Ken Borland

David Warner, celebrating his 100^th Test, batted with executive authority as he put South Africa to the sword with an unbeaten double-century as Australia took complete control of the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday.

Warner, suffering from severe cramps, retired hurt immediately after he reached 200 with a steer wide of the slips for his 16^th four to go with two sixes. He was spent physically in the sweltering Melbourne heat, but no doubt mentally as well after coming through a tumultuous period in which his Test future was in doubt.

There was no respite though for the South African bowlers, who toiled manfully without much luck in the morning session, but finally crumbled after tea as Australia added 155 runs in 28 overs in the final session to reach the close on 386 for three, already a lead of 197.

Steven Smith scored 85 but did not bat with his usual immaculate control, instead showing his powers of determination as he weathered some tough times, adding 239 for the third wicket with Warner.

The pair had accelerated after tea, lashing 83 runs in the 11 overs after the break, but Smith then steered the first ball after drinks straight to gully to give Anrich Nortje a well-deserved wicket.

But Travis Head showed he is well-equipped to also be one of the fast cars on the Australian race-track, cruising to a run-a-ball 48 not out by stumps.

About the only concern for the home side is that two of their bowlers may have broken fingers. All-rounder Cameron Green had to retire hurt on 6 after being a struck a fearful blow on the hand by Nortje, while Mitchell Starc dislocated a finger in the field on the first afternoon.

Nortje was a phenomenal mix of F1 car and tough bakkie on Tuesday, consistently sending down 150km/h thunderbolts and showing remarkable endurance to keep his speed up right until the end of a tough day, his figures of one for 50 in 16 overs not doing him justice.

He was the one bowler to really trouble Warner, finding his inside-edge several times. But South Africa’s only wicket in the crucial morning session came via a run out, Warner and Marnus Labuschagne (14) getting into a mishap over an overthrow. Nortje completed the run out of Labuschagne with good composure at the bowler’s end, Keshav Maharaj having provided the throw.

Left-armer Marco Jansen was also probing and he had Smith dropped on nine, gloving a hook down the leg-side, wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne spilling a tough, diving chance.

As South Africans enjoyed Women’s Day on Tuesday, the country’s golfing fraternity were still celebrating Ashleigh Buhai’s phenomenal Major triumph in the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield. The Buhais are apparently one of the more well-liked families on the LPGA Tour and the victory, on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff, was a most popular one.

Ashleigh did it the hard way, too. Having dominated the middle section of the tournament with rounds of 65 and 64 on the second and third days, the 33-year-old Buhai had to rebound from giving away a five-shot lead with a triple-bogey on the 15^th hole.

A brilliant bunker shot eventually won her the playoff over tenacious three-time Major champion Chun Ingee, Buhai joining Gary Player and Ernie Els as South Africans who have won Majors at Muirfield. Both were famous for their determination and bunker play, and Buhai is fit to join them as one of the country’s golfing elite.

Sally Little is the only other South African to win a women’s Major (1980, 1988) and Buhai’s triumph is the first at that level since Els claimed the Open crown at Royal Lytham and St Annes in 2012.

When she was still Ashleigh Simon, before she married husband David Buhai, who became a celebrity in his own right at Muirfield, dashing across the 18^th green to embrace his wife, the Johannesburg-born golfer was considered a prodigy when she won the SA Amateur aged 14, the youngest to do so. She then won the SA Open three times in a row, which had not been done in more than a century, before winning her third event on the Ladies European Tour, the Catalonia Masters in 2007.

But it has been tough going for her since she crossed over to the LPGA Tour in 2014. The AIG Women’s Open was her first win on that tour in her 221^st start.

From almost looking like she was destined to become a forgotten talent, like one of those antiques that was so admired but now gathers dust on the mantelpiece, Buhai says she is now playing the best golf of her career.

Hopefully winning the Major title many people predicted for her, will free her up to now go from strength-to-strength and be a major force in the women’s game. At 33, she can certainly look forward to peak years ahead of her.

One would not have guessed from Mark Boucher’s face that he was celebrating another Proteas series win on Monday, but the lack of a big smile was probably because the South Africa coach knows his first priority now is to save his job in the face of those in South African cricket who are intent on his removal.

The Proteas ended their season on Monday in Gqeberha with a crunching 332-run win over Bangladesh for a 2-0 series win and an overall record of five wins from seven Tests this summer.

Combined with their unexpectedly good showing at the T20 World Cup and their brilliant 3-0 ODI whitewash of India, their coach should be sitting pretty and all smiles.

But instead Boucher will be facing a disciplinary hearing next month over charges of gross misconduct. In terms of his on-field job, in the here-and-now, about the only shortcomings of this Test side have been their annoying tendency to lose the first Test of a series, as they did against India and in New Zealand.

“It’s been a good summer, but we are still learning, we’re definitely not the complete team yet,” Boucher said sternly. “We’ve had our challenges, but we’ve played some very competitive cricket at times.

“There have also been times when we have played some bad cricket, like the first Tests against India and New Zealand. But we have grown a lot in a short space of time.

“For me personally, it has been tough. I’ve really enjoyed coaching the guys and the cricketing side of my job, it’s a tight unit. But outside that team environment, it’s quite difficult to say I enjoyed it.

“I don’t think anyone would be able to say they enjoy what has been put on my plate,” Boucher said.

The 45-year-old was famous for being a fighter though in his playing days, and overcoming challenges is his trademark, something his team managed to do against Bangladesh when they were lumped with a second-string side due to five players choosing to go to the IPL instead.

“It gave us the opportunity to play a couple of other guys and see what sort of players we have in the system. And also the opportunity to play a different brand of cricket, which has been good to watch.

“It’s a nice position to be in. The IPL guys did vacate their spots, and there is good competition now for those places. Through Covid we’ve looked at a lot of players and I think it’s paying off now,” Boucher said.

But even though things on the field are going well right now, the sum of all real South African cricket lovers’ fears could well come true if Boucher is fired for incidents that happened in the changeroom two decades ago.

Fence 3 at the Tokyo Olympics showjumping competition was called Kintsugi, “the golden splice”, celebrating the beauty of the scars of life or the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi.

Below the two poles were placed fractured ceramic discs and Kintsugi is a centuries-old technique in which these cracks are filled with an enamel sprinkled with gold, silver or platinum, turning the ‘scars’ into something beautiful. It is meant to evoke how imperfection can still be beautiful and valuable.

For leading South African showjumper Nicole Horwood, the United Aviation Group South African Derby that ends at the Kyalami Equestrian Park on Sunday has not been as perfect as the unmatched four previous editions she has won due to the Covid restrictions, but it is still nevertheless beautiful.

“It’s one of the events that every young rider aspires to win, and it always used to be a big social event too, it had plenty of appeal for the public. Winning it gave you the most exposure and it’s one of the titles I most cherish,” Horwood told Saturday Citizen.

“It’s usually quite a spectacle, but with limited tickets and no big crowd, it’s not quite the same. Normally there’s an electric atmosphere and the crowd carries you over the fences, they seem to ride every jump with you.

“But the United Aviation Group have put so much into the Derby, getting it live on SuperSport, so in terms of public exposure it’s probably the biggest and best ever, and UAG have had a lot to do with that.”

Three of Horwood’s four SA Derby titles came in consecutive years – 2012-2014 – joining the legendary Mickey Louw as the only other rider to pull off a hat-trick of titles in one of South Africa’s showjumping Majors. Horwood won the Triple Crown of the Derby, SA Championships and SA Outdoor Grand Prix in 2013.

The real estate agent’s steady flow of titles mostly came aboard Capital Don Cumarco, considered one of the great horses in South African showjumping history, but the famous stallion retired a year ago. Horwood is riding United Aviation Group Capital Hitoshi and United Aviation Group Capital Kronos this weekend at Kyalami and, while they are inexperienced and have just put one figurative foot in the water compared to Don Cumarco wading through the rivers of success, she has great expectations for both rides.

“I have very high hopes for some of the young horses I’m riding now. Showjumping is about constantly developing horses, and in a few more years I’ll be grooming ones to take their places. That’s my motivation to keep competing, to bring good young horses up to that level.

“Capital Don Cumarco and myself were like a team though, we really understood each other, we had a great bond. He was a legend who put me on the map, I rode him from when he was five to 18 years old, it was like he was living my life with me, and he is the only horse to win the Derby four times. Now he is enjoying the sun at Summerhill Stud,” Horwood said.

The 48-year-old Horwood says enjoying developing a relationship with your horse is a critical part of showjumping success because it is not all sunshine and roses.

“I had nothing but a pony growing up and I don’t own any horses, they are all sponsored. But to succeed you have to work hard and show your talent through your work ethic and motivation. You need to learn from your mistakes, take your ego out of it.

“You have to be passionate about it because it is a lot of work, but the journey is worth it. It takes a bit of talent too, you need skills and horsemanship and a bond with your horse,” Horwood said.

While her rides are officially just rentals, the one permanent feature in Horwood’s career has been her coach – the legendary Gonda Betrix, whose immense career saw her win 10 Majors and represent South Africa at the 1992 Olympics.

“Growing up in Durban, I only rode recreationally on a horse my Dad bought off the track at Kings Park Stables. I only started competing when I came to Joburg when I was 18 years old. All those years I have spent with Gonda and 30 years later she is still my coach. She taught me everything – the basics and especially work ethic,” Horwood said.