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Ken Borland



Former Protea’s outstanding catch, off Joburg-born bowler, breaks millions of South African hearts 0

Posted on February 06, 2023 by Ken

When former Protea Roelof van der Merwe let out a fervent roar of celebration after his outstanding catch, off the bowling of Johannesburg-born Brandon Glover, to take the key wicket of David Miller, it was unlikely he felt much regret for the millions of hearts that were breaking back in South Africa as the Proteas made a shock exit from the T20 World Cup, losing to qualifiers the Netherlands by 13 runs.

Chasing 159 for victory, South Africa had slipped to 111/4 after 15 overs and their hopes rested on Miller, their finisher supreme. The experienced left-hander had gone to 17 when he top-edged a pull at Glover and Van der Merwe scrambled backwards from short fine leg, and dived to take a superb catch.

Glover, who took 3/9 in his two overs, then had Wayne Parnell caught behind three balls later for a duck and, when Heinrich Klaasen (21) was caught at cow-corner off medium-pacer Bas de Leede in the 18th over, South Africa were all but buried. They limped to 145/8 in the end.

The Netherlands deserve full credit for their amazing victory, bowling and fielding with tremendous tenacity.

South Africa began their chase tentatively as Quinton de Kock (13) and Temba Bavuma (20) both just scored at a run-a-ball and the Proteas could only score 39/2 in the powerplay.

Rilee Rossouw (25 off 19) looked threatening before he pulled Glover straight to deep square-leg and Aiden Markram (17) sent a leading edge, well taken by a diving Stephan Myburgh, to cover off the excellent Fred Klaassen (4-0-20-2).

The dismissal encapsulated what the Netherlands did so well – taking pace off the ball and using variations, which caused the Proteas to really struggle to score freely.

It was something the Proteas attack failed to do and there can be no sympathy for their lack of awareness and adaptability to the conditions, which allowed the Netherlands to post a competitive 158/4 after they had been sent in to bat.

The outstanding Anrich Nortje (4-0-10-1) and Keshav Maharaj (4-0-27-2) apart, the Proteas attack simply lacked intensity and it was the Netherlands who seized the initiative from the start.

Pretoria-born Stephan Myburgh belted 37 off 30 balls, with fellow opener Max O’Dowd providing valuable support with 29 in an opening stand of 58 in eight-and-a-half overs.

Tom Cooper blasted 35 off 19 deliveries and another South African expat, Colin Ackermann, provided the finishing touches to the winning total with his brilliant 41 not out off 26 balls. The former Eastern Cape star also bowled three overs of probing off-spin for just 16 runs, keeping the left-handers quiet.

This time the Proteas could not blame anything outside of their own control – there was no rain, no freakish misfortune – for failing to make the semi-finals.

They defied history by choosing to bat first on a pitch that was only going to slow down and their whole mindset seemed incredibly soft when so much was on the line.

Happy balance in the Springbok squad 0

Posted on July 29, 2022 by Ken

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber deserves credit for striking a happy balance between retaining the core of the 2019 World Cup winning squad and rewarding some of the outstanding individual form shown in the United Rugby Championship when he announced his squad last weekend for the next few months of international action.

Personally, I am particularly happy to see the return of Marcell Coetzee, who must surely be the designated back-up to the No.6 jersey should something unfortunate happen to Siya Kolisi, and a first call-up for Elrigh Louw. The pair of loose forwards have done so much of the donkey work that has led the Bulls to the URC final.

Evan Roos also fully deserves his place in the squad and, with Pieter-Steph du Toit also back in the mix after his serious shoulder injury in the series against the British and Irish Lions last year, South Africa are truly blessed with exceptional loose forwards to choose from. Jasper Wiese and Kwagga Smith have also previously met expectations in the Springbok jersey.

Warrick Gelant and Aphelele Fassi will provide pleasing competition for the fullback jersey, but don’t be surprised if Nienaber sticks with Willie le Roux, whose experience and performances in high-level games is highly valued by the Springbok management.

Andre Esterhuizen is also deservedly brought in, providing depth in the inside centre position after his superb performances in England, and Ruan Nortje seems the ideal successor to Franco Mostert and can learn much in his first exposure to international rugby.

It’s important to note that Duane Vermeulen, who is two weeks away from his 36th birthday, and Frans Steyn, who turned 35 a month ago, are both absent from the squad because they are unavailable. Vermeulen has had knee surgery, figuring he would rather have it now than in a World Cup year (2023), while Steyn is currently in rehab from a hamstring strain. Nienaber this week gave the impression that he is counting the days until their return to the Springbok squad.

In terms of the front row, there is plenty of depth with Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe, Trevor Nyakane, Ox Nche, Vincent Koch and Thomas du Toit all being quality props. New face Ntuthuko Mchunu is inexperienced but has the talent to make the starting front row in the future.

Bulls hooker Johan Grobbelaar, a member of the Springbok squad last year, has been incredible in the URC and was inspired in the epic semi-final win over Leinster in Dublin. It is a stiff ask for him to displace Bongi Mbonambi and Malcolm Marx in the pecking order, but I would have had him in the squad ahead of Joseph Dweba. Deon Fourie, who has considerably strengthened the Stormers’ challenge this season, can also cover hooker, of course.

Areas of concern in the squad, in terms of where Nienaber perhaps needs to rustle up some extra back-up, are flyhalf, scrumhalf and outside centre.

Handre Pollard’s flyhalf cover is Elton Jantjies, who has legal and injury problems in the background, and Damian Willemse, who has been a commanding presence at inside centre for the Stormers but there have been murmurs of discontent whenever he has worn the No.10 jersey. The obvious contender, Johan Goosen, is in the squad but will not be able to play until September/October after knee surgery.

Faf de Klerk is the obvious starting scrumhalf, but with Cobus Reinach injured, who sits on the bench? Herschel Jantjies needs to work on providing consistent quick service, while Jaden Hendrikse has had some flaky moments. For me, it is his Sharks team-mate, Grant Williams, who may win a reserves spot, given the injection of pace he can bring and the fact that he can also cover wing, useful if the Boks go for a 6/2 split on the bench again.

Lukhanyo Am and Jesse Kriel, whose current form from Japan we know little about, are the only specialist outside centres in the squad.

IPL-bound Pretorius pinging like his cellphone, but Adams provides Boland with great escape 0

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Ken

Ferisco Adams produced outstanding death bowling as Boland Rocks staged a great escape to beat the North-West Dragons in a Super Over in their CSA T20 Challenge match at St George’s Park on Sunday.

At some stage on Sunday, Dwaine Pretorius’s cellphone would have pinged with a message telling him that he will going to his maiden IPL tournament at the end of the summer and the Proteas all-rounder celebrated by battering 74 off 51 balls. It was an innings that seemed to have secured victory for the Dragons as they went into the final over needing just nine runs to win, with Pretorius and Delano Potgieter (37* off 27) flying as they had already added 94 in nine overs.

But Adams restricted North-West to just four singles off the first five deliveries, and Pretorius was forced to hook the final delivery for four just to tie the game and ensure a Super Over.

Then Adams missed his length with his first ball, Potgieter slog-sweeping a full toss for six, but Pretorius was then run out by Adams, who fielded a fierce straight hit and Potgieter was caught at long-off next ball, meaning the Dragons were all out.

Boland needed just three balls to get the seven runs they needed, Janneman Malan edging one boundary and reverse-paddling the other off Duan Jansen.

North-West were chasing 183 for victory and Pretorius came to the crease after opener Wesley Marshall, who blasted 34 off just 16 balls, had taken them to 42/2 in four overs.

The lanky 32-year-old took a little while to get going, but captain Nicky van den Bergh was playing fluently at the other end with his 28 off 19. But once he was bowled by off-spinner Imraan Manack, Pretorius changed gear and struck sixes off Manack and Zakhele Qwabe in the 12th and 13th overs.

Spinners Siyabonga Mahima (4-0-25-1), Manack (4-0-28-1) and Shaun von Berg (1-0-5-0) all bowled tidily for Boland.

Boland had posted 182/6 in a well-structured innings that saw Janneman Malan dash to 33 off 18 balls up front, while his brother Pieter anchored the innings with 53 off 46.

Christiaan Jonker provided the big finish with 37 off 19 deliveries, helped by Hardus Viljoen scoring 19 off just eight balls.

Pretorius (4-0-33-1) and Potgieter (2-0-10-1) both did well with the ball as well, but 19-year-old leg-spinner Caleb Seleka was the pick of the North-West bowlers with two for 20 in his four overs.

While Boland have broken North-West’s winning run, Western Province notched their third successive victory when they beat the Central Gauteng Lions by five wickets with five balls to spare.

Sent in to bat, the Lions posted just 140/5 with Shane Dadswell (27 off 16) and Mitchell van Buuren, who bashed 44 off 34 balls, adding 48 for the third wicket in 5.2 overs. Sisanda Magala finished well with 19 not out off 15 deliveries, but Kagiso Rapulana took 36 balls over his 32 not out.

Beuran Hendricks (4-1-26-2) and Wayne Parnell (4-0-24-0) were tough to get away, but spinner Junaid Dawood broke the Lions’ momentum with 2/23 in his four middle overs.

Gavin Kaplan (39 off 32) and Tony de Zorzi (42 off 31) added 47 for the second wicket in six overs to give WP a fine start, but the Lions gave themselves a sniff by reducing them to 113/5 with four overs left.

But Yaseen Vallie (21*) and Aviwe Mgijima (16*) broke the Lions’ hearts.

Magala (4-0-24-1) and Codi Yusuf (4-0-20-1) were excellent with the ball for the Lions.

The champs go down to the brave captaincy & the superb spin of NW 0

Posted on March 07, 2022 by Ken

The brave captaincy of Nicky van den Bergh and the outstanding bowling of his spinners led the North-West Dragons to a surprise 11-run win over the Central Gauteng Lions, the winners of the CSA T20 Challenge in the previous season.

Sent in to bat at St George’s Park, the Dragons could only muster 136/6, and that was thanks to the heroics of the seventh-wicket pair of Nono Pongolo (27* off 21) and Duan Jansen (32* off 18), who shared an unbeaten partnership of 57 off just 37 balls.

Seamer Codi Yusuf was the best of the tidy Lions attack with 2/21 in his four overs.

Left-arm spinner Johannes Diseko was then the star of the superb North-West bowling performance.

Opening the bowling, Diseko removed both Dominic (4) and Reeza Hendricks (0) with successive balls of his second over to immediately rock the Lions chase.

Josh Richards (23) and Mitchell van Buuren then added 50 for the third wicket, before 19-year-old leg-spinner Caleb Seleka removed Richards.

Van den Bergh backed his unheralded spinners to bowl at the death, with the Lions needing 45 runs in the last five overs with seven wickets in hand and Van Buuren set.

And it was a masterstroke as Seleka (4-0-23-2) conceded just seven runs and took a wicket in the 18th over, and Diseko (4-0-17-2), darting the ball into the blockhole, also gave away just seven runs in the final over.

Van Buuren finished with a fine 65 not out off 56 deliveries, but he got a little stuck towards the end against the spinners and the left-arm angle of paceman Duan Jansen (4-0-24-0).

Left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy also bowled well, conceding just 19 runs in three overs.

The KZN Dolphins showed they are going to be a force on the slowish St George’s Park pitch as they hammered the Free State Knights, winners of the CSA Provincial T20 Cup at the start of the season, by eight wickets with two overs to spare.

The Dolphins spinners restricted the Knights, who had chosen to bat first, to 128/5, with off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen’s 1/13 in four overs a particularly telling effort.

Raynard van Tonder’s 38 and Farhaan Behardien’s 36 not out were the main contributions for Free State.

Keegan Petersen then stroked a confident 45 off 37 balls to set up a comfortable KZN chase, adding 74 for the first wicket with Grant Roelofsen (27).

David Miller then finished the game off with a quickfire 34 not out off 22 deliveries.

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  • Thought of the Day

    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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