Ken Borland

Pace bowler JP de Villiers will no doubt want to spend more time in the Titans team next summer and the 25-year-old reminded everyone of his talents when he won the Northerns Senior Provincial Player of the Year award at the union’s prizegiving over the weekend.

De Villiers played just two Sunfoil Series games for the Titans last season, but showed his all-round promise by averaging 29 with the bat and taking seven wickets at 27.28.

He was Northerns’ leading wicket-taker in the three-day competition, however, with 36 scalps at an average of 20.19 and he averaged 24.72 with the bat, including an unbeaten century.

De Villiers also helped himself to the best Senior Provincial Bowler award, while Shershan Naidoo and Heinrich Klaasen were his fellow winners, sharing the batting award.

Maggie Mpahlele was his mimic for the Northerns women’s side, winning the bowler and player of the year awards, while national captain Mignon du Preez took home the award for best batter.

Du Preez was honoured alongside Marcia Letsoalo, Sunė Luus and Andrie Steyn for making the national women’s team, while Northerns’ long-term future looks bright with

Driaan Bruwer, Aiden Markram, Corbyn Bosch, Luus and Steyn all acknowledged for making the SA U19 side.

Left-arm spinner Ryan Houbert has previously played for Northerns and he was named the Best Club Cricketer of the Year for his 53 wickets for CBC Old Boys.

A club-mate, Henk Coetzee, was the leading batsman with 880 runs, but CBC Old Boys could not prevent the top-class Tuks first XI from winning the Premier League.

A host of other awards were handed out as a memorable evening celebrated the achievements of cricketers from U9 to international level.

 

 

AWARD WINNERS – 2014

 

Primary Schools

 

U9 Large Schools League        –           Hennopspark

U9 Medium Schools League   –           Mayville

U10 Large Schools League      –           Hennopspark

U10 Medium Schools League –           Pretoria Oos

U11 Large Schools League      –           Midstream College

U11 Medium Schools League –           Tygerpoort

U11 Small Schools League      –           Die Poort

U12 Large Schools League      –           Lynnwood Laer

U12 Medium Schools League –           Elarduspark

U13 Large Schools League      –           Constantiapark

U13 Medium Schools League –           Tygerpoort

U13 Small Schools League      –           Lynnwood Ridge

U13 Girls League                    –           Boerefort

 

High Schools

 

A League                                –           Waterkloof 1

B League                                –           AHS 2

C League                                 –           AHS 3

D League                                 –           PBHS 2

E League                                 –           Menlopark 3

F League                                  –           Menlopark 4

G League                                 –           Wagpos

H League                                 –           Garsfontein 4

I League                                  –           AHS 4

J League                                  –           Erasmus

U15 A League                          –           Garsfontein

U15 B League                          –           Midstream College

U14 A League                          –           Menlopark

U14 B League                          –           Midstream College

U19 Girls League                    –           Zwartkops

 

Individual School Awards

 

Best Player of the year: U13 Standard Bank              –           Anslin Fortuin

Best Player of the year: U15 Week                            –           Shared : Dean Foxcroft

& Nkosinathi Msiza

Best Player of the year: U17 Week                            –           Jannaman Malan

Best Player of the year: U19 Coca Cola Khaya Majola –        Driaan Bruwer

Best Player of the year: U19 Girls Week                    –           Sunė Luus

 

KFC Mini Cricket

 

Recognition Award                 –           Ian Morton

Recognition Award                 –           Sagree Naicker

Recognition Award                 –           Nicolien van Deventer

Recognition Award                 –           Lana Hattingh

Recognition Award     –           Angie Makhafola

Recognition Award     –           Madelien Vivieres

 

 

Junior Clubs

 

U9 Platinum                –           Tshwane Metro A

U9 Gold                       –           Moot A

U9 Silver                      –           Tshwane Metro B

U11 Platinum              –           Assupol Tuks A

U11 Gold                     –           Tshwane Metro A

U11 Silver                    –           Assupol Tuks C

U13 Platinum              –           Centurion Kavaliers A

U13 Gold                     –           Irene Villagers B

U13 Silver                    –           Tuine C

U15 Platinum              –           Willowquins A

U15 Gold                     –           Defence B

 

Senior Clubs

 

Premier League                      –           Assupol Tuks 1

Promotion League                  –           Pretoria 1

Reserve League                      –           Shared : Assupol Tuks 3 & PHSOB 2

Presidents League                   –           Police 2

Second League                        –           CBCOB 3

Third League                           –           Assupol Tuks 7

Fourth League                         –           AC Old Boys 5

Fifth League                            –           Moot 3

Sixth League                            –           Shared : Pretoria 5 & AC Old Boys 7

Seventh League                       –           Pretoria 6

Women’s Premier                   –           Shared : Irene Villagers & Sinoville & Tuks

Women’s T20                          –           Assupol Tuks

Knock Out League                   –           Assupol Tuks 1

Club Twenty20 League           –           Shared : Assupol Tuks 1 & TUT 1

NCU Club of Excellence          –           Assupol Tuks

 

Individual Club Career Awards

 

53 Club Season Wickets                                  –           Ryan Houbert (CBCOB)

880 Club Season Runs                                     –           Henk Coetzee (CBCOB)

 

4393 Club Career Runs                                   –           Reinhardt Mostert (Villagers)

3441 Club Career Runs                                   –           Andre Malan (Villagers)

3253 Club Career Runs                                   –           Henk Coetzee (CBCOB)

304 Club Career Wickets                                –           Will Giessing (ACOB)

411 Club Career Wickets                                –           Piet Botha (ACOB)

166 Club Career Wickets                                –           Ricardo Moonsamy (Laudium)

 

Best Club Player of the Year                           –           Ryan Houbert

 

 

Differently Abled Awards

 

LSEN Player of the Year                                  –           Armand Coetzee

Intellectually Impaired Player of the Year     –           Kirby Legoabe

Deaf Player of the Year                                  –           Reinhardt Limbach

Blind Player of the Year                                  –           Marco van der Linde

Disabled Player of the Year                            –           Ruan van Aswegen

 

Scorer Awards

 

Titans Scorer of the Year                                –           Ashler Serwadi

Premier League Scorer of the Year                –           Kathy Kulper

Promotion League Scorer of the Year                        –           Armandt Oosthuizen

Best newcomer Scorer of the Year                –           Coert de Toit

Most dedicated Scorer of the Year                –           Eunice Mahlanyane

 

Umpire Awards

 

Best Junior Umpire in League                                    –           Katlego Molefsane

Most Promising Development Umpire           –           Lucky Motswege

Most Promising Senior Umpire                      –           Kevin Lawrence

NCUA’s Umpire of the Year                            –           Jurie Sadler

NCU’s Club Umpire of the Year                      –           Hassen Dawood

NCUA’s Club of the Year                                 –           Sinoville

NCUA’s Premier League Captain of the Year –          David Bunn

 

National Awards

 

SA Deaf                                   –           Gerard Kroese

SA Deaf                                   –           Reinhardt Limbach

SA Deaf                                   –           Prince Mashego

SA Deaf                                   –           Coenraad van den Berg

SA Deaf                                   –           Onalerona Seemise

 

SA Blind                                   –           Johan Schroeder

SA Blind                                   –           Vernon Barnard

SA Blind                                   –           Sedizani Netshikwele

SA Blind                                   –           Innocent Phiri

SA Blind                                   –           Marco van der Linde

SA Blind                                   –           Sean Schwan

SA Blind                                   –           Ephraim Mathapo

 

SA Intellectually Impaired      –           Kirby Legoabe

SA Intellectually Impaired      –           Karabo Matlakala

SA Intellectually Impaired      –           Brendan Engelbrecht

SA Intellectually Impaired      –           Sello Ndima

SA Intellectually Impaired      –           Puseletso Modimola

SA Intellectually Impaired      –           Mzwandile Mhlongo

 

 

SA Women                              –           Mignon du Preez

SA Women                              –           Marcia Letsoalo

SA Women                              –           Sunė Luus

SA Women                              –           Andrie Steyn

 

SA U17 Cubs Invitation            –           Jannaman Malan

SA U17 Cubs Invitation            –           Rivaldo Moonsamy

SA U17 Cubs Invitation            –           Stefan Klopper

 

SA Under 19 Girls                    –           Sunė Luus

SA Under 19 Girls                    –           Andrie Steyn

 

SA Under 19 Colts                   –           Dustin Melton

SA Under 19 Colts                   –           Rivaldo Moonsamy

SA Schools                               –           Driaan Bruwer

 

CSA Colts XI                             –           Tian Koekemoer

 

SA Under 19                            –           Driaan Bruwer

SA Under 19                            –           Aiden Markram

SA Under 19                            –           Corbyn Bosch

 

USSA Representation              –           Heinrich Klaasen

USSA Representation              –           Sean Nowak

USSA Representation              –           Douglas Hewitt

 

Women’s Cricket Awards

 

Best Bowler of the Year                                  –           Maggie Mphahlele

Best Batsman of the Year                               –           Mignon du Preez

Most Promising Player of the Year                –           Andrie Steyn

 

Best Senior Women’s Player of the Year       –           Maggie Mphahlele

 

Senior Provincial Awards

 

Best Senior Provincial Bowler of the Year     –           JP de Villiers

Best Senior Provincial Batsman of the Year   –           Shared :

Shershan Naidoo &

Heinrich Klaasen

 

Senior Provincial Player of the Year               –           JP de Villiers

 

 

Russell Domingo joked yesterday that he would have given away his children if offered beforehand a score of 172 for four in the ICC World T20 semi-final and, even though that tournament once again ended in disappointment for South Africa, the coach is confident that the Proteas will become world champions one day soon.

“It’s an important year ahead for South African cricket, we start planning for that dreaded competition that all South Africans hate – the World Cup – but like the New Zealand rugby team after years of heartache, our team is not far away from becoming world champions in one of the limited-overs formats,” Domingo told a gathering yesterday of the sport’s major stakeholders at the Repucom Breakfast to announce their marketing research results.

“I can assure you that we have got the players, we just need to support them. The players believe that they are under more scrutiny than anyone else in these tournaments, which is probably fair, but there is a maturity in the side now and they deal with pressure so much better. I know we didn’t win the World T20 semi-final, but if someone had offered me a score of 172 for four beforehand, I would have almost given away my children for it!,” Domingo added.

South Africa are also going to have to find a new Test captain and fill the gaps created by the retirements of Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith, but Domingo said there are capable replacements in the system, although they will need to be given time to find their feet.

“The biggest thing the South African public must come to terms with is that whoever replaces them needs to be given time, like Jacques was at the start of his career. They need to be allowed to develop, but the game moves on and it will be a new and exciting team taking a different direction. We’ve got to be patient.

“As far as the captaincy goes, there are three or four good candidates that I would feel comfortable with, so there’s a lot of good leadership in the team,” Domingo said.

Cricket South Africa CEO Haroon Lorgat said the panel set up to choose the new Test captain are still doing their work.

“The selectors met earlier this week, but I still want to talk to the candidate as well. It’s a board appointment on the back of that panel’s recommendation and we will finalise our thoughts on June 3,” Lorgat said.

Despite the disappointment of having to host a curtailed tour by India, Lorgat said CSA are on track to only narrowly miss their financial targets for 2013/14.

“We targeted R280 million profit for this financial year and I reckon we’ll be less than R20 million short despite not having the full India tour. This is partly due to the exchange rate, we don’t mind the dollar rate and the weakening of the rand because that has cushioned the knock, but we’ve also stripped a lot of the costs out of the system,” Lorgat said.

Comparisons are often made between cricket and the two other major sports in South Africa – football and rugby – but, according to Repucom, CSA are doing well.

Proteas coverage attracted a total unique TV audience, across both the SABC and SuperSport, of 14.02 million people, compared to 13.3 million for rugby and 19.61 million for soccer.

Domestic cricket received 290 hours of live coverage, compared to 65 hours for the Currie Cup, 236 hours for SuperRugby and 346 hours for the Absa Premiership.

CSA differs from rugby and football, however, in that the majority of their money comes from overseas.

“The model of cricket is based on international revenue, the vast majority of our money comes from offshore. Probably half our income is from broadcast rights and 80% of that is offshore,” Lorgat confirmed, which explains why CSA can afford to push the development and spread of the game on free-to-air TV.

Even the relationship with the Board of Control for Cricket in India is looking more rosy, according to Lorgat, whose arch-nemesis, Narayanaswami Srinivasan, the BCCI president, is in danger of being jailed for fraud and corruption.

“We’ve cleared some air with the BCCI and we’re in a better space with them. But the wheel has turned and now they have issues and are inward-looking,” Lorgat said.

 

Going into the tournament with confidence is one of the laws of success in the World Cup, according to South Africa coach Russell Domingo, and he has already mapped out his plans for a summer that could be the making of his tenure in charge of the Proteas.

“Confidence going into the World Cup is always vital. Playing well throughout the year leading up to the tournament is probably more important than anything else.

“If you’re losing a lot beforehand, then you have to make changes in personnel or strategy just before the tournament, which is never ideal. The players need to feel comfortable in the strategy you’re going to use,” Domingo said after his presentation to the country’s leading coaches at the CSA Level IV Coaching Conference at the High Performance Centre yesterday.

One of the strategies which Domingo believes will be highly applicable in the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand from next February is the use of bouncers, while he defended the Proteas’ scarce use of yorkers.

“How many bouncers you use depends on the opposition and the pitches, but it’s a very useful weapon. Someone like Kumar Sangakkara ducks just about every bouncer so those are dot-balls.

“The stats show that a wide yorker is very hittable if you just miss your length. Very few people bowl six yorkers an over at the death, even Lasith Malinga, who has the best yorker of anyone, doesn’t bowl it  every time.

“Predictability is very dangerous at the end of the innings, you can’t just bowl yorkers, you have to mix up your deliveries. The short ball is very important in this regard because it causes doubt and fear in the minds of batsmen, and cause them to get into strange positions sometimes as well,” Domingo said.

Although Jacques Kallis has halved his cricketing commitments, Domingo said the great all-rounder was still an integral part of their plans for the World Cup. There is no doubt that, used in the top-order to set up the innings, Kallis can be a batting kingpin for South Africa, while he is also still good for a few overs as well.

But in order for the team’s planning to be complete by the time they begin their World Cup challenge against Zimbabwe in Hamilton on February 15, Kallis is going to have to play most of South Africa’s ODIs in the next nine months.

“We have 24 ODIs before the World Cup, but to ask Jacques to play in all of those is unrealistic. But he’ll definitely be needed to play in the vast majority of those because we have to develop a strategy for playing with Jacques Kallis. We have to incorporate him back into the team and it effects the balance – we could play seven batsmen instead of six batsmen and an all-rounder. It’s a different dynamic because we’ve developed a strategy for playing without Jacques Kallis in recent times,” Domingo said.

AB de Villiers was just an eight-year-old child when the World Cup was last held in Australasia in 1992, the wonder of South Africa’s return to the international fold turning to dismay when poor rain rules ended their dream run at the semi-final stage and started a seeming curse for the team in that tournament that they have yet to shake off.

De Villiers will almost certainly be the captain of South Africa’s World Cup squad this time around, and he is also the favourite to inherit Graeme Smith’s Test captaincy.

“The captaincy is not cut-and-dried and there are some really good options. It would be a tough ask for AB to be captain, keep wicket and be a key batsman, and the selectors will take that into cognisance. I have input with the selectors and then their recommendation goes to the board, who make the final decision,” Domingo said while trying to throw journalists off the scent.

But he possibly let slip his feelings on the matter when he said: “It’s going to be a big challenge for the new leader to step up and fill the massive void that Graeme has left. But the maturity of the Test side will enable him to do it and senior guys like Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla know that a new leader is coming in and will bring different ideas to the team.”

South Africa have been offenders before when it comes to going into World Cups without covering all their bases, but with the domestic competitions arranged to help their planning and a limited-overs tour to New Zealand and Australia in October/November, they should not want for preparation.

“I’ll be looking for consistency in selection and strategies, and hopefully we’ll have settled on our combination and the style we want to play. The last 10 ODIs before the World Cup, I’ll look to play the best XI as much as possible.

“We have a pretty good idea of the 15 we want, but it would be naïve to think all 15 of those will make the World Cup because of injuries, loss of form or a domestic player shooting the lights out and putting his name in the hat,” Domingo said.

 

 

The University of Pretoria’s Assupol Tuks have ended the 2013/14 summer far ahead of any other club in the country, winning their third successive National Club Championships title earlier this week, to add to their triumphs as the leading student team in the country and their success in qualifying as the South African representatives for the closest thing to a varsity world cup.

Tuks’ success – they have gone unbeaten through 18 games and three years in the National Club Championships and have won the Northerns Premier League for the last five years, including an unbeaten run of 85 matches – is down to the perfect dovetailing of wonderful talent, an inspiring coach and tremendous facilities at the same time and in the same place.

Graeme van Buuren, Theunis de Bruyn and Vincent Moore are all players who have already shown great potential at franchise level for the Titans, while Aiden Markram and Corbin Bosch are two future stars fresh from winning the U19 World Cup.

And then there are the lesser known but key players like new-ball pair Gerhard Linde and Sean Nowak, spinners GC Pretorius, Ruben Claasen, Tertius Gouws and David Mogatlane, all-rounders Johan Wessels and Tian Koekemoer, and talented batsmen like Sean Dickson, Heinrich Klaasen, Murray Coetzee and Gerry Pike.

Pierre de Bruyn is the coach who brings all this talent together and gets it performing as a phenomenal unit. A hard-nosed cricketer from Easterns and a protégé of Ray Jennings, De Bruyn believes strongly in work ethic and discipline.

“I wasn’t talented at all but I managed to string together 15 years as a professional cricketer through complete hard work. I always tried to be one step ahead of the guy next to me through focus, discipline and work ethic. I really wanted the tough situation and it helps coaching to have had a tough career myself.

“From what I’ve experienced as a player, I can teach the youngsters how to start and sustain a professional career, both of which are not that easy. I’m working with guys who have everything in terms of talent, but I can really teach them things in terms of mental preparation or how to build an innings,” De Bruyn said.

The professional approach at Tuks has led to someone like national U19 captain Markram making the strides Jennings hoped for when he suggested the batsman go to the University of Pretoria.

“I’m very happy here, the training is awesome, at very high intensity, and this is where my game will improve,” Markram said, and that was borne out by him winning the player of the tournament awards for both the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals, that saw Tuks beat Maties to secure a trip to London for the world finals, and the Momentum National Club Championships.

The considerable support of both the University of Pretoria’s sports office and chief sponsor Assupol ensures that the Tuks cricket team has facilities which are fit for a first-class team and that they have been able to spend R2.5 million on upgrading the nets.

While Tuks’ success is obviously wonderful for the team, their coaching staff and the players’ parents and supporters, it’s important not to lose sight of the bigger picture and that is the benefit Titans cricket derives from their prosperity.

“The Titans definitely benefit from the excellence of Tuks. With full-time coaching, top facilities and the support of the university and a major sponsor, they attract top players. It makes it hard for the other clubs in Northerns, but ultimately it all benefits the Titans,” president John Wright said.