Ken Borland

Given the scant opportunities Janneman Malan has had to play for the Proteas, one could forgive the 25-year-old opener for being anxious when he did get the chance against Ireland. But the eventual Player of the Series just looked completely calm and in control during his two innings, and to have that sort of composure and temperament is like gold for an international batsman.

Malan top-scored in both ODI innings for South Africa, stroking 84 off 96 balls in the second game and then a magnificent 177 not out off 169 deliveries in the third and decisive match. With the first game washed out, the Proteas won the final ODI by 70 runs to level the series 1-1.

“At this level, you don’t know how many games you’re going to get, so to help myself mentally I just tell myself that if I am going to miss the next match then I must go out on my own terms. I back myself and I don’t want to play out of desperation to keep my spot. I just let go and do my best, and if that’s not good enough then I can deal with that.

“I wasn’t thinking of Gary Kirsten’s record 188 not out, I was just in the zone, in the moment. By then I was in that flow-state, just watching the ball and playing every ball on its merits. And I really enjoyed batting with Quinton de Kock, my Cape Town Blitz partner. He seems to bring out the best in me and if I’m selected going forward then he would be my ideal opening partner,” Malan said after sharing a brilliant first-wicket stand of 225 in 36 overs with the wicketkeeper/batsman.

Coach Mark Boucher agreed that batting with De Kock, who stroked a masterful 120 off 91 deliveries, would finance a great deal of learnings for young Malan, who has played just seven ODIs but has scored a world-record 483 runs in that time.

“Janneman has been waiting on the sidelines for quite some time, but now that he’s got some opportunity and a taste of international cricket, he’s really done well. So our depth pool is getting quite big and he has certainly taken his opportunity. Batting with Quinny, he would have learned a helluva lot, and in the end he was smashing it all over the park.

“He’s given the selectors a good headache, it’s a good thing. It’s tough because all the guys in contention are quality cricketers and ideally we’d want them all to play. We have thought about upskilling someone to bat outside their normal position, something Aiden Markram has done at franchise level. But the competition for places is good,” Boucher said.

The Proteas came right when they needed to, centuries by openers Janneman Malan and Quinton de Kock leading them to a comfortable 70-run win over Ireland at Malahide in Dublin on Friday, but it meant they had to settle for the mediocre outcome of sharing the series with the 12^th-ranked team.

Putting their shock midweek defeat behind them, South Africa won the toss and this time elected to bat first, wanting to land the first punch and dominate from the outset. They certainly did that as Malan and De Kock shared an outstanding opening partnership of 225 in 36 overs.

De Kock was in majestic form, unfazed by anything the Irish could throw at him, and his superb 120 off 91 balls was the sort of quality innings where the left-hander looked in complete control throughout, striking 11 fours and five sixes.

De Kock eventually fell to the off-spin of Simi Singh when he just failed to clear the midwicket boundary, Mark Adair taking the catch with his heels lifted to avoid touching the line.

But Malan powered on to a magnificent 177 not out off 169 deliveries, hammering 16 fours and six sixes. Who De Kock’s opening partner should be in ODIs would now appear to be settled as Malan has collected 483 runs in his six ODI innings at a phenomenal average of 120.75.  He has two centuries and his strike-rate is 94.33. That should be sufficient for the 25-year-old to have cemented his place in the team.

Malan’s unbeaten 177 was the fourth highest individual score for the Proteas in ODI cricket and, with Rassie van der Dussen adding 30 off 28 balls, they were able to post a pleasing 346 for four.

In the field, South Africa snuck in left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj at the start of the innings and he had both openers, Paul Stirling (11) and Andy Balbirnie (7), well-taken at slip by Malan.

Lizaad Williams then had the delight of having Andy McBrine caught behind for 9 with his first ball in ODI cricket as Ireland slumped to 27 for three inside the first eight overs.

The run-rate only really arose from its slumber when former SA U19 all-rounder Curtis Campher, with a run-a-ball 54, and Singh slapped the ball around in a seventh-wicket stand of 104.

South Africa once again finished the innings poorly with both ball and in the field, and Singh took the opportunity to notch a maiden century, finishing with a dazzling 100 not out off 91 balls.

Tabraiz Shamsi continued to have spin aficionados purring with delight as he took three for 46 in his 10 overs, while there was some pleasing success for all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo, whose surprise packet of deliveries brought him three for 56 in 10 as Ireland were eventually all out for 276.

When the going gets tough, this Springbok team says they don’t make excuses, they find solutions. And that attitude was much in evidence in the third Test against the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town at the weekend when, despite not producing anything close to their best rugby, they simply refused to lose, doing what had to be done to secure a nailbiting 19-16 win and clinch the series.

With Rassie Erasmus still facing a misconduct charge from WorldRugby over his video analysis of officiating mistakes in the first Test loss, the churlish will say the director of rugby makes the Springboks’ excuses for them, but only the most biased would not have at least some grudging respect for the sheer determination and heroism this Springbok team has shown.

And speaking of heroes, the feats of wing Cheslin Kolbe and replacement flyhalf Morne Steyn were pulled straight from the pages of superhero comic books.

Kolbe scored the crucial try to overturn a 10-6 deficit, once again unveiling his superpower ability to simply vanish from the grasp of tacklers thanks to those incredibly feet of his.

And then Steyn, who had won the 2009 series with his long-range penalty, came on after 64 minutes, a 37-year-old playing his first Test since 2016. It was certainly a gamble, replacing the Springboks’ general, Handre Pollard, who has enjoyed an outstanding series but things were not going that well with his boot.

Incredibly, history repeated itself 12 years later as Steyn kicked two penalties, including the match-winning one in the 78^th minute, leaving one to wonder who exactly writes his scripts?!

“I had my head between my legs when Morne kicked, I just listened, I did not see it,” Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber admitted. “I’m really happy for him, it’s a fairytale.

“In the last five weeks, everybody had challenges, a lot of us got Covid and we lost a whole week of training. But the positive thing about this team is that they have no time for excuses, we knew we had to move on and make another plan. Those were the cards we were dealt with, they said ‘unfortunately that’s where we are, we have to move on and find a solution’,” Nienaber added.

For captain Siya Kolisi, the overriding emption was great pride in the team he has led magnificently.

“I honestly can’t explain in words what it means to us as a group to win the series. Coming from isolation, we all agreed that we would never make excuses, that’s not what South Africans are made of. When you step out on to the field, you agree that you are ready to play. That’s what I love about this team, we don’t make excuses, we find solutions,” Kolisi said.

Lock Eben Etzebeth and Steyn were the star players put up by the Springboks for media duties after the gripping match, and it turned out a friendly chat between the two at the start of the day had almost been prophetic.

“We expected it to be a close contest and we always knew that the Lions would come with a massive effort. I had breakfast with Morne and I said that it might come down to him winning the series again with a kick. He said he hoped we were a bit further ahead if he came on.

“It doesn’t matter how we won, just to get the victory is massive for us. We were able to get over the final hurdle. Apart from Morne, the rest of us knew we only have one chance to win a Lions series and we knew it was our last 80 minutes to do it. What happened is absolutely unbelievable and all credit to him,” Etzebeth, a talismanic figure in the Springbok pack all series, said.

“Just to be part of this series 12 years later was amazing and then to get on the field and then to have that kick. It was in a similar position to 2009, just a bit closer for these old legs, 54 metres then and this one was about 35 metres. For a kicker, these special occasions are why you put in all the hard work. You always dream of making a kick to win a series or a championship. All glory to God for giving me the chance to do it again.

“But credit to the whole team for building up to that moment on the field, their work softened them up. It was not our best performance but it doesn’t matter how you win. And thanks to Eben for that pep talk at breakfast!” Steyn said.

Even though the British and Irish Lions are a ruthless, top-class outfit that inflicted plenty of pain on them in midweek, Sharks coach Sean Everitt said on Friday that his team is delighted to get a second chance against them when they meet in a hastily-arranged rematch at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

With the Bulls having to postpone their scheduled match against the tourists on Saturday due to Covid cases in their squad, and the Sharks having been in a bio-bubble in Johannesburg since last Friday, the KwaZulu-Natalians have agreed to step up again and ensure the Lions don’t miss out on valuable game-time before their Test series against the Springboks.

Having been hammered 54-7 at Ellis Park, the Sharks are hopeful of putting on a better show, with Everitt naming a vastly-changed side thanks to them having 36 players up on the Highveld due to Covid precautions.

“There’s massive excitement in the team, we’ve only been playing against South African teams so it’s great to have fresh opposition, even though they are a world-class outfit. It’s an opportunity for us to learn from our mistakes and rectify those. When we did the review, we saw the opportunities we created, but also the errors and soft moments that ruined those.

“It was surprising to see how we put the Lions through their paces, normally it’s all doom and gloom when you take a 54-7 hiding, but there were actually lots of positives. I think we have a shot at redemption but we have to tidy up and cut down on the errors when we were in good positions. They were mostly unforced errors and a hard pill to swallow when they happen on the Lions’ tryline,” Everitt said.

Captain Phepsi Buthelezi retains his place at eighthman and he and scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse were two of the few players to show some fire in the first match against the Lions; together with the experienced Lionel Cronje, who has replaced the misfiring Curwin Bosch at flyhalf, they will provide the backbone of the Sharks’ effort.

The Sharks will certainly need strength of character to bounce back from their Ellis Park mauling, but they also need to lift their intensity.

“The Lions tour has taught us a lot, it has showed us where we are in terms of conditioning and we need to get our ball-in-play time higher to at least 35 minutes, that’s what it takes to withstand the intensity of a team like the Lions. It make sense to give everyone an opportunity to have a taste of that, it will be a great learning experience of international rugby.

“You can see the intensity of the Lions, but until you’ve experienced it on the field and tried to match it, you don’t really understand it. But it will make us better players to see how an international team punishes your mistakes. But we did manage to keep the ball through numerous phases, we had two passages of close to three minutes, we must just not turn over the ball,” Everitt said.

Sharks: Anthony Volmink, Marnus Potgieter, Werner Kok, Murray Koster, Thaakir Abrahams, Lionel Cronje, Jaden Hendrikse, Phepsi Buthelezi (c), Mpilo Gumede, Dylan Richardson, Reniel Hugo, Le Roux Roets, Wiehahn Herbst, Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu. Bench – Dan Jooste, Mzamo Majola, Khutha Mchunu, Thembelani Bholi, Juandre Labuschagne, Cameron Wright, Boeta Chamberlain, Jeremy Ward.