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Enoch Nkwe, South Africa’s interim team director, has long been inspired by the feats of Pep Guardiola, the former Spanish football international who famously coached Barcelona to success while still in his 30s. Nkwe is 36, slightly younger than Guardiola was when he took charge at Barcelona, and is faced with what is as daunting a prospect as winning La Liga: a tour of India.”I understand that it’s going to be a big challenge, but I strongly believe that we can really make an immediate impact,” Nkwe said at the first official press conference of his (albeit temporary) appointment. “And if it doesn’t happen, it’s not going to be the end of the world. There’s always a big picture to everything.”Given South Africa’s recent football-style restructuring of the national men’s side, the comparison between Nkwe and Guardiola is particularly apt. “He’s on another level,” Nkwe said of Guardiola. “I’ve followed his work over the last couple of years. I just enjoy how he really backs his philosophy, his values as a person as a coach, and tries to set new boundaries and break records. That really encourages me, and when I see opportunities like this, it really excites me.”There’s a lot of things you can always learn from different sporting codes. Just watching his growth over the years, having started coaching one of the biggest clubs in the world at the age of 37, it really did motivate me that, if he can do it, it is possible.”Certain things could take a while, and I don’t know how successful we can be in a short period of time, but I believe that we can make a quick turnaround. I strongly believe that we have the players to. But we need to identify the areas that held back the team not to perform to their full potential, and get them to perform as soon as possible.”Time is not something that Nkwe has a lot of right now. In exactly one month, South Africa will play the first match of a tour of India that includes three T20Is and three Tests. He will have to hit the ground running, but he has at least worked with several of the current South Africa players in different circumstances, coaching Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen at the Lions, Kagiso Rabada and Quinton de Kock at the Under-19 level, and Dean Elgar with South Africa A.The interim nature of his role – and indeed, the short-term nature of many roles in CSA’s set-up at the moment – won’t make things any easier for him. There seems to be a lot of uncertainty in South African cricket at the moment, which is perhaps inevitable in times of flux, but the large-scale reshuffles have only added to the confusion over where, exactly, South African cricket is headed. Even team selection was unclear – until today.”I’m also the interim convener of selection,” said CSA’s acting director of cricket, Corrie van Zyl, on Thursday, by way of an explanation as to who would be selecting playing XIs on the India tour. “So I’m acting and interim. And then we have the interim team director as an interim selector. And then we also have the captain, who is not interim, as a selector. So that is currently the selection panel.”South Africa will play three Tests and three T20Is on their tour of India•Getty Images

Nkwe is at least positive about the challenge ahead and seems to have an idea about the future of South African cricket – even if he’s not giving away the details just yet. “Yes [the tour] is going to be a tough one, but there is a big picture,” he said. “More details will come out in the near future with regards to what the big picture is going to be, so that everyone can start understanding what the actual plan is going to be post-cricket World Cup. From my side, it’s very exciting, and I’m looking forward to this trip.”Distancing himself from previous coach Ottis Gibson’s focus on fast bowling, Nkwe drew attention to his playing experience as an allrounder in domestic franchise cricket, saying, “Talking from my experience, as a professional cricketer I was an allrounder, so I’m always open to all departments. That’s how I’ve been leading sides over the years. Really understanding different departments of a team.”But like Gibson, Nkwe’s mandate is simple: win. “The mandate for the national team and Enoch as team director is obviously to win and be successful in India,” van Zyl said. “Very important is that the Test series is the start, for us, of the Test championship, so the mandate can’t be different than getting off to a good start. The appointment of Enoch as interim team director is because CSA believes that he has got the characteristics that can do exactly that.”Nkwe certainly got the Lions to click quickly, guiding them to success in both the CSA 4-Day Series and T20 Challenge during his first season in charge. He also led Jozi Stars to success in the inaugural Mzansi Super League, and has worked in a variety of environments, including in the Netherlands and at the Global T20 Canada.”Wherever you go, whatever environment you get confronted with, there’s always going to be certain challenges,” he said. “The last year has been very meaningful and massive in my own coaching career as a person.”The trip to India, in charge of a team in transition, is an opportunity for the team to thrive, he insisted. “I strongly believe that every challenge is an opportunity for a person to thrive, or the team to thrive. It’s important for us as team management that we create that thriving environment as soon as possible.”

Ricardo Vasconcelos has signed a new five-year contract with Northamptonshire.Johannesburg-born opener Vasconcelos still had two years remaining on his previous contract but has penned the new deal to secure his place at Wantage Road until the end of the 2024 season.”It was an easy decision for me to stay here.” said Vasconcelos “Northants took a chance on me and picked me out of South Africa, so it was a no brainer for me to be loyal to the club that gave me a chance to live my dream.”Vasconcelos, 21, first appeared for Northamptonshire as a non-overseas player – he has a Portuguese passport – against Pakistan in 2018 before making his County Championship debut against Leicestershire later that year. He was on track for a thousand-run Championship season before an ankle injury ended his campaign early. At the time, he had amassed 750 runs at an average of 46.87 for the season.”The club has really shown ambition this year with some top-class overseas signings so hopefully that ambition pays off and we can get promoted and continue to improve in Div One next year.” Vasconcelos said.”The injury is coming along well, I’ve started walking again now so this is where the hard work starts, I guess, but I’m prepared to put in the work and come back stronger and fitter than ever for what hopefully will be a really good season for us in Division One next year.”I’ve been working hard to get back fit and I’ll be playing some club cricket in South Africa over the winter to make sure I’ve got some cricket under my belt before the start of the new season.”Northamptonshire are third on the County Championship Division Two table with three rounds remaining.

The loudest roar in Nottinghamshire’s game at Trent Bridge on Sunday came as Joe Clarke knocked two off Jordan Thompson – there was nothing remarkable in the shot, but 70 miles up the M1, Ben Stokes was completing an outrageous heist at Headingley.While reports of Stokes’ antics causing Sunday’s Blast games to stop are largely exaggerated, the stands emptied at the Ageas Bowl and Edgbaston as fans crowed around the big screens in the concourse, and in the Kia Super League game at Guildford, a cheer went up between balls, and Sarah Taylor and Nat Sciver punched the air to celebrate England’s success.It is remarkable that if Stokes had managed to hit Trent Boult’s last-ball full toss in the World Cup final for two rather than one, a number of county cricketers would have missed both of the dramatic moments of the summer.In addition to the Blast games yesterday, there was a full round of Championship matches starting on the same day as the World Cup final, and play was still going on as Stokes tied the game. There were exuberant scenes in dressing rooms across the country following the Super Over victory, but in an alternative timeline, the next best hundred or so players in England would have missed England’s moment of triumph.***As the ECB gathers evidence on the hybrid pitches being tried out in the Blast this season, the most disturbing findings will be coming from Chester-le-Street where Durham have used the same pitch three times and suffered a couple of embarrassing collapses.On both occasions, their openers D’Arcy Short and Scott Steel gave them a vigorous start against the new ball only for their innings to grind to a halt as the innings wore on.Against Worcestershire, Durham were 79 for 1 off 11.4 overs, but failed to chase down Worcestershire’s 117 for 7 by three runs. Little more than a week later, their target against Yorkshire was 147 and again the openers excelled, this time with 70 off 7, only for Durham’s last seven wickets to fall for 16 in five overs against the unlikely Yorkshire spin duo of Jack Shutt and Adam Lyth.All of which is a reminder that a five percent plastic weave in a surface might help hold it together for an extra match or so, but it is not about to work miracles. Hybrid pitches can’t be blamed for bad shots or a lack of tactical acumen. And if the square is slow and low to start with then slow and low is doubtlessly what you’ll get.County traditionalists would be better hoping that conclusions about hybrid pitches are favourable. If not, it won’t be too long before a marketing bod with an unhealthy regard for artificial pitches proposes that it is time for the ultimate solution.***Ollie Robinson celebrates a wicket•Getty Images

Sussex retain strong hopes of a home quarter-final in the Blast even if their bowling attack is under a little strain with Tymal Mills out for the season and Jofra Archer only playing two matches thus far as his England career takes over.One player Sussex will hope will makes an impact in their remaining games is Ollie Robinson who made good use of the random round of Championship matches in mid-August by taking 14 wickets against Middlesex – the best Sussex match aggregate for 55 years.Jason Gillespie, Sussex’s coach, says he cannot speak too highly of Robinson. “I think being away with the England Lions has made him realise that he’s a little bit closer to international recognition than he thought he was – and seeing how that professional environment works helps,” he said.”He’s as competitive a cricketer as I’ve seen. He researches the opposition. He spends hours poring over the footage, looking for ways to impact. He has also improved his general professionalism, the work-rate, in the gym, the recovery protocols. He’s stepped up and now he’s getting the rewards.”I see a big tall bloke of 6′ 5″ who runs in and hits the ball hard, nibbles it both ways, can swing it both ways at a brisk pace. His height is a real weapon. He wouldn’t be out of place at the next level.”***Colin Ackermann appeals for a leg-before shout•Getty Images

Having put himself in the history books by becoming the first bowler in world cricket to take seven wickets in a T20 innings with his astonishing 7 for 18 against Birmingham Bears on August 7, Leicestershire’s Colin Ackermann might have anticipated he’d be basking in the glory of it for some time. He had, after all, claimed a best-figures-in-an-innings record that had stood for eight years.Imagine how he must have felt, then, last Friday night, when news came through that the India A offspinner Krishnappa Gowtham, who for the last two seasons has been part of the Rajasthan Royals team in the IPL, had taken an unbelievable 8 for 15.South African offspinner Ackermann had, in his own words, “struggled to get my head round” being a being a world-record holder and now it seemed he wasn’t one even before it had properly sunk in.But if the Foxes captain was feeling a little bit miffed at being knocked off his perch after just 16 days, it turned out he need not have.Gowtham’s eight-for, playing for Bellary Tuskers against Shivamogga Lions, came in the Karnataka Premier League, which has eight franchises and big-money sponsorship deals and creates a substantial income stream for the Karnataka Cricket Association – yet is classed as a state competition.Only national tournaments and international cricket count towards the official records, even though Karnataka, a region in the south-west of India, has a population of 61 million – more than Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka combined.So Ackermann can continue to bask and Gowtham must content himself with a tournament record only.Amazingly, it was not the only tournament record Gowtham set in that one match, having earlier smashed the fastest KPL hundred (39 balls), achieved the highest individual score (134 not out) and blasted the most sixes in a single innings (13). A decent night at the office.***Plenty of counties are sick of the sight of Tom Banton after seeing him pile on the runs against them this year, but it might just be that the worst is yet to come.While domestic players will soon be spared playing against Banton as his inevitable rise to international honours continues, Tom’s younger brother Jacques might well be on his own route to stardom by then: after piling on the runs for Worcestershire’s academy sides this summer, he has broken into the second team, and hit 107 off 99 balls for Barnt Green in the Birmingham Premier League on Saturday, all at the ripe old age of 18.It was a good day for Tom all things considered – his own club side, Taunton St Andrews, got a win, and his cameo against Glamorgan took Somerset to a much-needed victory.***Adam Zampa’s last-ball run-out of Sam Northeast in Essex’s game against Hampshire confirmed that this season’s Blast will be a record-breaking one.The competition has had more ties than your local Marks and Spencer’s, currently sharing the honours with the 2011 FLt20 as the season with the most such results (4).Those results, along with a vast number of no-results and abandonments, have combined to make both groups very bunched: going into the final week of games, Gloucestershire were second in the South Group having won five games, while Surrey were down in eighth with only one victory fewer.

Another arrest has been made in the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) betting controversy with the police taking into custody Bhavesh Bafna, who played the drums at the grounds during matches in the tournament. Bafna was arrested in Bengaluru this week by the crime branch of Karnataka Police after his name was revealed by Asfak Ali Thara, the Belagavi Panthers owner whom the police arrested last month on charges of alleged betting in the T20 league.According to Sandeep Patil, the joint commissioner (crime) of Karnataka Police, Bafna, along with another bookie named Sanyam, allegedly approached a player from Bellary Tuskers to “fix” games during this KPL. “In a major breakthrough in the ongoing investigation in KPL match-fixing scandal, [an] FIR [has been] registered against two bookies Bhavesh Bafna and Sanyam, for trying to fix matches,” Patil said. “They approached a Bellary Tuskers bowler to give more than ten runs per over, but the bowler refused.”Patil said the police are on the lookout for Sanyam, who is allegedly Delhi-based. Bafna’s alleged involvement would be closely monitored by the BCCI’s anti-corruption unit, too, since he played drums during the IPL at the home matches of Royal Challengers Bangalore.Thara revealed the alleged involvement of Bafna and Sanyan after he was arrested. Thara has been released on bail but would need to be present for questioning as and when the police need to interrogate him further.Earlier this week the KSCA suspended Thara as well as the Panthers franchise until the police arrived at a final conclusion in the case.

Alyssa Healy, who scored a 52-ball century, and Ellyse Perry rewrote the record books at the WACA with an unbroken opening stand of 199 in what became a 45-run victory for the Sydney Sixers against the Melbourne Stars. It was the highest stand for any wicket in the WBBL comfortably surpassing the previous best of 156. Healy began the final over on 89 and regained the strike with three balls left, sending them all to the boundary to finish on 106 – her third century in a month after T20I and ODI tons against Sri Lanka. Perry, meanwhile, marked her 29th birthday with 87 off 68 balls and she is now averaging 139.50 this season. Lizelle Lee, who made a century the previous day, gave the chase a rapid start with 25 off 17 balls but after she fell to Ash Gardner the Stars didn’t threaten. Captain Elyse Villani top-scored with 59.The Sydney Thunder returned to the top of the table with a well-crafted six-wicket victory the Hobart Hurricanes in Burnie. Rachel Priest gave the chase of 149 momentum with 50 off 34 balls and though the Thunder were 3 for 81 when she fell the required rate was in hand. Alex Blackwell and Phoebe Litchfield again joined forces with Litchfield unbeaten on 26 when the win came with 11 balls to spare. The chase was aided by 21 wides from the Hurricanes attack. Their innings had come to life in the final 10 overs which brought 108 runs after they reached halfway on just 2 for 40. Heather Knight hit an unbeaten 77 off 49 balls while Chloe Tryon again showed her hitting power with 21 off 12. Pakistan allrounder Nida Dar took 2 for 16 off four overs.Beth Mooney’s prolific WBBL continued as her unbeaten 77 off 51 eased the Brisbane Heat to a commanding nine-wicket win over the Adelaide Strikers following their batting collapse the previous day. Mooney, who is comfortably the leading run-scorer so far this season, added 65 for the first wicket with Grace Harris then completed the job alongside Jess Jonassen with the Heat having 17 balls to spare. Georgia Prestwidge had played a key role with the ball to finish with 3 for 29, two of those wickets – removing Bridget Patterson and Lauren Winfield – helping reduce the Strikers to 5 for 75 in the 13th over. Sophie Devine (65) held the innings together but the total proved well short of challenging the Heat.

Chris Lynn came painfully close to becoming the first player to score an Abu Dhabi T10 century on Monday night, and said afterwards that there is ample opportunity to go nine runs better over the tournament’s remaining six days.The 29-year-old struck a blistering unbeaten 91 from a mere 30 balls, containing a total of nine fours and seven sixes, at a strike rate of 303.33 for Maratha Arabians. Lynn broke Alex Hales’ record of 87 not out in the ten-over tournament – also made while playing for the Arabians in 2018.He could have had the century had it not for being relatively starved of the strike towards the end of the Arabians innings. After smashing Harry Gurney for three fours and two sixes in the seventh over, Lynn was well placed with 82 from 26 balls.ALSO READ: Decoding T10 cricket with Amla, Sammy, Fleming and othersBut the opener faced only four of the last 18 balls of the innings because of a combination of Adam Lyth (30 off 18) demolishing Marchant de Lange in the eighth over and being unable to get Lynn back on strike quickly in the penultimate over.Lynn started the final over on 87 as the non-striker, unable to get down the other end until the final ball of the innings, which he hit for four.”Obviously when you get a bit closer, you want to get [to a hundred],” Lynn said. “But the guy at the other end [Lyth] was hitting boundaries as well. So to get 138 on that wicket was a really good job.”It would have been nice to get the first hundred of the T10 but that’s the way it goes and there are plenty more games in this tournament to try and get another opportunity to do that. We’ll just see what happens.”ALSO READ: How the toss is swaying fortunes in T10 cricketLynn’s team-mate Yuvraj Singh hailed the knock as outstanding. “It’s a sign of how the game has evolved that guys are getting close to scoring a hundred in a T10 game,” Yuvraj said. “It’s amazing how the game has changed over the years.”He [Lynn] is someone I have seen in the IPL. He has given some great starts to KKR [Kolkata Knight Riders]. I really don’t understand how they didn’t retain him. I think that’s a bad call, must send SRK (Shah Rukh Khan, the franchise owner) a message on that.”It has been a discussion often broached over the course of the T10 format’s emergence as to whether an individual century is possible, prompted by league owner Shaji ul Mulk offering up an apartment to the first centurion at the start of the inaugural season in 2017. Luke Ronchi top-scored with 70 that year, with the idea gaining real momentum in 2018.Chris Lynn came painfully close to becoming the first player to score an Abu Dhabi T10 century•Abu Dhabi T10

First, Sherfane Rutherford struck a hundred in a warm-up match that season before Mohammad Shahzad’s 74 not out from just 16 balls – an innings only brought to a premature end as the Rajputs chased down 95 in four overs – suggested it would be a matter of time before someone scored a T10 hundred.Hales, Jonny Bairstow (84*) and Rovman Powell (80*) went on to break the 80-run barrier in the second season as players inched closer to scoring a century.Will Jacks – a team-mate of Rutherford for Delhi Bulls this year – further greased the wheels by hitting a hundred in a ten-over contest for Surrey against their County Championship counterparts Lancashire at the ICC Academy in Dubai back in March. But the tournament’s move to Abu Dhabi seemed to imply that batsmen would struggle to get near that mark in 2019 due to slow, tacky pitches as well as the long square boundaries.Lynn, however, had other ideas, hitting relentlessly to all parts of the ground on a fresh pitch described as “amazing” by Abu Dhabi’s captain Moeen Ali and one that proved not to be as two-paced as the others used across the first three days.Lynn’s innings showed that as the tournament enters its second group stage, the race to become Abu Dhabi T10’s first centurion is well and truly back on.”We know there are players in the competition who can [hit a century],” Moeen, the man trying to counter Lynn’s onslaught, said. “I’m sure it’s going to happen very soon. There’s a great chance [of it happening] if somebody gets in.”

Jofra Archer and Joe Root are the two English players that South Africa will be targeting this summer as they seek to get their first World Test Championship points on the board.While South Africa are primarily concerned with getting their own confidence back after a humbling tour to India where the batting, in particular, was exposed, their line-up has to find form against an attack that some argue is among the best around.The experience of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who have run through South Africa before, and the support of Chris Woakes, Sam Curran and Ben Stokes present one challenge but the pace of Archer brings another, and assuming he recovers from a bout of sickness in time for the Boxing Day Test, it’s the thing South Africa are most wary of.”He brings something different to the attack, he can bowl quickly in stages, so you’ve got to prepare for that and hopefully we can play him well this series,” Faf du Plessis, South Africa’s captain, said.”It’s important to make sure that we don’t let him start the series well. With someone like that, who builds a lot on confidence, it’s his first tour to South Africa, the Kookaburra ball is a little bit different than the Dukes so for me it’s important that we can start well against him.”Archer made an impression on du Plessis and Co. immediately when, in his fourth ODI and on World Cup debut, he hit Hashim Amla on the helmet and stunned South Africa. They lost that game and we all know how their World Cup campaign unravelled from there.Archer went on to be England’s most successful bowler at the tournament and enjoyed a strong start in Test cricket in the Ashes. His 22 wickets in four Tests put him third on the wicket charts and he also topped the averages, making him one of 2019’s top finds.”A lot of talk has been about Archer and how well he has been bowling. He bowled really well in the Ashes but if you have a look at how things went down in New Zealand, he probably wasn’t at his best so things can change overnight,” Mark Boucher, South Africa’s coach said.Archer took just two wickets in as many Tests in New Zealand and conceded over 100 runs in each match, proving himself to be fallible. His problems have continued since arriving in South Africa, with a sickness bug ruing him out of action for a week and leaving his participation in the first Test in some doubt.However, his absence did also stop some of South Africa’s players from getting a first look at him with a red ball in hand. Three members of the Test squad – Pieter Malan, Rudi Second and Andile Phehlukwayo – are all part of the A side, with Phehlukwayo’s 3 for 55 proving to be the most successful return.As for Root, though his 226 in Hamilton underlined his quality as a batsman, his tactical acumen as captain has been found wanting and there’s no better team to exploit an England’s captain’s weaknesses than South Africa.Du Plessis joked that the spotlight on Root’s leadership was why Cricket South Africa had brought Graeme Smith back into the fold – on consecutive tours of England in 2003, 2008 and 2012, he oversaw the departure of three England captains in Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss.However, Jacques Kallis’s warning to Root was the one that the England captain will be more wary of. “They’ve kept him as captain so they obviously believe in him. We will try and keep the pressure on him and it’s an area we will target,” Kallis, South Africa’s batting consultant, said.ALSO READ: Ill England trio play no part in warm-upsSouth Africa’s pack have a habit of going for the head of snake, as Dale Steyn used to say, and have successfully won series by targeting Michael Clarke (2012), Steven Smith (2016 and 2018) and Virat Kohli (2017-18). Root’s role at No.4 is pivotal in a fallible England line-up and South Africa know that if they can get him early, they could create a big opening.”Their batting is inexperienced,” du Plessis said. “There are one or two guys that have done well and if you can keep them quiet in a series like this… we can challenge them.”However, for Kallis, Ben Stokes could be England’s real dangerman, especially because South Africa don’t have an equivalent. Since Kallis’s playing days, South Africa have struggled to fill the role of top-order allrounder and have shifted their focus to finding someone who can do a similar job lower-down.Vernon Philander has developed into a solid No.7, and Kallis is working with Dwaine Pretorius and Phehlukwayo to achieve the same batting consistency. But none of those players have had the same effect as Stokes with bat and ball combined and Kallis hopes South Africa can keep him in check.”He has done it [won matches] in a lot of formats and now he is starting to do it in Test cricket. It is always nice seeing other allrounders come through. He plays the game quite differently to the way I used to. He is a bit more aggressive, especially with the bat.”Stokes has already done some damage on this tour, dismissing Malan for 34 in Benoni but that’s not what South Africa will remember him for. Instead, it’s his 258 at Newlands four years ago, his expletive-laden run-in with Temba Bavuma (who will miss this match through injury) and his long-running battle with Kagiso Rabada. These are what fill memories and promise another heated contest.

There is no precise antonym for the word “ruthless”: like “nonplussed”, “disgruntled” and “underwhelmed”, it is considered by linguistics scholars to be an unpaired adjective due to the lack of a word with a perfectly opposite meaning.But if academics can find a way to condense England’s batting performance on the first day of the Newlands Test into an adjective, they will finally have found a solution to their problem. If one batsman in the top seven failing to convert a start into a telling contribution might be considered careless, seeing five of them do it suggests a much deeper issue.England’s players have taken to calling this their “cursed” tour, with injury and illness ruining their preparation for both the first and second Tests, but their failure to reach an imposing first-innings total here was largely self-inflicted: having won the toss and chosen to bat first on a fairly placid surface, Joe Root was one of several senior batsmen to get in and get out as South Africa had much the better of the first day. Only Ollie Pope, who made a calm, unbeaten half-century, managed to produce something approaching a match-altering score.For as much as the home side impressed with a disciplined bowling performance – and their change bowlers, Anrich Nortje and Dwaine Pretorius, were both particularly unerring – there were few magic balls, and instead a series of shots that hinted at a lack of concentration or a failure to take advantage of an ideal situation.Rory Burns’ ankle injury on the eve of the game saw Zak Crawley come into the side for his second Test to open alongside Dom Sibley – not since since 1963 have England had a less-experienced opening pair (excluding nightwatchmen) – as part of perhaps their most adverbial top three ever, with Joe Denly in at No. 3. Crawley was given a brutal working-over in his brief stay at the crease: Vernon Philander hammered the off-stump channel on a length before nudging a fraction fuller, like a precision engineer, and finding the outside edge.Philander, in his final Test at the ground that has been so good to him, continued to probe just outside the off stump, testing Sibley’s open stance and leg-side-dominant game as he regularly beat his prodded defensive shots.And despite looking more confident and settled at the crease on his way to his highest Test score to date – even unfurling his cover drive within the first hour – Sibley fell in disappointing fashion for the second consecutive innings. Pretorius put the brakes on with three maidens in his first four overs, and Kagiso Rabada reaped the rewards at the other end, drawing an outside edge which Quinton de Kock snaffled.Nortje made the next breakthrough in a hostile spell. Denly had battled doggedly, but found himself tied down against Keshav Maharaj in particular, taking 49 balls to get past 21, and was hit on the helmet by a sharp bouncer off the fifth ball of Nortje’s second over after lunch. With Nortje’s speeds nudging past the 90mph/145kph mark, he also had Root camped deep in his crease on the back foot.Root pushed hard at a back-of-a-length ball in the channel, but lived to tell the tale as Rassie van der Dussen put down his third chance of the series – just like the last two occasions, he was unsighted by de Kock’s dive in front of him. But it was hardly a costly drop: two balls later, Nortje aimed a bullet at Root’s left shoulder, and as the batsman flinched to get underneath it, he gloved it through to the gleeful wicketkeeper.Denly’s turgid innings was ended seven overs later, as Maharaj pushed through an arm ball which burst between bat and pad to take the top of his off stump. England’s No. 3 has reached double figures 19 times in his 22 Test innings, but his 94 against Australia at The Oval remains his most-significant contribution.Four years on – to the day – from his 258 not out on the ground, Ben Stokes looked in fine touch throughout his innings, hitting Maharaj for a towering six over wide mid-on, but was became the latest England batsman to give his wicket away cheaply when he tamely chipped a low catch to Dean Elgar at extra cover to hand Nortje his second wicket and South Africa their fifth with the score still 15 runs short of 200.Jos Buttler had signalled his intent to play with more positivity in the build-up to this Test and was true to his word, hitting a flurry of boundaries as he looked to counterattack, getting across to the off side in an attempt to throw the unerring Pretorius off his line. But Pretorius plugged away, shifting his line wider, and produced a gem of a delivery with the old ball to see the back of Buttler, with a hint of movement away off the seam to find an edge.He struck again with the old ball to affirm South Africa’s advantage, angling one in from round the wicket as Sam Curran shouldered arms, only to find his off stump cartwheeling towards fine leg.When Philander struck with the new ball, drawing Dom Bess into a tame push first ball to one that moved sharply away off the seam, and Rabada accounted for Stuart Broad with a searing yorker, it was down to Pope to free his arms with only James Anderson for company. An uppercut and a club down the ground – worth four each – were the pick of the shots, and he brought up his second Test fifty with a pull in front of square when shepherding the tail.He was given a reprieve late in the piece, holing out to Philander at long leg only to discover Rabada had overstepped, and Faf du Plessis was visibly frustrated by a seven-over partnership that ensured England will resume on the second morning.

Big picture

This is about as big as it gets for the Under-19 cricketers from Bangladesh and India. For India, it’s an opportunity to defend their title and claim a record fifth World Cup crown [Australia are next with three]. For Bangladesh, it’s a chance to win their first World Cup, any World Cup.Both sides are unbeaten so far and there’s not much to separate them. If India have Kartik Tyagi and Sushant Mishra with the searing pace upfront, Bangladesh have the rapid Tanzim Hasan Sakib and the accurate Shoriful Islam to counter that. For a Ravi Bishnoi, there’s a Rakibul Hasan, for a Yashasvi Jaiswal there’s a Tanzid Hasan. They are evenly matched all right.ALSO READ: Where the Under-19 World Cup final will be won and lostThe last time the two sides played each other at an Under-19 World Cup was in 2018, in the quarter-final, and India finished victorious. But they have faced off seven times since then in other competitions, two of those games abandoned because of the weather. India do hold a 4-1 edge in the completed games, but they have been close encounters. At the 2018 Asia Cup semi-final, India sneaked through with a two-run win, while in the 2019 Asia Cup final, India won by five runs. The last time Bangladesh beat India – in England last July – they won by two wickets. If nerves don’t get in the way of skills, expect another nail-biter in the final here.Heavy rain is expected at some point on both Sunday, and Monday’s reserve day. Tournament rules say that if both days are washed out, the World Cup will be shared. How the two sides navigate their way while taking the conditions into consideration will be an interesting subplot. Fans of both countries will throng the JB Marks Oval to support their team, emotions will run high, and it’s up to the youngsters to make the occasion a memorable one, become heroes, if they can.

Form guide

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In the spotlight

Kartik Tyagi, the India bowler who consistently bowls at 135 kph, can be the difference. Bangladesh’s top order has been consistent, barring the rain-hit game against Pakistan, and if India are to win, his ten overs – both with the new ball and the older one – will hold massive importance. His 11 wickets in the tournament have come at an economy rate of less than 3.50 and he has taken a wicket every 18.7 deliveries.Mahmudul Hasan Joy sweeps one fine•ICC via Getty

Bangladesh’s No. 3 Mahmudul Hasan Joy has paid his team back for backing him through the tournament. Despite a poor start to the World Cup, he has grown in confidence as it has progressed, and it was on show during the semi-final, when he struck a match-winning 100 against New Zealand. He’s Bangladesh’s highest run-scorer here and if he can produce an innings that matches his tournament average of 58.66, Bangladesh will be well placed to win their first World Cup.

Team news

Both sides are likely to stay unchanged for the final. There are no injury concerns for either team.India (possible): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Divyaansh Saxena, 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Dhruv Jurel (wk), 5 Priyam Garg (capt), 6 Siddhesh Veer, 7 Atharva Ankolekar, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Sushant Mishra, 10 Kartik Tyagi, 11 Aakash SinghBangladesh (possible): 1 Parvez Hossain Emon, 2 Tanzid Hasan, 3 Mahmudul Hasan Joy, 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Shahadat Hossain, 6 Shamim Hossain, 7 Akbar Ali (capt, wk), 8 Rakibul Hasan, 9 Shoriful Islam, 10 Tanzim Hasan Sakib, 11 Hasan Murad

Pitch and conditions

They will be playing on the same surface as the first semi-final, when India beat Pakistan. There were no demons in the surface; although Pakistan were all out for a sub-200 total, India chased it down with ten wickets in hand. Thunderstorms are expected on Sunday (and Monday) afternoon, although the morning will offer a window of uninterrupted play.

Stats and trivia

• With 312 runs in five games, Jaiswal is almost certain to finish the tournament as the highest run-scorer. Mahmudul, the second-highest run-scorer featuring in the game, is 124 behind him.
• The average first-innings score at the ground this World Cup has been 201.5.
• India have bowled their opponents out in every World Cup game.
• The team batting second has won four of the last five Under-19 World Cup finals.