Ken Borland

South Africa’s top-order were dying slow deaths as they went in pursuit of a mediocre target of 134, before Aiden Markram and David Miller switched gears in the second half of the innings to carry the Proteas to a thrilling five-wicket victory with two balls to spare in their T20 World Cup match against India at the Perth Stadium on Sunday.

After a superb bowling display led by Lungi Ngidi and Wayne Parnell had restricted India to just 133/9, South Africa’s top-order was blown away by brilliant swing bowling up front. Whereas the Proteas had used pace and bounce to unsettle the batsmen, India showed tremendous skill up front with the new ball.

Outstanding young left-arm paceman Arshdeep Singh swung the ball away from Quinton de Kock (1), to have him well-caught by Lokesh Rahul at second slip, and two balls later he swung the ball into another left-hander, Rilee Rossouw, to trap him lbw for a duck.

Temba Bavuma’s lack of form meant he was unable to get a bat on many of the magnificent deliveries bowled to him by Arshdeep and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and then attempted an ambitious scoop shot against Mohammed Shami and was neatly caught behind by Dinesh Karthik for 10.

South Africa were teetering on 24/3 and Markram and Miller almost looked like condemned men as they tried to weather the storm. They did well to stay in, but after 10 overs the score was just 40/3, meaning another 94 needed to be scored off the last 60 balls.

Markram decided to go for broke and, in a brave innings of 52 off 41 balls, he swung hard and shifted the momentum of the game, beating back the Indian bowlers. He should have been caught twice and Rohit Sharma also missed an easy run out chance, as he and Miller added 76 for the fourth wicket in 10 overs.

Miller was then left with the last 34 runs to score off 26 balls, and he once again showed his sheer class and skill at the death, steering the Proteas home with 59 not out off 46 balls.

India had chosen to bat first, and on a pitch offering steep bounce and plenty of pace, Ngidi set the cats amongst the pigeons as he reduced them to 49/5 in eight-and-a-half overs. The tall paceman used the bounce superbly, taking 4/29 in his four overs, and all four wickets came off shortish deliveries. But his line, just outside off stump with the occasional straighter delivery, was also outstanding.

Ngidi struck with just his second ball as Rohit (15) spliced a pull shot and the bowler took a return catch; Ngidi then ended his first over with the wicket of the other opener, Rahul (9) trying to steer the ball to third man but being caught at slip as the delivery got too big for him. Markram was practically standing on the fielding circle when he took the catch.

Virat Kohli counterpunched in scoring 12, but Ngidi then dismissed him, top-edging a hook to fine leg, where Kagiso Rabada took a good catch running around the boundary.

Rabada then took an absolute screamer, sprinting in from the fine leg boundary and diving forward to catch Hardik Pandya (2) off Ngidi.

With Anrich Nortje blasting out Deepak Hooda for a duck, India were crashing, but Suryakumar Yadav pulled the blue aeroplane out of its dive with a great innings, his 68 off 40 balls piloting them to a total that kept them in the match because of the strength of their own pace attack.

Left-arm seamer Parnell had done a fine job for the Proteas up front with the new ball, and he soared in the closing stages, taking 3/15 in his four overs, which included a maiden in the first over of the match.

Nortje (4-0-23-1) and Rabada (4-0-26-0) maintained the relentless pace pressure.

SOUTHBROOM, KwaZulu-Natal – Wynand Dingle finally has his maiden Sunshine Tour title to his name with a thrilling victory in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series San Lameer event, as the challenges of Jaco Prinsloo and Sean Bradley died in the closing holes on Saturday.

Dingle shot a scintillating six-under-par 66 to finish on 16-under-par for the tournament, one stroke ahead of Prinsloo, who also fired a 66, but paid the price for only being able to par the last three holes, following a streak of three successive birdies from the 13^th.

The 38-year-old Dingle, meanwhile, picked up a crucial birdie on the par-five 17^th, having also birdied the par-four 15^th.

Earlier Bradley, who began eagle-birdie for a phenomenal start, and then picked up two more shots on the front nine, had taken the lead on 15-under with back-to-back birdies on the 12^th and 13^th holes. But disaster then struck for the 27-year-old from Royal Cape Golf Club as he left the par-three 14^th hole with a triple-bogey six. It killed his challenge and he ended with a three-under 69 to finish four strokes back on 12-under-par.

The day belonged to Dingle, however, who, despite several close misses and the frustration that brings, peacefully went about nailing down his first win in his 192^nd Sunshine Tour event.

The Silver Lakes Country Club golfer dropped just one shot on the final day, at the par-four seventh, and despite the pressure put on him by both Prinsloo and Bradley when they were running hot, Dingle kept his cool superbly during the closing holes.

Overnight leader Danie van Niekerk had a tough day, capped by a double-bogey seven at the 17^th, to finish with a 75 that dropped him into a tie for seventh place on eight-under with Harry Konig (67), Luke Jerling (69), Herman Loubser (69) and Rourke van der Spuy (71).

Malcolm Mitchell (67) and Luca Filippi (68) enjoyed excellent final rounds as they climbed into a share of fifth on nine-under, while Rupert Kaminski was alone in fourth on 10-under-par after shooting a 69 on Saturday.

A stubborn refusal to ever concede defeat has been in the genes of several Bulls sides, but the current group showed extraordinary determination and perseverance as an 84^th-minute drop goal by flyhalf Chris Smith snatched them a 30-27 victory over the Sharks in a thrilling United Rugby Championship quarterfinal at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Sharks had fully matched the Bulls in an enthralling and feisty first half which ended with the scores locked at 13-13. But the visitors seemed to have let the genie out the bottle when they conceded two tries in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.

Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee rounded off a period of concerted pressure for the first try, and then great work by outstanding fullback Canan Moodie and scrumhalf Zak Burger down the blindside earned the home side a lineout inside the Sharks’ 22. After a maul and some big carries, the Bulls went wide and centre Cornal Hendricks cut back inside to score.

But far from being brought to their knees by scoreboard pressure and altitude, the Sharks fought back superbly and finished strongly, a wonderful try by replacement loose forward Sikhumbuzo Notshe, and Curwin Bosch’s brilliant angled conversion, levelling the scores at 27-27 with five minutes remaining.

But Coetzee then won a vital turnover penalty deep inside the Bulls half. The lineout was set after Smith’s lengthy touchfinder, and the Bulls marched inexorably forward until they were under the Sharks’ poles. Tired bodies were smashing against each other at close range, neither side willing to give up, but then the ball was sent back to Smith, who slotted the winning drop goal to go with three conversions and two penalties in a perfect kicking display.

Before that, the Sharks had looked the more likely winners in the final quarter, their outside backs flourishing as they made the game more loose. Notshe’s try was a sublime effort as Lukhanyo Am, Ben Tapuai, Phepsi Buthelezi and Henco Venter had somehow kept the ball alive down the left touchline without much seeming to be on, and the Springbok then snaking over as the Bulls defence was caught offguard.

Earlier, the ever-threatening Makazole Mapimpi had taken the Sharks to the Bulls line with his magic basically disappearing three defenders, and scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse then dummied and dived over from the ruck to begin the remarkable Sharks comeback. A storming run by brilliant eighthman Buthelezi had put them on the front foot.

The Bulls started the first half slowly as they made soft mistakes, but the second quarter would see them start to get into their game.

They scored the first try, very much against the run of play, through Madosh Tambwe, rounding off a spectacular intercept by Moodie, but the Sharks soon replied with a rolling maul try by hooker Bongi Mbonambi.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Madosh Tambwe, Marcell Coetzee, Cornal Hendricks. Conversions: Chris Smith (3). Penalties: Smith (2). Drop goal: Smith.

Sharks – Tries: Bongi Mbonambi, Jaden Hendrikse, Sikhumbuzo Notshe. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (3). Penalties: Bosch (2).

“We will take a lot of confidence from beating one of the top sides in the world with our first XI not in place,” Proteas coach Mark Boucher said after his team completed an astonishing 3-0 series whitewash of India with a thrilling four-run win at Newlands on Sunday.

Even without pace spearheads Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, and with ace spinner Tabraiz Shamsi sitting out the last game, South Africa dominated the ODI series in conditions that were more suited to the Indian team, following their memorable Test series triumph.

“There has been a great progression in the field, both on the field and off, in terms of the environment – it’s a happy changeroom and the results show that,” Boucher said.

“I believe we turned the corner a while ago, before that we gave lots of players opportunities and we are reaping the rewards now. When players are injured or sitting out, the guys are coming through.

“I like the look and balance of our batting, they did really well, we are getting hundreds and it is a powerful top six. We have a couple of all-rounders who have put in solid performances.

“In terms of our fast bowlers, Anrich and KG still have to come back, Marco Jansen has a lot of potential and Lungi Ngidi did a fantastic job leading from the front. And we have world-class spinners,” Boucher said.

One of the biggest positives from the series for Boucher was the way India, renowned both for playing spin and their own slow bowlers, were outplayed by both the Proteas batsmen and their spinners, Shamsi, Keshav Maharaj and Aiden Markram, whose selection for the sixth bowler role paid off.

“We’ve put a lot of hard work into playing in subcontinental conditions and the heatwave in the Western Cape meant the pitches played a bit like that.

“We played spin really well in Sri Lanka and we have a good batch of spin bowlers now, with Aiden doing a good job too. So I’m not surprised we did so well.

“That’s the big positive for me – the way we played spin and the way we bowled it. From a spin perspective, we outplayed and outbowled India,” Boucher said.