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Ken Borland



Enza Construction Pink Day incentive will have Proteas building a strategy for the short boundary 0

Posted on March 31, 2023 by Ken

The Wanderers Stadium – scene of the Pink Day ODI against the Netherlands

Sunday’s Betway Pink Day ODI between the Proteas and the Netherlands at the DP World Wanderers Stadium will be played on the same pitch that was used for the high-scoring final T20 between South Africa and the West Indies, and building a suitable strategy for the short boundary on the scoreboard side will be a key factor in the game.

The boundary on the eastern side of the Wanderers will be just 57 metres away from the pitch and, if targeting the short side was not a priority already, Enza Construction have added their own incentive for the two teams, while also demonstrating their passion for serving the communities they help develop.

Enza Construction have placed a billboard to the left of the scoreboard and the first batsman to hit this on the full will earn himself R250 000 with the company donating another R250 000 in celebration to the Pink Day charities that support breast cancer awareness, education, early detection, treatment and research. If no-one manages to hit a six into the target, then Enza Construction will still make a R100 000 donation to the Pink Day cause.

“Being a proud contributor to our community is a core value at Enza Construction and we are passionate about the health and wellbeing of the people within those communities. We want to give our support to those people who are working tirelessly to overcome breast cancer.

“To that end we fully support the Pink Day cause and want to do our bit to promote and boost their efforts to encourage routine screening for early detection for what is now the most common cancer diagnosed globally,” Clinton Crowie, the executive director of Enza Construction, said.

The Proteas were not able to come up with the goods in the third and final T20 against the West Indies, but they will be banking on better execution of what they believe is a suitable plan for the short boundary.

“That short side really is quite small and logic tells you to try and stay away from there if you’re the bowler. It’s a test of our skills and it comes down to execution,” Aiden Markram, captain in the T20 series, said.

“You try and play the percentages, but a team like the West Indies were mishitting sixes on the long side! When bowling, you just try and bowl really wide outside off-stump, and you also have to use slower-ball bouncers and balls at the batsmen’s heels. We’re happy with our plans,” Markram said.

While Enza are leaders in construction, the Proteas have a master of destruction in their team in opener Quinton de Kock. The left-hander will certainly be targeting the short boundary and the Enza billboard when he is batting at the Corlett Drive End at the Wanderers on Sunday.

The former Proteas captain, as ever, simplified his approach when it comes to unusual field dimensions.

“Certain situations demand different ways of going about things, but as a batter, you’re just trying to target that boundary in any way possible. As a bowler, you’re just trying your best not to get hit there,” De Kock said.

“But on the Highveld, as we saw at Centurion in the T20s against the West Indies, a short boundary is not always relevant because the ball travels so far up here.”

The more sixes there are the better, of course, as various sponsors are lining up to add their bit to the sponsorship of the fight against breast cancer.

England’s aggressive approach an obvious factor; Proteas need lift of intensity 0

Posted on August 24, 2022 by Ken

The aggressive approach of the English is an obvious factor the Proteas are going to have to deal with when their ODI series gets underway at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday and paceman Lungi Ngidi says South Africa will need to bring a lift of intensity to counter the home side.

England’s approach to batting seems to be to go all-out attack from the outset and 350 seems to be the par score they have in mind whatever the conditions.

“England are definitely going to put us under pressure,” Ngidi said on Sunday. “They do put bowling line-ups under pressure and we have to play with a tempo and in the way we need. Our batsmen have had to tune in and shift their mindset and they will attempt to do the same.

“Everyone is pretty much mentally ready, we know what England will bring and we’ve got to lift our intensity. As bowlers, if we can get early wickets and put their batting line-up under pressure then anything can happen.

“We played here in the World Cup and we’ve seen the conditions this week – lots of cloud cover overhead and the ball moves around a bit. That gives confidence to the bowlers,” Ngidi said.

With the batsmen coming full tilt at you as the bowler, the 26-year-old Ngidi knows he is going to have to bring all his variations to the party.

“We’ll take any assistance we can get. You try to assess the conditions and after the first two overs you know what the pitch will give you and you’ve delivered pretty much all your balls.

“If you bowl at just one pace then the batsmen get used to it, they can free their arms and get that free-flowing momentum. You play a mental game with the batsmen, especially if you can disguise your cutters well.

“I’ve practised them well and I’m confident I can use them in the powerplay. I have a senior role with the ball, I would love to lead the attack and hopefully lots of wickets will come my way,” Ngidi said.

Teams try to ignore altitude at Loftus, but summer heat is 1 factor they can’t brush off 0

Posted on April 11, 2022 by Ken

Many teams coming to Loftus Versfeld these days try to ignore the effects of altitude, but one factor the Bulls are hoping Munster are not able to brush aside in their United Rugby Championship clash in Pretoria on Saturday is the late afternoon heat of a summer’s day.

Kick-off on Saturday is at 4.05pm and, judging by the weather forecast for Pretoria this week, the temperature could still be a warm 28°, a far cry from the 7° Munster was shivering in on Monday.

“We hope the conditions at home will give us a bit of an advantage,” Bulls flyhalf Chris Smith said on Monday. “The coastal teams battle with altitude here and hopefully the sun is out on Saturday.

“Hopefully it’s cooking for the 4pm kickoff and that heat could actually be more important for us than the altitude. We hope we can chase them around the field with the sun beaming down.

“We want to make them tired and then hopefully the game will open up a bit later on. But it’s going to be a good challenge for us, to measure ourselves against top players in the URC,” Smith said.

It’s a big sporting week for the Smith family, with Chris’s teenage brother Daniel scoring his maiden first-class century for the Western Province cricket team. The 27-year-old Chris Smith is a key figure in the Bulls side at present, with Morne Steyn suspended and Johan Goosen out injured, and he has enjoyed very good outings against both Zebre in Parma and Griquas in Kimberley.

“I’ve definitely felt the pressure because I’ve mostly played off the bench for the last two years, I have not played many full 80s,” Smith said. “But I see it more as an opportunity.

“It’s more the pressure I’m putting on myself to make use of this opportunity than any external pressure.

“I’ve been working on playing more flat and being more in the defence’s faces. I do tend to hang back a bit, I sometimes rely more on my passing game than my running game,” Smith said.

Springboks nervous over how socialised they are to playing in front of a big crowd 0

Posted on September 20, 2021 by Ken

The Springboks are a little nervous over how socialised they are to playing in front of a big crowd supporting the opposition because many of the players have not done that for 18 months, giving them another factor to adapt to when they play Australia on the Gold Coast on Sunday.

While the Wallabies have been the whipping boys of the All Blacks of late, the Springboks are approaching their first away game in the Rugby Championship with great caution because Australia, especially at home, have always been a side that throws up different, awkward questions for them.

And more than 25 000 mostly pro-Australian spectators in the Super Stadium, with Rugby Australia implementing a ‘bring your mate for free’ campaign, will be another curve-ball for South Africa to handle.

“We’re really excited to be playing in front of a capacity crowd again, but it means we will have to adapt our on-field communication. But it will be fantastic to play in front of a big crowd and hopefully it will spur our players on to perform even better,” forwards coach Deon Davids said on Tuesday.

“To have fans out there is going to be unreal, I can’t even remember how it feels to play in a full stadium,” prop Ox Nche said. “I’m a bit nervous about it but also very excited.”

And the Wallabies will also bring a totally different threat to Argentina, who the Springboks beat twice, with Davids saying lineouts and the tempo of their play are the two areas the world champions will need to adapt.

“They have different philosophies. We had to be smart to keep Argentina at bay and play the way we wanted too. Australia are very competitive in the lineouts, they turned over a few New Zealand balls and put them under pressure. That’s an area we really want to improve, it let us down a bit in our last game. The set-pieces will be well-contested and we have to make sure we execute well so we have a solid base and top-quality ball.

“In my past experience coaching against Dave Rennie, when he was with the Glasgow Warriors, the Waikato Chiefs and now the Wallabies, an attacking philosophy is part of his approach. He likes to play with ball-in-hand, to build pressure with the ball. I’m sure they will bring the same approach but just try to do it better in certain areas. The tempo was very high in the matches between the Wallabies and All Blacks,” Davids said.

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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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