Ken Borland

Kagiso Rabada has made the most sensational start to a Proteas ODI career since Allan Donald exploded on to the international stage when South Africa returned to world cricket in Kolkata in November 1991, and the former national bowling coach says he believes the 20-year-old prodigy is only going to get better and better.

Due to Apartheid, Donald was already 25 years old when he took five for 29 against India, but Rabada claimed the world record for best figures on ODI debut with his six for 16, including a top-order hat-trick, against Bangladesh in Dhaka.

Donald became one of the greatest bowlers the world has seen, but began his career as a young tearaway with pace to burn, but who was often erratic in terms of control. Rabada’s greatest attribute seems to be his control, at good pace, which is extraordinary for one so young.

“His overall skill just blows me away and even his control is exceptional, it’s a bit freakish. I still think he’s going to get quicker and it stands him in good stead that he’s grooving that control for when the extra pace comes later. He’s already ahead of where he should be, his rhythm is good, he’s tall, athletic and can bowl a heavy ball, and when you combine all of that together, as he grows into his body he’s definitely going to get faster,” Donald told The Citizen at the launch of the Titans’ and Nashua’s Art of Fast Bowling Programme at the weekend.

Rabada came into the national squad last summer when Donald was still the bowling coach, and the spearhead of South Africa’s return to international cricket says the St Stithians product is an absolute pleasure to work with.

“You can just sit back and watch him, his action, ability, athleticism, I don’t have a bad thing to say about him. He has a wonderful work ethic which makes a coach’s job so much easier, he wants to compete so badly and he asks a lot of great questions, which you don’t normally get from a 20-year-old. I just loved him, he’s well-grounded and full of humility as well.

“And he has a natural action, there’s absolutely no need to interfere with that. It’s clean, uncomplicated and all in sync. Are we looking at a legend? I’m pretty sure we are,” Donald said.

The Unlimited Titans’ beer has gone rather flat after successive defeats have condemned them to an away playoff against the Sunfoil Dolphins today at Kingsmead and coach Rob Walter is eager for his team to regain the composure that saw them to five consecutive wins before their weekend slump.

The Titans pace bowlers will be under the most pressure to step up after their messy performances against the Warriors, who chased down a record 354, and the Dolphins themselves, with the wayward seamers conceding 49 wides in those two games.

“The bowling was poor and unacceptable in the last two matches and we need to remove those extras from our game. The bowlers need to go back to what worked for us before, they’re able to pull things back.

“It was probably nerves, we maybe built up those games too much, trying to secure a home playoff. They didn’t try to do anything different and we always try to do the right things in training. Obviously we’ll try and improve the bowling and try to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Walter told The Citizen on Monday.

If the bowlers can provide a measure of control in the field, then the Titans have a top-class batting line-up capable of either setting a winning score or chasing down a target. Theunis de Bruyn has been a stand-out player this season, David Wiese a hard-hitting contributor, Qaasim Adams a revelation in the middle-order and Jacques Rudolph, Dean Elgar and Henry Davids a reliable top-order. Plus Albie Morkel has made a couple of important contributions with the bat.

Walter said the Kingsmead pitch was a tough one to bat on during their weekend loss to the Dolphins and a total of 250 could well be enough, setting the stage for a nailbiting playoff.

Vaughn van Jaarsveld has become the key batsman for the Dolphins, reeling off successive centuries after also scoring a hundred earlier in the competition, while the opening pair of Morne van Wyk and Cameron Delport is amongst the most destructive in the competition.

The Dolphins middle-order has been less successful and the Titans know the importance of getting early wickets to put them under pressure.

Calvin Savage held together the lower-order and was then tidy with the ball during the weekend win over the Titans, but has not been named in the squad for the playoff, presumably due to injury. The return of the experienced Ryan McLaren or the skilful Robbie Frylinck could make up for that.

With Elgar doing a good job as the Titans’ main spinner, Walter said he was hopeful Morkel, who is struggling with a side strain, would be able to get through a couple of overs as well on a pitch that is expected to provide grip.

The Titans had a five-wicket win over the Dolphins at Kingsmead at the same stage of last season’s Momentum One-Day Cup. On that occasion they had a Heino Kuhn century to thank for their victory, while Graeme van Buuren, Shaun von Berg and CJ de Villiers – none of whom are in the squad for today’s game – had important roles as well.

“There’s good stuff from last season for us to reflect on. Maybe we made too much of the last two games, whereas in the middle phases of the tournament we just trusted our skills,” Walter said.

Squads

Dolphins: Morne van Wyk, Cameron Delport, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Cody Chetty, Khaya Zondo, Kyle Nipper, Andile Phehlukwayo, Ryan McLaren, Keshav Maharaj, Tumi Moreki, Daryn Dupavillon, Robbie Frylinck, Daryn Smit, Craig Alexander, Jonathan Vandiar.

Titans: Henry Davids, Jacques Rudolph, Theunis de Bruyn, Dean Elgar, Qaasim Adams, Albie Morkel, Mangaliso Mosehle, David Wiese, JP de Villiers, Rowan Richards, Junior Dala, Ethy Mbhalati, Grant Thomson.

Handre Pollard was confirmed as the hottest young thing in South African rugby on Sunday night, but the winner of both the Young Player and U20 Player of the Year awards is not yet a definite starter in the number 10 jersey for the Springboks at the World Cup later this year.

Pollard himself accepts this and the most famous of all Springbok flyhalves, Naas Botha, believes the tactical demands of each individual match will decide whether the Bulls star or Pat Lambie start in the pivot position during the World Cup.

“Both Handre and Pat are absolutely fantastic flyhalves but I think it depends on what the Springboks want to achieve tactically when it comes to choosing between them,” Botha told The Citizen.

“Handre is different to most flyhalves because he’s more of a strike runner, when he’s under pressure he backs his physicality. I just think he’s a different attacker than your normal, smaller number 10s, he’s a lot more direct with ball in hand.

“Pat has quicker hands than Handre and can make something out of nothing outside him. Sometimes Handre will just decide to run into the defence, whereas Pat can create space out wide in those situations.

“But they’re both exceptional kickers and fantastic defenders, so I think it depends on where the Springboks want to attack the opposition: more directly or out wide,” Botha explained.

The 20-year-old Pollard says the most important thing for him in the forthcoming SuperRugby season is to develop the consistency that marks out first-choice Springboks.

“It’s a World Cup year so it’s massive for me and the team as well, but my first focus is on SuperRugby, because nobody has been selected for the World Cup yet. It’s a big year especially for the Bulls because we really need to step up this year.

“SuperRugby is going to be the biggest challenge yet for me and what I’ll be focusing on is consistency. Players like Victor Matfield and Jean de Villiers play well week in and week out,” Pollard said.

The suggestion that Lambie (1.78m, 87kg) and Pollard (1.88m, 97kg) could play alongside each other in the Springbok team, especially with inside centre De Villiers’ participation in doubt due to a serious knee injury, does not seem likely to happen given that the World Rugby Junior Player of the Year said that the Bulls will only use him in the number 12 jersey “if push comes to shove”.

*Naas Botha has criticised World Cup organisers for putting the Springboks and defending champion All Blacks in the same side of the draw for the knockout stages of the World Cup.

South Africa are in Pool B and New Zealand in Pool C and, if they both win their pools and their probable quarterfinals against England/Australia and France/Ireland respectively, then they will meet in the semi-finals, despite currently being the two best sides in the world.

“I don’t understand how New Zealand, who are ranked first, and us, who are second, can meet in the semi-finals. It is absolutely wrong. One versus two, if both teams do their job, should be the final.

“We know why it’s happening, but is it right? Nobody wants to see the two best teams playing each other in the semi-final!” Botha said.

The draw for the pools was done a year after the previous World Cup, but the All Blacks and Springboks were also the top two teams in the world at the end of 2012.

http://citizen.co.za/323290/pollards-star-shining-bright/

In the last week my job as a cricket writer has taken me to Willowmoore Park in Benoni twice, to the Mamelodi Oval once and to the glamour and glitz of the national team’s World Cup send-off at Melrose Arch once.

While the Mamelodi Oval is rapidly becoming one of my favourite grounds – it has a beautiful setting in the Magaliesburg hills, the local community is obviously proud of the ground and facilities have improved with every visit there, I am largely cynical about how much the Melrose Arch razzmatazz will do for our World Cup chances and, frankly, I will be happy if I never have to go back to Willowmoore Park again.

That’s because half the games in Benoni are disrupted by the awful facilities at that ground. On Thursday night, it was embarrassing to see South Africa A and the England Lions tourists have to hang around and wait for over half-an-hour while an electrician was found to get the floodlights working properly.

For the Titans, Willowmoore Park has become an infuriating home ground for them.

Last weekend, a short 20-minute shower nearly led to their Momentum One-Day Cup game being abandoned due to the shocking drainage at the ground, not helped by the ground staff pouring the water that had accumulated on the covers on to an already wet patch.

The potential loss of points would have been critical for the Titans in their efforts to secure a home playoff, while the match being shortened to 20 overs due to the delay was hugely prejudicial to them because it meant the Highveld Lions had all 10 wickets in hand for just a short run-chase.

Fortunately the Lions batsmen were terrible and the Titans still won, but they had a match abandoned, losing all the points, in November due to a sub-standard, dangerous pitch. Several Titans players have suffered hand injuries due to similar pitches at the ground.

India had a warm-up game there in December 2013 cancelled due to the field being wet despite Benoni being bathed in bright sunshine for three days and it’s well-known that even the slightest bit of rain at Willowmoore Park causes major delays.

Simply put, Willowmoore Park is a disgrace. A prehistoric looking super-sopper, with practically no sponge left on the roller, merely shifts the water around the field; a rope is sometimes driven around the ground by the groundsman in a battered old car. Compared to Mamelodi, there seems to be a complete lack of pride in the venue, a distinct attitude of “who cares?” when it comes to maintaining the facility.

Top-class cricket should be taken away from Benoni by Cricket South Africa to ensure that franchises and international touring teams are given the facilities they deserve. It’s sad that a ground that has been operational since 1924 and was made famous by Denis Compton’s triple-century in three hours for England against North-Eastern Transvaal in 1948 has fallen into such disrepair.

I would even suggest moving games scheduled for Willowmoore Park to the Mamelodi Oval, which is also going to help transformation, and channelling the considerable amounts of money poured down the drain or simply not used in Benoni to that ground.

It’s probably not going to happen for political reasons though. Easterns cricket will bring their vastly overinflated influence in the CSA boardroom into play and let’s not forget that the murky hand of the Guptas is probably most strongly present at Willowmoore Park.