borland

A greener Gabba pitch than anyone could remember seeing before at Test level had the bowlers lining up like delivery vans outside an online store on Saturday, but Proteas top-scorer Kyle Verreynne said it was actually a good batting wicket in Brisbane on the first day of the first Test against Australia.

Sadly his colleagues did not enjoy the conditions as much as Verreynne, who scored a counter-attacking 64 off 96 balls, as only Temba Bavuma (38) made more than 10 as South Africa were bundled out for just 152.

Australia’s batsmen had problems too as they slipped to 27 for three, but Travis Head, with a tremendous run-a-ball 78 not out, and Steven Smith (36) took them to 145 for five at stumps.

While the pitch has provided seam movement, it has not been excessive and not even particularly consistent. But batsmen were also troubled by some inconsistent bounce and the sharp turn and bounce obtained by Australian spinner Nathan Lyon, who took three for 14 in eight overs.

“I think it’s a really good batting pitch to be honest,” Verreynne said, “and your normal game-plans are good on it. When you see it being so green, you expect the pitch to do so much.

“But it did a lot less than we thought it would. It’s not so soft even with such a thick grass layer, it’s quite firm and there is good pace and bounce.

“The aggressive approach worked for Travis Head and myself, but Steven Smith took his time and batted very nicely too,” Verreynne said.

It was the sort of pitch where being able to land the ball on the proverbial handkerchief on a good length would bring reward. The Proteas pacemen were initially able to do that, inspired by David Warner being dismissed on the first ball of the innings as Kagiso Rabada fired in a pinpoint short ball and Khaya Zondo took a phenomenal catch at short-leg. But as soon as the left-handed Head began shifting the momentum and putting the bowlers under pressure, the visitors’ attack turned ragged for a vital hour late in the day.

“After you’re bowled out for just 152, it’s difficult to get the energies up. So getting a wicket first ball was a massive moment, especially a big player like Warner,” wicketkeeper Verreynne said.

“That got the adrenaline going and our energy was really up for the next 10 overs or so. But unfortunately we fell away a bit after that.

“We’re probably still a bit behind in the game, but two late wickets did bring us back in a bit, they’ve given us a bit of a window. But it would have been nice to get a couple more wickets when we had them 27/3.

“After lunch, the pitch picked up a bit more pace and Anrich Nortje was getting it through nicely. Our fast bowlers definitely have a bit left in the tank and hopefully they can make an impact in the morning,” Verreynne said.

In many ways, Malibongwe Maketa is the coach that just refuses to go away and his patience and consistent excellence has finally seen him rewarded with the post of Proteas interim head coach for their Test tour of Australia.

The three Tests in Australia, between December 17 and January 8, are South Africa’s penultimate series in the ICC World Test Championship, in which they currently lie second, 10 percentage points behind Australia. So if the Proteas win the series 2-1 or 1-0 then they will catch Australia up, but any bigger victory will see South Africa take top spot. Their final series is against the West Indies at home early next year.

The 42-year-old Maketa has long been highly-rated as a coach ever since his work as head coach of the Eastern Cape Warriors team from 2014/15 to the end of 2017, especially in white-ball cricket in which he steered the under-resourced franchise to two finals and a share of the One-Day Cup title.

He then became an assistant coach for the Proteas under Ottis Gibson, unfortunately a poisoned chalice for his career. Not only was he tarnished by the under-performance and eventual collapse of the national team in 2019, but his talents as a head coach were lying dormant.

When he lost his job at the same time as Gibson was let go, it seemed that Maketa would have to go back to the bottom of the coaching pecking order again. Fortunately, former director of cricket Graeme Smith restored Maketa to his rightful place as a head coach, giving him the SA A job that he has held up till now.

After his own unsatisfactory experience as an assistant coach, current director of cricket Enoch Nkwe fully understands Maketa’s struggle, but the fact that he has spent a lot of time around international cricket and is also heavily involved in the growth of the next generation of Proteas will stand him in good stead.

“Malibongwe … is a familiar face to the environment and has worked in the same space previously when he served as assistant coach,” Nkwe said in a CSA statement.

“Mali knows most of the players well, they know him too; and with such a short time between now and the tour, we as Cricket South Africa felt we needed someone who could step in immediately and lead us through what is an important series for the Proteas. We have no doubt he will do South Africans proud in this series.”

CSA chief executive officer Pholetsi Moseki said: “Malibongwe has earned respect and acclaim as a coach and a leader. This interim appointment is in recognition of his ability to integrate himself into any system and assure continuity.

“As no stranger to the Proteas set-up, I am confident that he will acquit himself well and hit the ground running.”

After the Australia series, South Africa’s next international commitment is an ODI series at home against England at the end of January.

The Proteas will be eager to improve their batting against the Indian fast bowlers in the second ODI in Ranchi on Sunday, but at least they know they are unlikely to be put to a tougher test against spin than they were in the first match.

Despite the Lucknow pitch turning square in the first ODI, Heinrich Klaasen (74* off 65) and David Miller (75* off 63) added 139 in 17.4 overs to take South Africa to a matchwinning total of 249/4 in a game reduced to 40 overs a side by rain.

But the top-order once again struggled, with seamer Shardul Thakur removing Janneman Malan and Temba Bavuma cheaply. The amount of swing and movement up front has been a standout feature of the white-ball games in India so far, but thankfully Quinton de Kock has batted beautifully in the last three matches to counter that.

“Obviously the ball spun a lot, but we’ve been working hard over the last couple of years to play in these conditions,” Klaasen said. “Our game-plan is to sweep both ways and it worked well.

“We definitely picked the right game-plan for the conditions, we just wanted to take the danger-ball, which was on a good length and turning a lot, out of play and rotate the strike.

“It has not been easy up front for both sides, and we also bowled very well at the start of India’s innings, but Quinny played an exceptional innings. A lot of people might look past his 48, but it was very vital.

“It meant we were still in a good position when Davo and I came in. It’s fantastic batting with him, his tempo makes it so easy, and we just said we must keep going and not let the tail come in in these conditions,” Klaasen said.

The nine-run victory in the first ODI gained precious 50-over World Cup qualification points for the Proteas, but Klaasen said their focus is just as much on not wasting the opportunity to get time in the middle ahead of the T20 World Cup later this month.

“We need to win nine out of nine games to maybe have a chance of automatic qualification, so that is very hard, but we will definitely try,” Klaasen said.

“But the World Cup coming up now is our goal. Next year’s World Cup is important too, but this series is also useful building up to the T20 World Cup.

“Of course we want to win every game in a South African jersey and we will just take it game for game,” Klaasen said.

The 31-year-old wicketkeeper/batsman also bemoaned the departure of all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius from the squad with a fractured thumb. They are both gutsy characters, showing the sort of temperament Test captain Dean Elgar always rates highly, never mind their white-ball worth.

“Dwaine is a big loss and it was a sad moment when we found out on the morning of the game,” Klaasen said. “I thought it was just a little thumb injury. I’m quite close to Dwaine, we have been through a lot to get here, and he is a massive loss.”

CAPE ST FRANCIS, Eastern Cape – Golfing in the sand dunes and bush of the St Francis Links can be a confusing experience for those who do not know one of South Africa’s top courses well and director of golf Jeff Clause, a Master PGA Professional, says the Vodacom Origins of Golf Sunshine Tour event that will start there on Thursday will be a test of temperament.

Being the fun-loving, entertaining character he is, Clause uses a song to describe how the professionals should approach the magnificent Jack Nicklaus designed course.

“It’s like the Kenny Rogers song The Gambler – ‘You’ve got to know when to hold them and know when to fold them’,” Clause says. “There are holes that demand much respect and others, if you’re with the wind, that you can attack.

“When you’re out there in the dunes, there’s more to the course than meets the eye. It can be visually distorting and often there is more room than what you see. I think this course really excels in some wind, but not necessarily the tough conditions we had on the first day of the pro-am.

“All links and coastal courses have wind as a factor in the design and we are generally an east-west course. There are three par-threes that go across north-south, and one par-four and one par-five, meaning there are 13 holes that will be either downwind or into the wind.

“The difference can be three clubs. But we’ve given golfers as much landing area as we can and the course is a lot more playable than when we opened in 2007. This will be our 12^th Vodacom Origins of Golf event and, in the first one, +9 made the cut, while 13-under was the winner last year,” Clause says.

“Our aim is to make it more than a putting contest. It takes more than that to win here. Why I love links golf is because it requires more shots. If you learn to play here, you can play anywhere.

“It’s more about shot-making, where you put the ball, where you leave it for the next shot. You can burn up every hole or you can blow it, so you need a strong mind around here.

“Steve Surry had a putt for 62 here last year in the PGA Championship, while on a bad day, pro golfers are tiptoeing around 90 here.

“Next year is the 100^th anniversary of the PGA Championship, and our aim is to return that tournament to past glories.

“But we also love the Vodacom Origins of Golf series, we love working with them, I like the format which brings the amateurs in to enjoy our course. We have property owners here who have bought because of this tournament,” Clause says.