Ken Borland

Batsmen in the current IPL have bravely gone where no batters have gone before in hitting more than one-thousand sixes in the current competition, and Proteas captain Temba Bavuma is hoping his batsmen can play with similar freedom when South Africa play a T20 series in India next month.

The one-thousand sixes barrier was broken for the first time in the IPL in the final league stage match of 2022 on May 22, the previous most maximums in a season being the 872 scored in 2018.

“I’ve really enjoyed being off from cricket for the last four weeks, so I have not watched all the IPL, but the one thing I have seen is that there have been a lot more sixes hit – more than a thousand,” Bavuma said at a Castle Lager launch in Tembisa on Wednesday.

“As a bowler, you’re probably scared to see that, but you’re smiling as a batsman. It means our bowlers will need to be a lot smarter, but for the batsmen, the pitches are good.

“Our batsmen can really go out and express themselves. Our game doesn’t need to change too much, but to have power-hitters like David Miller and Tristan Stubbs teaming up together in the middle would be incredible.

“They could be a potent partnership. David smashed the lights out yesterday to get Gujarat Titans in the final, Quinton de Kock bashed it around the other night and Kagiso Rabada has been brilliant as well,” Bavuma said.

While Stubbs will be fighting with the likes of Heinrich Klaasen and Reeza Hendricks for the one batting spot that could be open, Bavuma is backing the 21-year-old to make his mark on his first call-up to the Proteas squad.

“It’s nice to see young new faces in the team and we’ve been on the receiving end of Tristan’s batting a number of times at the Lions. We’ll try to make the environment as comfortable as we can for him.

“He’s a young guy so he also has the opportunity to learn a lot from the older guys in the team. He’ll have guys around him to make his transition to international cricket as smooth as possible.

“Hopefully he can soak it all in because international cricket is different to the IPL or domestic T20. Hopefully he can really take his career forward.

“We have a couple of guys in really good form from the IPL, but we expect it to be a tough series. India are always very competitive and we’ve seen some of their guys have a very good IPL as well,” Bavuma said.

Edinburgh prop Pierre Schoeman says the Cape Town Stadium and its adjacent Waterfront have plenty of distractions but his focus will be squarely on his key battle with the Stormers front row in their United Rugby Championship quarterfinal on June 4.

Schoeman is well-experienced when it comes to travelling to Cape Town to take on the Stormers, having done it several times while playing for their archrivals the Bulls between 2014 and 2018, before he joined Edinburgh and subsequently made his international debut, scoring a try, for Scotland in October 2021.

“I feel it’s a massive responsibility because the scrums are going to be a key battle, and the lineouts,” Schoeman said on Tuesday. “And the Stormers scrum has been going really well, they still pride themselves on that.

“Steven Kitshoff speaks for himself, Scarra Ntubeni is also a very good scrummager, and there’s a reason why Frans Malherbe is paid the big bucks at tighthead. Neethling Fouche has also done very well there.

“So we are putting a lot of emphasis on the scrums, but I have to be careful not to make it an individual battle. I can’t just throw my weight around just against those two props.

“I have to do my bit for the team and there are small moments you are responsible for that can make the momentum better for your team. Not just scrums, but tackles, carrying well, lifting in the lineouts,” Schoeman said.

The 28-year-old with nine Test caps said Edinburgh are also going to have to concentrate hard on their defence, against a Stormers side that are equipped to punish any looseness in their strategy or execution.

“The Stormers scrum is really good and their lineout is decent too, but then you’ve got that tight five offloading to wings all over the field.

“Evan Roos gets them on the front foot and then you’ve got Damian Willemse standing at flyhalf and using his quick feet to create something out of nothing.

“Tactically we need to be spot-on, but we pride ourselves on our defence and we have so much up our attacking sleeves as well. We respect them and we’ll have to be vigilant on defence when they start chucking the ball around.

“If you give them a small gap then they can win another 10-15 metres with just one offload. The Stormers are not like in the past just bashing it up, all of a sudden you have the quick feet of a Warrick Gelant joining the line,” Schoeman warned.

There’s a lot to think about for the young players at Loftus Versfeld these days: Trying to win the United Rugby Championship and the Currie Cup at the same time, and then next year having the European Champions Cup as another add-on to their plate.

And for an exciting prospect like loose forward Muller Uys, who also played club rugby for Tuks last weekend, there is the added pressure of trying to nail down a place in the Bulls URC squad.

The 23-year-old Uys will no doubt pack down at the back of the scrum for the Bulls on Friday night in their Currie Cup match against the Pumas, but with Cyle Brink injuring his knee against the Ospreys last weekend, there is likely to be a place in the match-day 23 for the following weekend’s quarterfinal against the Sharks.

Uys credits the set-up at Loftus for providing both clarity and motivation for all their players.

“When I get the chance, it’s my responsibility to show I am good enough to play URC,” Uys said on Tuesday. “I need to take ownership and show what I’m worth. There’s a clear plan and the players understand.

“In terms of training with the two squads, they make it easy for us to go from Currie Cup to URC, to slot into either side. The way we prepare, it’s 100% about the long-term and that will help a lot for next year.

“My career took a bit of a different turn with injury, but I must just take it day-by-day and keep learning. I must not think I’m too old or too good to learn. In a way I’ve started afresh.

“I played club rugby for Tuks last week, it was a nice way to get game-time, keep the skills sharp. It’s an opportunity to grow and learn because maybe there are things you haven’t seen there,” Uys said.

The Bulls Currie Cup side showed their ability when they totally dominated a URC-strength Lions team in their first half of their previous Currie Cup game, before sadly going off the boil in the second half. But the 43-37 win has nevertheless given them a timely confidence boost going into the last couple of rounds.

“We’ll carry a lot of confidence from that game because the Lions had a quality side and we manned up and really went well in the first half. There’s a lot of responsibility now for us to back up that performance,” Uys said.

“We matched up physically and did quite well against the Lions, we just had to manage the game better in the final 40 minutes, both with the ball and without ball-in-hand. The Pumas will not be much different to be honest,” assistant coach Hayden Groepes said.

South Africa’s tour to Ireland next month will see the Proteas Women’s team herald the arrival of a new face in international cricket in Western Province all-rounder Delmi Tucker.

Tucker is the only new cap in the 15-strong squad that will play three T20s and three ODIs in Dublin. There are four other changes to the squad that reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in New Zealand in March, with wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta, all-rounder Marizanne Kapp, opening batter Lizelle Lee and seamer Masabata Klaas all unavailable for medical reasons. Veteran batter Mignon du Preez retired after the World Cup and also needed to be replaced.

The introduction of Tucker to the Proteas team is clearly exciting for convenor of selectors Clinton du Preez.

“Delmi Tucker has been rewarded off the back of a very successful domestic season and has really made positive strides with significant contributions, and we are looking forward to seeing her transition into the international arena,” Du Preez said.

Tucker, who was educated at Hoërskool Menlo Park, the same school as captain Sune Luus, averaged 40 with the bat to help guide Western Province to second place in the Women’s Provincial One-Day Top 6 during the 2021/22 domestic season, including three half-centuries. She averaged 64.50 as WP were crowned the Women’s Provincial T20 champions. With the ball, off-spinner Tucker picked up 14 wickets in 10 games in the 50-over competition.

Apart from the 24-year-old Tucker, the other players brought into the squad are spinner Raisibe Ntozakhe, all-rounder Nadine de Klerk and batters Andrie Steyn and Anneke Bosch.

Regular captain Dane van Niekerk is continuing her rehabilitation from a fractured ankle and has returned to individual training.

“The selection approach has been very clear and is set out to balance both the preparations towards the T20 Commonwealth Games and the T20 World Cup. With the latter a few months away, coupled with the ODI games that commences the ICC Women’s Championships ranking points, a blend of players who can excel and add value to both formats were selected and to allow for rotation,” Du Preez added.

Proteas squad: Anneke Bosch (NW), Tazmin Brits (NW), Trisha Chetty (KZN Coastal), Nadine de Klerk (WP), Lara Goodall (WP), Shabnim Ismail (KZN Coastal), Ayabonga Khaka (CGL), Sune Luus (Northerns), Nonkululeko Mlaba (KZN Coastal), Raisibe Ntozakhe (CGL), Tumi Sekhukhune (CGL), Andrie Steyn (WP), Chloe Tryon (KZN Coastal), Delmi Tucker (WP), Laura Wolvaardt (WP).