Ken Borland

Cricket South Africa are hopeful that club cricketers will be able to return to training in the next month or two, which will be excellent news for the many people who are employed in that sphere even though it is strictly speaking amateur sport.

CSA cricket services manager Eddie Khoza told The Citizen that amateur cricket was very much part of their planning because they were well aware that many people earned a living from the game at that level, and that the grassroots are the foundation of the game.

“At the moment only professional teams have been given permission to play by government and that under strict regulations. But as part of our scenario planning, CSA have implemented a phased approach for the amateur game because it also provides a lot of employment i.e. private coaches. And if we don’t, by the time we get to Level I there might not be any clubs to get back to.

“But the medical protocols required to play at the moment are not really affordable for amateur teams. Which is why we applied for one-on-one coaching in Level III and in Level II five players and a coach are allowed. Hopefully in September/October we can start pre-season activities, by October we can be having a really thorough pre-season for clubs, schools, universities, and we would like all matches to commence on January 1, 2021,” Khoza said.

Amateur cricketers can breathe easy that CSA have not forgotten about them, but they are also trying to ensure that the thousands of club and school cricketers stay safe as well.

“The medical advice we have received is that in order to play competitive cricket again, the players need six-to-eight weeks of training, so October to December will allow that. Many schools and universities have anyway already said that they won’t be having any extramural activities for the rest of the year,” Khoza added.

Killarney Country Club once again put the Sunshine Tour’s top pros through the mill on Thursday, with only four golfers able to enjoy the comfort of being under par after the second round of the Betway Championship, the opening event of the Rise Up Series that marks the return to action after the Covid-19 Lockdown.

Top of the pile was Sunshine Tour veteran Alex Haindl, who shot a marvellous 67 on Thursday to go into the final round on three-under-par, one stroke ahead of another stalwart in Anton Haig. Two other very experienced campaigners in Ulrich van den Berg and Adilson da Silva are the other golfers under par, after they both finished on one-under after shooting 69s.

Although conditions were warmer and there was just a comfortable breeze blowing, the 103-man field once again struggled with the hard and fast greens, putting a premium on accuracy off the tee on the tight, tree-lined layout.

Haindl, rebuilding his career after a couple of back surgeries, was relieved to be playing well in his 20^th season on the Sunshine Tour.

“It’s just nice to be playing again, you don’t know where you game is when you’re just practising at home because you’re not under the gun and you can’t see where your game needs to be better. Since my last surgery last year it just felt like I couldn’t get going, I wasn’t moving the way I like, but today was a bit better. The game was a bit neater today, I kept it together better.

“My short game was a bit sharper today as I got more used to the dry fairways and firm greens. I was just trying to miss in the right places and made a couple of good saves. Luckily I wasn’t playing too early in the morning, although it was a bit windy. But as the weather heats up, the ball flies further almost immediately – it’s like one shot suddenly goes 6-7 metres further,” Haindl said after his round which included just a solitary dropped shot at the par-three 17^th.

The youngsters that are used to bombing the ball miles off the tee seem to be losing this particular arms race, given the veterans in the top four, but there are still some fresh faces very much in contention to claim the first Sunshine Tour title on offer since Lockdown.

Rookie Ruan Korb is just three strokes back on level-par, while former amateur sensation Jayden Schaper showed once again that he has the mettle, even though he is still in his teens, to mix it with the men as he lay in a threatening position just four strokes back after solid rounds of 73 and 68.

Keith Horne is with him on one-over-par and he clearly has all the weapons to win on Friday, having claimed nine Sunshine Tour titles. First-round leader Dylan Mostert slipped back into a tie for ninth after a 75 on Thursday, but he is just five shots adrift of the lead.

Haindl said patience and accuracy off the tee would be key attributes to win on Friday.

“The par-fives are quite important but it’s very difficult to stop your second shot on the green, so there are no gimmies. If you drive decently then you can have a lot of wedges coming in, so if you’re swinging okay then you can give yourself a few chances. But it’s very tough, you need to stay patient and accept the outcome if you’ve done your best, if you had a good yardage and a good swing.

“My game-plan was pretty decent, I kept it in play most of the time and gave myself chances. In order to win tomorrow, I just have to play better than the other guys!” Haindl said.

Dylan Mostert was well-served by his irons as he claimed a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Betway Championship at Killarney Country Club on Wednesday, but he was quick to acknowledge he was favoured by being able to play the majority of his round in the afternoon.

The morning field who marked the return of Sunshine Tour professional golf in South Africa, with the first tournament of the Rise Up Series, were greeted by brutal conditions – freezing temperatures and a four-club wind that combined to make the greens play like ice-rinks. Level-par was the best score anyone in the morning field managed.

Come the afternoon, the sun began shining more brightly and the wind died down. Not that Killarney was playing easy then either, and Mostert’s three-under-par 67 was the best score of the day, one better than the 68s shot by Dylan Naidoo, Ruan Korb and Albert Venter.

Michael Hollick, Wallie Coetsee, Makhetha Mazibuko and Anton Haig were on one-under, while seasoned Sunshine Tour pros such as Keith Horne, Jaco Ahlers, Adilson da Silva, Danie van Tonder and Ulrich van den Berg were among the golfers who finished on level-par.

“I hit a lot of greens because as soon as you are far away from the holes here you don’t have much chance. And I only hit three or four Drivers, I used my irons to plot my way around. I have game-plans for both winds and if it blows the opposite away tomorrow I can probably use more Drivers. But you have to be really careful where you leave the ball as you have to be on the right side of the greens.

“And it was a helluva lot easier in the afternoon. I heard it was very cold in the morning and the greens were probably a lot firmer. It was a bit windy all day, but no more than a two-club wind this afternoon, so nothing overly bad. But it must have been really hard to stop the ball on the greens this morning. It will be a lot colder tomorrow when I play so I’m going to have to grind it out,” Mostert said after his round.

Venter had a share of the lead until a bogey at the ninth hole, his last, when he missed the green on the left and was left with no shot for par. But considering that it was the 24-year-old’s first ever Sunshine Tour round it was a top-class effort.

He started on the 10^th and made par and then immediately dispelled any nerves with a tremendous run of four successive birdies.

“For my first event I’m really happy with my day’s work because I had quite a few nerves. But I had a brilliant start, a really good tee-shot down 10 and then on 11 I holed my shot from the greenside bunker so that was a real boost of confidence. I just hit the ball well, got it close to the hole and made good putts. It was just a matter of planning every shot.

“I had a few bad breaks on my back nine and it’s a tight course, hitting fairways and greens is the key. And the greens were fast so you need to be close to the hole and make your two-putts. You have to figure out when to attack on greens like these, you can’t go for everything. Plus I had the better side of the draw. So I’m starting on the front nine tomorrow and I know I must not be over-aggressive,” Venter said.

AB de Villiers plundered 61 off 24 balls to lead his Eagles team to a commanding total of 160-4 in their 12 overs, something neither the Kites nor the Kingfishers were able to chase down in their 3TCricket match in Centurion at the weekend, and afterwards said he enjoyed the format and it definitely was something worth continuing.

The new format sees three teams of eight playing at the same time, with each side batting for six overs against each of their opponents. With Aiden Markram firing alongside him in a dazzling innings of 70 off 33 deliveries, captain De Villiers was the first to lift the Solidarity Cup, with Kites posting 138-3 and the Kingfishers finishing on 113-5.

“It was great fun and lovely to just be out there, I’ve been pretty frustrated not playing any cricket. It was great to have a hit-around and the format is pretty good. It definitely has scope for the future, I liked the flow of the game that you spend time in the dugout and the teams rotate. I was also incredibly impressed by a lot of the bowling. I thought they’d be rusty but they were nailing their yorkers and clearly there’s a lot of talent around.

“I also really like that the leading team at halfway bats first in the second innings because chasing is definitely an advantage in limited-overs cricket. This was just one of those rare occasions when we were able to take our score out of reach. My only suggestion would be to have teams start from zero again in terms of wickets lost when you bat again, because otherwise they try to consolidate and think of the next innings. With that bit of insurance, teams can have a really attacking mindset,” De Villiers told The Citizen after the match.

With De Villiers in scintillating form, his starring role has again raised questions about his possible return to the Proteas, at least in T20 cricket, in which a World Cup is scheduled for October in Australia but is probably going to be postponed to next year. The 36-year-old said the Covid-19 pandemic has left everything in limbo, but he still has an interest in playing for South Africa again.

“I have no idea when I’ll be playing cricket again, there’ve been lots of talks about all sorts of leagues. So I will just stay fit and keep hitting balls. It’s difficult to commit myself a year ahead of time, but I have a good relationship with Graeme Smith [director of cricket] and Mark Boucher [Proteas head coach] and I would love to play again. But once we know what the calendar will be like then we can sit down and I will make a decision because I have to be either in or out,” De Villiers said.

After a fractious week in South African cricket, the launch of 3TCricket has provided some balm, with an air of unity and reconciliation at SuperSport Park as all the players wore black armbands with Black Lives Matter written on them and all three teams, the officials and the commentators took a knee before the start of play in support of the movement. “I’m happy with how things have unfolded, we’ve had really good communication, nobody felt left out and it was all explained to us. Black Lives Matter and the campaign against Gender Based Violence were the causes that were the focus for today and it was most important for us to show that unity,” De Villiers said.