Ken Borland

Sisanda Magala is a “very, very good bowler” are words you are likely to hear from time to time, but when they come from one of the greatest bowlers of all time, then it is time to sit up, take notice and put him in the Proteas starting XI.

Magala’s fan is none other than Dale Steyn, indisputably a legend of the game because he has taken over 400 Test wickets at an average lower than all but four of the other 16 bowlers in that club. Steyn has previously tweeted how impressed he is with Magala and on Tuesday he explained to The Citizen why he rates the 30-year-old so highly ahead of what will hopefully be his Proteas debut in the ODI series against Pakistan starting on Friday.

But as Steyn reveals, they did not have a very good start to their relationship …

“The first time I played against him was for the Titans against the Warriors and I had heard amazing things about him. So I gave him so much stick, I basically just abused him, because I wanted to see what he was made of. He was upset, but after the game I spoke to him and told him I just did that because I heard you were really good. I wasn’t sure he liked me much after that though … ” Steyn said.

“Then we played together at the Cape Town Blitz, and as team-mates he just impressed me more and more. He’s really quick, he’s a good fielder, extremely athletic for his size, and just a flippen nice guy. He has that fight in him. He has a bit of a strange action so he’s quicker than you think.

“I always look for things that make someone better than the rest and he has a wicked wrist – it’s really cocked back, whippy, giving him extra pace. With good coaching and as he gets more familiar with how to use that wrist, he could get even quicker.”

There have been whispers that Magala’s size – he is certainly burly – is considered an issue by Proteas management and is why he has not yet taken the field for the national team. But Steyn says his physical dimensions and not passing certain fitness tests should not be a factor in selection.

“The testing is one thing but I don’t mind if a guy looks slightly overweight as long as he is hitting the same numbers or even a bit better over a period of time, it’s only a problem if there’s a massive slump. For some people it’s just very difficult for them to do anything about their weight, but I’ve often seen cricketers lose a couple of kilograms and then they can’t hit the ball as far or bowl as well.

“As professional cricketers, we don’t necessarily have to look like Michael Jordan or Usain Bolt,’ Steyn said.

When sports minister Nathi Mthethwa meets with the Cricket South Africa Members Council and Interim Board from 5pm on Tuesday, it is likely their first point of business will be to carefully go through the first item on the list of key deliverables he gave the Interim Board when they were set up at the end of October.

Item 1.1.1 on that list is headed “Implementation of Nicholson Recommendations” and it has been the stumbling block that has led to war now between the Members Council and the Interim Board. At issue is whether Mthethwa intended for the recommendations of the Nicholson Commission – especially those concerning a board made up of a majority of independent directors and being chaired by an independent director – to be non-negotiables.

The Interim Board believes those two clauses to ensure the independence of the new board are non-negotiable, the Members Council refuses to accept them. Mthethwa will have to clear the air with his verdict on Tuesday evening.

At the moment, clarity is in short supply because this is how Item 1.1.1 reads: “The [Interim] Board would need to start a process where they would review the process undertaken towards the implementation of the Nichsolson recommendations and the work done on the implementation thus far would be foregrounded by that. In this regard, part of the criticism levelled against the former CSA Board was that the Nicholson recommendations were very clear, but that Board had not considered issues of governance within the organisation.”

No wonder there are disagreements.

All parties concerned could do worse than to also closely examine a proposal by the Northerns Cricket Union that might just be the compromise to end the war.

They have proposed an equal split between independent and non-independent directors, with the chair going to whoever the best candidate is from either grouping. They would also like the stipulation that at least one of the independents must have played international cricket before, and another two must have served in some sort of sporting structure before.

Perhaps the Interim Board will counter with a proposal stipulating certain standards for the non-independent directors as well …

Only a run-out prevented spinners Senuran Muthusamy and Prenelan Subrayen from the unprecedented feat of both finishing the match with 10-wicket hauls as the Dolphins won the 4-Day Domestic Series final in extraordinary fashion at Kingsmead on Monday, beating the Titans by an innings and 76 runs.

The Titans were bowled out for 166 towards the end of the extended morning session on Monday, a vast improvement on their miserable 53 all out in the first innings, but still nowhere near enough to prevent the Dolphins from claiming the title outright.

Slow left-armer Muthusamy was the second-innings destroyer, taking six for 79 in 28.2 overs, giving him match figures of nine for 91. Off-spinner Subrayen claimed four for 56 in 38 overs, giving him 10 for 80 in the match.

It is the first time in South African first-class history that two bowlers from the same side have taken 19 wickets in a match. The other Titans wicket fell to a run out.

With almost the entire first two days of play being lost to the weather, it seemed something miraculous would have to occur for an outright result to be achieved.

The Dolphins had that magic in their kitbags though, their two magnificent spinners being accurate and relentless, backed by superb fielding, led by wicketkeeper Mangaliso Mosehle, Keegan Petersen’s catching up close and Ruan de Swardt in the ring.

The Titans batsmen just did not have the skill and intent available to them to break the stranglehold, although Rivaldo Moonsamy showed good fight on Monday as he scored 41 in two hours at the crease.

The Dolphins have been the dominant team in the domestic season, claiming two (one shared) of the three trophies available to them and reaching the T20 final.

The old story of the wife who phones the changeroom and asks to speak to her husband, only to be told he’s batting and replies “I’ll hold” could have been told about the Titans on Sunday as they crashed to their lowest ever total and then lost four wickets in their follow-on innings on the fourth day of the 4-Day Domestic Series final against the Dolphins at Kingsmead.

Replying to the Dolphins’ first innings of 295, the Titans’ response was a diabolical procession as they were bundled out for a record low, both for them and in all matches at Kingsmead, of just 53. Those runs were scraped together in 43-and-a-half overs, which shows the utter stranglehold the outstanding Dolphins spinners had on the visitors.

Prenelan Subrayen was magnificent, the offspinner bowling an accurate line just outside off-stump and using variations in turn and pace to claim a career-best six for 24 in 22 overs as he opened the bowling. He was superbly supported by slow left-armer Senuran Muthusamy, who took three for 12 in 14.3 stifling overs.

As well as the spin duo bowled though, they were assisted by a Titans batting line-up that showed no commitment to any sort of run-scoring plan. Their negative attitude led to them digging a hole for themselves and breathed life into a contest that was always heading for a draw after most of the first two days were lost to rain.

With a lead of 242, the Dolphins were able to enforce the follow-on and it was obvious they would, given that they had suddenly been gifted with the time to bowl the Titans out a second time, win the match and claim the title for themselves rather than sharing it with the visitors.

The approach of the Titans batsmen was much more positive in the second innings, and although Dean Elgar (11) fell to the vagaries of the pitch, bowled by a Subrayen delivery that shot under the bat, Yaseen Valli and Theunis de Bruyn loosened the hold of the Dolphins’ bowlers with a stand of 56.

But the brilliance of Mangaliso Mosehle behind the stumps, and two excellent deliveries in successive overs from Muthusamy and Subrayen, removed both set batsmen.

De Bruyn (38) was beaten in the flight by a Muthusamy delivery that turned past the bat, Mosehle pulling off a lightning-quick stumping that caught the Proteas batsmen millimetres out of his ground, and Valli (37) was then yorked by a quicker ball from Subrayen, Mosehle having the bails off in a flash despite having to gather the ball out of the roughness of the crease.

Muthusamy claimed another wicket shortly before bad light stopped play, Sibonelo Makhanya (1) edging another fine delivery, that turned and bounced, to slip.

The Titans closed on 92 for four, still 150 behind, the staunchest of rearguard actions being required on Monday’s final day to save the game.