Quinton de Kock scored just seven runs as the Lucknow Super Giants suffered a 24-run defeat by the Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, David Miller finished with 15* off 20 balls for the Gujarat Titans in a thumping seven-wicket win over the Chennai Super Kings.

On Saturday, Aiden Markram’s 32 off 25 balls were in vain as the Sunrisers Hyderabad lost to the Kolkota Knight Riders by 54 runs.

Fast bowler Marco Jansen took 1-30 in his four overs for the Sunrisers.

Kagiso Rabada picked up the wicket of Virat Kohli as the Punjab Kings beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 54 runs on Friday. The SA speedster went on to finish with figures of 3-21 in his four overs.

Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis scored 10.

Bowling brilliance 🔥@jbairstow21‘s explosive knock💥
Mutual admiration between the two 👌

Speedsters @KagisoRabada25 & @arshdeepsinghh sum up @PunjabKingsIPL‘s crucial win against #RCB. 👍 👍 – By @RajalArora

Full interview 📹 🔽 #TATAIPL | #RCBvPBKS https://t.co/zxcSZVumin pic.twitter.com/5DWnDpi49P

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 14, 2022

Tristan Stubbs made a winning start to his IPL career with the Mumbai Indians despite being dismissed for a two-ball duck.

The 21-year-old South African, who came in at No 5 for Mumbai, missed a juicy full toss with the first ball he faced from Mukesh Choudhary and was then trapped lbw after being beaten by a back-of-a-length delivery that clocked 135km/h.

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Chasing 172 for victory, De Kock was circumspect and aggressive when needed as he found his form and made the chase simple for Mumbai. He ended on 70 not out, his 63-run partnership with Krunal Pandya the crucial stand of the innings. Despite being on the losing side, South African Chris Morris bowled well and picked up two wickets.

After being sent into bat, the Royals ended on 171-4. Their entire top four got starts (Jos Buttler 41 and Sanju Samson 42) but nobody played the innings they desperately needed. A target of 172 was always achievable for Mumbai on the Delhi wicket.

FULL SCORECARD

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These are interesting times for South African cricket. While the Proteas didn’t have everything their own way in the recent white-ball matches, it’s fair to say the team is playing with more heart and spirit than they did at the 2019 World Cup. This is an encouraging sign before the T20 World Cup.

Faf du Plessis made the right call to step down as captain from all three formats. It’s good to hear he will focus on his batting in the lead-up to the global tournament in Australasia. South Africa will need their senior batsmen to fire if they are to have any chance at that competition. It also won’t hurt to have a former captain in the mix to assist the current leader, Quinton de Kock.

I’ve heard that AB de Villiers is set to return to the Proteas set-up in the coming months. South Africa could certainly use him during this period of transition. I’ve always believed De Villiers has something special and I don’t see why he can’t contribute across all three international formats for the next couple of years.

I was never a fan of De Villiers juggling multiple responsibilities – as a skipper, frontline batsman and wicketkeeper. It now appears as if De Kock has been asked to strike the same balance.

De Kock has an important job to do at the top of the order in the shorter formats. Perhaps he can get away with leading the side, opening the batting and keeping wicket in the 20-over format. In the long term, however, the management may need to look at easing his workload. They may have to ask someone else to keep in the longer versions of the game. It’s tough enough for captains to consider their field placings and bowling options in high-pressure situations. Why add to that challenge – and indeed the physical workload – by asking the captain to also keep wicket?

A few batsmen have put up their hands over the past few months. One would hope to see Temba Bavuma and Heinrich Klaasen performing consistently and nailing down their spots in the batting order. David Miller can add value and I would like to see his talents utilised earlier in the innings. He should be batting higher than No 6.

I’ve been encouraged by what I’ve seen in recent months. This was always going to be a difficult period of change and coach Mark Boucher has been put under pressure. It’s been good to see how he has gone about rebuilding the team and instilling a fighting spirit.

Boucher will have to get the balance of his team right quickly. We’ve seen how effective the wrist-spinners are in the shorter formats and Tabraiz Shamsi may be an important player for South Africa later this year. Keshav Maharaj made his name as a Test player but could also prove a force with the white ball in the months to come.

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The tourists moved to 385/8 at the close of play, leaving the deficit at 117 after the opposition had amassed 502/7 declared on the back of opener Mayank Agarwal’s double-century.

De Kock and Elgar shared a solid 164-run alliance, ensuring the hard work put in by captain Faf du Plessis earlier in the day was not wasted. De Kock struck 111 to Elgar’s 160 – and both were superb in largely nullifying the threat posted by spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Ashwin eventually got rid of De Kock amid figures of 5/128 in 41 overs. He and fellow spinner Ravindra Jadeja bowled 78 of the 118 overs on a pitch that tame during India’s innings but is generating more turn while the Proteas are at the crease.

The visitors’ score would have read substantially less, had De Kock and Elgar not been dropped on seven and 74, respectively. Silly point fielder Rohit Sharma and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha grassed sharp opportunities.

Elgar and De Kock’s Test centuries were the first for South Africa in India since 2010.

Debutant Senuran Muthusamy and tail-ender Keshav Maharaj will resume on Saturday.

India: Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami.

South Africa: Aiden Markram, Dean Elgar, Theunis de Bruyn, Temba Bavuma, Faf du Plessis (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Vernon Philander, Senuran Muthusamy, Keshav Maharaj, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada.

Scorecard

Photo: Gallo Images

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Elgar’s superb 129 surpassed his 127 scored against the Australians in Perth late last year, while De Kock surpassed 1 000 Test runs – the joint fifth-fastest South African to reach the landmark – in front of an appreciative, sellout crowd.

Visiting captain Angelo Mathews’ decision to bowl first after winning the toss under overcast skies brought early reward, but increasingly sunnier conditions – and Elgar and De Kock’s dominance – eventually gave the hosts the ascendancy. Sri Lanka’s seam attack, too, didn’t have the stamina nor penetration to genuinely take advantage of a rather green pitch.

Stephen Cook perished for a duck to the fourth ball of the day, feathering an edge to stand-in wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis, who deputised for the ill Dinesh Chandimal. While Cook was unable to build on the century gathered in the series opener at St George’s Park, seamer Suranga Lakmal – hot on the heels of his Port Elizabeth five-for – relished the key dismissal.

Elgar and Hashim Amla all but nullified the early dismissal, sharing a fine 66-run alliance for the second wicket, before the latter was bowled for 29 by Lahiru Kumara’s venomous nip off the seam into the right-hander. Now is not the time to raise absolute concern over Amla’s shaky form, but a lack of a half-century in nine innings has more eyebrows raised with each failure.

JP Duminy’s departure for zero followed five balls later, as some sharp bounce found the left-hander’s attempted leg glance wanting, with another catch to Mendis the result. That left South Africa 69 for three at lunch – and in need of solidity through the second session.

Elgar and Faf du Plessis duly delivered, accumulating 76 runs during a near wicketless stanza. Spinner Rangana Herath, however, struck three overs before tea to remove Du Plessis. The Proteas captain, who was dropped by mid-off fielder Upul Tharanga on 31, left for 38 after edging some sharp turn to Mathews at first slip. Du Plessis will be the first to admonish himself for a relatively reckless stroke at an entirely crucial juncture.

Temba Bavuma didn’t last long, irresponsibly holing out to Tharanga at deep backward square-leg off Kumara. If Amla’s 29 didn’t fuel doubters, Bavuma’s 10 surely will, particularly with the uncapped Theunis de Bruyn waiting patiently in the wings.

The diminutive right-hander’s fall brought De Kock, pictured above, to the crease. The talented left-hander successfully saw off some shaky opening throes, including a handful of edges past Mendis and the slip cordon. Characteristically, he gradually flourished and climbed to 68 not out. He survived two ill-conceived lbw reviews.

Elgar, meanwhile, reaped his sixth Test century. True to form, a trademark punch down the ground for four welcomed the feat and brought a standing ovation from the Newlands throng. Lakmal eventually ended the impressive innings and their 103-run partnership with some tidy swing away from the left-hander. Mendis was, again, at hand for the catch.

Come day two, as was the pursuit after day one in Port Elizabeth, Lakmal and company will target the early dismissal of De Kock, aspirant all-rounder Kyle Abbott and the tail-enders before looking to their batsman for an appropriate response. The Proteas, though, will foresee a score of 400-plus – and perhaps the opportunity to bat just once.

Scoreboard

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De Kock headlined the Proteas innings, as he scored an excellent 104 just before lunch – the second Test century of his career. However, when he lost his wicket there was a complete collapse, with the last four wickets falling for 34 runs.

With the daunting prospect of needing to post a big enough total to make the Proteas work for a chase, the Aussies lost a wicket with the fourth ball of the innings, just like they did in their first innings.

Burns, who got one first time around, fell for a duck this time in slightly unfortunate circumstances, as a Proteas review revealed he feathered one down the leg side to De Kock.

After a brief rain delay, David Warner played in typically positive fashion as he cruised to 29 by tea, with Usman Khawaja there on 24. Abbott could have had a second in the last over of the session as the ball flew to Dean Elgar at third slip, only for Elgar to evasively duck under it.

The pitch still looks decent to bat on, but it is starting to offer a bit of help to the seam bowlers with the new ball, highlighted by the fact that Josh Hazlewood picked up brilliant figures of 6-89 in the Proteas’ first innings.

Temba Bavuma popped one up straight after the break to fall for a solid 74 for Joe Mennie’s first wicket in Test cricket, before Keshav Maharaj was bowled from a beauty by Hazlewood.

Vernon Philander upped the tempo after Kyle Abbott was trapped lbw for three, smashing six boundaries that looked very easy on the eye. Eventually his aggressiveness got the better of him, feathering one behind to fall for 32 and signalling the end of the innings.

Time will tell whether the Proteas have done enough damage, as De Kock and  Bavuma put together 144 – a record sixth-wicket stand for South Africa in Australia. The hosts’ top order will need to step up in a big way if they want to claw their way back into this contest.

Scorecard

Photo: Saeed Khan/Getty Images

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Rabada, whose seven wickets in the match jumped him to No 20 on the bowlers’ list, now has 36 wickets in nine matches and has achieved a better start than Dale Steyn, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose and Richard Hadlee at the same stage of their career.

The 21-year-old’s five-for in the second innings was vital to the 177-run victory over the Aussies and he is rightly becoming the go-to man for the Proteas.

KG is now the fourth South Africa fast bowler to feature in the top 20 after Steyn, who is ranked second but ruled out of the series due to a shoulder injury, Vernon Philander, who has moved up one place into the top 10 after his five-wicket exploits in Perth, and Morné Morkel (13th).

De Kock’s impressive performance, which saw him score two half-centuries against the Baggy Greens at the Waca, triggered an 11-place jump to 20th, behind his compatriots Hashim Amla (sixth) and AB de Villiers (seventh). His 87 in the first innings and 64 in Perth was vital to SA’s dominance over the Aussies.

Dean Elgar and JP Duminy, who both scored tons in the second innings against Australia, were rewarded with rises to No 24 and No 38 respectively.

The Proteas will hope they can continue their good form in the second Test at Hobart on Saturday as they hunt down a third-consecutive series win in Australia.

Photo: Johan Rynners/Gallo Images

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