It’s too soon to say Tabraiz Shamsi should replace Keshav Maharaj in South Africa’s Test team, but the left-arm wrist spinner did his cause no harm at St George’s Park this week.
Shamsi, who has played 44 white-ball internationals but only two Tests, took 8/32 for theMaharaj, South Africa’s first-choice Test spinner since 2016, claimed match figures of 3/187 for the Dolphins against the Knights in Bloemfontein.
Both matches were played on slow surfaces that took turn, but neither will be used in the Test series against Sri Lanka – which will be played at Centurion and the Wanderers from December 26. Those are the fastest pitches in the country, and spin is likely to be little more than an afterthought.
So Beuran Hendricks’ career-best 7/29 in the first innings for the in Johannesburg, and the 3/56 he took in in the second dig to complete match figures of 10/85, could be his ticket to more Test caps.
Shamsi’s haul bettered Dale Steyn’s 8/41 against the Eagles – the Knights former name – in Bloem in December 2007 as the best performance by any bowler in an innings for the Titans. Not since Stephen Peall took 9/76 for a Zimbabwe Board XI against Boland B in Paarl in October 1995 has a spinner returned better innings figures in a first-class match South Africa.
Unsurprisingly, Shamsi stood out in a match in which no-one made a century – Dean Elgar scored 66 and Heinrich Klaasen 68 among four half-centuries – and no other bowler took more than four wickets in an innings. The Warriors were dismissed for 124 in their second innings and the Titans knocked off their target of 63 in nine overs to win by eight wickets.
Ryan van Tonder’s 166 took the Knights to a first innings total of 424. Migael Pretorius, who made his career-best score of 62 in that innings, and Alfred Mothoa shared seven wickets to dismiss the Dolphins for 162, and a century stand for the Knights between Pite von Biljon and Farhaan Behardien, who scored 93 and 50, set the visitors a target of 471. They were bowled out for 243 with Pretorius taking 4/52 to complete a match haul of 7/102.
With Hendricks on fire at the Wanderers, the Cobras were shot out for 115, of which Kyle Verreyne scored 55 off 66 balls. Opener Dominic Hendricks was ninth out for 130 in the Lions’ reply of 324, a difference of 209 runs. The Cobras crashed to 22/3 in their second innings before Tony de Zorzi and Verreyne steadied them with a partnership of 136 and scores of 67 and 72. But they were both dismissed before George Linde took guard at 167/5 to score an unbeaten 69. That, and Nandre Burger’s 38 not out, helped the Cobras take the lead and stay at the crease until elbows were bumped on the draw.
Thursday’s results mean the Titans and the Knights have won both their fixtures while the Dolphins have slipped to their first loss. The Warriors have gone down twice, and the Cobras have lost and drawn.
