Ken Borland

Eight teams in the top division and promotion/relegation are two good adjustments that Cricket South Africa have made to their domestic structure, but the fact that, from 2023/24, one or two teams will automatically climb from Division II to Division I is going to ask serious questions about the quality in depth of the competitions.

While the complacency that comes from teams being entrenched in the top division is not good for the game, automatic promotion/relegation means there is no guarantee that the team/s coming up are going to be better than the team going down. There should be a playoff game to make sure the top division is not being perpetually weakened.

And a lowering of standards seems inevitable because the team/s being demoted is going to lose sponsors and players, while the team/s coming up from Division II will not have the resources of the other Division I teams. Without television exposure, and the fact none of the Division II sides are based in major centres, there is not going to be a level playing field. In fact, the inequality is already written into the system because the Division I teams that will start playing next season will each receive R9.3 million from CSA and can contract 16 players with a maximum salary of R1.035 million.

Division II teams, however, will probably only receive around R5 million, can only contract 11 players with a maximum salary of R600 000 if private sponsorship can top up the CSA-prescribed maximum of R400 000. So it is clear that leading players are not going to be signing for Division II outfits.

The only feasible way a Division II side is going to avoid being relegated from Division I after just one season is if most of the players from the team they are replacing jump ship and join them. But those are the same players who were not good enough to avoid relegation anyway, so South African domestic cricket is set to be trapped in a merry-go-round, or more accurately a vicious circle, in which the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and there is precious little development of either players or teams.

The need for stability in the South African game has been the consistent call from the office of the South African Cricketers Association CEO Andrew Breetzke, but this new system does not seem to be bringing that. Even less so if the disastrous decision for two teams to be automatically promoted every season is made.

There are still so many questions surrounding the new domestic structure, not least of them being whether it is one or two teams that will be promoted every season and how the mechanism of promotion/relegation works. Will there be separate teams going up and down in each format or will some sort of averaging take place so that one team moves in all three formats?

These questions were also sent to those responsible for the communications portfolio at CSA but no response has been received. One would think for a decision of this magnitude to be passed, there would be a set of documents detailing the restructuring task team’s position on all these matters in order for the Members Council and the Interim Board to meet their fiduciary duties when approving the changes, but no-one seems to have seen them. At the moment they are as mysterious as the Fundudzi Report.

It is a massive change to make based on what, judging by what has been revealed so far by CSA, are flimsy reasons and little concrete financial planning. A good idea is at the kernel of the change, but, as has often been the case, CSA don’t seem to have considered the unintended consequences.

The process of doing away with the franchises and going back to provinces is a complex administrative task that includes dissolving companies, setting up new ones, sorting out all the tax implications and putting in place an entirely new contracting model for players.

And it all needs to be done within the next month because that’s when player contracts have to be finalised.

So far, the restructuring does not seem to make sense on many levels and the cynic in me believes the only reason the 15-strong Members Council have pushed this through is so the tail can wag the dog and two of the smaller provinces get to join the six major centres at the R9.3 million big table on a rotational basis.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt bemoaned the errors that were littered throughout their game and through the full 80 minutes as being the reason for their exciting 39-38 loss to the Free State Cheetahs in their preparation match in Bloemfontein on Wednesday night.

The Sharks dominated possession and territory in the first half but were 28-7 down as the Cheetahs thrived on attacking off turnover ball, before the visitors pulled a try back to go into the break 12-28 down. The second half was a thrilling affair as the Sharks fought back and claimed a 38-36 lead, only for back-to-back mistakes to allow the Free Staters to kick a last-minute penalty to win the match.

“Our accuracy in execution let us down over the full 80 minutes and an example of that was the four or five attacking lineouts we had 10 metres out which we did not convert. But it was not one particular area that was affected by mistakes, it was all areas – kickoff receipt, lineouts, scrum penalties, breakdown. So we made a lot of errors which cost us,” Everitt said.

Replacement flyhalf Manie Libbok was at the heart of some dazzling rugby in the second half, coolly taking on the defensive line with his sleight of hand and foot, but Everitt was particularly pleased with the showing of the replacement front row, where things have headed south for the Sharks before.

“We did well though to fight back and be in a position to win. We always want to play ball-in-hand, but we can only do it if the conditions and the opposition allow it. We will kick if that’s maybe where the opposition weakness is. But playing attacking rugby needs a solid platform. All attack starts at set-piece and depth in the front row is vitally important,” Everitt said.

“We learnt some hard lessons in the Currie Cup but it was tough for those up-and-coming front rowers because Covid meant they did not get enough game-time and they weren’t able to scrum as much as they would have liked in training. But to see Ntuthuko Mchunu carry the ball and scrum like he did was very pleasing, especially since he was an eighthman at Maritzburg College two years ago before heading down to Durban. With him and Michael Kumbirai we are really growing our depth.”

Sharks coach Sean Everitt would have been apprehensive when his team went 7-28 down late in the first half against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Wednesday night, but in the end the KwaZulu-Natalians fought back superbly and it took a 40-metre penalty by Frans Steyn in the 80^th minute to scrape a 39-38 win for the Free Staters.

The Sharks had actually played decent rugby in the first half, but mistakes and turnovers allowed the Cheetahs to show their attacking brilliance as they ran in four tries to lead 28-12 at the break.

But in the second half the Sharks showed their attacking abilities, giving the Cheetahs defence a torrid time. The Sharks replacement front row of Michael Kumbirai, Ntuthuko Mchunu and Fez Mbatha showed they can perform at this level as they earned scrum penalties that helped pile on the pressure on the home side in the second half, while Manie Libbok came on at flyhalf and showed he will be a fine back-up to Curwin Bosch when serious competition resumes.

His linking and passing game constantly had the defence guessing and it was his brilliant individual play in slipping through a gap, regathering his own grubber and then kicking ahead again before passing to substitute flank Celimpilo Gumede for the try that gave the Sharks the lead with 13 minutes remaining.

The Cheetahs certainly played their part in a match that featured 11 tries and seemed to be played at a billion miles an hour at times, but eventually ensured they secured the win rather than risking whatever rewards would come from a more expansive approach.

Steyn was a pillar of strength at inside centre and once again showed why he is considered rugby royalty and he was bang on the money with the final kick at goal after a high tackle by the Sharks.

Aiden Markram was in imperious form as notched a maiden double-century and batted the Titans through to a draw in their 4-Day Domestic Series match in Centurion on Wednesday.

Markram finished with 204 not out in more than 500 minutes at the crease and faced 342 balls, stroking 27 fours and a six, as he led the Titans to 386 for three in their second innings.

Facing a big first-innings deficit of 151, it was an incredible effort by the Proteas opener, who has now scored a phenomenal 1133 runs in just 12 innings at SuperSport Park. With six centuries and two fifties, his average on his home ground is a mountainous 103.00.

Wednesday’s innings, the highest ever for the Titans against the Knights, was studded with majestic pulls and drives off both the front and back foot. He launched testing fast bowler Migael Pretorius back over extra cover for four to reach his 150. The previous highest score for the Titans versus the Knights was 192 by Jacques Rudolph in Bloemfontein in 2009/10.

Markram and his Test opening partner Dean Elgar set up the rearguard action by the Titans as they added 213 for the first wicket, their best partnership together and a franchise record.

With the home side beginning the final day on 162 without loss, there was still a chance of the Knights pushing for victory, but Markram and Elgar made a skilful, positive start to the day.

Elgar batted through the first hour and made it to a typically defiant, but often entertaining, 90.

The left-hander was then caught behind off leg-spinner Shaun von Berg, who then dismissed Neil Brand in his next over for a duck, to give the Knights some hope.

But Sibonelo Makhanya played with tremendous freedom in an exciting 68 off 108 balls, and with the Titans lead already in excess of 200 at tea, the captains shook hands on the draw.