Ken Borland

The Momentum One-Day Cup gets underway in the Potchefstroom bio-bubble on Saturday with the Dolphins taking on the Titans in the opening match, and while on paper it would be obvious to view the defending champions as the favourites, the Titans will be fielding a much stronger attack than the one that featured last season when they finished a lowly fifth in the 50-over competition.

Last season the Titans failed to defend sizeable totals in three key matches – 307 against the Knights, 275 in 39 overs versus the Dolphins, and 331 against the Warriors. But on Saturday they will unveil a new-look attack featuring ace wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, who only played once last season, prolific wicket-taker Junior Dala, who could only make three appearances in 2020, and new signing Kyle Abbott, one of South Africa’s leading limited-overs bowlers.

It would be silly to write off the impact that trio will have and Titans coach Mandla Mashimbyi is hoping for much smarter bowling from his attack this season.

“We just couldn’t defend scores in the last campaign and we need to be a lot smarter when we bowl, making sure we stick to our plans, especially against particular batsmen. Those three guys are all really good at white-ball cricket, some of the best in the country. But it’s also going to take a team effort and we don’t want to put all the pressure on those three. It’s important that we identify the moments to take the game away and put our feet on the pedal when its needed,” Mashimbyi told Saturday Citizen on Friday.

The Dolphins boast top-class stars of their own in Proteas stalwarts David Miller and Andile Phehlukwayo, last season’s leading run-scorer Grant Roelofsen and exciting pacemen in Ottneil Baartman, Kerwin Mungroo and Robbie Frylinck.

The Dolphins will no longer have an advantage, however, of playing half their matches in KZN, where they have used almost sub-continental conditions to create a home fortress; Potchefstroom has a reputation for high-scoring matches so their slow bowlers may have a harder time spinning their webs this season.

It’s a big opening weekend for the Dolphins as they also play a highly competitive Knights team, that finished last season’s Momentum One-Day Cup very strongly, on Sunday at the same venue.

In his franchise career of just 14 matches, Ottneil Baartman’s 36 wickets have been priced at 32.33 runs apiece and this season, following his move from the Knights to the Dolphins, he has taken only seven wickets in four matches at the expensive average of 45.57.

They are hardly figures that suggest he should be called up for a Test debut, but on Friday the 27-year-old paceman was named in the Proteas squad for the two-match series in Pakistan.

The reason for Baartman’s selection is linked to South Africa’s quest for the next Vernon Philander or at least someone who can fulfil the same role as the great Cape Cobras seamer. Glenton Stuurman is the successor elect, but having been called up for the Test series against Sri Lanka, he suffered a thigh strain which not only cost him a probable debut but also a place on the Pakistan tour.

Baartman is a bowler in a similar mould to the highly-rated Stuurman – not of express pace, but skilful and accurate, an old-fashioned seam bowler. Convenor of selectors Victor Mpitsang used the words “steady” and “control” when he discussed with Saturday Citizen the characteristics that made the selectors choose Baartman.

Stuurman and Baartman both hail from Oudtshoorn and played in the same South-Western Districts Schools side in 2010. They have only a small percentage of the pace of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, but the selectors have brought in cover in the extreme speed department by choosing Daryn Dupavillon.

The 26-year-old made a surprise ODI debut against Australia in March, being a late call-up, and now he is included in the Test squad for the first time. Injuries have restricted him to just two four-day matches this season, but he has taken 11 wickets, including a devastating seven for 38 against the powerful Knights batting line-up.

While the conditions in the Test venues of Karachi and Rawalpindi are tricky to predict, chances are they will be spin friendly and South Africa have covered their bases by choosing three frontline spinners. Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj is the incumbent first-choice, but there is an attacking wrist-spinner in support in Tabraiz Shamsi and a spin bowling all-rounder in George Linde.

Only one Test has been played in Karachi’s National Stadium in the last 10 years – Pakistan’s three quick bowlers sharing 16 wickets as Sri Lanka were beaten by 263 runs in December 2019.

Rawalpindi hosted a drawn Test against Sri Lanka in the same month, but only eight wickets fell in a rain-ruined match. Pakistan beat Bangladesh by an innings there in February last year, with fast bowler Naseem Shah named man of the match.

“One spinner is enough on the Highveld, but in Pakistan, judging by how pitches have played in the past and being on the subcontinent we expect turn, we have covered our bases with three guys who have done well domestically. Pakistan have also had success with reverse-swing so we have covered for that as well.

“It’s good to have KG Rabada back, Anrich Nortje has been leading the attack and Lungi Ngidi has made an exciting comeback. We’ve brought in Daryn Dupavillon as extra back-up, he brings pace and reverse-swing and it’s good to have that extra pace,” Mpitsang said on Friday.

Proteas squad – Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Sarel Erwee, Rassie van der Dussen, Keegan Petersen, Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, Kyle Verreynne, Temba Bavuma, Wiaan Mulder, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla, Dwaine Pretorius, Beuran Hendricks, Daryn Dupavillon, Ottneil Baartman.

Between Christmas and New Year – perhaps in a planned move to escape scrutiny – Cricket South Africa’s Members Council made a final decision to do away with the franchise system and instead implement a 15-team, two-division domestic structure.

It was certainly a contentious decision but the majority won out. Which is hardly a surprise because there are only six franchises and nine other provinces were always going to vote in their own self-interest for a place at the top table.

Cricket South Africa is a federation that is under enormous financial stress, which the Covid-19 pandemic is only making worse, so the fact that they should be expanding when most people would suggest they tighten their belts is a move that defies logic in many ways. A shrinking pie now has 15 mouths to feed instead of just six.

Where exactly the money is going to come from to ensure all 15 teams, especially teams seven and eight that will be ‘promoted’ to the premier division, are competitive is a major concern for me and for other provincial presidents I have spoken to. A commission set up a few years ago by CSA, when their financial outlook was much rosier than today, found that the system could only support a maximum of eight fully professional teams.

My other concern is that the Proteas are in a definite state of rebuilding, making it even more vital that there is a top-class domestic pipeline feeding them battle-hardened cricketers whose skills and temperament have been properly tested by strength-versus-strength cricket.

CSA’s statement announcing the domestic restructuring said they had “resolved to accept the recommendations of the David Richardson Task Team”, which makes it sound like there was just a single proposal put before the Members Council. Which is not true.

Richardson himself offered various scenarios while it is known that the South African Cricketers’ Association, the players’ union, presented numerous different models for consideration.

It seems, speaking to those who support the restructuring, that the extra teams will be encouraged to become more self-sufficient by seeking out their own sponsors. While this is a noble ideal, in reality this is pie in the sky. CSA used to have a dozen or so generous sponsors but since the economic downturn and their own almost total loss of reputation, that has dwindled down to a single-digit figure.

As one provincial president said to me: “One of the questions most asked is where the money is going to come from? Which sponsor is going to come in with lots of money during Covid and considering the current state of CSA? The affiliates are already struggling as we speak so are CSA going to have to subsidise everything? There were meant to be two T20 tournaments that were going to make a lot of money, there was the assumption that sponsors would pick up on those and pour money in, but they didn’t.”

But another provincial president says the affiliates will definitely be better off.

“It looks like there will be decent funds distributed and the affiliates will be a lot better off. We will still get money and top-up grants from CSA and I think it might work out really well. Some of the non-franchise teams already have good sponsors. And a certain amount of the money that was being spent on the franchises will be spread between the teams because there is no longer duplication of jobs when it comes to coaches and physios,” that president says.

But the expenses involved in running a professional cricket team are not small. The daily rate to run a stadium these days is about R50 000, while CSA only pay a hosting fee of R15 000 a day. The average cost to put on a single T20 match is R168 000. Even the bigger franchises are already considering retrenchments and I cannot see teams based in places like East London, Kimberley or Pietermaritzburg being able to compete on a level footing simply because the economies in those areas are really struggling. Life is a grind in those places for the majority of the population. And leading players and coaches are not going to gravitate towards those minor centres without big inducements.

Yes, it is good that there will be more playing opportunities for our professional cricketers – apart from the 70 who will lose their jobs because of this restructuring – but will those cricketers based in the smaller centres be playing competitively with the big guns: Central Gauteng, Northerns, KZN Coastal and Western Province?

Let’s hope that CSA get the right outcome from a decision almost certainly made for the wrong reasons.

A return to the Proteas is not on fast bowler Kyle Abbott’s radar right now, but the former Kolpak star said on Thursday that he always keeps an eye on South African cricket, which is why he believes the domestic restructuring that will do away with the six franchises is exactly what the game here needs.

Abbott this week joined the Titans until the end of the season, the expiration of the Kolpak system meaning he is once again available to South African teams as a domestic player. The 33-year-old, who played 60 matches for the Proteas across all three formats, was previously a stalwart for the Dolphins, turning out 122 times for the franchise.

But after Covid travel restrictions wrecked his 2020 plans – he did not play a single game for Hampshire, his English county side who have signed him as an overseas player for another two years – Abbott says his focus is on regaining his best form with the Titans.

“At the moment the Proteas are not in my immediate view, after a very tough 2020 when I basically didn’t play I just want to get back into the space I was in 18 months ago, I want to get back to that level. It’s quite difficult because the body had a nice rest, but I lost that competitive edge. After such a long layoff I need an environment that is going to be hard, I need to be outside my comfort zone.

“But South Africa and the Proteas are still very close to my heart and I’ve always got my eye on them. It seems everyone is now incredibly happy in that environment, which is great to hear. And the change to 15 teams and two divisions in domestic cricket is exactly what South African cricket needs right now. That’s how the first-class game works in the UK and it is the strongest in the world.”

England are the top side in white-ball cricket and ranked fourth in Tests, with Abbott saying their power comes from the competitiveness of their domestic game.

“To have that number of teams playing every week can only strengthen the game and in Division One you have the top four or five teams trying to win the trophy and the bottom four are fighting to avoid relegation, so the strength and competitiveness of the league are excellent. It’s been a long time coming but South African cricket needed to do something that puts more value on results.

“In the past you would have a couple of rained-out games and then a draw and you’d be out of it with nothing to play for. But relegation is a terrible thing, no-one wants to be relegated, it’s a horrible feeling, so you keep fighting. I know what that’s like because in 2017 when I first played for Hampshire it came down to the last hour of the season whether we’d be relegated or not. South Africa have a number of first-class facilities, from Buffalo Park to Potchefstroom, and they should use all of those,” Abbott said on Thursday.