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Ken Borland



Proteas attack running through Windies like a freight train, but then derailed by Holder 0

Posted on March 09, 2023 by Ken

Jason Holder attacked the Proteas spinners extremely well in his rearguard innings.

The new-look Proteas bowling attack was running through the West Indies batting line-up like a freight train on the second day of the second Test at the Wanderers, but then they were derailed by the tall, athletic figure of one Jason Holder.

With South Africa’s batting collapse from the first afternoon carrying over into Thursday morning as their last three wickets were snapped up in just three overs, their total of 320 seemed a long way out of the tourists’ reach as the West Indies struggled to 116 for six when Holder came to the crease.

He had wicketkeeper Josh da Silva for company initially, and they survived for 40 minutes up to tea and then took their partnership to 41 afterwards, before Da Silva was deceived and bowled for 26 by a quicker delivery from off-spinner Simon Harmer.

Alzarri Joseph (4) fell soon afterwards to South Africa’s other spinner, Keshav Maharaj, and at 162 for eight, with the West Indies’ deficit a sizeable 158, Holder made his move.

Together with Kemar Roach, who had a six and a four in his 13, 31 was added in 25 minutes for the ninth wicket, but when fast bowler Gerald Coetzee had Roach caught in the slips in his first over back, the Proteas were no doubt contemplating an hour or so of batting to build on a lead that was still 127 at that stage.

But the heroic Holder found an ideal sidekick in last man Gudakesh Motie, who may have been batting number 11 but looked organised from the outset and has a first-class century against Barbados to his name.

Their brilliant last-wicket stand of 58 defied and frustrated the Proteas as Holder went on the attack against the spinners, hitting three more sixes and ensuring the West Indies conceded a much more manageable deficit of just 69.

The agony was finally ended by Harmer, whose quicker ball led to the dismissal of Motie for 17, with three well-struck fours, as he tried to swing the off-spinner leg-side but could only sky a catch into the covers.

Holder was left on 81 not out, his first half-century against South Africa and his 12th fifty in his 62nd Test. It was a great effort by the former captain, who said afterwards that individual milestones were not his focus, but rather serving the team.

“I love playing for this group and I try and play every situation the best I can for the team,” Holder said. “My job was to form partnerships, try and get in and then go big. It was a good innings I guess with wickets falling around me.

“Being able to shepherd the tail was special. Josh was pretty poised, we made a good start up to tea and we just had a simple plan to keep going.

“When Motie came in, the deficit was still more than a hundred and I just needed him to get in. I took most of the strike until he got accustomed and then we just tried to take every run we could. He did an outstanding job,” Holder said.

South Africa were playing two frontline spinners at the Wanderers for the first time since 1965, but Maharaj and Harmer did not have a major impact, although a second-day pitch was probably always going to be when they had the least assistance.

Both shipping runs at 3.6 per over as the West Indies tried to attack them while the going was good, Harmer took two for 63 and Maharaj one for 77.

The most effective bowlers were Kagiso Rabada, who lived up to his massive reputation, even though Holder thought he had a niggle, taking two for 19 in 12 overs, with five maidens; and young Coetzee, who is looming as a considerable talent.

The 22-year-old, playing in his second Test, took a career-best three for 41 in 14 overs.

“Coming into a world-class bowling attack, it’s been very easy for me. I’ve been able to fit right in because I have the freedom to just do my thing,” Coetzee said.

“The pitch for my first Test at Centurion was more bowler-friendly; this one, if you bowled well you would get reward, but if you don’t bowl well then you will go for runs.

“Jason batted very well and it’s tough to deal with any fifty partnership for the last wicket. But a 70-run lead is better than a 70-run deficit,” Coetzee said.

South Africa stretched that lead to 73 by stumps as openers Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram survived three overs and scored four without loss. A Proteas team that the West Indies have described as being top-heavy will look to plough on through the third day and whatever surprises the pitch has in store for them.

Sharks reserves don’t like water; sink without trace v Cardiff 0

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Ken

The Sharks’ reserve depth showed that they do not like water and sank without a trace, a naïve and lacklustre effort in the rain seeing them being hammered 35-0 by Cardiff in their United Rugby Championship match at Kings Park on Sunday night.

The Sharks had already made a sloppy start to the match as they conceded a breakdown penalty soon after the kickoff, slotted by flyhalf Jarrod Evans, when heavy rain arrived at the stadium and the home side’s hopes were seemingly washed away from that point.

Even though Cardiff suffered a yellow card to captain and flank Josh Turnbull for head contact with fullback Anthony Volmink – who must surely have suffered a concussion given what an absolute shocker he had thereafter – the Sharks could make no headway as they forced passes in the wet, giving away possession, and also tried to run the ball out of their own territory.

Cardiff’s other flank, Thomas Young, had a rampaging game and he earned the penalty try that gave the Welshmen a 13-0 lead after 26 minutes. Picking up a ball spilt at a ruck, he broke clear and kicked ahead, but wing Marnus Potgieter was winning the race to the ball in the in-goal area. But Potgieter deliberately slapped the ball over the dead-ball line, instead of trying to ground it, the referee awarding a penalty try and also issuing a yellow card.

Two glaring errors by Volmink in his own 22 then gifted Evans with his third penalty and Young with his second try, on the halftime whistle, as the fullback simply dropped the ball five metres from his own line.

In conditions that were tailor-made for the visitors from a UK city that is often wet, Cardiff stretched their halftime lead from 23-0 to 35-0 up with two more tries in the third quarter. Young scored from a maul as the Sharks conceded back-to-back penalties, and another rampaging run by the son of former Wales prop Dai Young provided front-foot ball deep in the 22, Evans producing a lovely delayed pass that sent fullback Ben Thomas over for the try.

The Sharks did rouse themselves a bit at the tail-end of the game, but they failed to break their duck due to their own inaccuracies, especially at the breakdown, or a TMO who definitely seemed to be looking for reasons to penalise them. They did have a try disallowed due to an intervention by TMO Eoghan Cross after the conversion had already been taken, and he also interrupted other promising Sharks positions.

Scorers

CardiffTries: Penalty try, Thomas Young (2), Ben Thomas. Conversions: Jarrod Evans (2). Penalties: Evans (3).

From being an ant following Ernie around, Bezuidenhout is now the elephant at Sun City 0

Posted on February 08, 2023 by Ken

Christiaan Bezuidenhout must have felt a bit like an ant standing next to an elephant back in the 2000s when he followed Ernie Els around the Gary Player Country Club; now Bezuidenhout has inherited The Big Easy’s mantle as South Africa’s main hope in the Nedbank Golf Challenge that starts at Sun City on Thursday.

The 2000s were an era of dominance for South African golfers in the event, with Els winning in 2000 and 2002, Retief Goosen in 2004 and Trevor Immelman claiming the famous trophy in 2007.

Bezuidenhout, and compatriots like George Coetzee and Zander Lombard, were impressionable youngsters back then and the prestige of Africa’s Major is ingrained in them. The 28-year-old Bezuidenhout is based on the U.S. PGA Tour and is South Africa’s highest-ranked golfer in the field, and he also won the SA Open on the Gary Player CC course in 2020.

“Since 2000, we watched every year until 2012,” Bezuidenhout recalled on Wednesday. “I would watch the practice rounds, the short games, out on the course and inside the ropes.

“It was always my dream to play in this event and I’m very glad it’s back on the schedule. A lot of really good names are on the trophy, like Ernie, Retief, Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Seve Ballesteros.

“As a South African, you really want to put your name on that trophy because it’s a special event for us, there’s a bit more for us South African guys to play for.

“Playing in the United States, I’ve learned a lot. It’s a different style of golf, the grass is different. The strength and depth of fields is so good that you’ve got to try and save every single shot,” Bezuidenhout, who made his NGC debut in 2019, the last time the event was held due to the Covid pandemic, said.

Englishman Tommy Fleetwood has owned the title since then, bringing the daunting Gary Player Country Club course to its knees with a final-round 65 that saw him into the playoff he won against Sweden’s Marcus Kinholt.

“This is a very special event for me. I’m not South African but I grew up watching it with my dad every year. I love the history behind it and the winners,” Fleetwood said.

“When you walk down the ninth hole on the left and you see all the winners from all the years on that walkway, I often thought it would be great to add my name on there.

“To get that win was very cool and we’re all excited to come back. I love the game in this country and how popular golf is over here. I’ve always enjoyed playing out here,” the top—ranked player in the field said.

Although LIV Golf has caused much heartache to the DP World Tour, participants in that breakaway league are teeing it up at Sun City, including South African Branden Grace, the 2017 champion.

Bavuma admits notorious chokers tag will now be hung around his Proteas’ necks 0

Posted on February 06, 2023 by Ken

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma did not explicitly say it was another case of South Africa choking at a cricket world cup after their shock loss to the Netherlands saw them eliminated from the T20 showpiece on Sunday, but he did admit that notorious tag would now be hung around their necks, like so many of their predecessors.

Needing to just beat qualifiers the Netherlands to make the semi-finals, the Proteas instead came out flat and uninspired, allowing the Dutch to post a challenging 158/4, and then batting limply to only manage 145/8 in reply.

“That tag will always be there until we get to a final and come out on the right side of it,” Bavuma said in the aftermath. “We have nothing else to blame, everything was in our own hands.

“We had the confidence, the belief and the form behind us, but when it mattered we just couldn’t do the business. There needs to be an element of learning to make sure young guys like Tristan Stubbs and Marco Jansen don’t make the same mistakes in future.

“But we are still going to carry that monkey on our backs, that tag. We knew we had to win the game, but I didn’t feel any different type of pressure personally.

“It’s very hard to say it was different because we knew we had to beat India and we won that game. We had the opportunity to make the semi-finals and we just did not take it,” Bavuma said.

Of his own future in the shortest format, Bavuma said he will park any decision on the captaincy until a new fulltime coach is appointed. The skipper admitted that all the speculation over his own poor batting form had also been unsettling.

“It’s been a tricky time and to consider the captaincy now, a lot of my thinking would be emotional. I probably will think about it and speak to the relevant people.

“We have to see who comes in as coach, generally the new person coming in might want a different leader to execute their vision. But I think I carried myself with dignity through the good and bad times.

“Mentally all the talk does affect you. You try to manage your mental space as much as you can, unfortunately social media and whatever is said about you, always seems to get to you no matter how you try to control it.

“I’ve tried to keep a level head through the good and bad times and stay as close to myself as possible. Not just for myself but for the group, who will now take a lot of flak, and rightfully so,” Bavuma said.

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