Ken Borland

Another outstanding all-round bowling display by the Imperial Lions backed the Warriors into a corner and saw them defend a mediocre total of 210 to win their Momentum One-Day Cup match by 42 runs in Potchefstroom on Sunday.

On a tricky pitch which rewarded straight lines, the Lions pacemen were extremely disciplined and the spinners were once again excellent as the Warriors were bowled out for 168, exactly the number the Lions required for a bonus point.

The Warriors only just failed to prevent the Lions from getting their second successive bonus point win thanks to the gutsy efforts of their tail, with Glenton Stuurman (10), Mthiwekhaya Nabe (14*) and Stefan Tait (9) ensuring the last two wickets added 36 runs.

Swing bowler Eldred Hawken (9-1-29-2) struck two big blows up front when he bowled both Yaseen Vallie (5) and key batsman Jon-Jon Smuts (0) with successive deliveries.

The Warriors’ other vital batsman, Rudi Second, also fell for a duck as his cramped attempted pull off paceman Sisanda Magala (9-1-34-2) was smartly caught by Wesley Marshall, moving quickly from a short midwicket.

Opener Lesiba Ngoepe (33) and Aya Gqamane (29) did pose some difficulties for the Lions, but Malusi Siboto (8-1-26-2) removed them both.

All-rounder Delano Potgieter (5-0 19-2) also chipped in with a couple of wickets and it was left to Wihan Lubbe, who fought for two hours for his 42, to keep the Warriors hopes alive.

But the Lions attack once again delivered under pressure.

The batting of the Lions, though, obviously left something to be desired as they crashed to 47 for four.

But the experience and determination of Nicky van den Bergh, who played some fine strokes in collecting nine fours in his 73 off 92 balls, with the help of Potgieter, saw them to a good enough total of 210 all out.

The left-handed Potgieter showed impressive composure as he added 129 for the fifth wicket with Van den Bergh. Normally not shy to show his attacking tendencies, he batted within himself to score 57 off 67 deliveries.

The loss of Van den Bergh and Potgieter, when both were about to launch, obviously reduced the final Lions total considerably, but it was still enough considering the brilliance of their bowlers and the submission of the Warriors batsmen.

Seamer Nabe removed both Van den Bergh and Potgieter on the way to highly creditable, career-best figures of four for 31, while left-arm spinner Smuts was tight and probing as he took three for 40 in his 10 overs.

Ryan Rickelton celebrated his inclusion in the Proteas squad for the first time with a marvellous unbeaten century to take the Imperial Lions to a bonus-point victory over the Cape Cobras in their Momentum One-Day Cup match in Potchefstroom on Friday.

Rickelton thoroughly dominated the bowling as he stroked an impressive 109 not out off 98 deliveries, as the Lions chased down their target of 222 in just 39.2 overs with six wickets to spare. The 24-year-old Rickelton is one of the country’s brightest young batting talents and this week he was named in the Proteas squad for the T20s in Pakistan, his maiden international call-up.

Opening the batting, Rickelton and Wesley Marshall (28) gave the Lions a solid start by raising the 50 in the 10^th over, before the Cobras struck back with two wickets in four overs. But an inspired stand of 98 in 16.2 overs between Rickelton and Dominic Hendricks (54 off 61 balls) put the Lions within sight of victory.

Rickelton completed his third century in 50-over cricket and a brisk 22 from Nicky van den Bergh ensured the bonus point was gained.

The Cobras, having won the toss and elected to bat first, made a good start, Janneman Malan’s well-controlled 67 off 94 balls driving them to 121 for two after 28 overs. But the Lions attack, bowling straighter and fuller than they had been earlier, fought back impressively by taking regular wickets.

It was fine all-round effort by the Lions attack, but Eldred Hawken, in his first game this season, recovered from a rusty start to lead the pacemen with one for 26 in eight overs, and captain Aaron Phangiso took care of the middle overs, taking two for 33 in his 10 excellent overs of left-arm spin.

Debutant Jean du Plessis scored 34 and Christiaan Jonker struck a quickfire 33 off 35 balls, but the Cobras batsmen were generally lacking enough intent against the tight Lions bowling.

The Cobras will also leave Senwes Park for the bio-bubble feeling they had a raw deal when it came to lbw decisions. Du Plessis looked unfortunate to be given out to Phangiso just as he was starting to accelerate, while Rickelton survived three appeals during his innings when the ball certainly looked wicket-bound.

Pool A of the Momentum One-Day Cup in Potchefstroom effectively ended after just two matches, the rest being washed out, and the Imperial Lions will know the importance of their opening two games on Friday and Sunday with the currently good weather in the North-West set to turn next week.

The Lions play the Cape Cobras on Friday and then the Warriors on Sunday, and will be looking to follow the same route through to the semi-finals as the Dolphins did. The KwaZulu-Natalians won their first two matches against the Titans and Knights in convincing fashion and then sat back knowing they were safe as the rest of the fixtures could not be played due to regular showers and the outfield not being fit for play.

“It was a bit disappointing not to see a lot of cricket being played because of the weather, and hopefully the good weather now will hold out. Every game is important, bad weather or not, but it’s very important we hit the ground, up-and-running, from the start, we need a good performance from Game 1. We were fortunate we could play a couple of warm-up games at the Wanderers and we’re happy with the prep and where we are,” Lions captain Aaron Phangiso said on Thursday.

Pedigree alone suggests the Lions should join the defending champion Dolphins and Knights in the semi-finals. Phangiso’s men beat the Dolphins in their last round-robin fixture of last season’s Momentum One-Day Cup to finish second on the log. But the Natalians were awarded the trophy when the knockout rounds were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, because they finished first in the standings, two points ahead of the Lions.

“We had a good season, we beat the Dolphins in our last match, but that is last season. But then again there has not been much cricket played lately, so we will take some confidence from that and our warm-up games. Potchefstroom is a second home for us, we know the conditions well, even though the pitch played completely different to what we are used to for Pool A.

“But we just have to adjust. The pitch is normally true and the ball comes through, but now the slower bowlers will definitely play a big role. We do have that in our attack with Bjorn Fortuin, myself and Malusi Siboto, we can all deliver in those conditions. Plus Sisanda Magala played for the Warriors before so he is used to those conditions and has given us one or two tips.

“Sisanda is going to be a big weapon for us in terms of tactics. The conditions would seem to favour the coastal teams because they play more often on slower pitches than us, but it’s just a matter of us adjusting and having better tactics. We have good enough players to deliver, and we have all played big cricket so we are experienced enough,” Phangiso said.

Lions squad: Reeza Hendricks, Dominic Hendricks, Ryan Rickelton, Kagiso Rapulana, Wesley Marshall, Delano Potgieter, Bjorn Fortuin, Sisanda Magala, Malusi Siboto, Eldred Hawken, Aaron Phangiso (cpt), Nicky van den Bergh, Johannes Diseko, Mitchell van Buuren, Tladi Bokako, Nono Pongolo.

A new year brings new challenges for the Interim Board of Cricket South Africa with arrangements for the Australian Test tour needing to be made and a new structure for the organisation now being considered by the directors.

Judge Zak Yacoob, the chairman of the Interim Board, said on Thursday that he was confident the incoming tour by Australia would take place, although he did let slip that it is now expected to take place only in April.

“The Australia tour will go ahead at this stage. A week ago I had a chat with the head of Cricket Australia and we agreed that we would make sure the facilities are as good as necessary. Not that we did anything wrong when England were here because none of their players were affected by Covid. But our learnings on this virus changes all the time, it is unpredictable.

“But we both have doctors and other experts who will lead us through and if they say our facilities are fine then I have no doubt that the tour will go ahead, unless things take a real turn for the worse. But cricket fans must know that if they comply with all the precautions then they are not only doing it for themselves but doing it in the interests of cricket. I know we are looking at April,” Yacoob said.

The Interim Board’s term of office expires on February 15 and Yacoob said their focus in the next three weeks would be on formulating a new structure for the board.

“Our most important consideration now is how to change the structure of CSA to ensure it works better, and that is an independent process because we have no intention of being on any future CSA board. The main objective is to ensure that the Memorandum of Incorporation (MoI) and the Board Charter are changed in accordance with the Nicholson recommendations i.e. the need for an independent board.

“We are trying to work through what the power of the Members Council should be and the one conclusion is that we cannot have two centres of power. We have decided it would be preferable for the Board to be in control of day-to-day operational matters. If the directors are independent then they will have no personal interest in the decisions taken,” Yacoob said.

While one former director – Omphile Ramela, the previous president of the players’ union – has launched court action to overturn his removal from the Board, another – former Easterns president Xolani Vonya – has been reinstated as a director.

The move seems part of a more conciliatory tone towards the Members Council.

“Mr Vonya is back, because the Board decided that may be better. Some of the reasons for his removal were not fully justified, Easterns did not fully justify their very serious allegations against him. On balance, we had a rethink and decided to be more generous towards him.

“We have not yet really engaged the Members Council on the new MoI and I suspect there will be a difference of opinion, which is justifiable. An independent Board does reduce the power of the Members Council but I am certain they will operate in good faith. There will be genuine and bona fide debate over how independent the Board should be.

“One can get carried away and get people who know nothing about the game and you obviously need to avoid that. The Members Council have to appoint us again and if they don’t approve us again then off we go on February 15 unless the Minister of Sport does something. We would have to tell the Minister that we have not finished our work, but I personally would not implore him to intervene, he must make an objective decision,” Yacoob said.