The South Africa ‘A’ side returned recently from their tour of Sri Lanka which included three One-Day and two 4-Day matches against Sri Lanka ‘A’ between 4–22 June.
The side, led by captain Tony de Zorzi, won the One-Day series 2-1 before Sri Lanka ‘A’ took the four-day series 1-0. While the aim is always to win, the focus of an ‘A’ series is also on developing players. From that perspective, the tour went according to plan.
Werner Erasmus takes a look at some standout performances throughout the tour.
FIRST ONE-DAY MATCH: DEWALD BREVIS 98*, BEYERS SWANEPOEL 43*
The SA A side was set a target of 265 in the first one-day match after Lutho Sipamla stood out with the ball with figures of 3-33 in eight overs.
The chase had an early setback as Jordan Hermann fell for a 13-ball duck, but captain De Zorzi and Keegan Petersen combined for a 65-run third-wicket partnership to steer things back on track. However, the dismissal of the captain led to a collapse as they stumbled to 104 for five. Brevis, coming in at No 7, joined Sinethemba Qeshile and they led a bit of a recovery before Dilshan Madushanka managed to get through the defences of the latter with the score on 155.
At the time, the SA A side still required 110 runs with 20 overs remaining and only four wickets in hand, with Brevis on 28 off 32 balls. Swanepoel came in and provided excellent support as the two took the attack to the Sri Lanka A bowlers and comfortably chased the total down with 53 balls remaining. Brevis was particularly brutal in his assault against the spinners as he struck six fours and seven sixes in his 72-ball 98 not out. It was an innings, with a potential open No 7 slot at the Proteas in mind, that might have given coach Rob Walters something to think about leading into the ODI World Cup in October.
Swanepoel proved that he was more than capable with the bat and destructive in his own right as he stayed unbeaten on 43 off 28 balls to help his side go 1-0 up in the three-match series.
SECOND ONE-DAY MATCH: TRISTAN STUBBS 59, GERALD COETZEE 77
Having won the toss and decided to bat first, the SA A side were in the precarious position of potentially being dismissed for less than 50 runs. Madushanka scythed through the top four as the batting lineup crashed to 42 for seven after 16 overs. The situation was looking dire as Coetzee joined Stubbs in the middle. The pair took only 24 runs in the next 10 overs as they looked to revive the innings.
From there, Coetzee played the role of the aggressor. By the time Coetzee had gotten to his fifty off 61 balls, the second of his List A career, Stubbs was on 25 off 71 balls. However, Stubbs decided to ramp things up as he struck 30 off his next 11 deliveries to get to his fourth List A fifty.
The partnership of 111 was finally broken when Sahan Arachige had Stubbs stumped for 59 off 88 balls, just as he was looking dangerous. Coetzee continued to land a few lusty blows before being the last man out on 77 off 89 balls. This ended up being his highest score in professional cricket across formats. Having batted up higher during his school years, he enjoyed the opportunity to spend some more time at the crease and just bat.
While his partnership with Stubbs saved some face, it was ultimately not enough as the Sri Lanka A batters made light work of the target of 176 as they chased it down with seven wickets and 21 overs remaining and tied the series up at 1-1.
THIRD ONE-DAY MATCH: GERALD COETZEE 5-48, TRISTAN STUBBS 58*, MUTHUSAMY 2-42 & 45*
An opening burst by Coetzee and Lizaad Williams left the Sri Lanka innings in tatters as they lost their first four wickets for only seven runs. Ashen Bandara and Arachige fashioned a partnership that took the score to 81 before Senuran Muthusamy took his first of two wickets in a tidy spell. Archige made 63 (103) before being the last man dismissed, falling to Coetzee for his second five-wicket haul of his List A career and leaving the SA A side with 173 runs to chase for a series victory.
The top order struggled once again to convert their starts as SA A stumbled to 101 for five after 20.4 overs. That left Stubbs, who came in at No 4, and Muthusamy with a tricky 72 runs to chase knowing that there was not a lot of batting to come.
The pair kept calm as they set about the chase in a steady manner. Tristan Stubbs played the supporting role for the second match in a row as Muthusamy found run-scoring quite comfortable and ended up with an unbeaten 45 off 55 balls to wrap up what was a valuable all-round impact from a man pushing for a spot in the Proteas lineup. Stubbs made a responsible 58 off 93 balls and helped seal the series for his team 2-1.
FIRST FOUR-DAY MATCH: MUTHUSAMY 7-122 & 5-53, MAPHAKA 2-43, BREETZKE 59*
It is safe to say that the first of the two four-day matches didn’t go according to plan. Sri Lanka A won the toss and decided to bat first at Pallekele. Coach Conrad had picked the squad with only one frontline spinner based on the original fixtures indicating that the four-day matches would have been played at Dambulla, where in his experience of the pitch doesn’t offer as much to the spinners.
However, the venues were changed to Pallekele and Colombo a couple of days before the squad departed for Sri Lanka and both matches ended up favouring the spinners. This was evident from the fact that Muthusamy managed to pick up seven wickets on the first day itself in the first match.
While Muthusamy was the standout bowler in the match for the SA A side, he was ably supported by 17-year-old left-arm speedster Kwena Maphaka, who had been a late call-up to the squad as cover for Lutho Sipamla who had picked up a back spasm after the first one-day match. He took three wickets in the match and seemed to fit in seamlessly. The youngster will lead the SA Under-19 attack next month on a tour to Bangladesh and has been touted for big things.
Coach Conrad had been impressed with him during his time as the coach of the under-19 side and had no hesitation in calling him up as he looks to stock up on fast bowling options ahead of the next World Test Championship cycle where the Proteas will play most of their series on pitches that will favour the pace bowlers.
With the bat, it was only really Matthew Breetzke who made a favourable impression as he remained unbeaten on 59 off 93 balls, while none of his teammates managed to get to 20. Despite Muthusamy taking 5-53 in the third innings, the SA A side were left with an uphill task as they were set a target of 346. That ended up being a bridge too far as the batters once again failed to convert their starts and no one made it past 30. Sri Lanka came out as victors by 160 runs to take the series lead 1-0 with one match remaining.
SECOND FOUR-DAY MATCH: MUTHUSAMY 6-110, STUBBS 117, PETERSEN 50
Sri Lanka A once again won the toss and decided to bat first in the last match of the tour and raced out of the blocks. The opening pair of Lasith Croospulle and Nishan Madushka brought up fifty in 10.5 overs. It once again took the spin of Muthusamy to change the fortunes of the innings as he dismissed both in his second over. Muthusamy picked up his third five-wicket haul in a row as he ended with figures of 6-101 in the first innings. Lutho Sipamla had recovered from his back spasm to return figures of 2-36 as Sri Lanka A were restricted to 290 in their first innings.
The SA A side were in early trouble once again at 15-2 and needed someone to front up. In stepped Tristan Stubbs, promoted to No 3. The reason according to coach Conrad: “He is just that good.” Stubbs immediately repaid the faith his coach showed in him as he brought up a beautifully-constructed century, his third in his First-Class career. He played the pace and spin with equal ease as he repaired the innings in the company of Petersen, who made 50 off 143 and Zubayr Hamza, who made 46 off 76 balls. Stubbs eventually fell for 117 off 181 balls, and his reputation was enhanced.
Despite the efforts from Stubbs, the SA A side only managed a slender lead of four runs after they were just three runs behind at the end of day three with four wickets still in hand. Kyle Verreynne remained unbeaten on 38 off 50 balls as the tail failed to wag.
Sri Lanka A dominated during their second batting innings as Minod Bhanuka made 130 off 207 balls and Pasindu Sooriyabandara made 113 off 147 balls, before they declared on 327 for three on the final day to leave the SA A side with 324 to chase in around 70 overs. The teams ended up shaking hands for a draw after 60 overs with SA A on 156 for four. Breetzke top scored with 38 off 108 balls while Hamza remained unbeaten on 24 off 75 balls, with Sri Lanka taking the series 1-0.
Stubbs ended up as the leading run scorer for the SA A side in the one-day, as well as the four-day series. His two fifties and a century across the two series was the standout performance from a batting point of view. He made it clear that he just wanted to bat for as much time as possible, and was rewarded for it.
From a bowling perspective, Muthusamy thrived in the role as the main spinner on tour as he picked up 18 wickets across the two four-day matches, six more than the next best in the series and a whopping 14 wickets more than Lizaad Williams, who took the second most for the touring side.
Before the tour, coach Conrad said that there were places up for grabs in the middle order for the Proteas, particularly in tests, and Stubbs did his chances of a call-up no harm. Dewald Brevis also put up his hand for a batting allrounder role lower down in the lineup for one-day matches. Both players were given extensive opportunities with the ball throughout the tour to show what they can contribute towards a more balanced team.
Gerald Coetzee proved valuable with both the bat and ball in the one-day series and Muthusamy should feel extremely pleased with his bowling performances in particular, which could go a long way towards giving him another run in the Proteas test lineup. Matthew Breetzke also showed promising signs of the player who top-scored during the last domestic four-day series.
Quite a number of players on tour did not find the going as easy as they did domestically and will take a lot of learning from it. The focus should remain on SA A tours like this as it will provide the best idea of how ready players are for a call-up to the Proteas and give valuable game time for the more established players.