Sandakan's dream debut

South Africa's new faces are largely unknown to the wider cricketing world and it looked as though two of them hardly knew each other either, even though they should have. Heino Kuhn and Theunis de Bruyn were team-mates at the Titans before this season but seemed to be strangers at international level. De Bruyn hit Angelo Mathews to backward point and wanted the single but hesitated when he saw Niroshan Dickwella closing in. Dickwella wasn't as quick as de Bruyn expected so he decided to go for the run again. At the other end, Kuhn was forced to stop-start as he awaited instruction while keeping one eye on Dickwella. But the joke was on Sri Lanka as Dickwella sent his throw comically wayward and allowed Kuhn to saunter through.

When domestic T20 cricket first started in South Africa, the sponsors used to hand out builders' helmets to the first hundred or so fans through the gates. The sponsor kids still wear them and one may have been handy for the spectators. With South Africa stuttering through the Powerplay, Kuhn took it on himself to move things along, helped by legspinner Seekkuge Prasanna's generosity. He tossed up the second ball, prompting Kuhn to launch it over long-on and into the stands where he struck a fan in the face and brought up his first international score in double figures. The same thing happened in Centurion on Friday night, suggesting the protective gear may need to make a comeback.

Lakshan Sandakan would have been forced to bowl his first ball in international T20 again, had Mangaliso Mosehle not reached for it. The left-armer's googly was well wide of off stump but Mosehle was tempted to go for the cut and got a thin edge through to Dinesh Chandimal to make Sandakan the 15th bowler and only Sri Lankan to claim a scalp with the opening delivery of his T20 career.

South Africa needed to take every chance that came their way in defence of a small total and would not have expected their most experienced hand to put one down. Dinesh Chandimal flicked an on-fire Lungi Ngidi in front of square where David Miller was stationed at a shortish midwicket position. Miller had to dive to his left and got both hands to the ball but could not hold on to it as he tumbled and Chandimal was let off.

Kuhn and Imran Tahir pulled off a relay catch in Centurion and the pair were at again at the Wanderers. Mathews flicked a full Andile Phehlukwayo delivery behind square, with enough power that it appeared to be going all the way for four, but Kuhn made good ground and put in a slide to stop it. He scooped the ball off the turf for Tahir to pick up and the legspinner, not previously known for his fielding, pulled off a quick turn and release to keep the batsmen down to just one.