Ken Borland

Ryan Rickelton is collecting centuries these days like the rich and famous buying accessories, and Wednesday’s hundred to lead the Central Gauteng Lions to victory over the North-West Dragons at the Wanderers was arguably the most dazzling of the lot.

Rickelton blazed 110 off 75 balls, a great innings in terms of quality, beautiful strokeplay and the class of a different level that oozed from each of his 12 fours and four sixes.

After a morning that called for flippers and masks rather than cricket bats and leather balls, play at the Wanderers was delayed from the scheduled 1pm start to 3.45pm and the CSA One-Day Cup match was reduced to 31 overs a side.

Considering the weather, North-West won the toss and sent the Lions in to bat, but openers Josh Richards and Rickelton were superb in getting on top of the bowlers pretty much from the outset.

They cruised to fifty at a run-a-ball and their hundred stand came off just 80 deliveries. Richards was also classy and easy on the eye as he scored 44 off 51 balls before being caught on the boundary off left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy.

That ended the first-wicket stand on 132, off just 109 balls, but Reeza Hendricks then came in and ensured there was no loss of momentum with a brisk 37 off 24 deliveries.

Rickelton went to his century, his fourth in six innings to go with a 99 in his previous visit to the crease, off just 71 balls. It was a ferocious pace, but the left-hander barely seemed to be breaking a sweat and was never anything less than elegant.

It eventually took an outstanding catch by Dwaine Pretorius, running along the long-on boundary and then diving, to dismiss Rickelton. The bowler was Eldred Hawken, the best of the Dragons attack and a former Lions player, who married excellent control with some handy variations to finish with two for 31 in his seven overs, which included two maidens.

The Lions were then 201 for two in the 25th over and would have been targeting beyond 270.

But North-West, led by Hawken, did fight back with the ball, restricting the Lions to 260 for five. Evan Jones made the other significant contribution with 29 not out off 21 balls.

Even that was way too much of an ask for the North-West batting line-up though as they were bundled out for just 127 in 22.1 overs.

Sisanda Magala, almost as prolific a matchwinner as Rickelton, was the destroyer-in-chief with outstanding figures of five for 31 in five overs. One wonders how much more they need to do to become Proteas regulars.

Magala delivered the opening wicket when he deceived the dangerous Wesley Marshall (9) and had him caught at mid-off.

Lesego Senokwane (41) and Grant Mokoena (16) then stabilised with a second-wicket stand of 53, but they scored at no better than a run-a-ball, needing to provide more acceleration if they were to keep up with the ever-ballooning asking rate.

Wiaan Mulder (6-1-39-1) and Malusi Siboto (4-0-17-2) did tidy jobs in the middle overs, as the Dragons began to lose regular wickets under the pressure.

Spinner Bjorn Fortuin (3.1-0-12-2) removed the last bit of resistance in dismissing Chris Britz (28), and Magala then ran through the tail as North-West lost their last seven wickets for 22 runs in a handful of overs.

As tight and disciplined as the Lions bowling was, they were also outstanding in the field, with Mitchell van Buuren and Richards both taking magnificent catches.

Victory by 133 runs brought with it a bonus point, allowing the Lions to overtake North-West and move into second place on the log, with a couple of games in hand.

Coach Wandile Gwavu could not have asked for much more than the superbly-polished all-round display his team produced.

The Joburg Super Kings have secured the services of Stephen Fleming as their head coach for the inaugural SA20 tournament and the New Zealander will obviously have good memories of returning to the Wanderers, where he steered the mother franchise – the Chennai Super Kings – to the Champions League title in 2010.

As the owners of the Johannesburg franchise, it is understandable that CSK would appoint their much-admired head coach to take the reins. Fleming has won the IPL four times and been runner-up another four times during his two stints as Chennai coach.

“My last memory of being at the Wanderers was with Chennai, winning the Champions League. I remember it very fondly, it’s a wonderful ground,” Fleming said.

“First thing I remember was the support that we got through South Africa, which was a surprise for all of us. It just shows the passion of the South African cricket fans to follow good cricket.

“We like to produce that and we’re really hoping we can get good support from Johannesburg and around the country. That’s a big part of what Chennai is about,” Fleming said.

Faf du Plessis, who made his IPL bow with the Chennai Super Kings in 2011, spent a decade with the franchise and it must have been hell for him when they did not retain him ahead of this year’s IPL auction, where they then lost out on his services in a bidding war with Bangalore Royal Challengers.

But he is now back in the Chennai fold and will captain the Joburg Super Kings. Du Plessis has an impressive record at the Wanderers, averaging 40.61 in his 15 T20s there, and he made South Africa’s highest T20I score – 119 off 56 balls – there against the West Indies in 2015.

“I have an extremely lucky and long relationship with Chennai,” Du Plessis said. “When the opportunity presented itself to play for them again, I was extremely happy.

“I think the SA20 league is going to be incredibly crucial for the sustainability of South African cricket. Being involved with the IPL for the last 11 years, I’ve seen first-hand the difference that T20 leagues can have on a country’s cricket.

“You see the difference that it makes to the younger players. That knowledge, wisdom and experience that you can share with your young talent in your own country, that’s extremely important for the growth of the national team.

“I’ve been lucky as a player and as a captain to have some really good leaders in my time. Starting under Graeme Smith, then moving to AB de Villiers, then my time at Chennai Super Kings, where Stephen Fleming was really influential at the beginning of my leadership journey,” Du Plessis said.

Bangladesh’s batsmen discovered at the Wanderers that there are no vaccinations against the pace and bounce of Kagiso Rabada when he is at his fiery best, and South Africa’s ace fast bowler is hopeful that they won’t have time to figure out how to handle him and his fellow quicks before the ODI series decider at Centurion on Wednesday.

With Rabada leading the way with an outstanding 5/39, Bangladesh were restricted to just 194/9 in the second ODI, South Africa levelling the series when they chased down that target with seven wickets and 76 deliveries to spare. After a slightly flat performance in the first match at SuperSport Park, this time the Proteas pacemen came out firing.

While Rabada said he was still not sure why they struggled for wickets in the first ODI, he did say the extra pace and bounce of the Wanderers pitch made them more lethal.

“It’s a question I’m still asking myself,” Rabada said at the Wanderers after his man-of-the-match display. “I guess this pitch did a bit more with the new ball.

“I thought we bowled very well in the first 10 overs of the previous game too, but were just unfortunate not to get the breakthrough. And on the Highveld, you’re guaranteed to score quicker once you’re in, as the ball gets older it’s better to bat.

“But there was more bounce at the Wanderers, we got the ball in the right areas and it was good to us. You generally want to use the extra bounce and pace at the Wanderers.

“The talk is that the subcontinent teams are not able to deal with the bounce as well as we do because we’ve grown up here. You can’t just rock up and expect to bounce them out, but you try use the conditions to the best of your ability,” Rabada said.

While the Proteas were delighted with their all-round performance at the Wanderers, they are dismayed by their continued tendency to start series poorly, a destructive habit when it comes to a growing side developing consistency.

“It is a concern because we always want to throw the first punch but we keep finding ourselves in this position.

“We don’t do it on purpose and we don’t want to make our job even harder. So we still hve a bit of work to do before we go back to Centurion,” Rabada said.

The Proteas dare not reproduce their performance of the first ODI.

The Proteas summoned up the most appropriate of responses to their shock defeat in the series opener as they hammered Bangladesh by seven wickets with 12.4 overs to spare in the second ODI at the Wanderers on Sunday.

Having been beaten by 38 runs at Centurion, the Proteas were led to victory by their big guns on Sunday, with Kagiso Rabada and Quinton de Kock both producing special performances.

Rabada’s outstanding new-ball burst reduced Bangladesh to 34/5, and the tourists needed Afif Hossain’s defiant 72 off 107 balls to get them to a respectable 194/9 on a Wanderers pitch that was tricky to bat on in the early stages with inconsistent bounce.

Bounce was the chief weapon of Rabada, who was hostile and controlled as he took 5/39, removing key batsmen Liton Das (15), Shakib al-Hasan (0) and Yasir Ali (2). Rabada, languid but fiery, then claimed the vital wickets of Afif and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (38) in the 46^th over, both batsmen being well-set to make merry at the death as they had already added 86 for the seventh wicket.

Lungi Ngidi (10-2-34-1) and Wayne Parnell (2.5-0-6-1) also fitted the bill as anti-social fast bowlers, but left-arm quick Parnell had just taken the fifth wicket, trapping Mushfiqur Rahim lbw for 11, when he limped off the field with a hamstring injury, never to return.

It meant, with Aiden Markram left out of the starting XI as De Kock returned and Kyle Verreynne kept his place, that South Africa, with only five frontline bowlers, had to employ the friendly, part-time seam of Temba Bavuma.

The Proteas captain actually did a very tidy job, conceding just 22 runs in his 6.1 overs, and he should have had a maiden white-ball international wicket but Janneman Malan dropped Miraz on 21 at long-on. Rassie van der Dussen was even pressed into service to bowl the penultimate over and his gentle off-spin did snare a first wicket as 12^th man Markram caught Shoriful Islam (2) at long-on.

Regular spinner Tabraiz Shamsi showed his omission from the first ODI was a mistake as he claimed 1/26 in 10 excellent overs, getting the wicket of Mahmudullah (25), caught at leg-slip, to end a threatening sixth-wicket stand of 60 with Afif.

De Kock’s dashing approach at the top of the innings then put South Africa on the path to a comfortable victory from the outset, the left-hander stroking a dazzling 62 off just 41 balls, with nine fours and two sixes.

Fellow opener Malan scored 26 as 86 runs were briskly put on for the first wicket.

Coming together at 94/2 in the 16^th over, Verreynne and Bavuma then comfortably ticked off most of the remaining runs required with a third-wicket partnership of 82.

Bavuma was caught on the boundary off Afif’s off-spin for a well-played 37, but Verreynne finished the job with a classy 58 not out off 77 deliveries.