Thursday, and a Test series that has gone one way and then the other now hangs on one morning in Cape Town. Fluit’s Five 29 October starts at Newlands, where a single run splits the sides, then takes in the knockout cup last eight, an old Moroccan foe and a derby with its details finally settled.
1. The Big One: Fluit’s Five 29 October begins with a one-run Test
One run. After two full days of the decider, that is the gap. Australia resume on 330 for 4, replying to 329, with Josh Inglis on 85 and Alex Carey on 51. Play starts at 10:30.
The series stands at 1-1, so whoever wins here takes it. For the Proteas the task is simple to say and hard to do: six wickets, as cheaply as possible, before the visitors turn a one-run lead into a big one.
Our view: the Inglis and Carey stand, already worth 145, is the whole Test now. Break it in the first hour and South Africa are chasing a manageable target later in the match. Let it run to lunch and the best they can hope for may be a draw. Day two, in full.
2. The Matchday Move: the last eight are set
Wednesday night at Chatsworth ended with the draw for the knockout cup quarter-finals, made on the field once Stellenbosch had beaten Durban City 2-0. The first-named side is at home:
- Stellenbosch v AmaZulu
- Orlando Pirates v Sekhukhune United
- Kaizer Chiefs v Siwelele
- Mamelodi Sundowns v Golden Arrows
The PSL says dates and venues will follow. All three of the big Gauteng names got home ties, which sounds kind until you remember that home is where the expectation lives too. How Stellenbosch booked their place.
3. The Talking Point: Berkane, again
Of every club in the Champions League pot, Pirates drew the one that beat them in a final. RS Berkane took the 2022 Confederation Cup final in Uyo on penalties after a 1-1 draw, and now they share Group C with the Buccaneers, Simba SC and Colombe Sportive. The group games start on the weekend of 27 November.
Good draw or bad draw? Our view: good. Pirates supporters have carried that night in Uyo for four years, and beating Berkane in a group game would do more for this squad’s belief than any soft group could. The other side of the argument is fair too: only two of the four go through, and Simba away is a hard trip on its own. The full draw and both South African groups.
4. The Stat That Matters: 100
That is how many Test wickets Marco Jansen now has. Number one hundred came the hard way on Wednesday afternoon: Matt Renshaw was given not out, South Africa reviewed, and the edge was there. Cameron Green went in Jansen’s next over.
What the number says: in this series Jansen has been the bowler who changes the mood when a session is drifting. His 5 for 33 in Gqeberha bowled Australia out for 99 and set up the innings win that levelled things. If the Proteas are to take this Test, today’s first hour probably needs his name in it. His Gqeberha spell, as it happened.
5. The One to Watch: the Soweto Derby
Saturday, 15:30, FNB Stadium. After days of mixed reports about who hosts and where, the PSL’s own fixture list has it as Orlando Pirates v Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.
Both clubs arrive with something to feel good about. Chiefs have Wandile Duba’s hat-trick against TS Galaxy still fresh, and Pirates have a home quarter-final and an African group to plan for. One of those moods will not survive Saturday evening. Everything on the Buccaneers.
One for the braai tonight: Berkane in Group C, the best thing that could have happened to Pirates or the worst? Pick a side and give us one reason.