Labuschagne's runs, pacers' readiness and a Neil Brand situation

It was a lovely piece of sweet irony to cap off a week that's been dominated with nostalgic retellings of the Australian team's infamous misadventures in this country back in 2018. An admirable show of cricketing spirit from the South African Invitation XI to end a rather friendly warm up game in Potchefstroom.

It took place in what happened to be the last over of the match under darkening skies at the JB Marks Oval. Pat Cummins had nearly walked past the pitch after chipping a ball from his counterpart Lesego Senokwane straight to the fielder at short mid-wicket. And by the time he spotted the umpire signalling no-ball, the wicket-keeper had taken the bails off. Only for Senokwane to quell any thoughts of a run-out appeal. Without context, it was a largely inconsequential moment in an overall uneventful two days of cricket. But it summed up the spirit in which things played out with the evening ending with Alex Carey passing on some valuable keeping tips to young Jean du Plessis. Before former popular South African spinner turned coach Paul Adams got a couple of balls signed by Nathan Lyon and posed for a selfie with him.

Overall, Australia will think they got enough out of their weekend in Potchefstroom. Their fast bowlers ticked off their workloads, the spinners got a fair go in conditions which might be somewhat similar to what they could face in Durban this week and Marnus Labuschagne got himself a century. Even if it was against a rather unthreatening attack, and that too on one of the more unthreatening pitches he's batted on for a while. But what will be Australia's biggest takeaways or learnings from their extended stay in the university city in the North West province, some 90 minutes away from Johannesburg.

How much should Marnus' runs count for:

Let's put it this way. There would have been some questions asked about Marnus Labuschagne and his retention in the Test squad, if he hadn't scored runs on this surface. Especially when you look at the rather pedestrian nature of the bowlers on display who offered little or no challenge to a batter with his credentials. But these were also welcome runs for the No. 3 who will start the Test series in Durban on Friday under the same cloud that followed him around during the two Tests against Bangladesh in August. Labuschagne had spoken a lot about how good he'd felt about his batting after spending a lot of time working on it during the off-season. Even if they didn't reflect in his numbers against Bangladesh. But here, he surely seemed to be getting into the kind of positions at the crease that make him feel good about his batting, combined with the free-scoring attitude that he brought to the middle. It was an un-Marnus like innings at some level, considering his century came off just 76 deliveries. Whether it be the off-drive or the on-drive and most importantly the clips through mid-wicket, this was Marnus at his best. It'll only count for something however if he manages to showcase any of it against the South African attack in Kingsmead over the following weekend.

How the other batters fared:

Steve Smith and Alex Carey were the other two batters to notch up half centuries on Sunday but neither really seemed too bothered by what was being dished out at them. Smith in particular at times seemed keener on practicing his putting and his golf swing in between smacking deliveries for four. There were a few wild hoicks towards the end before he became the latest batter to retire out. Smith averages 41 across 6 Tests in South Africa, and on his last Test tour here, he'll surely be keen to drag that average closer to the 50s where it generally sits for him in other parts of the world.

Matt Renshaw and Travis Head both got starts before getting out. With Renshaw though it was more about figuring out how his wrist had recovered after he didn't take the field on Day One. He looked untroubled during his stay at the crease on Sunday and should be good to open the batting in Durban alongside Head.

Maddinson over Connolly?

Cooper Connolly was the last recognised batter to get his turn, behind Carey and Beau Webster. And he was out there for only 23 deliveries, most of which were against some friendly spin. With Nic Maddinson having arrived in South Africa on Sunday, and Cam Green an unlikely starter for the first Test, the toss-up for the No. 5 or 6 batting position might well come down to the young Connolly or the returning Maddinson. Considering this Australian setup's keenness to have a fourth seam-bowling option, Webster should hold his place in the XI. That would mean them using Connolly, who was part of the original squad, as the batter who could give them a left-arm spin option. Connolly looked decent in his six overs on Saturday, but not quite like someone whose bowling would be considered as a specific rationale to be brought into the team. That could leave the door open for Maddinson, who's rated highly for his batting against spin. Something to keep an eye on in the lead up to Friday.

Fast bowlers looking ready

Mitchell Starc hadn't quite finished his first over on Saturday before it became apparent that the pitch at JB Marks Oval would have little or nothing on offer for the fast bowlers. And from that point on, it also became apparent that the remainder of the day would be used up by the five Australian fast bowlers to tick off their bowling workload quotas. That's exactly what they did. While Starc and Josh Hazlewood bowled 9 overs each, Scott Boland and Michael Neser sent down 10 each with captain Cummins happy with two spells of four overs each.

The one interesting phase of the game came right after the Tea break as Starc went into exploratory mode around trying to find reverse swing. It was an overall abrasive square in Potchefstroom but there was little to suggest that Starc got any success with it. Even though in one particular over he tried to be in complete charge of the ball, not allowing any of his teammates to shine the ball and even running in on one occasion with the ball in his right hand. It was later revealed that Matthew Kuhnemann might have accidentally held the dry side of the ball against his sweaty palm, much to Starc's chagrin.

Kuhnemann, who spoke later about how much he's learnt about bowling here by watching Keshav Maharaj, did have moments with the ball alongside Lyon. With a lot of talk about there being turn on offer in Durban and Port Elizabeth being slow, the left-arm spinner is upbeat about getting a go at some point in this series.

It'll be a big series for Lyon, and he seemed to enjoy himself across multiple spells, using some clever changes of pace to get himself an LBW, while also looking forward to the prospect of bowling many more overs than he's been used to of late in Test cricket.

A special mention for Neil Brand

As Neil Brand cruised into the 70s with the afternoon sun beginning to fade into the evening on Saturday, Lyon had a query to the support staff on the boundary. It was about whether the tall left-hander who was putting on a sublime exhibition of attractive stroke-play was the one who'd captained South Africa in a Test series in New Zealand a couple of years ago. It was in many ways Lyon acknowledging the high quality of batting that Brand was displaying alongside a bunch of otherwise young and upcoming batters in the South African Invitational XI.

As Brand would reveal post play, Lyon had also posed the 30-year-old, who went on to score 152, a question while they were both out in the middle. It happened to be about the world-class off-spinner's own bowling. About whether the sixth most successful Test bowler of all time was getting "good shape on the ball".

A rather embarrassed and humbled Brand would later describe the moment thus: "Mate, you're probably the best spinner ever. I don't know why you are asking me? He's a really nice guy and hopefully I can have a beer with him after the game."