Ken Borland

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South African cricket enters a new era today, an uncertain time without the reassuring presence of Graeme Smith, made worse by the strong challenge to their number one Test ranking that is coming from Australia, who are playing with all the hunger and daring of the new kids on the block.

Smith cited the considerations of a young family and the wear and tear of 12 years of international cricket that forced ankle surgery last April for his decision to retire. The timing of his announcement – after the third day of the series-deciding third Test and with his team’s backs to the wall, has set off the conspiracy theorists.

But whatever the reasons for Smith’s retirement, the South African public owe him an enormous debt of gratitude. The Proteas faced an uncertain future when he took over in 2003, but Smith forged the unity, determination and appreciation for the different cultures present in the team that took them to the number one position in Test cricket. And he did all that while juggling the off-field demands of politicians, selfish administrators and a fickle public.

The statistics only tell some of the story of Smith’s immense contribution: A world record 109 Tests as captain, the most Test runs by a captain and the only batsman to score four fourth-innings centuries in wins.

His batting alone was formidable: 9265 runs at an average of 48.25 with 27 centuries; the highlights being the only South African to score four double-centuries and equalling Don Bradman’s record for the batsman with the most triple century partnerships.

But the growth of the team was mirrored by the development of Smith as a person. Handed the reins of a team in distress when he was just 22, he understandably used his natural confidence to try and stamp his mark.

The learning curve was steep, but Smith was a fast learner. The team were soon fully behind their captain, impressed by his courage in leading from the front, and the hints of arrogance that might have been present at the start of his tenure were soon replaced by a welcome thoughtfulness and honesty, especially in his dealings with the media.

The legacy and values that Smith has left in the form of world-class stars like AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn will hopefully guide the new era that the Proteas now enter.

 

 

 

Timing is everything in birding and so much of that is just down to sheer luck. A second or two can mean the difference between making that great sighting as a rare bird flies into a tree or missing it entirely as you move on to the next bush.

I was reminded of this in quite forceful fashion on my trip to Mlawula Nature Reserve, a dramatic venue in the foothills of the Lebombo Mountains, nestled in the north-eastern corner of Swaziland, right on the Mozambique border.

There’s a large, rustic campsite on the Simunye side of the reserve and, with a spacious lawn and plenty of trees, it’s a productive place to walk around in terms of birding.

And so it was that on a typically steamy Lowveld afternoon I was walking around the campsite and enjoying the shade of the trees. When my wife phoned!

Obviously I am always delighted to hear from the very special person who agreed to marry me, but some times are better than others.

Anyway, I’m not one of those people who tend to walk around while talking on the phone, so I stood still and took the call.

And I’m glad I did because the call ended and I was just putting my cellphone back in my pocket when I noticed something large fly into the Milkwood tree in front of me.

It was unmistakably raptorish, but fairly short and squat and lots of white was visible.

Closer inspection revealed a pale form Wahlberg’s Eagle – the one with the lovely white head and brown wings. It was only after a few seconds that I noticed the handsome bird was holding something in its powerful yellow claws – an unfortunate young  Rock Monitor was going to be supper.

 

 

The eagle hung around for quite some time, producing a memorable highlight of the second day in Mlawula.

I had awoken that day – my first morning there – to the liquid purity of the Blackheaded Oriole regaling the dawn with it’s perfectly pure notes. Along with the Gorgeous Bush Shrike whistling away and the Yellowspotted Nicator chuckling in the dense bush, and the Greyheaded Bush Shrike providing a mournful contrast, it was impossible not to feel excited about being in this exotic wilderness.

Everything was very skittish though, suggesting there was hunting there in the past and that poaching may still be a problem.

The moist savanna between the entrance gate and the camp featured typical lowveld birds: there were lots of Redbacked Shrike, swooping on their insect prey like little masked superheroes, plenty of African Hoopoe and other interesting sightings such as Crowned Hornbill, Paradise Flycatcher, Woodland Kingfisher, Plumcoloured Starling and Purplecrested Lourie.

Feeling adventurous (and hoping for Black Coucal which has been seen in the area before), I tackled the track along the Mbuluzi River towards the Mozambique border. Now you really felt as if you were in the tropics, with stifling heat and thick bush hemming you in, and eventually I could proceed no further as the road had been washed away, leaving a pile of unpassable boulders.

The third day brought a contrast as I travelled south and up into the hills where Magadzavane Lodge nestles with a commanding view; a place of great potential. From the valleys which are just over 150m above sea-level, you climb to an altitude of over 550m.

Along the way, Bearded Woodpecker was spotted along with the more common Goldentailed, while Whitebacked Vulture added to the raptor list.

As another example of fortuitous timing, as I stopped to take a photograph of the magnificent view of hills and valleys stretched out below me, what should fly almost directly beneath me but a beautiful Crowned Eagle. It was soon joined in its majestic drifting by a Brown Snake Eagle.

A European Marsh Warbler – one of the few non-aquatic Acrocephalus species – was foraging in the clumps of bush in the grassland on the other side of the road.

But just to prove that intuition also plays a role in birding success, once back at camp I was aware of several birds making a helluva racket close to the ablution block. Going to investigate paid off as there was a young Southern African Python trying to stealthily make its way across the lawn.

A drive to the Mbuzi Picnic Site and the Mlawula River in the late afternoon brought the wonderful Longtailed Paradise Whydah, Black Widowfinch and Blackchested Snake Eagle, as well as a Fierynecked Nightjar on the way back as evening fell on the African wilderness.

The moist bushveld, with lovely tall Fever Trees along the Siphiso River, close to camp looked a good spot for birding and spending a couple of hours on the final morning there brought Yellowthroated Sparrow, White Helmetshrike, African Fish Eagle and Pied Kingfisher.

The camping facilities at Mlawula are rustic and, this deep in the African bush, things do go wrong. Baboons dug up the water pipes early on the second morning, leaving me without any water to shower or wash up. Fortunately I had a two-litre bottle of water with me for cooking and drinking, but I had to resort to bush-toilets.

Of course the bushveld also provides and dirty plates were sorted out by putting them on the ground and, 30 seconds later, a swarm of ants would be busy picking them clean.

Going with the flow can also be a wonderful experience!

 

Sightings list

Blackeyed Bulbul

African Hoopoe

Nyala

Impala

Emeraldspotted Wood Dove

Crowned Hornbill

Redbacked Shrike

European Swallow

European Bee-Eater

Spotted Flycatcher

Wahlberg’s Epauletted Fruit Bat

Blackheaded Oriole

Paradise Flycatcher

Greyheaded Bush Shrike

Hamerkop

Blue Waxbill

Glossy Starling

Rattling Cisticola

African Pied Wagtail

Common Sandpiper

Warthog

Southern Black Flycatcher

Speckled Mousebird

Woodland Kingfisher

Plumcoloured Starling

Chacma Baboon

Purplecrested Lourie

Whitebellied Sunbird

Lesser Striped Swallow

Wiretailed Swallow

Yellowfronted Canary

Cape White-Eye

Blackcollared Barbet

Goldenbreasted Bunting

Forktailed Drongo

Little Swift

Wahlberg’s Eagle

Rock Monitor

Chinspot Batis

Redeyed Dove

Southern Boubou

Wahlberg’s Velvet Gecko

Brownhooded Kingfisher

Jameson’s Firefinch

Goldentailed Woodpecker

Bearded Woodpecker

Leopard Tortoise

Whitebacked Vulture

Burchell’s Coucal

Longbilled Crombec

Sombre Bulbul

Blackbacked Puffback

Striped Skink

Five-Lined Skink

European Marsh Warbler

Crowned Eagle

Brown Snake Eagle

Common Waxbill

Greater Kudu

Southern African Python

Longtailed Paradise Whydah

Black Widowfinch

Southern Greyheaded Sparrow

Arrowmarked Babbler

Greenbacked Camaroptera

Terrestrial Bulbul

Natal Francolin

Blackchested Snake Eagle

Plains Zebra

Fierynecked Nightjar

Yellowthroated Sparrow

White Helmetshrike

African Fish Eagle

Pied Kingfisher

 

 

A top-class display of patient golf saw Ross Fisher claim a three-stroke victory in the European Tour/Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned Tshwane Open at the Els Club Copperleaf on Sunday.

Fisher began the final day with a five-shot lead but had to endure an impressive challenge from Northern Irishman Michael Hoey and also some pressure from Spaniard Carlos del Moral before posting a two-under-par 70 to finish on 20-under-par and claim a fifth European Tour victory after a winning drought of nearly four years.

The Englishman laboured around the front nine in one-under 35, his iron play and putting lacking the brilliant sharpness of the previous two days, and Hoey closed to within a stroke after sinking a 25-foot birdie putt on the 11^th hole, to follow up an eagle on the par-five fourth and birdies at the first and eighth holes.

But Hoey then saw his approach shot on the par-four 12^th slide into the water hazard protecting the green, leading to a double-bogey, and he eventually finished with a 68 to trail Fisher by three strokes.

Del Moral twice closed to within two shots of Fisher, but erred crucially with bogeys on the 14^th and 17^th holes, finishing alone in fourth place on 16-under.

Young South African Danie van Tonder produced the round of the day with a 66 to finish tied in second place with Hoey, taking R1.7 million from his best-ever finish on the summer tour.

Fisher sealed victory on the 578-metre 15^th hole when he rolled in a superb eagle putt from 20 feet to give him a four-shot lead.

“I was 263 metres from the pin after a real good drive and then I really ripped a hybrid, probably the flushest I’ve hit for a long time. That was a massive turning point, I couldn’t buy a putt before that, and then I didn’t have to push any more, I didn’t have to take driver coming in,” Fisher said after his triumph.

“I knew patience would be the biggest thing today, just hitting the green and making the other guys get birdies. And Mike hitting into the water on 12 was also a big thing, it gave me a breather,” the 33-year-old said.

Fisher also had to handle the additional challenges posed by almost-continual rain and then a blustery wind.

“The weather wasn’t kind and it wasn’t quite the fireworks and spectacular golf I hoped for. The eagle on four by Mike really pushed me, but I felt like I was giving myself chances and the birdie on seven was a very good one, there were many bogeys there today. I then felt I had some shots to spare because the back nine has been very kind to me,” he said.

The 2010 Ryder Cup player is now back into the top 65 on the world rankings and closer to his goal of making the top 50 and once again competing in the majors and the famous team event between Europe and the United States.

Behind the impressive Van Tonder, Hennie Otto, the 2011 SA Open champion, was the next best South African, a 68 in the final round leaving him alone in fifth place on 15-under.

http://citizen.co.za/136519/fisher-claims-three-stroke-victory-tshwane-open/

Englishman Ross Fisher stretched his lead to five strokes as he fired a five-under-par 67 in the third round of the European Tour/Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned Tshwane Open at the Els Club Copperleaf on Saturday.

Fisher had started the penultimate day with just a one-shot lead over Morten Orum Madsen, and two ahead of Simon Dyson and Carlos del Moral, but the 2010 Ryder Cup player birdied the sixth, seventh and ninth holes to reach the turn in 33 and then collected two more birdies on the back nine as he took firm control of the R22.3 million tournament.

The 33-year-old will go into the final round on 18-under-par, with his nearest challengers being Northern Irishman Michael Hoey on 13-under, Dyson and Del Moral on 12-under and seven golfers on 11-under, including South Africans Merrick Bremner, Hennie Otto, Danie van Tonder, Trevor Fisher Junior and Darren Fichardt.

On a wet, miserable day, no one was really able to make a move on Fisher, with compatriot Robert Rock’s seven-under-par 65 the best round of the day and that moved him into a tie for 12^th on 10-under.

Madsen, who won the South African Open in Johannesburg in November, unravelled badly and his round was like a disaster movie, finishing with three successive bogeys to leave him on nine-under for the tournament, nine strokes behind Fisher, and in a tie for 15^th.

Fisher, who began his third round with two bogeys in his first five holes, said his aim in the final round would be to produce birdies and thereby eliminate the threat of the sort of exciting come-from-behind charge the promoters of the tournament would love.

“Five shots is a nice lead, but I expect good scores behind me in the final round, especially if the weather is hot and sunny. So I’ll be aiming to shoot in the 60s again, I’ll play aggressively and make as many birdies as possible. In that way I’ll put heat on the others and they’ll have to shoot something silly to catch me,” Fisher said after his third-successive sub-68 round.

Fisher, a prodigious driver of the ball, has overcome the longest course in European Tour history with his excellence off the tee and some brilliant long-iron play, hitting 86% of the greens in regulation. When he errs, he knows his short game is good enough to make up for it, as shown by fine up-and-downs on the 14^th and 18^th holes.

Hoey managed to maintain the momentum from his second round, in which he collected seven successive birdies on the back nine, to shoot a 69 on Friday and climb even further up the leaderboard.

“I kept my rhythm well from yesterday and I was able to tap into those seven birdies in a row. The course is long and wet, and I was very happy with my putting.

“I had a couple of sloppy swings and misjudgements, but it’s easier to accept those when you’re putting well and scoring well,” Hoey said after his round that included three bogeys and six birdies.

Both Dyson and Del Moral struggled to get going on Saturday, shooting one-under-par 71s, and Fisher is clearly going to be extremely hard to beat in the final round.

“I’m playing as good as ever, similar to when I contended in the majors, and my goal is to get back into the top 50 in the world – I feel I belong there. To win here would be a massive confidence boost and a step in the right direction,” Fisher said.

http://citizen.co.za/136238/fisher-extends-lead-tshwane-open/