Two wickets in the last half an hour for the elderly debutant Asif Afridi, removed the gloss off a workmanlike effort produced by Tristan Stubbs and Tony de Zorzi and kept Pakistan in the ascendancy in the second Test. The Proteas delivered a Test batting ‘throw-back’ digging in and scoring at around two runs and over for much of their innings on Tuesday and just when it seemed the fruits of all that labour could be enjoyed, Afridi removed De Zorzi and then Dewald Brevis to leave SA on 185/4 ...

Even though they were the superior team in the second half of the first day, Monday was still a deeply frustrating start to the second Test for the Proteas. Pakistan were 259/5 at stumps at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, and hold the upper hand even though they weren’t as progressive as they were in Lahore, when Shan Masood also won the toss, and chose to bat.

After consecutive ducks in her previous two innings Tazmin Brits’ teammates were joking about her being on a hat-trick ahead of Friday’s match with Sri Lanka. “Ja, that first single felt like a mountain (weight) lifting off my shoulders,” said the Proteas opener. A bit of teasing is probably the right way to address a brief dip in form especially for a player like Brits who’s had such a stellar year.

Rather than chuck the baby out with the bath water, the Proteas have focused more on smaller changes to their approach and strategy ahead of the second Test against Pakistan, as they aim to square the series. Last week’s 93-run loss in Lahore hurt — as it should, especially after they’d won their last 11 Tests in a row — but since arriving in Rawalpindi, for the second Test that starts on Monday, attention has been on making incremental improvements.

South Africa beat Sri Lanka and almost more impressively the dreadful weather in Colombo to keep their journey to the semifinals of the World Cup on track. The Proteas successfully chased a Duckworth/Lewis/Stern revised target of 121, in a match in which both teams’ innings’ were reduced to 20 overs, without losing a wicket.

Aiden Markram refused to blame losing the toss as the reason for the Proteas’ first defeat in their past 12 Tests on Wednesday. The Proteas’ stand-in captain explained that despite batting conditions being the best on the first day at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, his side needed to have better plans and execute those more accurately, while the batters had to be more decisive.

At the start of the new World Test Championship cycle, Kyle Verreynne is looking back to the last one, drawing not just inspiration, but also tactical know-how.

At the start of the new World Test Championship cycle, Kyle Verreynne is looking back to the last one, drawing not just inspiration, but also tactical know-how.