Heinrich Klaasen's 57-ball hundred was the second-fastest ever against Australia ©AFP
Keshav Maharaj should start a dressing-room side hustle administering his expertise on how to recover from injury efficiently. He would have a ready list of cases to attend to: Temba Bavuma's inner thigh, Anrich Nortje's back, Sisanda Magala's knee, perhaps the slight limp Quinton de Kock seemed to develop while batting on Friday, and the calf Lungi Ngidi appeared to tweak while bowling. All that with South Africa's first World Cup match 23 days away.
When Maharaj ruptured his Achilles at the Wanderers on March 11, while celebrating a successful review in a Test against West Indies, his place in the World Cup squad seemed just as damaged. Coming back from that injury could take nine months, or 274 days.
Thanks to innovative surgery and rehabilitation techniques, family support and his own near obsession with recovery, Maharaj was back on the park 177 days after he had left it on his back and strapped to a golf cart. That's a difference of 97 days - more than three months, enough for him to not only be available for the World Cup but to play in the current series against Australia.
The ODI component of the Australians' visit reached the fourth of five games
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