Ken Borland

The first ODI between South Africa and the Netherlands on SuperSport Park was abandoned on Friday, but the tour is still on, for the time being.

With new Covid variants and travel restrictions hysteria on everyone’s minds in Centurion, the Netherlands were on 11 without loss after two overs, chasing 278 for victory, when heavy rain began falling and never completely eased before play was called off at 4.20pm.

During the rain delay, CSA issued a statement saying that it was highly unlikely that the tourists will be able to find a flight out of South Africa over the weekend, meaning the second ODI at the same venue on Sunday is still on, for now. CSA sources have indicated that the Netherlands team might only be able to catch a flight on December 2, which is the day after the scheduled third and final match, so the series could well still be completed.

Earlier, an excellent third-wicket partnership between Zubayr Hamza and Kyle Verreynne had held a tidy, probing Netherlands attack at bay in helpful bowling conditions, before the dam wall broke in the last four overs as Andile Phehlukwayo raced South Africa to 277/8.

Phehlukwayo lashed 48 off just 22 balls, including six mighty sixes, as he and Keshav Maharaj (18*) pounded 68 runs off the last 40 balls of the innings, including 61 off the final four overs. It provided the late boost needed to convert an average score into a good one.

Winning a useful toss under cloudy skies following heavy overnight rain, the Netherlands gained early reward for bowling first when left-armer Fred Klaassen removed both Proteas openers inside the first seven overs.

At 24/2, Hamza had just the man for a crisis join him in fellow Western Province star Kyle Verreynne. The pair added 119 off 137 balls for the third wicket to give the innings a solid platform.

Hamza looked particularly good and played some wonderful strokes, while Verreynne was typically busy and positive and ensured that the Dutch bowlers never totally gained the upper hand, playing strongly off the back foot.

Hamza fell for 56 off 79 deliveries, but Verreynne went on to a career-best score and was in touching distance of a century when he was unfortunate to fall to a slower-ball gone wrong from Vivian Kingma, the back-of-the-hand delivery coming out as a dipping full toss, which the wicketkeeper/batsman swung away one-handed, but straight to deep square-leg.

Verreynne had worked hard through the tough times for his 95 off 112 balls, and was all set to really launch before his dismissal.

The rest of the batting was made of flimsier material as South Africa slid from 143/2 to 209/7; up to that point, Verreynne and Hamza had scored 57% of the Proteas runs.

Fortunately, Phehlukwayo showed his finishing ability as he belted the ball over the boundary to great effect, with skipper Maharaj providing important support as the Proteas made a strong end to their innings.

Last summer it was England and Australia controversially pulling out of tours to South Africa due to their Covid fears and now the current international season could be ripped apart as well as the Netherlands tour and the vital Indian visit are hanging in the balance following reports that local scientists had detected a new variant of the virus in Gauteng and neighbouring countries.

The UK government started the panic when they put South Africa on the travel red list overnight, with the European Union expected to follow suit soon. This is despite scientists assuring that the new variant almost certainly does not come from South Africa, they have just been the first to identify it.

More than half-a-dozen of the Netherlands players are based in the UK, meaning they will have problems returning home after their three-match ODI series against the Proteas ends on Wednesday.

CSA issued a statement on Friday afternoon, while the Netherlands innings in the first ODI had been interrupted by rain at Centurion, saying it was highly unlikely that the tourists will be able to leave before the end of the weekend.

Given that they would have to quarantine for 10 days in a hotel if they do not return home as soon as possible, it is understandable that the Dutch team wanted to head off on Friday. But they will now probably only be able to leave on December 2, due to the lack of flights available in the hysteria. It is believed their federation is willing to cover the costs of quarantine.

That means the third ODI, scheduled for December 1, could still go ahead and the series can be completed, unless some other flight option is discovered by the KNCB.

While CSA and the Proteas will be disappointed to not complete the series, they – and especially their meagre coffers – would be devastated if the India tour set to start on December 17 does not go ahead.

India are set to fly to South Africa on December 8, but reports from India suggest the BCCI is waiting for their government to make a decision regarding travel to South Africa.

India A are currently in Bloemfontein playing the first of a three-match series of four-day games and CSA sources have told Saturday Citizen they have expressed no concern about staying in the country.

At the Joburg Open golf tournament at Randpark, co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour (formerly known as the European Tour), thunderstorms caused delays on Friday, but 20 European-based golfers, out of the field of 156, withdrew before the second round began, trying to scramble their way home before the travel deadline.

An excellent third-wicket partnership between Zubayr Hamza and Kyle Verreynne held a tidy, probing Netherlands attack at bay in helpful bowling conditions, before the dam wall broke in the last four overs as Andile Phehlukwayo raced South Africa to 277/8 in the first ODI at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Friday.

Phehlukwayo lashed 48 off just 22 balls, including six mighty sixes, as he and Keshav Maharaj (18*) pounded 68 runs off the last 40 balls of the innings, including 61 off the final four overs. It provided the late boost needed to convert an average score into a good one.

Winning a useful toss under cloudy skies following heavy overnight rain, the Netherlands gained early reward for bowling first when left-armer Fred Klaassen removed both Proteas openers inside the first seven overs. Reeza Hendricks (6) played way too early and popped a catch to cover, while Janneman Malan (16) edged a loose, flatfooted drive at a wider delivery to second slip.

At 24/2, Zubayr Hamza had just the man for a crisis join him in fellow Western Province star Kyle Verreynne. The pair added 119 off 137 balls for the third wicket to give the innings a solid platform.

Hamza looked particularly good and played some wonderful strokes, while Verreynne was typically busy and positive and ensured that the Dutch bowlers never totally gained the upper hand, playing strongly off the back foot.

Hamza fell for 56 off 79 deliveries when he skied a pull off a Brandon Glover slower ball, but Verreynne went on to a career-best score and was in touching distance of a century when he was unfortunate to fall to a slower-ball gone wrong from Vivian Kingma. The back-of-the-hand delivery came out as a dipping full toss, which the wicketkeeper/batsman swung away one-handed, but straight to deep square-leg.

Verreynne had worked hard through the tough times for his 95 off 112 balls, and was all set to really launch before his dismissal.

The rest of the batting was made of flimsier material though as South Africa slid from 143/2 to 209/7; up to that point, Verreynne and Hamza had scored 57% of the Proteas runs.

Fortunately, Phehlukwayo showed his finishing ability as he belted the ball over the boundary to great effect, with skipper Maharaj providing important support as the Proteas made a strong end to their innings.

New-ball bowlers Klaassen (8-2-45-2) and Kingma (9-0-49-2) were good for the Netherlands, while Roelof van der Merwe returned to his former home ground with 1/27 in six overs of tidy left-arm spin.

So Rassie Erasmus and SA Rugby have apologised and accepted their punishments from that perfidious body known as WorldRugby, but what will be done about all the officiating errata that has marred the game this year?

Most probably nothing because the northern hemisphere bloc that now enjoys the hegemony at WorldRugby will be too busy power-mongering and money-chasing to pay much notice to the real problems the game is facing. Rugby pundits around the world have been writing about the need to bring clarity and uniformity to the way the game is officiated for more than a decade now, and all WorldRugby seems to do is print new and even more confusing law interpretations.

The sport itself is losing credibility because fans no longer understand the laws or how they are blown. Frustrated, they end up casting aspersions on the integrity of the poor referees. It is a dangerous place for any sport to be when you are alienating your own supporters.

While Erasmus’s hour-long video was perhaps a bit too much like starting a riot for WorldRugby’s authoritarian tastes, a rant was inevitable following British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland being able to get away with questioning the integrity of South African Marius Jonker when he was appointed TMO shortly before the first Test due to Covid restrictions that stopped Brendan Pickerill from travelling from New Zealand.

Predictably, the 50/50 calls went the Lions’ way, but Erasmus was more upset with the poor refereeing of Australian Nic Berry.

But it’s not just Erasmus who has lashed out at officials this year. Wallabies coach Dave Rennie was publicly furious over how his team were treated by the officials on their European tour and rugby fans in South Africa were eagerly awaiting news of what action would be taken against him, especially since Jonker was the target of his rage, even though on a couple of key decisions he was left trying to find compelling evidence to overturn the referee’s on-field decision.

WorldRugby ended up just issuing Rennie a written warning on Friday.

Losing teams are always going to have one or two gripes to complain about, and generally the side that wins would have had a couple of decisions go against them too. But the mathematics of the recent officiating seems to have swung well away from 50/50.

Things are not adding up too often for WorldRugby to continue to turn a blind eye to this crisis.

Speaking about adding up, England conceded 11 second-half penalties against the Springboks last weekend as the pressure mounted on them, but there were no team warnings, no yellow cards. The great Nigel Owens stated in his column in the Telegraph that he felt South Africa were especially unfortunate not to get more reward out of their dominant scrum.

But the Springboks obviously don’t want to dare say anything critical and just add to the bans and fines WorldRugby are launching their way.

We can only hope that as one of their New Year’s Resolutions, WorldRugby can find it in their hearts to sort out the officiating crisis and placate the bee’s nest that has been stirred up this year. Of course referees will err and no-one wants to see them put under undue pressure.

But when the governing body turns a blind eye to accountability across the board, then it puts the high-stakes international game, made even more tense by bubble life, under untenable strain.