Ken Borland

South Africa kept their structure and pushed India all the way in the first half of their FIH Hockey Pro League match in Potchefstroom on Sunday, but really lost focus in the second half and ended up being hammered 10-2.

India had been beaten 5-2 by France the previous evening, so they were certainly keen to rebound and they scored some cracking goals, as well as being ruthless at short-corner time, Harmanpreet Singh scoring four goals.

But South Africa had taken the early lead through Dan Bell’s low penalty corner flick in the 12^th minute, although Surender Kumar equalised three minutes later with a real rocket into the top of the net.

South Africa defended really well in the first half and it took another excellent strike, a fierce lofted hit by Shilaland Lakra, for India to score three minutes from halftime.

But the home side were hard on attack at the end of the half and they should have equalised, but the ball was given away and India’s rapid counter-attack saw a 2-on-1 with the goalkeeper, Mandeep Singh putting them 3-1 up.

The second half saw South Africa pay a heavy price for once again giving possession away too often and failing to capitalise on their own chances. India were brilliant on the counter-attack, going 5-1 up at the end of the third quarter and then scoring five more goals in the last 15 minutes as the home side really fell apart.

In terms of their finishing, South Africa had 53% of possession and more short corners than India, but only converted two of their 17 shots at goal. That included a penalty stroke, which would have closed the gap to 2-3, being wasted.

South Africa did grab a second goal when Connor Beauchamp’s excellent penalty corner flick gave him his first international goal in the 53^rd minute.

The match was almost a repeat though of South Africa’s 6-2 loss to the Netherlands the previous night when they were 2-1 down but a penalty stroke was again not converted, the Dutch scoring soon after to go 3-1 up at the halftime break. They did not look back.

The Mumbai Indians won the Indian Premier League three times between 2017 and 2020 but missed out last year, and decided over the weekend that 18-year-old Dewald Brevis might be the missing ingredient they need to return to the podium in the world’s richest cricket tournament.

And Mumbai were willing to pay Brevis about R6 million at the IPL Auction this weekend to play for them, even though he has played just one senior level T20 game, scoring 23 off 25 balls for the Northerns Titans against the Free State Knights at the weekend. But Brevis has just come off an outstanding Junior World Cup, where he scored the most runs in the history of the event and was named player of the tournament despite South Africa’s early exit.

The star quality of other South Africans was confirmed as Kagiso Rabada was bought by the Punjab Kings for around R18.7 million, veteran Faf du Plessis goes to Bangalore Royal Challengers for R14.2 million, and Quinton de Kock was picked up by the new Lucknow Super Giants franchise for R13.7 million. Anrich Nortje is South Africa’s other big IPL earner, having been retained by Delhi Capitals for R13.15 million.

David Miller was bought by the Gujarat Titans, another new franchise, for R6 million, but needs to mend his reputation as a finisher in the IPL because he was only auctioned off in the closing hours on Sunday, having gone unsold on the first day.

Lungi Ngidi, who has shown lately he is on the mend from all his injury problems, was also only picked up late on Sunday, going to Delhi Capitals for R1 million.

New sensation Marco Jansen picked up a healthy R8.5 million price tag from Hyderabad Sunrisers, while Aiden Markram’s growing reputation as a T20 player saw him fetch R5.3 million from the same team.

There was joy for Rassie van der Dussen (Rajasthan Royals, R2 million) and Dwaine Pretorius (Chennai Super Kings, R1 million) as they both gained their first IPL contracts.

But the IPL’s baleful attitude towards foreign spinners was again highlighted by the fact Tabraiz Shamsi, one of the world’s best T20 bowlers, failed to secure a buyer.

Ferisco Adams produced outstanding death bowling as Boland Rocks staged a great escape to beat the North-West Dragons in a Super Over in their CSA T20 Challenge match at St George’s Park on Sunday.

At some stage on Sunday, Dwaine Pretorius’s cellphone would have pinged with a message telling him that he will going to his maiden IPL tournament at the end of the summer and the Proteas all-rounder celebrated by battering 74 off 51 balls. It was an innings that seemed to have secured victory for the Dragons as they went into the final over needing just nine runs to win, with Pretorius and Delano Potgieter (37* off 27) flying as they had already added 94 in nine overs.

But Adams restricted North-West to just four singles off the first five deliveries, and Pretorius was forced to hook the final delivery for four just to tie the game and ensure a Super Over.

Then Adams missed his length with his first ball, Potgieter slog-sweeping a full toss for six, but Pretorius was then run out by Adams, who fielded a fierce straight hit and Potgieter was caught at long-off next ball, meaning the Dragons were all out.

Boland needed just three balls to get the seven runs they needed, Janneman Malan edging one boundary and reverse-paddling the other off Duan Jansen.

North-West were chasing 183 for victory and Pretorius came to the crease after opener Wesley Marshall, who blasted 34 off just 16 balls, had taken them to 42/2 in four overs.

The lanky 32-year-old took a little while to get going, but captain Nicky van den Bergh was playing fluently at the other end with his 28 off 19. But once he was bowled by off-spinner Imraan Manack, Pretorius changed gear and struck sixes off Manack and Zakhele Qwabe in the 12^th and 13^th overs.

Spinners Siyabonga Mahima (4-0-25-1), Manack (4-0-28-1) and Shaun von Berg (1-0-5-0) all bowled tidily for Boland.

Boland had posted 182/6 in a well-structured innings that saw Janneman Malan dash to 33 off 18 balls up front, while his brother Pieter anchored the innings with 53 off 46.

Christiaan Jonker provided the big finish with 37 off 19 deliveries, helped by Hardus Viljoen scoring 19 off just eight balls.

Pretorius (4-0-33-1) and Potgieter (2-0-10-1) both did well with the ball as well, but 19-year-old leg-spinner Caleb Seleka was the pick of the North-West bowlers with two for 20 in his four overs.

While Boland have broken North-West’s winning run, Western Province notched their third successive victory when they beat the Central Gauteng Lions by five wickets with five balls to spare.

Sent in to bat, the Lions posted just 140/5 with Shane Dadswell (27 off 16) and Mitchell van Buuren, who bashed 44 off 34 balls, adding 48 for the third wicket in 5.2 overs. Sisanda Magala finished well with 19 not out off 15 deliveries, but Kagiso Rapulana took 36 balls over his 32 not out.

Beuran Hendricks (4-1-26-2) and Wayne Parnell (4-0-24-0) were tough to get away, but spinner Junaid Dawood broke the Lions’ momentum with 2/23 in his four middle overs.

Gavin Kaplan (39 off 32) and Tony de Zorzi (42 off 31) added 47 for the second wicket in six overs to give WP a fine start, but the Lions gave themselves a sniff by reducing them to 113/5 with four overs left.

But Yaseen Vallie (21*) and Aviwe Mgijima (16*) broke the Lions’ hearts.

Magala (4-0-24-1) and Codi Yusuf (4-0-20-1) were excellent with the ball for the Lions.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt said the United Rugby Championship standings are so closely contested that he regrets his team did not put the 14-man Bulls away properly, instead allowing them two log points, while saluting the determination his side showed in defence.

The Bulls looked ripe for the taking at Loftus Versfeld as flyhalf Morne Steyn was red-carded for a late, high hit on Lukhanyo Am’s neck and the Sharks surged into a 14-0 lead after half-an-hour. But the Bulls fought back and actually dominated for long stretches of the game, forcing the Sharks to defend manfully in their 22. Especially after they had scrumhalf Grant Williams sent off permanently for a high hit on Steyn’s replacement, Chris Smith, who also left the field due to his head injury.

The Bulls had more than enough chances to snatch a remarkable victory, but eventually went down 22-29, with bonus points for four tries and losing by seven points in consolation.

“The log is so closely contested, so every point counts,” Everitt said. “We will enjoy this win, we haven’t beaten the Bulls at Loftus for quite some time, but there are obviously work-ons.

“But the character the guys showed was unbelievable, just keeping the Bulls out although they had 11 opportunities inside our 22 by halftime. So we showed great resolve and pride.

“It was a good but not complete performance by any means, but we did perform much better than last week.

“Defence is about character and I have to credit the team with defending really well. But when Grant went off at 26-12, the job was not done and we needed to be more accurate,” Everitt said.

One player who was faultlessly accurate was captain Lukhanyo Am, who produced two massive individual moments when he claimed a restart just after the Bulls had scored and dashed down the touchline before grubbering and regathering to score in the last play of the first half. His brilliant turnover when the Sharks were leading just 26-22 then won the penalty that was the final play of the match.

Everitt was unequivocal in describing Am as the best outside centre in the world.

“The skill he showed at the end and the try he scored just before halftime: He makes magic, he just gets it right every time,” Everitt said.

“His try took the wind out of the Bulls’ sails – to score and then immediately concede again. Lukhanyo is just an unbelievable player, making better decisions and executing better with age.

“I am totally convinced that we do have the best outside centre in the world in him,” Everitt said.