Ken Borland

It’s been many years since Australia experienced such volumes of rainfall as they are at the moment and the Proteas fell victim to the inclement weather on Wednesday when their second and final warm-up match for the T20 World Cup, against Bangladesh in Brisbane, was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

South Africa will open their World Cup campaign on Monday in Hobart against the top qualifier from Group B, in which Scotland, Zimbabwe, West Indies and Ireland are all locked on two points.

The abandonment of the Bangladesh game happened without there being a toss, so we don’t know whether appointed captain Temba Bavuma was going to play or not. But his form in a year so badly disrupted by injury and illness has been the biggest talking point in South African cricket of late, and there is no doubt he would have loved to have gathered some much-needed runs under his belt.

For the rest of the Proteas team, the weather was a mild irritation and Rilee Rossouw, such a well-travelled T20 player these days, said they are ready for when their curtain comes up on Monday.

“Some guys might be frustrated that we couldn’t play today, but for the others, we’re pretty much ready to go,” Rossouw said. “It’s something we couldn’t control and it’s unfortunate that we did not play today.

“But the guys put in a good shift in the indoor nets and the team is very confident, we have played a lot of cricket over the last month, we’ve had a lot of game-time.

“The boys are ready, playing good cricket and excited for that first match,” Rossouw said.

While Bavuma’s woes would almost certainly see him left out of Monday’s starting XI if he were not the captain, at least the Proteas know they have a ready-made, in-form replacement in Reeza Hendricks. Either him or Rossouw could comfortably open the batting with Quinton de Kock.

In the absence of both Bavuma and De Kock in the first warm-up game – the nine-wicket hammering of New Zealand – Hendricks and Rossouw opened the batting and put on 66 at 10-runs-an-over. It’s been six-and-a-half years since they played together in the Free State Knights team and Rossouw is hoping his former provincial team-mate can really announce himself on the global stage considering the great form he is in at present.

“Reeza and I go a long way back and it’s always nice to bat with him, he always brings something special,” Rossouw said.

“I hope he gets the chance to show the world what he’s about. We are all much better players than we were in those Knights days, we’ve learned from experience and from each other. And he is world-class,” Rossouw said.

Former Springbok World Cup winning captain John Smit has advised fiery Stormers eighthman Evan Roos to find a way to keep his passion on the field, but stay close to the line without overstepping it when it comes to ill-discipline.

Roos, who made his Springbok debut against Wales this year, was yellow-carded last weekend for an off-the-ball tussle, that saw him lean his elbow on his opposite number’s neck, in the 52^nd minute of the Stormers’ win over Edinburgh.  It came at a bad time when the Stormers were under pressure, and it allowed the Scottish team to close the gap to 13-17.

Overseas critics have accused the 22-year-old of being unnecessarily confrontational, some calling his play dangerous and thuggish.

“Evan is a player who is really driven internally and he needs to find a way to control that emotion,” Smit said when asked at a Vodacom United Rugby Championship media call how he would handle a player like Roos if he were captain.

“Players get away with absolutely nothing these days, the most aggressive thing you’ll see on a field now is someone grabbing a collar and looking angry.

“Eben Etzebeth does it very well, controlling his passion right up to the end point of not getting in trouble. Evan needs to somehow know how to bottle that passion, and you don’t want to temper his enthusiasm.

“He just needs to be told though that losing control won’t just cost him but the team too. I would tell him that the angrier he gets, the more the team’s ability to succeed is diminished,” Smit said.

Smit of course had arguably rugby’s hardest ever enforcer to rely on to lay down the law in Bakkies Botha. But sometimes it took all of Smit’s considerable leadership wisdom to keep the legendary lock on the field.

“I had a few players in the Springbok team who sometimes suffered from over-stimulation!” Smit laughed. “Take Bakkies. Whenever I wanted to try gee up the team in the changeroom, I would wait for Bakkies to go to the toilet or get his knee strapped, otherwise my team talk would make him a bit over-zealous in the first five minutes! And that would be to our detriment.”

The Sharks found themselves on the winning side in the end, by the narrowest of margins, but for the vast majority of their United Rugby Championship match against the Dragons in Newport, they huffed and puffed, generally without accuracy, before a handling error or turnover would let the air out of their tyres.

The Sharks snuck home 20-19 thanks to a 75^th-minute try by wing Thaakir Abrahams, who was sent to the line by replacement back Marnus Potgieter, after substitute flank Sikhumbuzo Notshe had broken the line to create the space. Flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain then slotted an excellent conversion to give the visitors the lead for the first time since the 11^th minute.

Apart from their tendency to lose possession on attack, the Sharks were also not helped by a wayward lineout and the fact that the Dragons beat them in the kicking game. They were also outworked at the breakdown, although unlucky at times that referee Ben Blain did not seem to enjoy their efforts there, or in the scrums, where they won a few penalties but were also on the wrong side of a couple of momentum-breaking decisions.

The first scrum allowed the Sharks to land the first blow with a Chamberlain penalty, but their problems at the ruck, lineout and then, in the second quarter, at scrum time, began to hurt them as Dragons flyhalf Will Reed kicked four penalties.

Chamberlain was able to kick one more scrum penalty, but the Sharks would have been relieved that they went into the break 12-6 down, the Dragons opting for their fourth penalty after the hooter instead of pushing for the try that would have made that lead even more formidable.

But the Dragons went 19-6 up early in the second half when hooker Elliot Dee scored from a rolling maul, the Sharks having been deep on attack inside the 22 after a Rohan Janse van Rensburg charge was wasted by a pass going astray.

It’s a long way back from there away from home at an intimate, boisterous venue like Rodney Parade, but it’s to the Sharks’ credit that they did not panic and kept soldiering on.

An intercept try by scrumhalf Grant Williams was a massive blow for the Dragons, but the Sharks, on the ropes for so long, finally landed a knockout blow with just five minutes remaining, thanks to the strike-running of Notshe and sheer pace of Abrahams.

It’s surprising that the Sharks were so outplayed at ruck time given that their loose trio contained two flanks who play to the ball in James Venter and Dylan Richardson. Then again, Notshe is in the same mould as eighthman Phepsi Buthelezi, one of their few successes on a difficult evening.

It’s becoming apparent that the big-spending Sharks need less flash and more players willing to put in the big hits and do the dirty work around the rucks.

Scorers

Dragons: Try – Elliot Dee. Conversion – Will Reed. Penalties – Reed (4).

Sharks: Tries – Grant Williams, Thaakir Abrahams. Conversions – Boeta Chamberlain (2). Penalties – Chamberlain (2).

Dale Steyn believes Kagiso Rabada is “our best player, the leader of the attack”, but South Africa’s most prolific wicket-taker is still sure the Proteas can win the first Test against England starting at Lord’s on Wednesday even without their spearhead.

Rabada is apparently making good progress after an ankle injury, and while he is bowling again, there is still some concern over whether his workloads have been enough to get him through five days of Test cricket.

“KG is the leader of our attack, our best player and most experienced bowler,” Steyn told The Citizen. “Obviously we want him out on the park, KG gets wickets even when he’s not bowling because batsmen play our other bowlers differently.

“KG just has that presence and x-factor, but I’m certain we can still win without him. Other guys will have to step up, but the Duke ball does enough for us.

“If we are going all-out attack then Anrich Nortje has the pace and he can be used in short bursts to really attack. But for me, our most consistent bowler is Lungi Ngidi.

“The two best bowlers in England for years and years have been Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. They don’t have the speed to scare anybody, but they use the ball so well, they have incredible skills and they know how to use the pitches.

“Lungi is straight in between those two in terms of skills and getting bounce,” Steyn said.

According to Steyn, South Africa have another trump card who also might not take the field at Lord’s in Simon Harmer. The off-spinner arrived in England five years ago on a Kolpak deal and has become a much beloved player for Essex, taking 354 wickets in just 73 matches at an average of only 20.65, leading them to a handful of trophies and being widely acknowledged as the best bowler in county cricket.

“I’m sure our captain, Dean Elgar, is in Simon’s ear having lots of discussions because he has played plenty of county cricket and will provide incredible information on what the pitches will do.

“Simon has done so well there, has played the most county cricket out of anyone in the squad, but whether he gets picked or not will depend on conditions.

“Keshav Maharaj, as a left-armer, provides other options and can hold up an end or take wickets. Normally we play a waiting game, but if England are going to bat so aggressively then we won’t have to be that patient.

“If the wickets are doing something, then England playing with an aggressive mindset will increase our chances of taking wickets. Our fielding will also have to be really good to take the different types of catches that could come,” Steyn said.