Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Bavuma worry as Van der Dussen steers Proteas home
BRING on the Australians!
Okay, well not in quite that macho tone, for South Africa may have completed a rare successful run-chase yesterday to close off their World Cup league phase on a positive note, but they will certainly have to play much better in Thursday’s semi-final if they are to progress to a first-ever final.
With the comfort of already having secured a semi-final place, the South Africans lacked intensity from the outset against Afghanistan yesterday.
They were also comfortable enough to give Marco Jansen a much-needed break, which afforded Andile Phehlukwayo his first run in the tournament.
Ultimately, it proved to work out just fine, with Phehlukwayo (39 not out) carving out a match-winning 65-run partnership with anchorman Rassie van der Dussen (76 not out off 95 balls) to take South Africa home by five wickets with 15 balls to spare as they chased down Afghanistan’s 244 to end on 247/5.
The margin of victory may seem comfortable, but it certainly was not for large chunks of the run-chase, with the Proteas’ ability to put themselves under pressure rising to the surface once again.
Quinton de Kock and captain Temba Bavuma – who was hampered by a hamstring injury throughout and is now a doubtful starter for the semi-final – seemed to get everything under way with relative ease in their 64-run opening partnership.
But once Bavuma (23) and De Kock (41) fell in quick succession, it opened the door for Afghanistan superstar
Rashid Khan (2/37) to create his customary chaos in the middle-order.
And when Rashid removed arguably South Africa’s best players of spin in Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen within a few overs of each other, the cat was well and truly among the pigeons.
Memories of failed chases resurfaced, with former England and Australian captains Nasser Hussein and Aaron Finch turning up the heat in commentary and fuelling the drama, which only intensified when David Miller meekly surrendered to a Mohammed Nabi (2/35) caught-andbowled chance.
Throughout all these histrionics, Van der Dussen remained ice cool at the non-striker’s end, staying in his bubble and content to do the hard graft with the odd boundary.
He played a crucial role in comforting Phehlukwayo, who had not batted out in the middle since the last ODI against Australia back at the Wanderers almost two months ago.
Phehlukwayo’s rustiness was visible, but he settled the longer he stayed at the crease before finishing the game in a flourish with a six, four and six off Naveen-ul-Haq to end unbeaten on 39.
Proteas coach Rob Walter will be pleased that his team eventually crossed the line with the bat, but the inability to close out the opposition’s innings remains a cause for concern.
South Africa had once again reduced the Afghans to 160/7, but then allowed them to score a further 84 runs for the three remaining wickets, with Azmatullah Omarzai striking a defiant 97 not out.
It did seem that the Proteas had shifted their attention to the semifinal, with the seamers, and Lungi Ngidi in particular, adopting a strategy of trying to bowl wide yorkers.
If that was the case, then plenty of work needs to be done in the nets this week leading up to the semi-final, with South Africa conceding 10 wides and Ngidi delivering three in succession in the penultimate over.
Only Gerald Coetzee seemed to have brought any energy and passion with him to the Narendra Modi Stadium yesterday as he finished with 4/44 to surpass Jansen as South Africa’s leading wicket-taker at the tournament.
“Today we did a few things differently. We batted second today. To get over the line in that manner, that is going to give us a lot of confidence. Fantastic knock by Rassie, he took ownership, and the guys batted around him,” Bavuma said. “Not really (concerned about the opposition’s lower-order runs). The wicket got better.
“When Keshav (Maharaj) came back for his second spell, it was not gripping and spinning as much. “Gerald also came in and took wickets, always a huge plus. We can always pick on the different phases, and we can think of things to improve, but we will take the win.”