Ken Borland

The fairytale rise to prestige is a staple of children’s books and for Glenton Stuurman those dreams just keep coming true as the 28-year-old paceman was named in a  Proteas squad for the first time, when new convenor of selectors Victor Mpitsang on Friday announced a 24-man group for both the ODIs and the T20 internationals against England starting on November 27.

Stuurman, born in Oudtshoorn, plied his trade for South-Western Districts before making his franchise debut for the Warriors in 2018/19. He has only played five 50-over franchise games in his career, taking four wickets at an average of 53.50 and an economy rate of 6.11, and he has not played in a single franchise T20 match.

Nevertheless, Stuurman is certainly a rising star in South African cricket and his skills are reminiscent of those of the recently-retired Vernon Philander.

Stuurman is the only player in the expanded (due to the Covid bubble they will be in) 24-man squad who has not yet appeared for the Proteas, so Mpitsang has not arrived with a new broom just yet.

A powerful contingent of fast bowlers is led by IPL stars Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, and also includes Lungi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla and Beuran Hendricks, while Titans white-ball star Junior Dala is fully fit again and recalled to the Proteas set-up.

Former captain Faf du Plessis, who has shown some evergreen form in the IPL, is also included, and neutrals will be looking on with some amusement as the selectors try and fit him, Jon-Jon Smuts, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Rassie van der Dussen and Kyle Verreynne all into the same middle-order. Klaasen, Miller, Smuts and Verreynne all shone in the 3-0 whitewash of Australia in March.

Captain Quinton de Kock’s opening partner will also be a toss-up between Janneman Malan, who scored a superb 129 not out against the Aussies, Temba Bavuma and Reeza Hendricks.

Squad -Quinton de Kock (captain), Temba Bavuma, Junior Dala, Faf du Plessis, Bjorn Fortuin, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Janneman Malan, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lutho Sipamla, Jon-Jon Smuts, Glenton Stuurman, Pite van Biljon, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne. 

Coach Jake White says he is pleasantly surprised by how quickly his Bulls side have learnt how to vary their play and believes it could be an especially important quality when they come up against the Lions in their Super Rugby Unlocked match at Ellis Park on Saturday night.

Far from just playing forward-based rugby with a strong kicking game – traditional Bulls’ 10-man rugby – White’s Bulls have been one of the hottest attacking sides in the competition, beating the most defenders so far, fullback David Kriel has run the most metres and they have scored the most tries (15) with outside centre Stedman Gans the joint leading try-scorer along with Neil Maritz of the Pumas with four.

“I’m not surprised by the style of rugby we’re playing because we want to use our backs as well, but I am surprised that in a relatively short space of time the team has been able to get like that. The excitement for me is not being labelled as a conservative Afrikaans coach using a big pack and just kicking. We’ve now got the forwards who can go through the opposition and the backs who can go around them.

“I’ve coached all over the world now and I’ve taken the best of different countries and tried to use it with the Bulls. We have massive talent here and we can play different styles of rugby. The Lions also do quite a lot of unexpected things, the way they kick, the way they attack and run out of their own half. They’re not stereotypical and they like to have quick rucks and move the ball around, they have the most passes and offloads of all the teams,” White said.

With the crowd at Ellis Park muffled by the Covid-19 restrictions and the Bulls accustomed to playing at altitude, two of the Lions’ key weapons have been removed. White also believes that their narrow defeat to the Free State Cheetahs three weeks ago in Bloemfontein has given them a template for how to beat the Lions.

“We had a great trial run against the Cheetahs, who are the same sort of team, and we know what went wrong then. We did everything right to win the game but we just didn’t take our chances. We played too much rugby in certain areas and sometimes when we needed to play, we kicked the ball away or a lineout throw went skew or we went left instead of right.

“Our cohesion wasn’t as well-oiled as it is now and we will ask different questions of the Lions. It’s not just bashing away with the forwards until they’re exhausted, we have backs who can break and score from their own line, we have one of the best flyhalves when it comes to kicking out of hand, and an aerial battle will suit us too with Travis Ismaiel and David Kriel both being nearly two metres tall.

“We’re confident we have all the bases covered and there’s nothing the Lions will do that we weren’t already challenged by against the Cheetahs. Plus the Lions have struggled this year, only winning two of their 11 matches, while Free State are the Currie Cup champions and have changed the way they attack and play considerably,” White said.

Rugby is a much-changed landscape from a year ago and one of the most positive aspects of this new age for South African rugby is that the Currie Cup looks set to return to being the top-class competition it once was.

By signing a naming rights sponsor like Carling Black Label, SA Rugby are pretty much ensuring that the oldest provincial competition in the sport, and surely one of the most-loved, is returned to the fans, such is the reputation of the biggest-selling beer brand in the country. Carling Black Label has a history of really focusing on fan participation, they are extremely innovative in that space and they are a brand of the people.

“We want to make the Currie Cup more accessible, more democratic in a way. Take the Eastern Cape for example, to be able to give rugby back to that region excites me and if ever there was a time to grow the game in that area then it is now. We want to give a voice to the fans, we want to bring them on board.

“Our dream is to explode the Currie Cup back into the forefront, back to its rightful place – it should be the premier provincial tournament in the world. How do we do local rugby in a new way? We’re not just there to put our brand up, we want to acknowledge the fans and bring their passion to the game. We want to bring the Currie Cup to life and closer to the fans,” brand director Arne Rust told me at the launch of their sponsorship this week at Melrose Arch.

The Currie Cup is a prime property in SA Rugby’s stable, probably second only in value to the Springboks, so it is great that the disentanglement from Super Rugby and the move to Europe has allowed for some much-needed attention to be paid to the competition.

Where SA Rugby and SA Breweries are getting it right is in realising that the customer is their primary stakeholder and in rugby’s case, their customer is ultimately the fan, whether watching on TV or (hopefully one day soon) at the ground.

Unfortunately, as has so often been the case recently, Cricket South Africa are being shown up badly by their counterparts in the sports business.

This week saw the much-anticipated return-to-play, after an eight-month Covid-enforced break, of the country’s leading cricketers as the Four-Day Franchise Series kicked off the new season. But this momentous occasion may as well have happened in a black hole, such was the lack of fanfare from CSA.

Firstly, no spectators were allowed, which is possibly a decision that is out of their hands due to Covid safety measures. But it does seem ridiculous considering people can mix and misbehave in shopping centres, pubs and clubs quite legally, while a cricket field situated in the great outdoors with plenty of space for social distancing in the stands or on the grass banks is illegal.

But where CSA really dropped the ball was in ensuring the publc who wanted to follow the games could keep track of what was happening. Unlike most other Test-playing nations, there is no live-streaming option for our four-day cricket, which is a story all in itself.

But even trying to find the location of live scores for the matches was almost a mission impossible. That’s because CSA, in their wisdom, have sold the rights to all their match data, including the scores, to the overseas company Opta.

The idea was that other outlets would then buy the scores from Opta, but competitively it has been a disaster with just about nobody willing to do that. Unsurprisingly, because shouldn’t scores be in the public domain anyway? You would think CSA would want as much publicity for the game as possible …

But like the company that priced itself out of its market and went bankrupt, CSA, who need as many supporters as they can get given how poor their image is, once again sent the message that they actually don’t care about their fans. “You’re interested in the cricket, well we’ve made it as hard as possible for you to follow it,” seems to be their attitude.

It was heartening, however, that in their first meeting, the new interim board made a point of noting this unsatisfactory situation and they have tasked Judith February, who is well-versed in the media, to investigate the capacity and competency in CSA to deal with their stakeholders.

A tremendous Theunis de Bruyn century and terrific lower-order support from Junior Dala carried the Titans to a thrilling come-from-behind win over the Cape Cobras in their 4-Day Domestic Series match at Newlands on Thursday.

Set 316 to win after trailing by 114 runs on first innings, the Titans made it to their target with just two wickets in hand thanks to De Bruyn’s magnificent 127 off 204 deliveries.

The Titans began the final day on 195 for three, but they slumped to 233 for six as left-arm spinner George Linde claimed his eighth and ninth wickets of the match. But De Bruyn was still there and Dala helped him add a crucial 54 for the seventh wicket.

De Bruyn was dismissed 29 runs short of victory as left-arm spinner David Schierhout turned a delivery sharply to have him well-taken low at slip by Zubayr Hamza, but Dala held his nerve to steer the Titans home with a defiant, matchwinning 41 not out.

In Durban, an inspired Dolphins side beat the defending champion Imperial Lions by nine wickets.

The Lions went into the final day on 75 for three, still trailing by 125 runs, and they were bowled out for 210 in 47.4 more overs on Thursday as Proteas left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj took six for 101 in 38.4 overs and off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen claimed three for 63 in 28 overs.

That left the Dolphins with just 11 runs to win, which they knocked off in 2.4 overs to start their season in fine style.

In Bloemfontein, the Warriors lost their last three wickets for the addition of just 13 runs to lose by 179 runs to the Knights.

Left-arm paceman Mbulelo Budaza finished with four for 47, while opener Matthew Breetzke was left stranded on a dogged 77 not out.