Albie Morkel was among scores of former players and pundits who hailed SA’s comeback from 2-0 down to beat Australia 3-2 as “one of their best ever”, and there were no dissenting voices.
But not just the series scoreline made it memorable, it was the manner in which the final three games were won. And, indeed, the timidity which characterised their surrender in the first two games. It wasn’t just a “comeback”, it was a comeback from a very long way behind and a victory by a colossal margin. If the series were a rugby match, the Proteas were 20-0 down at half-time before winning 50-20.
It is the nature of cricket watchers to focus mainly on the exploits of the batters rather than the bowlers, so when Australia crashed to 113/7 replying to just 222 in the first game in Bloemfontein, it was Marnus Labuschagne (80*) and Ashton Agar (48*) who made the headlines for their unbroken, match-winning eighth wicket stand of 112.
Fair enough, but the truth is the Proteas bowling was ill-disciplined and insipid. They were not the first attack to take a result for granted, but it was unprofessional and well below the intensity expected and required at international level.
“Conversations were had with the bowlers,” captain Temba Bavuma admitted after the series finale at the Wanderers on Sunday, but the rust was still much in evidence during the second game at the same venue as Australia wracked up a whopping 392/8.
After that game it was talisman Heinrich Klaasen’s turn to speak with the blunt instrument he normally bats with: “They have played with a lot more intensity than us and, unless we raise ours, we are going to get klapped again.”
Bavuma and Quinton de Kock laid the platform for victory in Potchefstroom with an opening stand of 146 and Aiden Markram’s much-needed century built on it, but it was spinners Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi who turned the game SA’s way. On a dry pitch offering appreciable turn, their performance was no less of a series highlight than the result. They will be needed in similar form in India.
At Centurion the Proteas passed 400 for the seventh time in ODIs, one more than India in second place. But the proportion of runs scored at the end of the innings that was more jaw-dropping than the total of 416. If you missed the game, or the statistic, you may want to take a deep breath, maybe even sit down before you read it.
Klaasen (174) and David Miller (82) scored 173 runs from the final 10 overs — the most ever in ODI cricket. What odds would you give a batting team needing 17 to win off ONE over? Miller and Klaasen brought up their 200-run partnership at an eye-popping 14.47 runs per over. The previous highest strike rate for a double-century stand was 10.03 by England’s Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler against the West Indies in 2019.
Overall strike rates have improved in 50-over cricket thanks to the sharpening of batting skills in T20 cricket, but Klaasen is still an exception. Plenty of batsmen in the world are capable of scoring 24 off an over but none can currently maintain such a brutal assault for so long. Klaasen has spent the past 18 months establishing his reputation around the world, but if anybody had any doubts, it was quite the reminder!
There was plenty to celebrate about the Wanderers victory, but most satisfying was that the total of 315/9 came from the wobbly base of 103/4. The Proteas’ lack of all-rounders is still seen as their Achilles heel and the lack of batting depth may still cost them a game or two at the World Cup, but on Sunday Marco Jansen smashed a career-best 47 from 23 balls and looked every bit a genuine No 7.
Coach Rob Walter said after selecting the 15-man squad that its strength could best be gauged by the quality of the players who missed out. There were raised eyebrows at home and in Australia when Andile Phehlukwayo smashed three consecutive sixes and took 24 off the final over during his unbeaten 39 from just 19 balls. “Where the hell has he been for the last two years?” one colleague from Sydney messaged during the lunch break.
Phehlukwayo was the best 19-year-old all-rounder in the world. That he regressed rather than progressed was a source of great regret. He was not helped by the departure of his mentor, Lance Klusener, from the Dolphins but may also have been caught up in the trappings of his early success. Failure to attract a bidder in the inaugural SA20 Auction stung him painfully.
Now 27, leaner, fitter and more determined than he has been for years, the Proteas know they have an excellent back-up in the event of injury and a man determined to make the next squad when the tournament is held in SA in four years’ time.
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