UAE win shows South Africa are ready for anyone

South Africa look up and ready for any opposition in the next rounds of the T20 World Cup © Getty

South Africa look up and ready for any opposition in the next rounds of the T20 World Cup © Getty

And, just like that, South Africa's previously warm bench went cold. Jason Smith, Anrich Nortje and Kwena Maphaka shed the substitutes' bibs they wore for all of their team's first three matches in the T20 World Cup and hit the Arun Jaitley stadium running for the dead rubber against the United Arab Emirates.

What a struggle Shukri Conrad must have had to convince Keshav Maharaj - who wants to do everything all the time, including bowl a second super over, and is good at it, whatever it is - to take a break. George Linde, who also played in the thriller against Afghanistan in Ahmedabad last Wednesday, was the sole specialist spinner.

Having already reached the Super Eights, the South Africans could either have stuck with the side who got them there or give the rest of their squad a go. That they chose the latter speaks of confidence and maturity. What was it like having three new faces and the lesser spotted Linde - who missed two of the first three matches - suddenly in the XI?

"Everyone worked in harmony," Corbin Bosch said. "It was a nice run, especially as you never know what happens later in the competition."

Or even in the next four days. India await at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday. South Africa might as well find out if anyone would mount an argument to change South Africa's first-choice XI. So, did they?

Kagiso Rabada - he of the nightmare 20th over against the Afghans, when he sent down two no-balls and a wide and failed to defend a dozen - made it through the first over decently. The only damage was Aryansh Sharma's mishit six over deep third.

Delhi can do that to you. Its outfield doesn't seem much bigger than a tawa, and the ball flies through the city's dirt-drowned air like a mustard seed leaping from a hot pan. Just to make things tougher for the bowlers on Wednesday, the square boundary in front of the Mohinder Amarnath Stand to the east measured a scant 59 metres - the bare minimum for a men's international as per the ICC regulations. The boundary opposite, in front of the Bishan Singh Bedi Stand, was a mere seven metres longer.

Good luck with the second over, Maphaka. He started with two leg-side wides to Muhammad Waseem, the second less wayward than the first, and was then straight driven for four with sublime timing. A two, a single and another wide followed before Maphaka landed the last ball on the line of Sharma's pads and hit them. Aiden Markram reviewed, but it was clear even to the naked eye that the delivery had pitched outside leg.

Maphaka was replaced by Nortje, his face fuzzy in the wake of shaving his bristling beard and magnificent moustache before the match against New Zealand in Ahmedabad on Saturday. Maybe he thought Conrad wouldn't recognise him and give him a game.

Maybe Sharma also didn't recognise Nortje, judging by the way he threw his bat at the second ball of the over - which ballooned off the edge, over the cover fielder and away for four. The fifth delivery might have been deemed a waist-high no-ball, but wasn't. Six were scored off the over - not the worst for someone playing his first game of the competition.

So to Linde, whose third ball smacked the sweeping Waseem on the pads bang in front. Waseem was as lbw as an lbw victim could be, but he squandered a review anyway.

Then came Corbin Bosch, whose second ball rushed Sharma into a pull - which Maphaka, at midwicket, tracked down and caught adeptly. That over went for two, and when Bosch returned five overs later he had Sohaib Khan caught behind with a pacy short ball that was veering sharply away from Quinton de Kock when he snared it. Only another two runs accrued.

Maphaka was granted a second over, this time from the other end. He showed he deserved another crack with six tidier balls, the fourth of which crashed into the front of Alishan Sharafu's helmet and went for four leg byes. Just three came off the bat in that over.

Sharafu took another blow to the helmet five overs later, this time delivered by Bosch and this time on the grille. The ball hit him with such force that the stem guards at the back of his headgear fell to the ground.

It isn't often that a player needs to pass two concussion tests in the same innings. Happily, Sharafu did. He was also dropped twice - off Maphaka on the deep third fence, when Nortje did the initial work and tried to get the ball back to Smith, who couldn't hold on. And six balls later in the same position off Bosch. This time the errant fielder was Nortje.

Two deliveries after that, Muhammad Arfan lurched down the pitch to Rabada and should have been caught at long-on. Only for Bosch to botch the chance. Rabada had also been denied Sharma's wicket in the third over, when De Kock dropped a skier.

South Africa's pace ace lived in times as interesting as Sharafu's. In the 18th, Sharafu hoisted Nortje towards deep midwicket. Rabada ran in, eyes on the ball dropping towards him, and was about to take the catch when Maphaka, eyes also on the ball, but dropping away from him, burst into the picture. Rabada pulled himself out of Maphaka's path just in time to avoid what could have been a nasty collision. The teenager took the catch, and immediately apologised to Rabada - who overcame his initial shock well enough to offer a high five in acceptance.

The bigger truth is that South Africa, who didn't drop a single catch in their first three games and took several blinders into the bargain, put down four on Wednesday. That's what dead rubbers do: they take your eye off the ball.

"We'd rather have it happen now," Bosch said. Rather than against India, he didn't have to say.

South Africa's chase of their nominal target of 123 was over with six wickets standing and 40 balls to spare. Smith's contribution to that cause was an unbeaten three off five. He did have the satisfaction of taking the single to fine leg, off Junaid Siddique, that won the match.

But it was telling that he threw his head back in frustration when he tried to send the first delivery he faced, bowled to him by Arfan, past backward point and found the fielder instead. When you've sat around for three matches and finally taken guard with just seven needed, you don't have much opportunity to make a mark. Four runs off your first ball would help.

Brevis, too, was nudged towards the India showdown. And offered a bat just as dead as Bosch's. Even when someone had the rudeness to ask him what "needs to be done for the South African team to stand a chance of winning that game?"

Without skipping a beat, Brevis replied: "We'll just keep playing how we're playing. That's all I need to say."

How, for instance, might he handle Varun Chakravarthy, India's darling leg-break and googly merchant who took only six wickets in his first three games in the tournament but at the sparkling economy rate of 5.33?

"He's a spin bowler, so I will play him like a spinner; watch the ball and react to it," Brevis said.

Translation: they're a cricket team. They're not special. Not even in India. More could be gleaned from other aspects of Wednesday's media engagements than what Bosch and Brevis said.

Bosch traversed the tiled floor in his socks, his spikes slung from one hand. Not only did he thus make the journey silently, rather than click-clacking his way to the microphones, he also removed any danger of slipping on the slick surface.

Brevis came up the stairs, and when he reached the doorway his eyes widened at the number of reporters waiting for him. There were maybe 50, or exponentially more than the number of people who regularly report on cricket in the whole of South Africa. But he reeled his eyes back into their sockets and did his bit with aplomb.

These guys are ready for anyone. India included.

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