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Ken Borland



Praise for the most sociable & skilful of cricketers 0

Posted on September 17, 2021 by Ken

Social media was full of praise this week for the great Dale Steyn following the fast bowler’s retirement from all forms of the game. His opponents from around the world were generous with their tributes, but perhaps the greatest accolade I can pay one of my favourite cricketers is to say he achieved what he set out to do and more.

When I asked Steyn this week how he would like to be remembered, his answer was typically honest and refreshing.

“It’s their decision how people want to remember me. But I wanted to play hard, be a fierce competitor, but also have fun. I wanted to not be slow to be the first person to buy a round of drinks at the end of the game, whether that be beers or soft drinks, because that’s important too. I wanted to meet other people, enjoy their company, and for there to be no animosity,” Steyn said.

The lad from Phalaborwa certainly ticked all those boxes. He was one of the most aggressive and highly-skilled fast bowlers the world has seen, but off the field there was no-one more affable. Dale Steyn was not just a great cricketer, he is a great human being, which is why he is so popular with cricketers, fans and media.

Long-time rival Jimmy Anderson simply described Steyn as “The Best”, while Australia’s Pat Cummins, who inherited Steyn’s mantle as the world’s best paceman, said “Set the standard for fast bowlers world round to follow for 20 years. No better competitor to watch in full flight”. Proteas nemesis Mitchell Johnson said Steyn was “overall the best fast bowler who had it all through my time of playing; fire on the pitch, ripping bloke off it”.

From the raw youngster who arrived at the Titans from unfashionable Limpopo with a skateboard and a shock of blonde hair – he was promptly nicknamed ‘Sunshine’ – and the ability to swing the ball away at high pace, Steyn developed even more skills and also became a tactical genius. Statistics can sometimes be misleading when it comes to the true impact of a player, but Steyn’s are not. The best strike-rate of any bowler who has taken 300 Test wickets and an away average of 24, including on the subcontinent, were prime reasons South Africa became the No.1 Test side.

In fact, it is his performances in India (long considered a graveyard for pace bowlers) that most support his claims to being one of the all-time greats: In six Tests there he took 26 wickets at an average of 21.38. His spell of five for three after tea on the third day of the first Test in Nagpur in 2010 is still spoken about with awe in India; it is arguably the greatest display of reverse-swing bowling ever as the home side crashed from 212 for four to 233 all out, as South Africa won by an innings.

I was fortunate enough to be there and, having just iced one of the strongest batting line-ups in the world, Steyn was typically jovial and relaxed, not wanting to focus on his own performance in the media conference at the end of the day.

The archetypal cool dude embodies all that is great about sport – the competitiveness, the high levels of skill and the determination; but also the acknowledgement that they are playing a game for the joy of it. That same spirit finds expression in the many ‘adventure’ sports Steyn loves and will now have the time to pursue more often.

Many players find it difficult to have a good relationship with the media and they can be forgiven for that. Dale had a fantastic rapport with the media, mostly because he treated them as fellow human beings who also had a job to do, much like the opposition.

He is genuinely interested in people and there were many discussions about the holiday he had just been on, or even the trip you had just taken. I will never forget the genuine concern and advice he gave talking to a media colleague who had undergone shoulder surgery.

Dale Steyn lit up the cricket field, and we can now only wish him many years of fun on his new playgrounds – the sea, bush, jungles and mountains that are waiting for him.

While Aussies panic at the IPL, CSA leaves it up to individual players to decide 0

Posted on May 17, 2021 by Ken

While Australia’s panicking cricketers at the Indian Premier League are perhaps paying their penance for refusing to tour South Africa earlier this year, Cricket South Africa and their players in the league have adopted a more measured approach with it being left up to the individual whether they want to come home or not.

India are facing a massive outbreak of Covid-19, with the largest number of daily infections recorded anywhere in the world since the start of the pandemic, and on Monday it was confirmed that the virus has breached the IPL’s biobubble. Monday’s match between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Bangalore Royal Challengers was postponed due to two Kolkata players testing positive.

There have also been unconfirmed reports of positive tests in the Chennai Super Kings camp and amongst the groundstaff at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium, one of six venues the T20 competition is using.

A handful of Australian cricketers have already pulled out of the IPL, but with their government now instituting a travel ban, threatening a five-year prison sentence for anyone entering the country who has been to India recently, their remaining players have been agitating for a chartered flight to be organised to fly them home.

There has also been speculation that the England and Wales Cricket Board will order their players in India to come home.

But CSA will neither organise a chartered flight nor tell the South African players what to do, chief medical officer Dr Shuaib Manjra told The Citizen on Monday.

“We communicated with the players last week and told them that CSA will support them whichever way they want to handle this, the decision is their’s whether to stay and play, or whether to come home. This event is outside of their CSA contracts, which is why it’s up to them. We will offer them advice, but we are not going to spend millions on a chartered flight,” Manjra said.

While South Africans might be saying ‘ooh la la’ at seeing karma in action for the Australian and English cricketers, the health and safety of the 10 South Africans at the IPL is obviously of prime importance.

Five of those players – Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje – have CSA national contracts.

With the coronavirus ripping through India at a rate of more than 3000 deaths a day, the pandemic now hitting the IPL amidships could cost the BCCI hundreds of millions of dollars if the tournament has to be called off. India’s hosting of the T20 World Cup at the end of October must also now be in doubt.

Franchise cricketers back in the ‘office’ in Potchefstroom 0

Posted on January 11, 2021 by Ken

While most of South Africa returned to the office on Monday, half of the country’s franchise cricketers left for Potchefstroom to enter a bio-bubble for the Momentum One-Day Cup.

Cricket South Africa announced at the weekend that the schedule for the 50-over competition has been revised, with the Momentum One-Day Cup now being held in just one venue, in a bio-secure environment and being reduced to just 15 matches. The franchises are still in their two pools of three teams each, but they will only play within their pool, two matches against each team.

The Dolphins, Titans and Knights will be in Pool A and will kick off the action from Saturday. The Imperial Lions, Cape Cobras and Warriors are in the other pool which will be in action from January 29.

The top two teams in each pool will then contest the semi-finals on February 11 and 12, with the final on Sunday, February 14.

Dr Shuaib Manjra, CSA’s chief medical officer, said the official reason for the decision was as a precaution against the ever-rising tide of Covid-19’s second wave of infections.

“We have seen the number of cases rise significantly and the second peak is reaching new levels that are higher than the first wave. We have seen infection among our players as well, we had to cancel a four-day match, and we have a duty of care to the players. We also want to ensure the integrity of the competition, we don’t want to have to start cancelling games.

“So the best way to do that is by playing the whole competition in a bubble. There are risks associated with flying around the country for games because airports are one of the major sources of infection, they are high-risk. So we have decided on the precautionary option,” Manjra told The Citizen on Monday.

Cutting the number of fixtures down from seven round-robin games each to just four has been necessary so that the players only have to spend 11 days in the bio-bubble, which has increasingly been shown to be quite a tough environment to cope with mentally.

It is a big drawback for the teams in Pool A though that they will face a gap of more than three weeks between their last match and the semi-finals, giving the Pool B teams a definite advantage in that they finish their round-robin games on February 5, leaving a space of just six days before the semi-finals.

While CSA have well-publicised financial troubles, playing in a bio-bubble is not expected to cost them more money than if the tournament was staged normally, plus there is the added bonus that broadcasters SuperSport and the sponsors are unlikely to suffer reduced content due to games being cancelled.

Excellent news for club and amateur cricketers 0

Posted on August 27, 2020 by Ken

Cricket South Africa are hopeful that club cricketers will be able to return to training in the next month or two, which will be excellent news for the many people who are employed in that sphere even though it is strictly speaking amateur sport.

CSA cricket services manager Eddie Khoza told The Citizen that amateur cricket was very much part of their planning because they were well aware that many people earned a living from the game at that level, and that the grassroots are the foundation of the game.

“At the moment only professional teams have been given permission to play by government and that under strict regulations. But as part of our scenario planning, CSA have implemented a phased approach for the amateur game because it also provides a lot of employment i.e. private coaches. And if we don’t, by the time we get to Level I there might not be any clubs to get back to.

“But the medical protocols required to play at the moment are not really affordable for amateur teams. Which is why we applied for one-on-one coaching in Level III and in Level II five players and a coach are allowed. Hopefully in September/October we can start pre-season activities, by October we can be having a really thorough pre-season for clubs, schools, universities, and we would like all matches to commence on January 1, 2021,” Khoza said.

Amateur cricketers can breathe easy that CSA have not forgotten about them, but they are also trying to ensure that the thousands of club and school cricketers stay safe as well.

“The medical advice we have received is that in order to play competitive cricket again, the players need six-to-eight weeks of training, so October to December will allow that. Many schools and universities have anyway already said that they won’t be having any extramural activities for the rest of the year,” Khoza added.

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    1 John 2:5 – “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.”

    James 2:14 – “What good is it if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?”.

    Love without action is useless.

    If you love God unreservedly, you will offer your best to him and be willing to serve him wherever he wishes to use you.

    Love has to manifest itself practically.

    “Love requires uplifting and inspirational deeds.

    “How genuine can your love for God truly be if you are aware of a serious need and do nothing to alleviate it?”- Solly Ozrovech, A Shelter From The Storm



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