Ken Borland

Quinton de Kock said after the third ODI between South Africa and England that it was “nice to get out in the middle and score some runs” in his trademark understated way, but given the hunger he showed to make it really count on Sunday, the fact that rain limited his fun to just 76 balls in 105 minutes would have frustrated the 29-year-old.

The left-hander made the most of his time at the crease though, overcoming a scratchy start against excellent English seam bowling to stroke a marvellous 92 not out before the match was washed out. It was his first major innings since his phenomenal 140 not out for the Lucknow Super Giants against the Kolkata Knight Riders on May 18 in his penultimate IPL game.

De Kock had only batted five more times since then, suffering a hand injury during the Proteas’ T20 series in India, so he was eager to make his mark at Headingley.

“It was obviously nice to get out there and score some runs, spend some time in the middle after time away from the game,” De Kock said after the series was shared 1-1 with world champions England.

“The pitch was providing a bit of swing and movement, so I just had to soak up the pressure at first, 50 overs is a long time, and make sure I remained strong in my positions.

“I wanted to make sure I had a strong defence and put away the bad balls, while keeping the ball on the ground for as long as possible. That was the game-plan.

“It was tricky facing three left-arm seamers swinging it around. But we thought that might happen in this series, so we did our prep to make sure we weren’t caught off-guard,” De Kock said.

The three-match series did provide at least one unexpected outcome, with star England all-rounder Ben Stokes’s decision to join the growing number of players who have retired from a format of the game catching many off-guard.

De Kock himself is strictly a white-ball player these days, and pleasingly is still clearly a top-class practitioner who makes batting look so easy on days like Sunday. Part of his secret is that he does not overcomplicate things and he said how much cricket players should be willing to play is purely a personal decision.

“It is starting to be tough for those players who play in all three formats, that is a lot of cricket and there are even more games now over the calendar year,” De Kock said.

“It’s an individual decision, if you feel you can do it then I’m happy for you, but others have taken it into their own hands. It’s a personal decision.

“If you’re still young then I think you should still play in all three formats. But as you get older, the body doesn’t co-operate as much. It’s just about managing things to prolong our careers.

“But there are still World Cups I want to play in and win, I still have a lot to play for. I always try to make an impact, that’s what we’re here to do, no matter how many formats you play,” De Kock said.

It seems a lot of people owe Faf de Klerk an apology. We are all used to seeing the blonde-haired scrumhalf dashing all over the field looking more like a loose cannon than a guided missile at times, but you have to hand it to the 29-year-old for knowing the laws of the game better than most.

And that includes Matthew Carley, the referee for last weekend’s match between the Wallabies and the Springboks who gave De Klerk a yellow card for playing the halfback from an offsides position at a ruck inside the South African 22. Incorrectly as it turns out.

That’s according to no less of an authority than Nigel Owens, the man who has refereed more Tests than anyone else. On this week’s Whistle Watch video for WorldRugby (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsmXBuDGEps), Owens said because De Klerk was bound in the ruck, on his feet and did not attempt to slap the ball out of opposite number Nic White’s hands but just played his arm, he was onsides and should not have been deemed to have done anything illegal.

“My yellow card was disappointing and it put the team under pressure, but I honestly don’t think it was a yellow card. I clearly played the arm and not the ball, which to my understanding is fine and I would do the same thing again. The same with Willie le Roux’s yellow card, he was trying to intercept the pass, it’s not as if we were doing anything stupid.

“I think our discipline has actually been pretty decent, there have just been a few errors when we have gone off-system. We just need to be a bit more sharp and in the referee’s head a bit more. We know we can’t concede a lot of penalties against the All Blacks or we will really struggle. But the last five times we have played against New Zealand they have been close games,” De Klerk said.

Returning to recent history in the 100^th Test between the two great rivals is perhaps the first thing the Springboks need to do in Townsville on Saturday because De Klerk feels they moved away from the strategies that made them the No.1 side in the world in the two successive losses to Australia.

“Maybe we strayed a little away from how we normally play and that led to errors. We were forcing things a bit and our game-drivers tried to play when it was not on. We fell into the trap of maybe overplaying too much, which puts our forwards under strain. We know we need to be better at that.

“As a team, our main focus is on just getting back on track and hopefully stay in contention to win the Rugby Championship. But we know how to play against the All Blacks and how to capitalise on their weak points. In our last game, at the World Cup, it was basically two kicks that we did not handle, which gave them turnover attack and they scored, that’s when they flourish,” De Klerk said. 

Danie van Tonder was happy to divulge he felt his fair share of frustration on the final day of the Vodacom Championship Unlocked, but the 29-year-old showed his ever-growing maturity as he nevertheless sealed a second victory in the Rise Up Series with a five-under-par 67 at ERPM Golf Club on Friday.

Van Tonder finished on 13-under-par overall, his brilliant final round lifting him one stroke clear of MJ Viljoen, who led after the first two rounds but battled gamely to a 73 on Friday.

The Boksburg-born Van Tonder began the final day five shots behind Viljoen, but that quickly changed to just a one-stroke gap as Van Tonder started birdie-birdie and Viljoen double-bogeyed the par-five second after struggling in a greenside bunker.

But Van Tonder went on to bogey both par-threes on the front nine, a shifting, inconsistent wind making life hard for the golfers. But birdies on the crucial eighth, 10^th and 11^th holes got last year’s Sunshine Tour order of merit runner-up back on track.

“The wind made it hard, but I like it when the weather is tough. I made a few bogeys [3] but quite a few birdies [8] so it didn’t matter, I’m always aggressive and it pays off most of the time. Sometimes I got frustrated, especially when I short-sided myself on the two par-threes on the front nine, those were silly bogeys, and I three-putted the par-five fourth, but in this weather most of the field have bogeys on their card,” Van Tonder said.

“Overall I’m very happy, I’ve been playing well, putting the hard work in and getting some results. I’m trusting myself and my caddy – my wife Abigail –  and I know that if I don’t hit the right shot then I will be punished, especially in this wind. It would be nice to win the order of merit, but I won’t think about that, just playing well and then the order of merit automatically takes care of itself.

Van Tonder goes into the final event of the Rise Up Series, at Huddle Park next week, leading the order of merit by more than R37 000 from Darren Fichardt, who finished tied-fourth at ERPM GC after finishing with a level-par 72.

Viljoen suggested after the penultimate round that firm, bouncy greens were his pet hate and the ERPM greenskeepers did no watering overnight, making conditions extremely tricky, especially with the fickle wind. Viljoen went out in three-over 39 with further bogeys on the seventh and eighth holes, and then bogeyed the 11^th, but kept his composure well and came storming back with a birdie on the par-three 12^th and an eagle on the 13^th. A birdie on the par-five 17^th meant he remained in contention and needed a birdie on the last to force a playoff. The par-four 18^th was a tricky hole to birdie though, with a tough approach, and just three threes were recorded there on Friday. But Viljoen patted his 25-foot putt short.

Pieter Moolman will also feel he let slip a golden chance for his maiden Sunshine Tour win as he bogeyed the last to finish third on 11-under-par. Understandably going for birdie, he went over the green, chipped back to four feet but then missed the par putt.

Louis de Jager, fresh off an eagle on 17, needed a birdie as well for a share of what was then the lead, but also overshot the 18^th green, settling for par, and a 67 to finish in a tie for fourth on 10-under-par with Ulrich van den Berg (68) and Fichardt (72).

Kyle Nipper, the 29-year-old Dolphins all-rounder, was watching the closing stages of the T20 Global League draft on Sunday, thinking that it was becoming an increasingly long shot that he would be involved in the much-anticipated new tournament that starts on November 3.

Nipper, slow left-arm orthodox and a left-handed batsman, lives in Pietermaritzburg and, just like the famous last runner to beat the clock in the Comrades Marathon that ends every second year in the KwaZulu-Natal capital, he was the focus of sporting drama on Sunday as he was the last of the 144 players chosen in the draft in Cape Town, picked by outgoing Proteas coach Russell Domingo for the Pretoria Mavericks.

“I had been out on the golf course during the day and once I got home I started streaming the draft. It was quite nerve-wracking and I thought it wasn’t going to happen for me, so it was a pleasant surprise to be the last guy chosen. I’m extremely excited about this tournament,” Nipper said on Sunday evening.

Nipper has spent a long time on the fringes of the Dolphins squad, having made his debut for them back in 2009/10, but has never made a fool of himself at franchise level, with an economy rate of 7.88 with the ball in the dozen T20 Challenge matches he has played.

And now he is part of a squad that includes global superstars like AB de Villiers, Dwayne Bravo and Morne Morkel, as well as fellow spinners Keshav Maharaj and Johan Botha, the veteran former Proteas captain now based in Australia.

“I have no concerns about being in Pretoria, I would have taken anywhere. I feel like I am part of KZN and I’ve tried to be loyal as a homegrown player, although I am a bit disappointed that I haven’t played more because I believe I’ve proven myself more than I had to.

“But it’s awesome to be chosen by the Proteas coach, hopefully he’s seen a bit of potential in me. Obviously they know what they want and it’s nice to be involved in their plans. I hope I get to play a couple of games, but I’m very happy for Kesh, he’s taken to the international stage so well, he’s got that experience now and someone like Johan Botha has been around the world. So I’m very keen just to learn a bit more from them,” Nipper said.

https://citizen.co.za/sport/south-africa-sport/sa-cricket-sport/1629755/the-long-shot-that-nipped-in-last-in-the-t20-global-league-draft/