Ken Borland

“Mission Accomplished” and “a pretty positive tour”. These were the words of coach Gary Kirsten and captain Graeme Smith as the South African team arrived back from New Zealand on Wednesday.

“I’m very happy with the whole tour, it was mission accomplished. We knew it would be a tough challenge, New Zealand’s not an easy place to tour and they were in-form. We made a slow start in the first T20 but then hit our straps and the quality of our cricket was of a high standard,” Kirsten said.

Having wrestled the Black Caps to the mat, Smith said his team were confident they could beat both England and Australia on their home turf later this year.

“It was a pretty positive tour for us, we played a lot of cricket on the front foot. The players were able to grow relationships and styles and how they fit into the environment and the work ethic. They were all able to find their place in the squad and Gary and his management team offered us everything possible for success.

“I definitely think we can beat both England and Australia away. We have a lot of the same players who did it in 2008/9, but we have an extra edge now in terms of the way we think about the way we play and train, plus there’s the addition of players like Vernon Philander, Marchant de Lange and Lopsy Tsotsobe.

“But we know those two teams play very well at home and you’ve got to handle the pressure of big crowds and the media being against you. England will have played a lot of competitive cricket by the time we get there and it’s a tough place to win. So it’s a very big tour for us, but we’ve crossed that hurdle before and we know we can do it,” Smith said.

South Africa were dominant in the test series but bad weather and a disputed TV referral of a catch restricted them to just a 1-0 series win. The turning down of Alviro Petersen’s effort early on in Kane Williamson’s match-saving century on the final day of the third test was the last in a series of debatable decisions based on technology, but Smith said the controversies have not sown seeds of doubt in the players’ minds over the use of the Decision Review System (DRS).

“I did read a report that there were issues with the set-up of the cameras, which obviously isn’t ideal, and there has been a lot of skepticism about the last bit of the ball-tracking. But DRS has become an integral part of the game, it’s great for the fans and I can’t imagine playing without it.

“It was designed to take away the shocking decision and it’s done that. I’d like to see it play a prominent part in international cricket,” Smith said.

Apart from captaining the team with aplomb, Smith also brought tremendous value as an opening batsman in tricky conditions, finishing as the leading run-scorer in the series with 282 runs in three tests.

“After the Kimberley ODI against Sri Lanka when I scored a seventy and then moving on to my century at the Wanderers, I worked hard on my game before the tour. Then Morne Morkel cleaned me up in the first practice, which set me back a bit. But it was great to carry that form through the tests.

“I’m starting to feel that my game is back to normal now, I’m feeling more in control of my game,” Smith said.

For Kirsten, it is now time to look forward to the England tour starting on July 9.

“I am looking forward to the tour to the United Kingdom, that’s our next big one. We have lofty standards as a team and we made great progress in New Zealand. The tour taught us about our strengths and capabilities.

“The bowling unit was outstanding, they bowled with real intensity and proved that we have a world-class attack. And the batting got better through the tour as well.

“We now have some time off, but we’ll need to spend a fair amount of time planning and strategising for England. Graeme and I live in the same city, so we’ll be doing a lot of that in the coming weeks,” Kirsten said.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/sa-team/news/120328/Mission_accomplished_and_a_positive_tour

South Africa captain Graeme Smith said on Wednesday that he was comfortable with television referrals and the umpire decision review system (DRS) playing a larger role in international cricket, despite recent criticism of the technology.

South Africa’s recent series in New Zealand was marred by criticism of the DRS, with the ball-tracking, hot-spot and Snicko components coming up with results that were seemingly at odds with what was seen live.

England, meanwhile, have been struggling to adapt to the system in tests against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, their crease-bound batsmen falling to record numbers of leg-before-wicket decisions via DRS.

“I did read a report that there were issues with the set-up of the cameras, which obviously isn’t ideal, and there has been a lot of skepticism about the last bit of the ball-tracking. But DRS has become an integral part of the game, it’s great for the fans and I can’t imagine playing without it,” Smith told a news conference at Johannesburg International Airport on Wednesday.

“It was designed to take away the shocking decision and it’s done that. I’d like to see it play a prominent part in international cricket,” Smith added.

South Africa won both the T20 and one-day international portions of their tour to New Zealand, before dominating the test series but being restricted to a 1-0 win due to bad weather. Smith said the results made him confident that his team could beat both England and Australia on their home turf later this year.

“I definitely think we can beat both England and Australia away. We have a lot of the same players who did it in 2008/9, but we have an extra edge now in terms of the way we think about the way we play and train, plus there’s the addition of players like Vernon Philander, Marchant de Lange and Lopsy Tsotsobe.

“But we know those two teams play very well at home and you’ve got to handle the pressure of big crowds and the media being against you. England will have played a lot of competitive cricket by the time we get there and it’s a tough place to win. So it’s a very big tour for us, but we’ve crossed that hurdle before and we know we can do it,” Smith said.

The burly left-hander led South Africa to a 2-1 series win in England in 2008 before they won the first two tests of their three-match series in Australia later that year.

Smith said that, while on tour for six weeks in New Zealand, the team had grown more accustomed to the leadership of former India coach Gary Kirsten, who took over as coach of his own country’s national team last June.

“The players were able to grow relationships and styles and how they fit into the environment and the work ethic. They were all able to find their place in the squad and Gary and his management team offered us everything possible for success,” Smith said.

It was a sentiment shared by Kirsten.

“It’s more important what the players learnt from me. It was nice to be on tour, a long way from home, and to connect well as a team. We have lofty standards as a team and I thought we made great progress. The tour taught us about our strengths and capabilities,” Kirsten said.

The former opening batsman singled out the bowling attack, which struck fear into the hearts of the Kiwis: ” I thought the bowling unit was outstanding, they bowled with real intensity and proved that they are a world-class attack. And the batting got better through the tour as well ,” Kirsten said.

Nashua Titans coach Matthew Maynard said his players’ dedication and ability to rise to the occasion had been the shining lights of their MiWay T20 Challenge campaign that culminates in the final against the bizhub Highveld Lions at the Wanderers on Sunday.

“The intensity in practice has been sensational, as good as I’ve come across, and I’m delighted that they’ve been rewarded for their efforts. Trophies are what is expected in professional sport and I’ve been blessed with a very good squad. Managing the guys who’ve been away and come back is always a challenge, but when Faf du Plessis and Jacques Rudolph have come back, they’ve been highly motivated to succeed.

“It’s been an incredible year. Ever since I arrived from a foreign land, I’ve felt so welcome. The first phase was getting to know the players and the first thing that struck me was how driven they are. I just had to create an environment for them to thrive in, I’m very much an empowering coach, leaving the onus on them. The players have been absolutely fantastic and I couldn’t have asked for more as a coach in terms of how they’ve gone about their work,” Maynard said.

The Titans reached the final in the most dramatic circumstances at SuperSport Park last weekend, after they seemed to have once again wrecked their chances with a poor batting display. But Farhaan Behardien pushed them close and Alfonso Thomas hit the last ball of the 20 overs for six to force a Super Over decider, in which he and Behardien once again shone.

“We’ve got through some tight situations this season, starting in Paarl in the SuperSport Series when we had a very difficult chase and Albie Morkel made an unbeaten half-century. That was a massive defining moment and then we prepared a filthy green pitch against the Dolphins because we had to win outright, but we lost the toss and had to bat first and Heino Kuhn smacked 128 to put them on the back foot and Faf then scored 157 to get us plenty of bonus points.

“And then it was an incredible way to reach the T20 final and we’ve had to let it sink in. But this is a great bunch of players, they’re very self-motivated and there’s a lovely balance between those who have won before and the youngsters. They’ve done the key things right in the tight games,” Maynard said.

During their years of promising much but eventually failing at the final hurdle in T20 cricket, the Titans were generally fast out of the blocks before fading at the business end of the tournament. But this season, they have slowly built their way to peak form ahead of the crucial final two matches, winning their last four games.

The Titans now look such a settled, in-form and slick unit that it seems national stars AB de Villiers, Morne Morkel, Jacques Rudolph and Marchant de Lange will be left on the sidelines for Friday’s final.

“I will need to sit down with them and see how fatigued and motivated they are. It’s a very tough call, because it affects the balance of the side, but it’s all about how motivated they are to play. It can also be hard on them because the levels of expectation will be very high, but they’ll be fatigued after a long tour and a long flight. You only need to be 2% off your best to not be able to perform in a final,” Maynard said.

South African captain Graeme Smith was showing the effects of that long flight when he arrived back in Johannesburg late on Wednesday afternoon and he said it was a very tough ask for his team-mates to play on Sunday.

“I feel like I’ve been flying for four days, so I feel for the guys playing on Sunday. Your sleep patterns are a mess and it’s not just about game day, but also the training beforehand. It took us time to find our feet when we flew to New Zealand, about seven or eight days,” Smith said.

There has been speculation that the Titans played their “final” in their thrilling qualifying playoff against the Knights, but Maynard said their focus will be firmly on Sunday’s actual final.

“For every franchise, first-class team in England, state in Australia, New Zealand or the West Indies, it’s exactly the same thing, it’s our version of Champions League football to qualify and play against the best in the world. You don’t get that opportunity very often and financially, it’s obviously a massive boost for the union.

“But we won’t be relaxing, there are a couple of new T20 Proteas [Behardien and Du Plessis] who have a lot to prove, and winning the final would be the cherry on top of the cake,” Maynard said.

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Coach Dave Nosworthy went out of his way on Wednesday to assure bizhub Highveld Lions fans that his team are not satisfied with merely qualifying for the Champions League; instead, there is a great hunger in the side to win Sunday’s MiWay T20 Challenge final against the Nashua Titans at the Wanderers.

The Lions topped the round-robin log to qualify for the lucrative Champions League for the second time in three seasons, but Nosworthy said this time they are determined to go one better and win the final. In 2009/10, the Lions were hammered by 82 runs by the Eastern Cape Warriors in the final.

“We’ve learnt a lesson from the previous season we qualified for the Champions League, when we rode the honeymoon for too long. Two years ago at St George’s Park, it was a big honeymoon for us and we relaxed mentally. There’s a totally different vibe in the side now and the most important thing for them is the final. The Champions League is great, but the guys are desperate to get over the line on Sunday and will be right up for the game,” Nosworthy said at the Wanderers on Wednesday.

The Lions have not played a full match in the last fortnight, bad weather causing both their games against the Sunfoil Dolphins and the New Age Impi to be abandoned, but the loss of momentum has been partially offset by the opportunity to refocus after the joy of qualifying in first place.

“The emotions have been allowed to come off that massive high and we were out in the middle yesterday, regaining any lost momentum with a middle practice where we set different scenarios. So our preparations are on track,” Nosworthy said.

Nosworthy managed to arrest the decline in confidence in the side after a miserable One-Day Cup campaign at the end of last year in which the Lions finished bottom of the log after winning just two of their 10 games.

“There’s a lot of belief in the side and a balance between the experienced players who have won stuff before and the exuberance of youth. The team chemistry has been one of the key things and when games have gone down to the wire, we’ve had that belief. We’ve stuck to our game plans and kept to our good habits,” Nosworthy said.

The former Titans coach confirmed that he will definitely be making use of the services of Alviro Petersen, who returned from New Zealand with the national team on Wednesday afternoon. While the opening batsman is obviously in form and is a proven limited-overs performer, there is always the risk of disruption to the side, especially since Petersen has been in test-match mode for the last three weeks.

“Alviro will come straight back into the team as captain. He was here for the first four matches and the issues are more if you change four or five players, which changes the whole dynamic. But through this season, Alviro has been more with us than anywhere else and everyone’s more than comfortable with him coming back.

“The players all know his plans and the relationship between him and Thami Tsolekile [the previous captain] is crucial. It is brilliant, they are good mates, so Alviro comes back, he has always been part of us,” Nosworthy said.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/domestic-t20/news/120328/Nosworthy_assures_fans_of_Lions_focus