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Virat Kohli was full of praise for Mohammed Shami, calling him one of “the best three seamers in the world” after India beat South Africa by 113 runs in the first Test in Centurion.Shami’s five-for was instrumental in India bowling out South Africa for 197 in the first innings, especially when they didn’t have the services of Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah was off the field for close to two hours after twisting his ankle. Then he had to spend the same amount of time on the field before he was allowed to bowl again.In the second dig too Shami chipped in with 3 for 63, which included Aiden Markram’s wicket in the second over of the innings.”Very, very happy for him to get 200 wickets and have an impactful performance,” Kohli said of Shami at the post-match presentation. “He is absolutely world-class talent. For me, he’s in the best three seamers in the world at the moment. His strong wrist, his seam position and his ability to hit a length consistently…”Talking about the overall pace attack, Kohli said: “Just the way these guys bowl together, it’s just a hallmark of our team getting a result from that position, not just in this game but also in the last two-three years.”India get together after Mohammed Shami snags Wiaan Mulder•AFP/Getty Images

In a rain-affected Test, India’s performance with the bat on the first day proved to be decisive in the end. Kohli credit his openers for that.”The discipline that the batters showed… Winning the toss, batting first overseas is a tough challenge,” he said. “Credit to Mayank and KL for the way they set it up.”We knew we were in pole position with anything over 300-320. We have a lot of belief in our bowling unit and knew the bowlers will get the job done.”This is India’s first Test win in Centurion. Now, they will be eyeing their first Test series win in South Africa. The next match will be played in Johannesburg, where India had won on their last tour.”It’s a top start for us, Kohli said. “We have to understand one day was washed out. That shows how well we played. It’s always a difficult place to play against South Africa. We got so much confidence out of Johannesburg last time. It’s a ground we love playing at.”

You may expect the usual David and Goliath angle for a preview about a series between South Africa and Netherlands but this won’t exactly be it. You only have to go back a little over four months for the last time a so-called David beat South Africa’s Goliath, when Ireland registered their first ODI win over them and took what could-yet be 10 crucial points off them in the World Cup Super League.The series was shared and South Africa were shaken, even if circumstances at the time suggest that Ireland’s victory was an anomaly. It came at the height of South Africa’s third wave of coronavirus and players on tour had family and friends who were ill at home. It also came during an incident since described as an insurrection in South Africa, characterised by riots and looting in the provinces of Gauteng and Kwa-Zulu Natal, where a significant number of the national squad are based. It’s fair to say that South Africa’s minds were elsewhere. They went to lose an ODI series in Sri Lanka, but since that defeat they have won all but one of their matches, the T20 World Cup opener against Australia, so the wheel appears to be turning. But how far? This summer might tell.This week marked the start of the fourth wave of the pandemic in South Africa, with a three-fold increase in the seven-day rolling averages of positive cases, the bulk of them in the Gauteng province where this series is being played. One of those cases was Lungi Ngidi, who has been withdrawn from the squad thereby depriving South Africa of their senior-most seamer for the ODIs against the Dutch. Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje are being rested and with Ngidi now out, it will be up to a three-time ODI capped Daryn Dupavillon, twice-capped Junior Dala and uncapped Sisanda Magala to lead the attack. Happily, for South Africa, they also have three seam-bowling allrounders in their ranks. Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo and Wayne Parnell will all add experience to a green pace pack.Though the civil unrest was short lived, South Africa remains far from stable with rolling blackouts at their worst in 2021 and the economy in freefall, and cricket has not escaped the crunch. Money is still tight at Cricket South Africa and that’s not the only shadow hanging over the administration.The Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) project will reach its conclusion as the season starts with the transformation ombudsman, Dumisa Ntsebeza, set to release his report on November 30, the day before the final ODI against the Dutch. It is expected to contain recommendations that could directly impact the national team. Head coach Mark Boucher was among those who was implicated in testimony detailing racism, and responded with an affidavit admitting to naivety and apologising for his past conduct. His assistant, Enoch Nkwe, resigned in the midst of these events, citing problems with the team culture without going into any further details. Nkwe may yet be courted by Netherlands, where he was previously assistant coach, and where he has family.But out of all that, South Africa have emerged, finally, with clarity on their anti-racism gesture. Less than 48 hours before the first international delivery of the summer is bowled, CSA released a statement confirming that the team will take a knee throughout the season. “The Proteas should continue to take the knee as a contribution towards the global sports endeavour to demonstrate its commitment to eradicating racism and all forms of discrimination,” CSA said.Considering that South Africa previously had a three-pronged approach to showing anti-racism (take a knee, raise a fist or stand to attention) and that several players only took a knee when it was mandated by the board (and one, Quinton de Kock only after sitting out a game for refusing to accept the instruction at first), there will still be questions about whether South African cricket is inclusive enough or representative enough. Addressing these questions remains an ongoing process, but there will be plenty of on-field tests as well in a busy summer ahead.Lined up are ODI series against Netherlands, India and Bangladesh – which will collectively go a long way to determining their chances of automatic qualification for the 2023 World Cup – and Tests against India, New Zealand and Bangladesh. The T20 format takes a backseat, with only four fixtures against India but, all in all, it’s a full schedule that could prove crucial for Boucher’s longevity as head coach and several players’ careers.Netherlands can only dream of a sentence like that being written about them. As the only Associate in the World Cup Super League, they are relishing their opportunity to play against the big teams but it will be shortlived. The scrapping of the league and return to a one-off qualifier event for the 2027 World Cup has created uncertainty among Associates, who fear their chances to test themselves against the best will be severely reduced. In the long-term, Dutch coach Ryan Campbell believes it could shrink the game; in the short-term, it gives a team like Netherlands even more incentive to make statements where they can, especially against a side like South Africa, where many of their players started their careers.Related

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The Netherlands squad includes a former South African international, Roelof van der Merwe, three former provincial players, Colin Ackermann, Stephan Myburgh and Brandon Glover, and an uncapped South Africa-born player, Clayton Floyd. Their mentor – and greatest player to date – Ryan ten Doeschate is also South African, so the connection between the two countries from a cricketing perspective is strong.And then there’s the added niggle. Expats have historically been fan favourites for some actual banter (not the kind that has been talked about in the English circuit over the last few weeks) and for the first time since the pandemic began, there will be a cricket crowd in a South African stadium. Current government regulations allow for a maximum of 2,000 fully vaccinated spectators at sports events but Cricket South Africa has petitioned for this to increase to 10% of stadium capacity. ESPNcricinfo understands that this request will be granted but that it needs to be published in the national gazette and that may only happen in time for the Test series against India. So it may be a small crowd for this series, but certainly a vocal one, albeit sans minors. Children under 12, to whom the Covid-19 vaccine is not yet available in South Africa, will not be allowed to attend matches and there’s another hard sell: no alcohol is allowed to be sold at sporting venues.The absence of a party atmosphere will not take away from this series, marking the start of the festive season in some way. Pandemic-weary South Africans are looking forward to a more “normal” December-January after last year’s holiday lockdown, and having international cricket will be one way of enjoying summer. Despite six regulars – big names like captain Temba Bavuma, de Kock, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje – being given a break from the biobubble for these matches, there are enough eye-catchers to keep people interested. Janneman Malan, David Miller, Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj have all put in standout performances over the past year and more will be expected this summer. And if the start of it, a three-match ODI series against Netherlands, doesn’t seem like an enticing match-up for you, just think back to July and that match against Ireland.

Namibia completed their highest-successful chase in a T20I to keep their Super 12 hopes alive and put Netherlands on the brink of an early exit. The Dutch have now lost two group stage matches, have to beat Sri Lanka and hope Ireland win both their remaining games. Namibia, on the other hand, have their fate in their own hands after completing their maiden World Cup win in senior men’s cricket.After conceding 164 runs, a total which could have been lower after a fielding effort filled with fumbles, Namibia stumbled to 52 for 3 in the ninth over and were facing an uphill battle. But a 93-run fourth wicket stand between Namibian captain Gerhard Erasmus and David Wiese, which came in 8.3 overs, put Namibia on the brink of victory before Wiese and JJ Smit saw them home. South African of the match
There were several candidates to choose from in this fixture but this unique award has to go to Wiese. He turned Namibia’s innings around with a vintage performance that involved clearing the rope five times, all in the ‘V.’ Wiese’s first shot in anger came when he charged Roelof van der Merwe and hit the ball over his head for six, which put Namibia on 68 for 3 at the halfway stage, needing 97 runs off the last 10 overs. Namibia scored 52 runs off the next four overs, and Wiese was responsible for 37 of those. He brought up his first fifty for Namibia off 29 balls with a six over cover point and brought their required run-rate down to just over six runs an over in the last three overs, when they needed 19 runs. Wiese only faced one ball in the final over, and Smit hit the winning runs, but he set the victory up and finished on an unbeaten 66 off 40 balls. Wiese also took the Player of the Match award.Bounced out, slowly
Pace off the ball is likely to become the phrase of the tournament, and if you need a visual, look no further than the first two wickets of the Dutch innings. Jan Frylinck delivered a slow-motion bouncer to Stephan Myburgh, who tried to upper-cut him over point, but was earlier on the stroke than he would have liked and lobbed it to Stephan Baard at point. Two overs later, Wiese bowled a short, wide, and slow delivery that van der Merwe tried to cut but ended up slashing high to Bernard Scholtz at third man.Gerhard Erasmus and David Wiese shared a 93-run fourth-wicket partnership•ICC via Getty

Max(imum) number of lives
Max O’Dowd brought up a second successive half-century at this tournament, this one laced with leg-side boundaries, but it was not without its fair share of luck. He survived four times against some sloppy Namibian fielding, which could have seen his innings end much earlier. O’Dowd could have been run out in the 11th, when he was on 38, and he pushed a Ruben Trumpelmann delivery to cover and set off for a single, but almost immediately realised it was the wrong decision. He gave up about three-quarters of the way down but the throw missed the stumps. Then, when he was on 46, he hit the ball to extra cover, took off and again realised he was too hasty. O’Dowd was ready to run back to the dug-out but the throw was inaccurate. He brought up his fifty six balls later with an inside-out drive over the covers.O’Dowd entered the last five overs on 65 and sent an aerial shot in the direction of long-off, but the chance fell short. He added two more runs before he got a leading edge off JJ Smit. Baard ran in from the covers and got hands to it but could not hold on. O’Dowd had reached 70 by the last ball of the penultimate over and snuck two byes off a ball that struck him on the leg. He should have been run out at the wicket-keeper’s end but the throw went to the bowler. Eventually O’Dowd was run-out in the last over, chasing a second run but flagging in the heat. He became the first Dutch player to score back-to-back half-centuries at a World Cup.More missed chances, but it doesn’t matter as much
The fielding remained messy when Netherlands began their defence. In the third over, Baard punched a ball into the covers and took a single which appeared completely out of the question. van der Merwe rushed his throw that would have run Baard out at the striker’s end and he escaped an early exit. Two overs later, Namibia’s mini-collapse began, when Zane Green dragged an attempted pull onto his stumps off Frank Klaasen. They went on to lose 3 for 18, with Baard the third of those wickets when he missed a flick and was bowled by the Dutch captain Pieter Seelar. But then came the 93-run stand between Erasmus and Wiese to seize the advantage for Namibia once more, and that was that.

Live scorecard and ball-by-ball commentarySouth Africa battled back valiantly on an increasingly capricious pitch to give themselves a fleeting chance of chasing a sub-300-run target, only for Moeen Ali to throw caution to the wind, and sixes into the stands, in a blistering counterattack that has surely put the destiny of the series beyond any reasonable doubt.By the time a long-threatened rain shower forced an early close, Moeen had overcome a circumspect beginning to clobber his way to 67 not out from 59 balls. It was a remarkable knock in an innings where only Joe Root, with 49, had looked anything approaching fluent, and it had taken England’s overall lead to 360 runs – far beyond anything ever chased on this ground before – with two wickets still standing.However, the early stages of Moeen’s innings had not been entirely promising, in keeping with England’s overall performance in their second innings, which – Root’s effort aside – had showcased all too many of the weaknesses that have prevented them from attaining any real consistency in their Test cricket over the past 18 months. Much of the debate centred around the continued shortcomings of Dawid Malan and, especially, Keaton Jennings, whose latest failure has left his place in the side all but untenable.With 110 runs in his first seven innings of the series, including a highest score of 48, Jennings knew he needed to make an impression to prevent the chorus of doubters from becoming deafening. And hard though he battled in England’s second innings – even with the cushion of a 136-run lead to assuage the pressure a touch – he rarely looked settled at any stage of his 63-ball stay. He was dropped on 0 before he had scored, Dean Elgar leaping to his left at third slip but failing to cling on, and though he found a degree of fluency in reaching 17 not out at lunch, the manner of his dismissal was limp in the extreme.Facing up to the energetic Kagiso Rabada, Jennings lined up the cut as the bowler dropped short, but misjudged the line to catastrophic effect. Hashim Amla accepted a simple looping edge at first slip as if standing in the outfield for catching practice, and Jennings departed with the look of a man who knew that the bailiffs were circling to call in his borrowed time.Moeen Ali struck three sixes as he reached 67 not out before the rain arrived•Getty Images

Malan scarcely made much more of a telling impression. As the newer selection, he may yet have more time on his side, but his tally after four Test innings stands at a ropey 35 runs, and today’s innings of 6 from 15 balls never convinced. Half of those runs came from a horribly miscued pull against Rabada that could have been caught by a diving Temba Bavuma at backward point, and two balls later, he fell victim to an impressive spell from the left-arm spinner, Keshav Maharaj, who found some sharp turn out of the rough to take the glove, onto the knee-roll and into the hands of short leg.England, by that stage, were 72 for 4, having lost the Essex pairing of Alastair Cook and Tom Westley before lunch, both of them caught in the gully as they aimed loose drives at the hostile Morne Morkel, who finally earned his just desserts after a luckless spell in the first innings.Root, inevitably, made the going look simpler than most, as he chivvied the singles and negated the threat of Maharaj in particular, who found less purchase off the pitch when bowling the straighter line to the right-hander, and was comfortably thwarted by some judicious slog-sweeps when he opted to go round the wicket later in his spell. But, having marched to the brink of his second fifty of the match, Root pushed loosely at Duanne Olivier, and was bowled for 49 via an inside edge.Ben Stokes battled valiantly, channelling his success on the subcontinent to ride out the threat that Maharaj in particular was posing on a pitch with variable bounce. But he led a charmed life in his 23, including a stinging drop from a diving Heino Kuhn at short midwicket and a curious non-appeal from Morkel when he appeared to feather an edge to the keeper on 5. However, with tea approaching, Olivier was rewarded with a second scalp, as Stokes pushed too hard outside off, and was well snaffled by du Plessis at third slip.Enter Moeen, though not the Turbo-charged version of the final hour. He all but chopped onto his stumps first ball, and after tea, England scarcely looked like changing the pattern of their innings. Jonny Bairstow lacked the fluency of his first-innings masterclass, taking 25 balls to get off the mark before holing out to his 30th, well caught at fine leg by Rabada to give Olivier his third wicket of a fine and aggressive spell, and before the new batsman, Toby Roland-Jones had faced a ball, Moeen had survived another near-miss – dropped at slip by Elgar, whose elbows jolted the ball out of his grasp as he dived to his left off Maharaj.But that reprieve appeared to flick a switch in Moeen’s mindset, and his attitude to Maharaj thereafter was one of selective disdain. While mindful of the threat he still posed out of the rough, Moeen trusted his eye and his long levers, sweeping with intent – conventional and reverse – and drilling high and hard with the spin for three vast sixes, the second of which was caught on the player’s balcony by a gleeful Bairstow as he brought up his fifty from 49 balls.Roland-Jones, who has showcased a keen eye in his brief career to date, kept him company in a 58-run stand for the eighth wicket before Rabada induced a top-edged pull to a diving Maharaj at deep midwicket. But Moeen was by now motoring, bashing Rabada back over his head for four off what would prove to be the day’s penultimate delivery. He would have backed himself to keep cracking on, much as he had done in similar circumstances in the first Test at Lord’s, but – with two days to come and South Africa’s heads beginning to droop – his intercession has surely been decisive.

Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer and vice-captain Con de Lange were yearning for divine intervention during Malcolm Waller’s late surge that took their first-ever ODI against Zimbabwe down to the wire. Their prayers were answered when Waller, in his attempt to strike a sixth six, found Chris Sole on the deep square leg boundary – some may say literally. It ended Waller’s innings at 92 off 62 balls as Scotland prevailed by 26 runs via the DLS Method to pick up their first ODI win against a Full Member.”When that ball was going to deep square off Waller, I was just praying for it to land inside the ropes because he hadn’t hit many inside,” Coetzer told ESPNcricinfo. “He hit them all over the rope or even out of the ground. Then, when that last one went up, just over the moon; really, really over the moon, really chuffed for the guys. You could tell by the emotions and the celebrations from the guys, we’re obviously really happy with the day.”Waller had struck a series of sixes straight down the ground and to the east boundary, including one extraordinary cut with the wind at his back that sailed 30 yards over the point boundary, into the adjacent tennis courts. Zimbabwe entered the last three overs requiring 38 with two wickets in hand. After a lengthy chat, left-arm spinner de Lange was brought on, and Waller drove his second ball for a straight six out of the ground. But three balls later, in trying to hit one through the wind, Waller’s slog hung up in the stiff breeze for Sole to take the catch.It was controversial as video footage appeared to indicate Sole’s foot came in contact with the boundary rope before quickly coming off. Waller initially stayed on the field while Zimbabwe’s bench protested; the umpires conferred before sticking with the call that it had been a clean catch. Waller said another six there would have made the last two overs manageable, especially with at least one needing to be bowled by a medium pacer.”With this wind, we knew you have to target the one side where it is,” Waller said. “When they brought the spinner on in the third-last over there, I felt it was a good chance for me to bang a couple of boundaries, even though the wind was coming. I was probably looking to go straighter. I knew that if I could put the spinner under a lot of pressure and get two or three sixes in that over, they would definitely be under a lot of pressure with two seamers left. Ten an over against seamers, I think is pretty comfortable on here.”De Lange said he felt tense at the start of the 41st over despite having already taken four wickets, and prayed for the wind to help keep the ball in play.”It was quite nerve-wracking. I must be honest because the one that went for six, I missed the length slightly, and then that one hit the length, trying to get him to hit into the wind, and then I was just praying for the ball to come down inside the rope and it was taken,” de Lange said. “That’s why we all play cricket. That’s what you grow up as a kid dreaming towards, beating Test nations.”Our victory is probably a result of belief that we can do really well, can compete and beat the big boys. So to win, just everyone’s emotion afterwards, as soon as that last catch was taken, that relief is a fantastic feeling.”The controversial catch aside, Waller felt Zimbabwe had tripped themselves up early in the chase with needless run-outs on a good batting track. Hamilton Masakadza had battered Scotland in the Powerplay and looked set for a big score before he was run out, responding to a call for a tight single from Solomon Mire, in the 11th over for 38. It ended the opening partnership at 55.”We’ve been following a couple of games that have been played here, and obviously they have been high-scoring,” Waller said. “So we knew it is a decent batting track, and I think on average, guys are looking at 280-290. So when they posted that score, we were confident and felt if we had wickets in hand and had a good start up front that we’d be able to chase it down or get close to it towards the end.”When you’re chasing a big score like that, you don’t want run-outs. You’re going to get run-outs in games, but it’s crucial not to lose your wickets like that. I think we got off to a really good start with Hamilton and Mire, and we were definitely going along and putting them under pressure. But then just silly run-outs definitely put a damper, and then a couple of quick wickets after that definitely holds you back when you have to go at six-seven an over.”Over the course of the day, Scotland had been the side to hold their nerve under pressure. They were tested at the start, where they were limited to four runs off the first four overs. But Coetzer, who was composed to begin with, unleashed his array of drives and cuts later in the Powerplay en route to his fourth ODI ton that set up a defendable total. Coetzer hoped that the win, Scotland’s first in ODIs over a Full Member after 23 losses, will influence other Full Members to schedule fixtures against them.”I hope it will prove and put a case forward to giving us more opportunities, and this is what we’ve been waiting to do for a little while,” Coetzer said. “We’ve taken a little bit longer than other teams have, but we’ve now got a strong squad of players and we hope that we could still keep on challenging and maybe play some of the other Test-ranked teams. It’s definitely made a statement today.”

Australia’s players are willing to compromise on a major financial sticking point that lies at the heart of their ongoing pay dispute with Cricket Australia (CA). As the board’s nine directors met in Brisbane on Thursday, the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) opened up a potential path for more productive talks, by indicating they are open to a redefinition – and reduction – of the revenue they are entitled to share in.That led to a reciprocal response from CA, who have expressed their own willingness to be “flexible”. In a negotiation period that began last November and has been the most divisive and bitter in 20 years, this may be a significant step forward ahead of the June 30 deadline by which the parties must find agreement.CA has repeatedly claimed that the ACA is seeking a share of all revenue in the game for professional players, including from such areas as sponsorships of grassroots competitions and junior registrations. The claim was made explicit in a briefing note distributed to media last week, which said:”A proportion of revenue from the sponsorship of grassroots cricket programs has to be distributed to elite player payments. Under the ACA’s new proposal, a guaranteed 22.5% of all CA and the states and associations revenue means the players would receive 22.5 cents of every dollar spent by parents on a junior registration fee.”However, the ACA have now confirmed that the players’ flexibility over the next pay agreement extends to being “open to a discussion of what is in and what is out of shared revenue streams.” The position was conveyed in a letter to the CA chairman David Peever last month.A narrower definition of agreed revenue may be the first building block of a deal between the parties. It would remove the impending risk of a major industrial relations battle, in a year when Australia are scheduled to play a home Ashes series after tours of South Africa, Bangladesh and India.”The players have always had and still do have flexibility,” the ACA president Greg Dyer said, striking a far less confrontational tone. “There is room to move to modernise this partnership. The ACA can discuss new models of revenue sharing, and how we can collectively manage risk.”A CA spokesman said the board was also prepared to be flexible. “CA believes there is still time to conclude an MoU by 30 June and reiterates its preparedness to be flexible in negotiations,” he said. “CA urges the ACA to spend more time at the negotiating table and less time writing press releases in order to begin making progress towards a resolution.”Less than a month remains before the expiry of the current MoU, with CA threatening that all players out of contract will be unemployed should the ACA not agree to discuss its current pay offer. A key plank of the offer is the replacement of revenue sharing with fixed wages for players, with only international players entitled to any of the game’s “blue sky” above that, while state player contract levels are effectively frozen over the next five years.CA’s tactics have included efforts to put space between the ACA and the players, including the team performance manager Pat Howard’s attempts to deal directly with all contracted players by email. Howard recently offered multi-year deals to the top five CA-contracted players – Steven Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins – under the board’s new terms, an approach that was quickly rebuffed.The allrounder Moises Henriques, who is also part of the ACA executive, said the association was working closely with the players, and that they were willing to be flexible in the interests of reaching an agreement with CA.”We’re a part of the decision-making process, in strategy and how we play it … and the ACA are just a representative agent of the players,” he said. “Really, the decisions get made by the players and the ACA acts on their behalf.”It’s not like we [the ACA] are going to do anything the players don’t want to do. Coming to an agreement would be the best way forward. What we’ve got to worry about is that agreement being made as quickly as possible. Maybe CA may have to give a little bit, we may have to give a little bit, who knows. But the players know we need to get to an agreement. Guys want to play international cricket, guys want to play state cricket. The players want it sorted and I am sure CA do as well.”

ScorecardFile photo – Gary Wilson made a handy start to his Derbyshire career•PA Photos

Gary Wilson marked his first-class Derbyshire debut with an impressive half century on a day of fluctuating fortunes against Northamptonshire in the Division Two County Championship match at Derby.Wilson, the former Surrey wicketkeeper batsman, showed excellent judgement to score 72 from 104 balls but three wickets from Nathan Buck ensured the honours were shared when rain forced an early close with Derbyshire 219 for 6.”It was important that we fought hard and I think it was a pretty even day,” Wilson said. “It will be an important first hour in the morning and if we can battle on and get as close to 300 as possible, I think we’ll be in a good position.”When I came to the wicket they had just gone ‘bang, bang’ so we had two new batters at the crease but we knew that if we absorbed some pressure and could counter a little bit we would be in a good position if we managed to come through that.”It could have been better for both teams as the initiative changed hands several times on a cool, overcast day when the County Ground floodlights were needed from the start of play.The overhead conditions probably persuaded Northants to bowl first and there was certainly enough to suggest it was the right decision as the seamers went past the bat numerous times.Ben Sanderson was the pick of the attack and was unlucky not to dismiss Luis Reece early on when the former Lancashire batsman, one of four Derbyshire debutants, edged just short of Ben Duckett at first slip.Both Reece and skipper Billy Godleman displayed good temperament to bat deep into the first session before Sanderson deservedly broke through when he got one to lift on Reece who was caught off the shoulder of the bat at fourth slip.Reece made only 19 but importantly for Derbyshire he batted for 95 minutes to take the sting out of the bowlers although Sanderson gained another reward for his morning’s work when he moved one back just enough to trap Godleman lbw for 33.The game appeared to have taken a significant shift towards Northants when two wickets in six balls early after lunch reduced Derbyshire to 114 for 4.Rory Kleinveldt had struggled for a consistent line in the morning but he found enough away movement to have Wayne Madsen caught at second slip for 12 before Buck pinned Shiv Thakor lbw with the first ball of the next over.For the next 25 overs it was about Wilson and Daryn Smit who also played soundly on his debut before he was squared up by Buck who then had Wilson lbw playing across the line before bad light and rain ended play.”I thought we bowled well as a unit and put the ball in the right area although maybe a bit too short but we’ll be happy if we bowl them out under 250,” Buck said.”It did a bit this morning but it still swung all day, we kept the ball in good condition, and we caught well again today. Four quick wickets in the morning and we should be alright.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAugust 2006 to March 2017. That’s five months shy of 11 years. And in that time, South Africa have only lost one Test series away from home. With a 1-0 win over New Zealand, not only was that record safe, it was made better. So what if they needed a little help from a little rain (51 mm, according to Met Service predictions)? They’ve deserved it. Few teams in the history of cricket have been such indomitable travellers.Inherent in that is praise for Kane Williamson’s team too. They were stripped of three of their biggest match-winners – Ross Taylor (16 centuries), Trent Boult and Tim Southee (a combined 394 wickets). They lost the toss. They conceded a total of 314 and then took a lead of 175. At stumps on day four, they were five wickets away from beating South Africa for the first time in 13 years.And then, there was no more cricket. Overnight storms spilled over into the playing hours, and Faf du Plessis, who was at the crease even as his colleagues succumbed to the fatigue of spending 162.1 overs on the field, was denied the chance to add to his many blockathons. He had seen his side careen to No. 7 in the ICC rankings at the start of the summer. “A dark time,” he called it at the post-match presentation. On the April 1 cut-off date, du Plessis will be confirmed as the captain of the No. 2 team in the world. With a bumper season at home coming up later in the year, he and his men could easily think about going one better.