Ken Borland

The Nashua Titans had middle-order dasher Farhaan Behardien and pace bowler cum late hitter Alfonso Thomas to thank as they beat the Chevrolet Knights by 13 runs in a super over in their MiWay T20 Challenge qualifying playoff at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Sunday.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/domestic-t20/news/120325/Titans_clinch_victory_in_a_super_over

The victory not only sees the Titans advance to the final against the bizhub Highveld Lions next weekend at the Wanderers, but also gains them an entry into the financial bonanza that is the Champions League.

The Titans were chasing a moderate 145 for victory and were yet again facing charges of slipping at the final hurdle as they crashed to 67 for five before Behardien (37) and Albie Morkel (25) took them within sight of victory, only for a lower-order collapse to leave them needing 13 runs off the final over to win.

Thomas missed the first three balls of left-armer Jandre Coetzee’s over, launched the fourth over wide long-on for six, missed the fifth again and then hammered the final ball for six over midwicket to secure an extraordinary tie and the super over.

The Titans batted first in the super over and notched 19 runs off Johan van der Wath, including a six and a four by Behardien, both swashbuckling strokes through extra cover.

Thomas, who has played 133 T20 matches for five different franchises, is as well-versed in the dark arts of T20 cricket as anyone and has the composure and smarts to pull off the biggest swindles on the field. Having done it with the bat, he then kept the Knights duo of Morne van Wyk and Rilee Rossouw to just six runs in their super over.

In a match of many twists and turns, Van der Wath, still one of the best bowlers in the country, had seemingly won the game for the Knights as his new-ball burst of 3-15 reduced the Titans to 29 for four.

Ryan McLaren, another bowling all-rounder who should still be in the international picture, made the initial breakthrough with the scalp of Henry Davids for a duck in a maiden first over.

Van der Wath bowled the other opener, Heino Kuhn, for 12 when the batsman missed a pull at a fullish delivery, before the fiery pace bowler produced a top-class third over that included a double-strike.

Roelof van der Merwe (10) miscued a lofted drive to deep mid-on and, two balls later, Faf du Plessis (6) edged a full away-swinger to give a catch to wicketkeeper Van Wyk and a crucial breakthrough for the visitors.

Martin van Jaarsveld (24) and Behardien added 38 off 30 balls to steady the innings and Behardien and Morkel had tilted the balance back in the Titans’ favour with their stand of 53 off 43 deliveries that left them needing 26 runs off the last three overs.

But the Titans suffered another sad collapse as they lost three wickets for 13 runs in the next two overs, all three of them weak dismissals.

Facing the slow seam of Coetzee, Morkel skied a full toss to deep midwicket, where Aubrey Swanepoel had to latch on to a steepling catch. The big-hitting left-hander hung his head as soon as he hit the ball, departing the scene after hammering two sixes off 21 balls.

David Wiese fell for a single, plonking the ball straight down long-on’s throat, Coetzee ending his penultimate over with figures of 3-13.

SENSATIONAL CATCH

Behardien then fell with 14 required off seven balls, depositing a low full toss in the hands of long-off, Van der Wath finishing with outstanding figures of 4-24.

Coetzee then bowled the final over with the Titans needing 13 to win and 12 to tie, and Thomas swung and missed at the first three balls, and the penultimate delivery. But balls four and six were in the slot and Thomas, who is not available for South Africa and classified as a white player due to CSA shenanigans, duly put them away for maximums.

The Titans were on fire in the field and accurate with the ball as they restricted the Knights to 144 for six

The Knights, having been sent into bat because the Titans prefer chasing on their home turf, were on their knees on 89 for five after 13 overs, but McLaren stuck around long enough to provide a decent finish to the innings with his great effort of 42 not out off 28 balls.

The early pressure on the Knights came from the fielders, not the bowlers, as the first three wickets fell to superb catches.

The free-scoring Rilee Rossouw had blazed his way to 16 off 10 balls when he swung Ethy Mbhalati low and flat to the deep square-leg boundary, but Van der Merwe came haring around and dived to take a super catch. On any other day, it would have been the catch-of-the-match, but Morkel stole the limelight with two even better efforts of his own.

Thomas had just come back on from the West Lane End when Van Wyk (10) mistimed a drive off the bottom of the bat and Morkel, on the circle at deep mid-on, dived to his left to take a great catch.

The Knights were just starting to get back on top again as Reeza Hendricks and Dean Elgar added 46 for the third wicket off 40 balls, and the left-handed Elgar must have felt he had collected a nice Christmas present boundary when he bashed left-arm spinner Van der Merwe straight down the ground. But that was before the advent of the flying Morkel, who ran round from long-on and dived full-length to take a miraculous one-handed catch just inside the boundary rope.

The sensational catch meant Elgar was out for a composed 17, and a top-class delivery from off-spinner Eden Links then accounted for Hendricks three balls later.

Hendricks, a fine young talent, had scored a polished 35 off 30 balls when Links ripped a delivery from outside off stump into his leg-stump to beat a drive.

The outlook looked even more gloomy for the Knights when Ryan Bailey (6) was incorrectly given out lbw sweeping at leg-spinner Du Plessis, having bottom-edged the ball into his pad.

Not even a sixth-wicket stand of 47 off 38 balls between McLaren and Werner Coetsee (15) could dampen the confident, expectant atmosphere at SuperSport Park, with wicketkeeper Kuhn pulling off a sharp stumping to dismiss Coetsee and give Van der Merwe his second wicket.

Van der Merwe finished with 2-39, but fellow spinner Links was the best of the Titans bowlers with 1-20 in his four overs.

The consistent Thomas bowled well to finish with 1-27, while Mbhalati took 1-11 in two overs with the newish ball.

Defending SuperRugby champions the Queensland Reds came horribly unstuck at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday as the three-time champion Northern Bulls hammered them 61-8 (half-time 16-3).

This is the second time in five years that the Bulls have humiliated the Reds at Loftus, following the record 92-3 massacre in 2007.

The Reds are missing several injured or suspended members of their triumphant 2011 team, most notably flyhalf Quade Cooper, centre Anthony Faingaa and wing Digby Ioane, and they were never in the contest on Saturday.

“It was a bad night in the office all round, the performance was poor by us and a couple more injuries have added salt to the wound,” Reds coach Ewen McKenzie admitted afterwards in a news conference. “We hit a red-hot Bulls team tonight, they were very fresh and powerful.”

The Bulls scored just one try in the first half, through fullback Zane Kirchner after a five-metre scrum, but flyhalf Morne Steyn kicked three penalties and a conversion to give them a handy lead.

The Reds’ scrambling defence kept the damage down to just the single try, and centre Jono Lance missed two late penalties that would have kept them in touch.

But the Bulls were creating space on attack almost at will, and the Reds plunged into despair midway through the second half as the Bulls scored three tries to open up a 37-3 lead.

The powerful running of flank Jacques Potgieter and the great hands of Steyn put centre Wynand Olivier over for a try in the second minute of the half, before the strength of lock Flip van der Merwe carried him over the line in the 15th minute.

Potgieter then scored the try of the match as he burst clear from the halfway line and held off the cover defence to score the bonus point try.

“Everything came together tonight, it was a special performance, everyone brought something. It just wasn’t the Reds night, they were disrupted by injuries and citings, and I feel sorry for them,” Bulls captain Spies said.

The Reds responded by keeping ball in hand in entertaining fashion, fullback Rod Davies dashing down the right before wing Dom Shipperley rounded off on the left for the visitors’ only try.

But then it was back to the slaughter as the Bulls restored their dominance through keeping the ball close to the forwards. Eighthman Spies led from the front with several rampaging runs, while hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle and wing Akona Ndungane were also impressive.

Alert replacement scrumhalf Jano Vermaak sniped over from a ruck in the 66th minute, before flank CJ Stander, who chased turnover ball well all evening, scored from a rolling maul six minutes later.

Replacement flyhalf Louis Fouche’s conversion put the Bull score into the fifties and, even though coach Frans Ludeke cleared the bench, the substitutes continued to tear into the Reds, with centre JJ Engelbrecht and fullback Bjorn Basson scoring tries in the last five minutes.

“It was important we stayed focused in the second half and we finished strongly, it just kept getting better! I felt we had good momentum when we carried the ball,” Spies said.

The win took the Bulls, who last won the southern hemisphere franchise championship in 2010, into first place in the overall standings, one point ahead of the Waikato Chiefs. Fellow South Africans the Stormers will overtake them at the top if they beat the Gauteng Lions later on Saturday.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Zane Kirchner, Wynand Olivier, Flip van der Merwe, Jacques Potgieter, Jano Vermaak, CJ Stander, JJ Engelbrecht, Bjorn Basson. Conversions: Morne Steyn (5), Louis Fouche’. Penalties: Steyn (3).

Queensland Reds – Try: Dom Shipperley. Penalty: Jono Lance.

Former world champion Caster Semenya made a winning return to 800m action on Saturday in Potchefstroom, but failed to reach the Olympic qualifying standard.

Semenya won the 800m in the second leg of the Yellow Pages Series in Potchefstroom, clocking 2:03.60, well outside the Olympic qualifer of 1:59.90.

The 2009 world champion and 2011 World Championship silver-medallist said she was sorry she had not set the pace earlier in a slow-paced race.

“I ran a little stupidly because I didn’t take the lead from the beginning. I thought they would push the pace, but we all learn from our mistakes.

“Everyone knows the Olympics is the most important thing this year, so I must set the qualifying time, and we’ll take it from there,” Semenya told reporters after the race.

Semenya was embroiled in a controversy over her gender after her 2009 triumph in Berlin, and the IAAF ordered her to undergo gender testing.

In July 2010 she was cleared to run in women’s events, but is currently returning to full fitness after a back problem disrupted her season last year.

The 21-year-old stayed with the pack for the first 300 metres on Saturday, but broke away before the end of the first lap and slowly pulled clear of the other competitors on the second lap to win comfortably.

The Blue Bulls were clinical in attack and rock-solid in defence as they hammered the MTN Golden Lions 49-10 (half-time 18-3) in their Vodacom Cup match at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.

The Bulls ran in six tries and they conceded just one as they thoroughly outplayed a Lions side that enjoyed enough possession, but could not make headway against a flat, imposing wall of defence. The Lions also tended to waste their ball with silly handling errors or poor option taking and a lack of flair.

The Lions actually opened the scoring with a seventh-minute penalty by fullback Marais Schmidt, but they had to wait another 52 minutes for their next shot at goal, when Schmidt kicked the conversion of their only try, by wing Anthony Volmink. That came about after the Lions finally got their scrum going and worked the blindside.

By then, however, the Bulls had already scored their bonus point try and the consolation effort allowed the Lions to close the gap to 35-10.

The Bulls enjoyed a healthy 18-3 lead at halftime, thanks to two penalties by flyhalf Tony Jantjies, whose boot kept the home side going forward. The younger brother of Lions star Elton succeeded with five conversions and three penalties in all, as well as scoring an impressive individual try for a haul of 24 points.

Lions loosehead prop Fhumulani Kamanga struggled to get himself settled at the scrum and the result was a series of penalties to the Bulls. One of these, in the 19th minute, was kicked to touch and, from the lineout, Jantjies put in a good straight run to get over the advantage line, allowing scrumhalf Ruan Snyman to pick the ball up at the ruck and swivel through a couple of tackles and score.

The Bulls’ second try came in the 21st minute from another scrum penalty deep inside the Lions’ 22. From the tap penalty, Jantjies charged straight through the flimsy defence of opposite number Garth April to score.

The Lions tried hard to breach the Bulls defence up to the end of the first half, enjoying 68% possession in the first 40 minutes, but their efforts invariably came to nought, ending in a dropped pass or a turnover.

It meant the Lions finished the first half 15 points behind and the second half just saw a repeat of their first-half mistakes.

Another scrum penalty six minutes after the break allowed the Bulls to set up a midfield ruck, fullback Ulrich Beyers popped up in the backline and wing Jurgen Visser was looming on the wing and able to canter over the tryline.

Jantjies kicked the conversion and a penalty in the 54th minute as the Bulls extended their lead to 28-3 and sealed the result.

From the kickoff, Snyman hoisted an up-and-under and Visser appeared out of nowhere to snatch the ball from Schmidt, and Beyers was up in support to take an inside pass and score under the poles (35-3).

The Lions did bounce back with Volmink’s lone try, but the Bulls were quickly back on to the attack.

At a venue where tight play is so admired, it was fitting that the Bulls’ last two tries were scored by loosehead prop Vincent Koch and replacement tighthead Basil Short.

It was at forward where the Bulls had laid the platform for their triumph and the whole pack were brilliant, working as the most well-knit of units.

The Bulls backline was solid in defence and efficient on attack: Jantjies has clearly inherited the genes of his brother, while the midfield pairing of Francois Venter and Jan Serfontein is one of the most promising in the country.

SCORERS:

Vodacom Blue Bulls – Tries: Ruan Snyman, Tony Jantjies, Jurgen Visser, Ulrich Beyers, Vincent Koch, Basil Short. Conversions: Jantjies (5). Penalties: Jantjies (3).

MTN Golden Lions – Try: Anthony Volmink. Conversion: Marais Schmidt. Penalty: Schmidt.

http://www.supersport.com/rugby/vodacom-cup/news/120324/Clinical_Bulls_hammer_Lions