Ken Borland

The University of Pretoria’s Assupol Tuks have ended the 2013/14 summer far ahead of any other club in the country, winning their third successive National Club Championships title earlier this week, to add to their triumphs as the leading student team in the country and their success in qualifying as the South African representatives for the closest thing to a varsity world cup.

Tuks’ success – they have gone unbeaten through 18 games and three years in the National Club Championships and have won the Northerns Premier League for the last five years, including an unbeaten run of 85 matches – is down to the perfect dovetailing of wonderful talent, an inspiring coach and tremendous facilities at the same time and in the same place.

Graeme van Buuren, Theunis de Bruyn and Vincent Moore are all players who have already shown great potential at franchise level for the Titans, while Aiden Markram and Corbin Bosch are two future stars fresh from winning the U19 World Cup.

And then there are the lesser known but key players like new-ball pair Gerhard Linde and Sean Nowak, spinners GC Pretorius, Ruben Claasen, Tertius Gouws and David Mogatlane, all-rounders Johan Wessels and Tian Koekemoer, and talented batsmen like Sean Dickson, Heinrich Klaasen, Murray Coetzee and Gerry Pike.

Pierre de Bruyn is the coach who brings all this talent together and gets it performing as a phenomenal unit. A hard-nosed cricketer from Easterns and a protégé of Ray Jennings, De Bruyn believes strongly in work ethic and discipline.

“I wasn’t talented at all but I managed to string together 15 years as a professional cricketer through complete hard work. I always tried to be one step ahead of the guy next to me through focus, discipline and work ethic. I really wanted the tough situation and it helps coaching to have had a tough career myself.

“From what I’ve experienced as a player, I can teach the youngsters how to start and sustain a professional career, both of which are not that easy. I’m working with guys who have everything in terms of talent, but I can really teach them things in terms of mental preparation or how to build an innings,” De Bruyn said.

The professional approach at Tuks has led to someone like national U19 captain Markram making the strides Jennings hoped for when he suggested the batsman go to the University of Pretoria.

“I’m very happy here, the training is awesome, at very high intensity, and this is where my game will improve,” Markram said, and that was borne out by him winning the player of the tournament awards for both the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals, that saw Tuks beat Maties to secure a trip to London for the world finals, and the Momentum National Club Championships.

The considerable support of both the University of Pretoria’s sports office and chief sponsor Assupol ensures that the Tuks cricket team has facilities which are fit for a first-class team and that they have been able to spend R2.5 million on upgrading the nets.

While Tuks’ success is obviously wonderful for the team, their coaching staff and the players’ parents and supporters, it’s important not to lose sight of the bigger picture and that is the benefit Titans cricket derives from their prosperity.

“The Titans definitely benefit from the excellence of Tuks. With full-time coaching, top facilities and the support of the university and a major sponsor, they attract top players. It makes it hard for the other clubs in Northerns, but ultimately it all benefits the Titans,” president John Wright said.

SUNFOIL SERIES: P10 W5 L2 D3 (second)

Captains: AN Petersen (1), SC Cook (9)

MOMENTUM ONE-DAY CUP: P10 W5 L2 NR3 (joint champions)

RAMSLAM T20 CHALLENGE: P10 W7 L3 (champions)

 

Contracted players: Temba Bavuma, Gulam Bodi, Stephen Cook, Cliffe Deacon, Quinton de Kock, Dominic Hendricks, Eddie Leie, Pumelela Matshikwe, Neil McKenzie, Chris Morris, Ethan O’Reilly, Brett Pelser, Aaron Phangiso, Jean Symes, Rassie van der Dussen, Hardus Viljoen. Rookie contracts: Grant Mokoena, Shaylen Pillay, Dwaine Pretorius. CSA contracts: Alviro Petersen, Imran Tahir, Thami Tsolekile, Lonwabo Tsotsobe. Head coach: Geoff Toyana.

 

 

A memorable 2012/13 season saw the Highveld Lions claim their first franchise trophies since 2006/07.

The Standard Bank Pro20 crown they won that season was their only triumph in franchise cricket, but that all changed as Geoff Toyana was an instant success as the new head coach and the honours list was doubled in length by the addition of the Momentum One-Day Cup (shared with the Cobras) and the RamSlam T20 Challenge.

They were also strong contenders in the Sunfoil Series, finishing one win behind the Cobras, and they reached the final of the Champions League T20.

According to Toyana, the secret of the Lions’ success was consistency and their ability to bounce back from occasional setbacks.

“We sat down at the start of September and made our plans and the biggest focus was consistency in all formats. We have shown that and it was a wonderful season.

“Another part of our planning was that if we played badly on a certain day, then we would take it on the chin and move on. We were able to lose and bounce back,” Toyana said.

To be fair though, the Lions had few bad days.

To start the season with a 10-wicket defeat at the hands of the Cobras was obviously not ideal, but they were able to take some solace from Quinton de Kock’s phenomenal 194 in defeat and they were able to enter the Champions League T20 in confident mood after Chris Morris’s magnificent eight for 44 had bowled them to victory over the Dolphins.

The Lions made it all the way to the final of the CLT20, losing just twice in six matches and on both occasions that was to the powerful Sydney Sixers side.

The momentum was carried into the One-Day Cup in which the Lions played some magnificent cricket, winning their first four games and losing just twice overall. They began the campaign by registering the biggest ever margin of victory between two premier domestic sides as Stephen Cook’s century and Hardus Viljoen’s superb six for 19 demolished the Titans by 269 runs.

Cook scored another century and two half-centuries on his way to finishing as the second-highest run-scorer in the competition, while Neil McKenzie also played some vital innings.

The bowling of Viljoen was the stand-out feature of the campaign, however, as the new signing from the Titans roared to 20 wickets at an average of just 13.40 and an economy rate of 4.63.

Left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso was even more economical and with the firepower of Chris Morris backing up Viljoen and the leg-spin wizardry of Imran Tahir also available, it was obvious the Lions had the best balanced, most potent attack in the country.

The washing out of the final and the replay was a major disappointment and the Lions were then subjected to the horrors of being bowled out for 59 by the Ayabulela Gqamane-inspired Warriors at the Wanderers as they returned to four-day action.

The Lions did not suffer another defeat, however, in the Sunfoil Series and the weather once again cruelly denied them when they had the Titans seven down in their follow-on innings when the match was washed out.

The Lions were once again fast out of the blocks in the RamSlam T20 Challenge, winning the first four games and the final was the ultimate recognition for the excellence of their bowlers as Phangiso, Sohail Tanvir, Viljoen, Morris and Tahir took two cheap wickets apiece to bowl the Titans out. De Kock scored 44 to take his tally for the competition to an extraordinary 524 runs.

Toyana created a relaxed environment in which the Lions were able to produce the goods and the players responded superbly to his backing.

McKenzie, the leading run-scorer in the Sunfoil Series, said the people skills of the first black African to coach a franchise were Toyana’s greatest strength.

“He’s a people-person, he’s well-liked and he got the guys to play for him. His man-management was excellent, he was honest and he gives responsibility to the players. It’s his personality rather than his technical knowledge, although he was a gutsy player at the highest level, that’s his biggest strength,” McKenzie said.

LIONS v COBRAS

Played at Senwes Park, Potchefstroom on 20, 21, 22, 23 September 2012

Toss: Cape Cobras

Result: Cape Cobras won by 10 wickets

Man of the Match: Andrew Puttick

Points: Highveld Lions 2.20 Cape Cobras 18.54

 

The unheralded spin duo of Piedt and Gray out-bowled an erratic and no-ball plagued Imran Tahir on a flat pitch as the Cobras began the four-day campaign in compelling fashion. Puttick thrived on three chances and dominated the final session of the first day as the Cobras racked up 322 for two. The Lions’ first innings, with Petersen unable to bat because he broke his left hand in dropping a chance from Puttick, folded meekly after a solid start had taken them to 125 for one. De Kock provided plenty of cheer in the second innings, making his maiden four-day half-century and going on to a dazzling record score for the Lions against the Cobras, stroking 24 fours and three sixes. But he was largely alone in his resistance as off-spinner Piedt kept chipping away with plenty of runs to play with.

 

 

LIONS v DOLPHINS

Played at BidVest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on 27, 28, 29, 30 September 2012

Toss: Dolphins

Result: Highveld Lions won by 53 runs

Man of the Match: Chris Morris

Points: Highveld Lions 17.30 Dolphins 7.26

 

Morris made certain of victory on the final day with a record-breaking performance that gave him the best innings and match figures in Lions history. The Dolphins had begun the last day well in contention needing 92 to win with six wickets in hand, but Morris brought the same fiery aggression he had displayed on the third afternoon, when he took three wickets in 10 balls.

An assertive Tsolekile had ushered the tail well in rescuing the Lions first innings, but Khan and Vandiar batted confidently in a 121-run second-wicket stand before the Dolphins fell away.

Cook’s second-innings defiance gave the Lions a defendable target, made safe by Morris’s superb bowling.

 

 

LIONS v WARRIORS

Played at BidVest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on 20, 21, 22 December 2012

Toss: Highveld Lions

Result: Warriors won by 10 wickets

Man of the Match: Ayabulela Gqamane

Points: Highveld Lions 8.30 Warriors 16.70

 

With the elements in his favour, Warriors four-day debutant Aya Gqamane ripped through the Lions second innings as he condemned them to their lowest ever total. Warriors openers Jacobs and Price then chased down the target with some bravado to seal victory with a day-and-a-half remaining.

The defiance of Cook, McKenzie and Tsolekile had ensured a valuable first-innings lead of 80 for the Lions in testing batting conditions, before their farcical second-innings collapse.

 

 

LIONS v KNIGHTS

Played at Senwes Park, Potchefstroom on 27, 28, 29, 30 December 2012

Toss: Knights

Result: Drawn

Man of the Match: Temba Bavuma

Points: Highveld Lions 8.96 Knights 7.86

 

De Kock’s aggressive innings on the first morning and Kruger’s fine bowling on the second day put the Lions in control. Bavuma’s marvellous century and some inspired late hitting by Tahir then left the Knights with a daunting target of 369 in 102 overs. The visitors were in some trouble after medium-pacer Pelser’s double strike left them on 65 for three. But Erlank and Pienaar could not be separated in the second session of the final day and the two captains shook hands for the draw in the changerooms in the tea break.

 

 

LIONS v TITANS

Played at BidVest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on 17, 18, 19, 20 January 2013

Toss: Titans

Result: Drawn

Man of the Match: Zander de Bruyn

Points: Highveld Lions 8.06 Titans 4.00

 

Newcomer Hendricks and Bavuma received enough bad balls on the first morning, after the Lions were sent in under cloudy skies, to race the hosts to 124 for one at lunch. De Bruyn then batted well with the lower-order to get the Lions to a solid first-innings score.

Rain and bad light meant only two deliveries could be bowled on the second day, but the Titans lost wickets in groups on the third day and were forced to bat again on the final day.

Morris and Viljoen then kept consistent pressure on the Titans and shared six wickets, before heavy rain, followed by bad light, kept the players off the field from before tea.

 

 

The Sydney Sixers sealed the title in the fourth edition of the Champions League T20 in a flurry of hefty blows from openers Michael Lumb and Brad Haddin at the Wanderers, but it was the consistent excellence of their pace attack that had vanquished all opposition before that.

Left-armer Mitchell Starc was the leading wicket-taker in the competition, with Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Moises Henriques all in the top-10 as well. Hazlewood was also the most economical of the bowlers who delivered at least 10 overs in the tournament.

The Highveld Lions were the beaten team in the final, but still emerged with much credit as the Australians were the only side to beat them during the competition.

The Titans were the other South African representatives and they also did not let the country down as they reached the semi-finals, where they were beaten by two wickets by the Sixers in a last-ball thriller.

Four venues – SuperSport Park, the Wanderers, Newlands and Kingsmead – were used as South Africa hosted the tournament for the second time, but rain unfortunately also made an unwanted appearance at the start of a wet summer as four games were washed out.

Both the Lions and Titans were away to fast starts as they won their opening two matches.

Jacques Rudolph and CJ de Villiers blew away the Perth Scorchers in Centurion, while the Lions once again claimed the scalp of the Mumbai Indians at the Wanderers on the opening weekend of action, thanks to the batting of Neil McKenzie and Quinton de Kock, and the superb bowling of Dirk Nannes and Aaron Phangiso.

It soon became obvious that Phangiso was able to outwit international-class batsmen as he continued to excel in victories over the Chennai Super Kings and Yorkshire, and the semi-final against the Delhi Daredevils. The left-arm spinner finished the tournament with 10 wickets and an economy rate of just 5.36.

The Titans brushed aside the challenge of the Auckland Aces in their second match, but were then blown off course by a heavy defeat at the hands of the Kolkata Knight Riders. Their final pool game, against the Daredevils, was washed out and they were then devastated to lose their semi-final off the last ball of the match.

The final was a one-sided affair as the Sixers, who best understood the value of a powerful, adaptable bowling attack, surprised the Lions by starting with spin.

 

 

Semi-final 1: Highveld Lions v Delhi Daredevils

Neil McKenzie, who was dropped twice off Morne Morkel, ensured that the Lions had a defendable score as he spearheaded a late charge of 54 runs off the last five overs. Morris was then superb on a Kingsmead pitch that provided him with pace and bounce.

 

Semi-final 2: Titans v Sydney Sixers

The Sixers needed eight runs off the final over and Pat Cummins scrambled a leg-bye off the last delivery. Titans spinners Roelof van der Merwe and Eden Links had earlier bowled them back into the match after a roaring start by the Australians.

Cummins had earlier suffered terribly at the hands of David Wiese, who notched the fastest half-century of the tournament, off just 25 balls, while Henry Davids played an anchor role brilliantly.

 

Final: Highveld Lions v Sydney Sixers

The Highveld Lions were also-rans in a one-sided final, never recovering from a horror start after the Sixers had surprised them by opening the bowling with spinners. Openers Bodi and Petersen fell to offie McCullum and left-armer O’Keefe respectively, and with Hazlewood also chipping in with the key wickets of De Kock and McKenzie in the third over, the Lions had crashed to nine for four.

Symes, with the help of Tsolekile and Pretorius in the lower-order, gave them something to bowl at, but the Lions were also poor in the field, both Lumb, who also finished as the tournament’s leading run-scorer, and Haddin being dropped in the seventh and eighth overs.

 

 

As it often is with the Bulls, it was a long and drawn-out process, but they managed to beat the Cheetahs 26-21 in their Vodacom SuperRugby match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night and in so doing kept their slim playoff hopes alive.

The Cheetahs, meanwhile, who are back at the bottom of the SuperRugby log, will wonder how they managed to lose a game after leading 18-9 at halftime and looking much the better side.

Their supporters will be wondering why the exciting Cheetahs backline, which stretched the Bulls dangerously in the first half, was hardly used in the second half. Although the visitors will be livid that they were penalised for holding on to the ball in the ruck late in the game when Jan Serfontein was clearly not supporting his own body weight, they had only themselves to blame because they made it easy for the Bulls defence by simply bashing the ball up for phase after phase. Their backline looked on, standing deep and way out of the action.

“It was frustrating, but credit to the Bulls because they manage to mould you into their game plan of kicking and driving,” Cheetahs captain Adriaan Strauss, celebrating his 100th SuperRugby match, admitted afterwards.

While the Bulls managed to con referee Marius van der Westhuizen with that Serfontein breakdown steal, they were generally more accurate at the ruck, especially in the second half, helped by the fact that their big ball-carriers were mostly getting over the advantage line.

“We clawed our way back and we managed to squeeze them in the second half. The maul was working well and momentum and quick ball meant we had a lot of attacking plays and every time we got penalties we kept the pressure on them.

“It was a team effort at the breakdowns, everyone was really switched on to ensure we secured the ball. We had to work hard and it was like slow poison in the right areas,” Bulls coach Frans Ludeke confirmed.

The Cheetahs, going backwards, struggled to stamp their mark on the breakdown and the scrums were also an area of concern for them, a tendency to push inwards not winning the favour of the referee.

Loosehead prop Caylib Oosthuizen was penalised for hinging to allow Bulls flyhalf Handre Pollard to open the scoring with a 52-metre penalty, but Cheetahs loose forwards Boom Prinsloo and Jean Cook then combined well to snuff out a promising break by William Small-Smith and earn an Elgar Watts penalty to level the scores in the ninth minute.

Handre Pollard, who was singled out for praise by Ludeke for the way he bounced back, then went through an awful five minutes to give the Cheetahs a 13-3 lead.

Pollard, so used to calling the shots at flyhalf against minors, flew a long flat pass in the face of the defence as the Bulls probed away in the Cheetahs 22, and centre Johann Sadie read it perfectly, intercepting and running 75 metres to score under the poles.

Watts added the extra two points and, in the 23rd minute, referee Van der Westhuizen seemed a tad pedantic when he yellow-carded Pollard for not retreating the full 10 metres when Cheetahs scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius took a tap-penalty. Watts again added the three points.

A crowd of 17 606 welcoming the Bulls back from their winless overseas tour were no doubt contemplating stronger drink at this point, but the Bulls, to their credit, would not be distracted from their game plan.

Strong runs by eighthman Grant Hattingh and prop Dean Greyling earned a penalty, kicked by fullback Jurgen Visser, as Strauss went off his feet at the ruck, and the Bulls were unfortunate to be denied a try by the bullocking tighthead Marcel van der Merwe five minutes from the break when the TMO harshly ruled that captain Victor Matfield, standing to the side of the ruck, had been obstructing an offsides Heinrich Brussow.

Brussow erred again two minutes later, lying all over the ball at a ruck, and Pollard, back on the field, slotted the penalty to bring the Bulls back to 9-13.

But the half belonged to the Cheetahs, who always seemed the more likely team to score, thanks to the spark of the backline and they scored what seemed to be the crucial try in the final minute of the first half.

Sadie took the gap with the sort of hard, straight running he seldom produced while at the Bulls, and the powerful Benjamin was on his shoulder for the offload, making further ground before flinging a long pass out to Raymond Rhule on the right wing.

The Ghanaian-born flyer finished clinically, beating two cover defenders, and the Cheetahs went into the break as the team in charge, leading 18-9.

“At half-time I thought we had done reasonably well. But in the second half, the Bulls maul was really effective, they would force penalties and then make us defend for the next four or five minutes.

“We let it slip in the second half, our discipline was bad, we gave away too many penalties at their drives and we missed opportunities of our own,” Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske lamented.

It was Pollard who sparked the comeback – the boy’s clearly got something – with a lovely chip-and-gather that put the Bulls hard on attack in the Cheetahs 22, with lock Paul Willemse, another of the young brigade that is exciting Loftus Versfeld, muscling over for a try from a ruck.

Pollard converted but then Jono Ross took too long to roll away in the tackle and Johan Goosen, back in SuperRugby after what feels like an age on the sidelines, kicked the penalty to stretch the Cheetahs’ lead to 21-16.

The power ball-carrying of the Bulls forwards would be the deciding factor, however, as the under-pressure Callie Visagie did well to storm over from 10 metres out after the home side had kicked a penalty to touch but elected against the rolling maul. The penalty came after Brussow had once again infringed at the ruck.

Pollard converted to give the Bulls the lead (23-21) for the first time since the sixth minute and, after Goosen had missed an angled penalty attempt in the 60th minute, the sniping skills of centre Serfontein saw the Cheetahs trapped offsides and the boot of Jacques-Louis Potgieter provided the final points of the match.

“It’s taken a lot of the pressure off, we had that sick feeling in the stomach that we really wanted to win,” Matfield said afterwards. “Things just seem to happen easier here at Loftus, I don’t know why.”