Ken Borland

Having dealt with their T20 World Cup disappointment in level-headed fashion, South Africa’s cricketers have shown a mature outlook on their narrow defeat to India in the final at Bridgetown, Barbados, and are excited for the future, according to head coach Rob Walter.

The Proteas looked poised to end their miserable record in world cups in their first appearance in a men’s final as they reached the last five overs needing 30 runs from 30 balls with six wickets in hand. But India were exceptional at the death, Jasprit Bumrah bowling two of those closing overs and conceding just six runs while also taking a wicket, being well-backed by fellow seamers Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh, while Suryakumar Yadav took an incredible boundary catch in the final over as South Africa fell an agonising seven runs short.

“When you lose that way, it always hurts and you think about all those small margins during the game. But you only end up torturing yourself thinking about one run here or there,” Walter told SportsBoom.com upon his return to Johannesburg on Thursday.

“You have to give India credit, Bumrah was incredible in the two overs he had left, he’s a world-class bowler who made a big difference at the end. But I’m also very proud of how we acquitted ourselves, the guys showed a lot of resilience and courage.

“Reaching the final shows that we’ve made great strides as a team and I’m excited for the future. Just look at our attack and the pacemen who didn’t play (Gerald Coetzee, Lungi Ngidi & Nandre Burger) – we’ve probably got seven quick bowlers who can make an impact at that level.

“And everyone said India’s spinners would choke us in the middle overs, but look at how our batsmen attacked them, they made a play and we got to parity at the back end. We won a lot of big moments through the tournament and we didn’t do much wrong in the final,” Walter said.

Captain Aiden Markram handled the immediate devastation of defeat with aplomb in the couple of hours after the final. While admitting he was gutted, he spoke mostly about the pride he felt in his team and his confidence that they will fight another day.

Previous Proteas captains have left the world cup looking drained of all inspiration, their faces as glum as someone who has just had a beloved family member pass away.

“Everyone was shattered after the final, but Aiden found a way to put a smile on his face,” Keshav Maharaj said. “That optimism is something we could feed off as a team, it restored our belief and it shows how far we have come as a team. We will bounce back and I’m pretty sure Aiden will be one of the first South Africans holding the world cup. As our leader, he is very much in command and we respect him greatly.”

While South Africa’s part in the great spectacle of a gripping final will go down in cricketing lore, Walter believes the team is steadily building towards winning an ICC trophy. The 48-year-old coach said the low of being 24 for four at the start of the 50-over World Cup semi-final against Australia at Eden Gardens in November last year was the genesis of their new-found belief in the big moments.

“We may have lost the game in the end, but that match was a massive win for us psychologically. From 24 for four, we played outstandingly well and gave ourselves a chance, we did the same with the ball.

“I still believe that semi-final will be the catalyst to us finally winning a world cup, and in the T20 World Cup now we just kept chipping away and clawing our way back, there’s a lot of resilience in this team,” Walter said.

The runs flowed like the deluge of the previous evening on a record-breaking day for the Northerns Titans at SuperSport Park on Sunday, as they kept themselves in contention for a place in the playoffs of the CSA One-Day Cup by hammering the Eastern Province Warriors by 111 runs on the DLS system.

The heavy rains that fell over the Pretoria region on Saturday night meant the start of play was delayed by an hour due to the wet outfield, the contest being reduced to 43 overs a side.

With the sky thick with cloud and the threat of rain still around, the Warriors could be forgiven for winning the toss and feeling they should bowl first. But the Titans were not in a forgiving mood and they lashed 440 for five in those 43 overs, the second-highest total in the history of the competition. The franchise has scored the four highest totals in the tournament, the record being the 453 for five they smashed against the North-West Dragons in 2021/22, also at SuperSport Park.

But those other three 400+ scores were all made in 50 overs; 440 in 43 overs is a run-rate of 10.23 runs-per-over and that is undoubtedly the highest ever in any sort of limited-overs game in this country that has gone beyond 30 overs. It is quite probably a world record for any match that has gone for more than 35 overs.

Top-scorer Rivaldo Moonsamy has not enjoyed the best of campaigns up till now, scoring just 54 runs in the four innings he has batted, but he returned to form in the most brilliant fashion, belting 126 off just 83 balls, with 15 fours and six sixes.

But, astonishingly, he was not the star of the show. That honour fell to his opening partner Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who raced to his century in just 61 balls, the fastest ever for the Titans. The previous record was the 64-ball ton Farhaan Behardien made against the KZN Dolphins at Centurion in 2014/15.

Behardien was a late developer who played 97 times for South Africa in the limited-overs formats. Pretorius, just 18 years old, is a prodigy who has dazzled in both the SA20 and now the CSA One-Day Cup. The Proteas must surely come calling soon with an eye on the 2027 World Cup.

Pretorius finished with 107 off 69 deliveries, with 11 fours and seven sixes, five of them in the 17^th over bowled by Senuran Muthusamy, the international left-arm spinner. The left-hander is by no means just a basher, however. The power is definitely next level, but so are the smarts. He is a clever batsman, always looking to score, and the majority of his sixes were hit with a straight bat and the minimum of fuss or risk.

The opening partnership of 227 off 147 balls by Pretorius and Moonsamy was the best ever at SuperSport Park, beating the unbeaten 218 that AB de Villiers and Gulam Bodi scored in a 10-wicket victory over the Dolphins in 2005/6.

Sunday’s partnership was ended in the 24^th over, but the pain certainly did not end there for the Warriors, who did not get the assistance they expected with the ball, but were also poor in terms of their lines and lengths.

Dewald Brevis was also the centre of attention when he was still an U19 cricketer and, after a couple of leaner seasons, he is starting to look closer to the finished article. Incredibly, he struck the ball even cleaner than Pretorius and Moonsamy, and seemed on course to snatch Pretorius’s record for fastest Titans hundred from him just over an hour after he had set it as he raced to 75 off 43 balls.

Brevis stroked six sixes, a few of them quite extraordinary in execution, but then he was trapped in front by medium-pacer Andile Mogakane.

Captain Neil Brand (55* off 34 deliveries) and Sibonelo Makhanya, who came through a tough time with the bat this season with 46 not out off 22 balls, then completed a red-letter day with the bat for the Titans as they plundered 76 unbeaten runs off the last 39 deliveries.

There was much pain and suffering amongst the Warriors bowlers. Alfred Mothoa conceded 89 runs in eight overs, and Siya Plaatjie the same but in just six overs! Muthusamy rebounded well from conceding 30 runs to Pretorius in his second over, conceding only 50 in his other eight overs and getting the wickets of Moonsamy and Dayyaan Galiem (4).

The shellshocked Warriors were predictably always well behind in the chase, although JP King (31) and Matthew Breetzke (94 off 72) made a good fist of things in their second-wicket stand of 65 off 56 balls.

Breetzke impressed again with his poise and controlled aggression, backed by sweet timing as he collected 11 fours and two sixes.

When play was interrupted by the threat of lightning, the Warriors were 204 for five after 28 overs and more than 100 runs behind on DLS. When they returned 45 minutes later, they needed 159 runs in four overs.

Muthusamy (29 off 20) and C.J. King (30* off 12 balls with four sixes) had some fun, but Eastern Province ended on 251 for seven in 32 overs.

Left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe took two wickets and conceded just 38 runs his seven overs, and Junior Dala set the tone up front with figures of 4-2-10-0.

The Titans are now on 11 points, just one point behind the Warriors in the third and final playoff place; and Eastern Province may well be joining them on 11 as they are expected to be docked a point for very slow over-rates in this match.

Northerns complete their round-robin campaign with visits to Potchefstroom to play the sixth-placed North-West Dragons on Wednesday and Bloemfontein next Sunday to face the second-placed Free State Knights.

South Africa’s Test and ODI captain Temba Bavuma is full of praise for the captaincy of his colleague Aiden Markram, which has seen the Proteas go into the semi-finals at the T20 World Cup in the West Indies.

The South Africans are the only side to have won all seven of their matches on their way to the last four, but their progress has been as thrilling as one would expect from a side whose World Cup history is infamously littered with dramatic and emotional exits. The Proteas will play Afghanistan at Tarouba in southern Trinidad in their semi-final on Wednesday night, while India, who are also unbeaten but had one match washed out, take on England at Providence in Guyana on Thursday.

Only two of South Africa’s seven wins have been in any way comfortable, and Bavuma said Markram’s captaincy has been a key factor in building a unit that has the belief to win in pressure situations over and over.

“Aiden may not have scored the number of runs he would have liked, but his leadership has been phenomenal,” Bavuma told SportsBoom.com. “His captaincy style really brings the team together and has given them a lot of belief. It’s collaborative leadership and you can see the team has that belief and they are really playing for each other.

“I think tactically Aiden has also been very good, using all that spin against the West Indies was really crucial. He’s getting the best out of the players and you can see how much it means for them. KG Rabada has his big celebrations back every time he takes a wicket; it’s not that he hasn’t been celebrating, but now you can really see how much it means to him every time he gets a wicket,” Bavuma said.

South Africa pulled off a nervy, rain-affected chase against the West Indies to reach the semifinals, winning with seven wickets down and five balls to spare at North Sound earlier this week, and Bavuma said the sense of calm that Markram brings to the field was evident.

It is a trait Proteas coach Rob Walter also highlighted when SportsBoom.com asked him to appraise Markram’s captaincy thus far.

“Aiden is a very understated leader, but the team listens when he speaks, he is massively respected in the changeroom,” Walter said. “Strategically I think he has been very strong – defending low scores so often means he has to be good tactically to win because he does not have a lot of margin for error.

“Aiden has a real competitive edge and he is 100% engaged in everything he does, but he is also very calm and level-headed, which creates the right environment for the players to produce their best performances. He’s running the show and making the right decisions – I don’t think KG has ever bowled his first over in the 18^th over before, but that sums up the flexibility. It was also great to see Aiden bowl all four of his overs against the West Indies, he backed himself.

“He has been able to sum up very quickly how to best utilise the resources he has in the conditions we’ve been playing in and that feel is a real skill of the game. We’ve had to play the tricky conditions in front of us and Aiden is always trying to take the game on. It’s created some seriously good games of cricket,” Walter said.

Apart from a gorgeous 46 off 32 balls against the USA, Markram has struggled to make much of an impact with the bat, but he did take a brilliant running catch over his shoulder in the seven-run win over England to dismiss the flying Harry Brook in the final over.

“I’m grateful it stuck! Your mind races as a captain and you find yourself drifting in the field – but I was happy to hold on to it. It certainly made a difference,” Markram said afterwards.

Allowing things to drift has certainly not been the captaincy style of Markram, however; the 29-year-old has had his hand firmly on the tiller as he stands poised to steer the Proteas through uncharted waters, South Africa having never played in a World Cup final before.

KITWE (Zambia) – Overnight leader MJ Viljoen went out in three-under 33 but would follow that with an even better four-under-par 32 coming in, to cruise to a six-stroke victory in the Mopani Zambia Open at Nkana Golf Club on Sunday.

Viljoen’s brilliant final-round 65 lifted him to 16-under-par for the R2.5 million event, well clear of local favourite Dayne Moore, who shot 70 on Sunday to finish on 10-under-par.

The Serengeti Estates golfer has not won since September 2022 and his emotional triumph on Sunday follows a tough time in which he finished 64^th in last season’s Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy, the first time he had finished outside the top-30 since 2018/19.

“I needed this win big time and I am very proud of myself for pulling it through. I’ve worked hard for the last few months and it feels really good to get this result. I lost a lot of playing rights last season, so it’s really good to be back in the winner’s circle,” Viljoen said.

The 29-year-old had started the final round with a one-stroke lead over Jacques P. de Villiers and Moore, with the next closest contenders being five strokes back in Heinrich Bruiners, Fredrik From and Kyle Barker.

But neither De Villiers nor Moore were able to keep up with Viljoen as he birdied the fourth, sixth and seventh holes. Viljoen’s only bogey on Sunday came on the par-four 10^th hole, cutting his lead to two strokes, but he rebounded superbly with three successive birdies. The coup de grace was an eagle on the 527m par-five 17^th.

Having secured an albatross on the fourth on the first day, he birdied the 484m par-five in the last two rounds, and he said his shots on that hole will be one of his favourite memories when he thinks back on his third Sunshine Tour title.

“My shots on four, I almost had a hole-in-one today on the seventh, and the eagle on 17 nearly went in for another albatross, those will be my favourite memories. And also the fans. I played with Dayne Moore on Saturday and so many youngsters were following us around, there was just noise all the time and it was awesome,” Viljoen said.

Zambia’s Moore birdied the first hole to draw level with Viljoen on nine-under, but was four behind by the turn, having dropped a shot on the par-four eighth. A birdie on the 10^th saw a two-shot swing and he matched Viljoen with birdies on the 11^th and 12^th holes, but bogeys on 13 and 16 were his undoing.

Despite an eagle on the par-five 12^th, De Villiers battled to build momentum as he mixed two bogeys and a double on the last with three birdies, posting a 71 that left him in third place on nine-under-par.

South Africans Daniel van Tonder (-6) and Barker (-5) rounded out the top five.