Ken Borland

Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi bowling and Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma batting, although not in concert, will be the entertainment to savour when the Four-Day Franchise Series pool stage comes to an end with the televised Jukskei Derby between the Imperial Lions and the Titans at the Wanderers starting on Tuesday.

While Rabada and Bavuma both played key roles in the Lions’ triumphant T20 Challenge campaign, and Ngidi was superb for the Titans, De Kock was last seen in action during the ill-fated Tests in Pakistan more than a month ago. Since then the wicketkeeper/batsman has been relieved of the Proteas captaincy that was clearly weighing him down, and the Titans, who are looking to secure their place in the four-day final, will be hoping a refreshed De Kock is able to make sweet music with his bat.

The Titans, with 86.84 points, are trying to hold off the Warriors (72.68) to win Pool B and qualify for the final from March 25-29. Beating the Lions, who are out of contention at the bottom of Pool A, will not only assure the Titans of top spot in their pool but could allow them to overtake the points tallies of the Knights (102.08) and Dolphins (100.92) and host the final. But that would depend on neither the Knights beating the Cape Cobras at Newlands nor the Dolphins winning against the Warriors in Pot Elizabeth.

“Trying to fit Lungi, Quinny and Heinrich Klaasen back into this side is the sort of problem I like to have,” Titans coach Mandla Mashimbyi said. “But the danger is that you can have all the names in the book, but you still have to go out and do the job. So the message I will keep pushing is that you are now Titans players, not Proteas, and you have to look after this blue badge now,” Mashimbyi said, putting his hand to the logo on his shirt.

The Lions and Titans may geographically be close, but there is always a fierce rivalry between the two sides and the hosts will certainly not be lacking motivation at the Wanderers. Especially since they suffered a disappointing defeat against the Dolphins at their stronghold earlier this week, which ended their chances of defending their four-day title.

Quinton de Kock’s five weeks away from cricket – during which time he was relieved of the national captaincy – will come to an end at the Wanderers on Tuesday and both the Proteas and the Titans will be hoping he burns as brightly as magnesium oxide in the final round of Four-Day Franchise Series matches against the Imperial Lions.

De Kock looked in desperate need of a break when he was dismissed for  duck in the second innings of the second Test in Pakistan on February 8, and he no doubt enjoyed all the fresh air and the miles of beaches near his George home when he returned to South Africa.

But it has not been all easy living for the 28-year-old since his last match, with Titans coach Mandla Mashimbyi revealing on Monday that De Kock has been working hard in the nets as he prepares to return to action as the Titans look to nail down their place in the four-day final. The Proteas coaching staff will also be watching because Pakistan will be back here in April for ODI and T20 series.

“Quinny has been lively and he looks happy to be back. He’s been working hard in the nets and has been hitting balls for days. He looks very hungry to do something for the team,” Mashimbyi told The Citizen.

The presence of De Kock, as well as another international wicketkeeper/batsman in Heinrich Klaasen, significantly boosts the Titans batting line-up and there will be white-hot action in store as Kagiso Rabada spearheads the Lions attack.

Rabada’s Proteas new-ball partner Lungi Ngidi is not quite over the knee niggle he picked up in the closing stages of the T20 competition in Durban, so the Titans attack should be much the same to the one that played against the Knights last week.

The Wanderers pitch was the subject of much debate last week as Dolphins left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj recorded the second-best figures ever at the famous ground, his 13 for 174 being second only to Rabada’s 14 for 105 against the KZN side in 2014/15, but Wandile Gwavu, the Lions coach, said the wicket was a good one and he expects the same sort of surface for this game.

“It offered a little bit of turn and Keshav was always going to find it, he once again showed why he is the country’s No.1 spinner, although we should have played him better. But it also offered a lot for the seamers and was good for batting once you got in, and there was a bit of rough on the fourth day.

“This pitch looks very similar, so it should be an evenly-balanced game, although there is a crack or two that could open up in the heat, even though there is a lot of grass covering,” Gwavu said.

While the Titans, who are 14.16 points ahead of the Warriors, are the favourites to win Pool B, the other pool is coming down to the most thrilling of conclusions with the Knights, who visit the Cape Cobras, just 1.16 points ahead of the Dolphins, who travel to play the Warriors.

The two pool winners will contest the final from March 25.

Mark Boucher conceded on Tuesday that his first series win as South Africa coach had come in their own conditions at home, but he was nevertheless pleased with several features of the Proteas’ play as they wrapped up a 2-0 triumph over Sri Lanka with an emphatic 10-wicket win in the second Test at the Wanderers.

“It was good to get the win, albeit in home conditions. But it was nice to see the batsmen spend some time in the middle and get some confidence back, and hopefully we can now build on that momentum in Pakistan. We will keep working on the technical stuff but they were quite solid on tough pitches. It was important for them to keep their intensity up and have a positive mindset.

“The bowlers have only played a handful of games between them, but they have lots of potential and they learnt pretty quickly. To see their growth makes me happy, if you compare them from that first innings at Centurion to how well they bowled here. They are a young group of bowlers and we just want them to keep it simple and try and get the best out of the conditions,” Boucher said on Tuesday.

While opening batsman Dean Elgar was the obvious choice for the man of the series award, scoring 253 runs at an average of 126.50, Boucher said the performances of rookies Wiaan Mulder and Lutho Sipamla were the other big positives of the rubber.

Mulder played a useful innings of 36 in the first Test at Centurion, while his skilful work with the ball – taking nine wickets at 20.55 – was brilliant and brought crucial balance to the attack. Fast bowler Sipamla topped the bowling averages for the series with 10 wickets at 16.70.

“I’m very happy to have Dean in such good form, he was nice and aggressive and technically I’m very happy with where he is too. He was able to score runs in tough conditions,” Boucher said. “We didn’t really see the batting side of Wiaan, but he is a very good batsman who could go into the top six. But he was fantastic for us with the ball, he’s there to make breakthroughs and it’s great to have that all-round option.

“Wiaan is still very young [22] but the talent is obviously there. And he has a great attitude, he’s so keen to learn and hopefully he can now stay on the park because I see a great future for him.

“One couldn’t judge Lutho on his first day in Test cricket because he had so many nerves. But he’s also very young [also 22] and he would never have felt that intensity of nerves ever before. But it showed Test cricket means so much to him, which is a good sign. He still needs to work on his lines and lengths, but he was definitely one of the positives.

“He learnt a helluva lot in this series, maybe he was a bit guilty of searching for wickets yesterday [Monday], trying to get some swing, and not hitting the deck hard, but today [Tuesday] he had decent pace and asked lots of questions,” Boucher said.

It took the Proteas less than an hour’s batting to wrap up victory by 10 wickets in the second Test against Sri Lanka at the Wanderers on Tuesday, just the nin^th time South Africa have won by that margin.

Set just 67 to win, Aiden Markram (36*) and Dean Elgar (31*) needed just 13.2 overs to get there and clinch a 2-0 series win. The last time South Africa won by 10 wickets was against India at Kingsmead in 2013, while they beat Sri Lanka by the same margin at Newlands in 2012.

Sri Lanka had collapsed in a rash of poor strokes on the third morning, South Africa’s pacemen filling their boots as the tourists lost their last six wickets for 61 runs.

Resuming on 150 for four, and leading by five runs, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 211 after little more than 90 minutes on the third day. Lungi Ngidi, who bowled some superb deliveries and finished with four for 44, and Lutho Sipamla, who wrapped up the tail with three for 40, were the chief beneficiaries of the tourists’ largesse.

Markram (16*) and Elgar (8*) had reached 24 without loss at lunch.

Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne and Niroshan Dickwella started the day in positive fashion, adding 26 runs in the first five overs as they reached 176 for four.

Karunaratne became the first Sri Lankan batsman to score a Test century at the Wanderers, but he lasted only a handful more deliveries as fast bowler Anrich Nortje (2-64) cramped him with an effort ball of extra pace, the left-hander’s attempted pull shot merely sending a leading edge high to square-leg. The skipper’s 103 had come off just 128 deliveries, a great innings that was both pugnacious and determined.

His demise ended a promising fifth-wicket stand of 67 with Dickwella, and the wicketkeeper/batsman’s soft dismissal for 36 in the next over knocked the stuffing out of the visitors. Dickwella played an awful stroke, trying to wallop Ngidi on the up, over midwicket from a middle-and-off line, and he could only slice a catch to mid-off running round.

Wiaan Mulder (1-52) picked up the wicket of Dasun Shanaka (8), flicking lamely to mid-on, but Wanindu Hasaranga looked up for a fight as he dug in for nearly an hour in scoring 16. But he too lost his head, trying to hit Sipamla over the top and being comprehensively bowled.

The rookie fast bowler soon added the scalps of Dushmantha Chameera and Asitha Fernando for ducks, completing an innings which promised some hope for the Sri Lankans but ended in an embarrassing mess.