Ken Borland

After a chastening start to the CSA T20 Challenge, our defending champion DP World Lions men’s team will be focusing this week on bouncing back strongly as they will be hosting two matches over the weekend.

The Dafabet Warriors on Friday and the HollywoodBets Dolphins on Sunday will be the visitors to the DP World Wanderers Stadium and the #PrideOfJozi captain Mitchell van Buuren is expecting a much better performance than they put up against the Momentum Multiply Titans in their season-opener last weekend.

“We didn’t really want to be playing catch-up cricket, but it was a slow start. We are always looking to learn though and we had some younger talent playing. But there are always high expectations playing for the DP World Lions and we now need to really hit the ground running this weekend,” Van Buuren said.

“It was a not-so-great start, but now we are looking to go back-to-back this weekend. We’ll be bringing much of the same approach as last season, we’re looking to play on the front foot. We have super-high standards at the DP World Lions, and we’ll be looking to uphold those this weekend.”

Van Buuren is leading the DP World Lions for the first time, but he is a 26-year-old who has a long captaincy pedigree.

“I’ve been a captain my whole life – from the King Edward first XI to the SA U19 and SA Emerging teams. So being captain is nothing new for me, but it is a dream come true to lead the DP World Lions, the team I’ve always wanted to play for,” he said.

“I’m going to try and lead by example, by my actions. Things like training the right behaviours, winning games with the bat is most important and making the best decisions I can in the field. Playing in the SA20 has helped immensely because I was exposed to some of the best T20 players in the country and in the world. I was fortunate to be at the Paarl Royals, where I got to play with Jos Buttler and David Miller, and I had a few conversations about leadership with them.”

Even amidst the loss to the Titans, there were some positives which the DP World Lions will look to build on. Left-arm paceman Kwena Maphaka continued to show what an incredible talent he is, his figures of two for 31 in four overs being exceptional in a total of 258 for six.

And Evan Jones batted with tremendous freedom late in the innings to blast a wonderful 83 runs off just 48 balls.

Friday’s match against the Warriors, who beat the Dolphins by six wickets in their opening match, starts at 6pm, while Sunday’s meeting with the KwaZulu-Natalians starts at 2pm.

Neil Brand was South Africa’s Test captain just three matches ago,  but now seems almost forgotten by Proteas coach Shukri Conrad. But the Titans skipper knows that a far greater weight of runs than he scored last season will be necessary to force his way back into the picture. Fortunately Brand is the persistent sort.

The left-handed opener and under-rated orthodox spinner led South Africa in their two Tests in New Zealand last summer when the SA20 was being played and had gobbled up most of the country’s top players. Now that everyone is available, competition for places for the two Tests in Bangladesh next month, and the series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan at home, is stiff with most of the stars available.

Brand has started the new season in fine fashion though, scoring an impressive century for the SA A team he led against Sri Lanka A, in Benoni. His 129 highlighted all his strengths – defiance at the crease, the technique to see off the new ball and the ability to shift gears when the bowling allowed it.

Despite his dream of playing Test cricket coming true in the most astonishing way, last season was actually a battle for Brand, who averaged just 25.92 in all first-class cricket last season, with one century and two fifties.

“It was a bit of a struggle,” Brand admitted when interviewed by Rapport. “I just couldn’t get going although I had lots of starts. But I learnt a lot last season too, especially going to New Zealand and playing for SA A. And I’ve put a lot of hard work in during the off-season, especially on my set-up because a lot of bowlers were getting me out from around the wicket, it was something they had obviously analysed.

“So I’ve made things a bit more simple for this season and it’s always nice to start with a hundred. It’s not really my personality to try and get away from cricket, I prefer hard work, so that’s what I did during the winter. There’s definitely a step-up between domestic and international cricket and it’s hardest in batting,” Brand said.

Now that the 28-year-old, who has been playing first-class cricket for nearly a decade, has a sense of what it requires to succeed at international level, he is well-placed to answer the question as to what our domestic players need to be able to make that step up.

If one has been following the conversation around local cricket recently, then you’ll not be surprised to hear him say playing more cricket is the key.

“We definitely lack cricket. Playing just seven first-class games makes it really tough and sometimes, if you have Proteas white-ball commitments, you only play three or four matches. I would definitely be keen for more red-ball games, we need at least 10. Most players who play for 10 years would be heading for 100 games, I have 55.

“So definitely more cricket is needed. Even for bowlers, for the volume required they need to be bowling 20 overs a day. Four-day cricket presents you with tough conditions and you have to find a way to perform. Our skills are there, but we just don’t execute them for long enough,” Brand said.

Despite Afghanistan inflicting a bitter ODI series defeat on South Africa in Sharjah, former Proteas fast bowler Allan Donald has nothing but praise for coach Jonathan Trott’s team and their suite of exciting talent.

Afghanistan hammered South Africa by six wickets with nearly half of their overs left in the first ODI, before humbling the Proteas by 177 runs in the second match. The 2023 World Cup semi-finalists were bundled out for just 106 and 134 in those first two matches, but they did record a face-saving seven-wicket win in the third and final game.

Champion leg-spinner Rashid Khan took five for 19 and left-arm orthodox Nangeyalia Kharote four for 26 in the second ODI, but Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar was arguably even more of a mystery to the batsmen as he took three for 20 in the first match.

Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz was outstanding with the bat, scoring 194 runs in three innings, including a matchwinning, fiery innings of 105 in the second victory.

“It’s a quality Afghanistan team and Jonathan Trott does not get enough accolades for what he has done there. He has built that team over two years. It’s been so cool to see the rise and rise of Afghanistan cricket and they play with such flair and confidence. It is great for the world game,” Donald told sportsboom.com in an exclusive interview at the Wanderers, where he is now the bowling coach for the Central Gauteng Lions, the champion first-class and T20 team in South Africa.

“Afghanistan will be more and more a force to be reckoned with if they can sort their batting out. I love the way Trott has demanded that Gurbaz take more responsibility, he’s been on his neck a bit because he wasn’t that type of player before. But him batting like he is now will rub off on the top six and it sets Afghanistan up with the bat.

“And dealing with the spin of Ghazanfar is really hard work. Plus he’s a dangerous hitter as well. That whole spin attack just causes chaos for the opposition,” Donald said.

The great fast bowler, who took 330 wickets in 72 Tests for South Africa at just 22.25, and 1216 first-class wickets at 22.76, said he is not overly concerned by the Proteas’ performance, pointing out that coach Rob Walter was resting several first-choice players. While the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Heinrich Klaasen are actually resting in their jacuzzis and reclining chairs, David Miller, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi are currently playing in the Caribbean Premier League.

“I can see what Rob is trying to do and he has to rest certain players,” Donald said. “It’s another chance for the next-best players and I get it, it gave him a guide as to where the fringe players are at, where the depth is. It was a great time to blood some players, to show them he backs them.

“So South African fans shouldn’t be too upset. I half-expected it, especially in Sharjah against that quality of spin bowling. I think Rob pretty much knows what his team will look like in 2027 for the World Cup and that team will play together the majority of the time.

“It’s Wiaan Mulder’s time now, Bjorn Fortuin as well, and Reeza Hendricks just needs to keep chipping his way back into form. Kwena Maphaka has three years to get ready and Nqaba Peter definitely offers something different. He was great last year for us, but there’s no doubt his second season at top level will be tougher. We’ve had those conversations with him, told him to expect a difficult challenge this season,” Donald said of the Central Gauteng Lions stars in the Proteas mix.

It says much for the important role that KFC Mini-Cricket played in his journey that Temba Bavuma, having just settled back into home life after the exuberant celebrations of the stirring World Test Championship final, was willing to hop on a plane from Cape Town and spend the day in Polokwane as the special guest for their 2025 National Seminar.

Bavuma’s standing as an inspirational figure amongst the grassroots coaches in this country was obvious. And fully justified after he had led his team to a place no Proteas team, in the words of Captain Kirk, had gone before – the podium of a major ICC event.

Fans of the famous Star Trek series celebrate Kirk as being the epitome of a style of leadership that is inventive, self-confident but inclusive, brave and unselfish. As the captain of the Starship Enterprise, Kirk was in charge of a leadership team that was highly diverse, given that the TV series first came out in the 1960s – there was an Asian, a Russian, a Scotsman, a Vulcan and an African-American woman – Uhuru – with whom he shared the first ever inter-racial kiss on U.S. television.

Bavuma brings many of the same attributes and has also successfully knit together a diverse Proteas team that is starting to reflect the realities of modern South Africa.

Back here on Earth, and more specifically in Mzansi, there are huge socio-economic issues that make Bavuma an outlier, one of the lucky few Black sports stars who have been able to escape the grinding poverty of township life and fulfil his talent.

Bavuma has paid his dues in terms of all the work he has put into his career, but he acknowledged that he needed the support of programs like KFC Mini-Cricket and a bit of luck to now be rightfully praised as someone who has changed the history of South African cricket.

“A lot of everything started with KFC Mini-Cricket,” Bavuma told the star-struck audience. “I was six or seven when I started playing mini-cricket in Langa and it was mostly older ladies doing the coaching back then. But they instilled discipline and the memories and friendships you make as a child stay with us.

“I left Langa when I was 11 or 12 and I’ve led a fairly privileged life from then. But I was back there this weekend and I still stay in touch with a coach like Mark Khoabane, it’s great that he’s still contributing to the system. It all starts at grassroots and I remember when the West Indies came to Langa in 1999, you could actually touch Brian Lara and Curtly Ambrose.

“I would like to find a way to close the gap between schools in Langa and a place like Bishops, for example. Because if the resources are not there for our children, then we are just offering them opportunity. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but it can always be done better.

“From my days at KFC Mini-Cricket, I remember the discipline and how you need to arrive at practice. You’ve got to be brave to go for your dream and to keep going. You must stay true to your passion. And you must have fun,” Bavuma said.

The first Black African batsman to play Test cricket for South Africa became the captain of the team in early 2023, against the West Indies, unfortunately making a pair in his first match as skipper. The armband has kept him on the hop since then.

“Captaincy in South Africa is tough, you have to know politics. First, you have to understand who you are as a person and a cricketer, you have to be comfortable with not having all the answers. It’s about knowing your strengths and what you need to work on.

“Fortunately we have a few leaders in the team: KG Rabada leads through his actions, Kesh Maharaj has a cricket brain you cannot beat and Aiden Markram gets to places in the dressing room that I can’t get to,” Bavuma said.

Former Central Gauteng Lions coach Geoff Toyana, now with Easterns, was the driver for much of Bavuma’s success once his family moved to Johannesburg and he graduated from St David’s Marist. He knows what makes the 35-year-old tick as well as anyone, and the World Test Championship final was an emotional time for Toyana too.

“When Temba was at St David’s, he joined Soweto Cricket Club and that’s when we got close. I was then a selector and assistant coach for Ray Jennings in the 2009 SA U19 team and we spent lots of time together at nets, we bonded. I said to him then that one day he would captain the Lions. I didn’t aim high enough!

“I remember when we met with him at the Lions, he came with a notebook full of his plans. He has always been very thorough and organised. He wanted to bat number four for the Lions, but we still had Neil McKenzie and we said he’ll have to learn from him. I became Lions head coach in 2012 and I backed Temba in all formats, he became a regular in the team.

“When Enoch Nkwe took over as coach in 2018, I told him Temba must be made captain this year. When he was chosen for the national team, I was one of the first people he told – his mother first and then me! It’s been a great privilege knowing him and he says I was more excited than he was, but one of my goals as a coach was to produce a Black African batter for the Proteas,” Toyana told kenborland.com.

It was fitting, then, that Bavuma requested that it be Toyana, and former Lions assistant coach Dumisa Makalima, who picked him up at Polokwane Airport. “Geoff was a coach who gave us a sense of peace. He freed us up and allowed us to express ourselves,” Bavuma said.

Due to the hatred that still infests parts of our society, there has always been a lot of negative noise around Bavuma. But diminutive as he is, Bavuma is a man who stands tallest when times are toughest.

“I’m so proud of him,” Toyana said, “the abuse that little man gets. But he has shown incredible resolve and fight and calmness. He can be really proud of what he did.”

Bavuma is now someone who actively mentors the new generation and he shares how he has managed to overcome the vile, often faceless criticism.

“I don’t make everything personal and I don’t take myself too seriously. I focus on what I can control, which is what is happening in my head and my heart. Anything else, I don’t give too much energy to. But it’s not easy and I’ve seen how it affects the younger guys,” the courageous hero said.

Bavuma has largely done his talking with the bat, and lately it has been shouting out his pedigree as one of the very best. In the last five years, he averages 49.77 in Test cricket; his ODI record is also outstanding: averaging 43.97 at a strike-rate of 87.74.

He plays with a technical assurance which not many other South African batsmen can match.

“Temba is one of the few batsmen gifted with the ability to play the ball late,” Toyana exclusively told kenborland.com. “He still calls me to have a look at his head position from time to time, but his biggest skill is seeing the ball early and playing late. He hits the ball under his eyes.

“And under pressure he stays calm. Like he did at Lord’s, he had to really knuckle down, batting through injury, and he produced something special. It’s huge for the country what Temba and his team have achieved. People are excited about Test cricket again and it will help the whole pipeline, with money hopefully now coming in.”

With the celebrations for the epic World Test Championship win now coming to an end [Wiaan Mulder’s magnificence is rather dominating the limelight now], Bavuma has been able to better process what he and the Proteas have achieved.

“We had a lot of points to prove and a lot to play for at Lord’s. We wanted to do something special for the country and Shukri Conrad and Ashwell Prince had both just lost loved ones. People were having a go at KG Rabada after his controversy. Since then, a lot of beers went down but I think we have a proper perspective of what we’ve done.

“It felt like a home game playing away at Lord’s and we could hear all the different chants from the crowd. When we did our lap of honour, the stadium was still half-full, and to have my family there was so special because cricket takes a lot from them.

“To do it at Lord’s, the home of cricket, was also special, and it was against Australia, the old foes. We couldn’t have scripted it any better. When we came home, I’ve never seen the airport like that and it started to give us a sense of what we had done. It’s been crazy. I’ve just tried to embrace the moment and everything it means. But it will probably take a couple of years before we are properly out of the celebrations.

And then, pointing to The Mace, Bavuma said “That was my biggest motivator, to do something that has not been done before by our country. But to pursue something great or something that has not been done before, you know there is going to be struggle.

“You have to keep finding a way to show up every day, and if you really believe in your dream, and you go for it with all your might, then things will align,” Bavuma said.