Ken Borland

“We have so many different options that we have guys who can bowl anything, in any situation, on any pitch,” Chris Morris, the RamSlam T20 Challenge’s leading wicket-taker, said on Wednesday as he discussed the Titans’ bowling attack ahead of the final in Centurion on Saturday.

The Titans won an astonishing eight games in a row to comfortably top the log by 13 points and their bowlers have led the way with six in the top-20 of the averages, all-rounders David Wiese, Albie Morkel and Morris all being in the top four. Fast bowler Junior Dala and wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi have also excelled, and the Titans have other options in Lungi Ngidi, off-spinner Henry Davids and slow left-armer Graeme van Buuren.

“It’s gone pretty well for us as a unit and it has made it a lot easier for me knowing that there are a lot of other bowlers who can step up. The new guys have done very well and there’s a lot of back-up. I’ve never been in a team before that has every base so well covered,” Morris, who has taken 18 wickets, said.

The former Highveld Lions star said the Titans will go into the final eager just to keep enjoying themselves.

“The way Albie has captained the side has been aggressive and solid and we’re always looking to take wickets. We’re looking at Albie and Farhaan Behardien to see how they handle themselves before the final, it’s finals week, it doesn’t happen often, especially at home. We must just enjoy it – my theory is that you see the best catches in garden cricket because the guys are just having fun. So it’s vital for us to enjoy the final and it’s much more difficult to play against a happy team,” Morris said.

The 1995 World Cup-winning squad enjoyed a luncheon in London on Thursday ahead of the Springboks’ semi-final against the All Blacks, and apparently they metaphorically raised their glasses to the Golden Lions team that will aim to complete a rare unbeaten campaign when they take on Western Province in the Currie Cup final at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The 1995 Springbok squad was, of course, predominantly made up of Lions (or Transvaal as they were then known) players, but it was Natal who won the Currie Cup that year and in 1996, when they went through the season unbeaten, the last team to do so.

Lock Mark Andrews was a pivotal figure and he said the main similarity between the Natal Sharks of 1996 and the Lions of today was their ability to create and sustain momentum.

“We were just talking about it at our ’95 World Cup lunch today,” Andrews told The Citizen on Thursday, “about how we spent a fair amount of time as forwards on ball-handling drills, but you have to have momentum on the field to use those, because that’s what gives you more time and space. You can’t really use those skills if you’re under pressure because then you’re always struggling to clear the ball away.

“Our Natal coach Ian McIntosh instituted a game plan based on momentum, the forwards getting over the gain-line and having good ball-skills and an ability to link with the backs, and I’m also impressed with the way the Lions can create momentum and sustain it. They do it by keeping ball-in-hand and they’ve shown that you can win games doing that, even from their own 22.

“In general, South African teams try and kick from their own 22 and put pressure on the opposition in their own territory and try and win penalties. The Lions have shown a different skill-set, it’s a refreshing approach for a South African team, much like we had an innovative strategy back in 1996,” Andrews said.

One big difference though between now and 1996 is that the Currie Cup doesn’t feature the leading Springboks anymore.

“All the provinces had all their Springboks back then, but you still have to give the Lions credit for their consistency. You need some luck too, but it comes down to preparation and belief in your structures. You need some kicks to go over as well to win the tight games, but if you are consistently getting over the gain-line and making your tackles, then you are very hard to beat,” Andrews added.

Natal went through 14 consecutive Currie Cup matches unbeaten in 1996 and beat Transvaal 33-15 in the final at Ellis Park, leading rugby writer John Bishop of The Natal Witness describing it as a display of “devastating brilliance”.

Legendary Springbok flyhalf Naas Botha says he is concerned that he is not seeing Handre Pollard empowered with more decision-making responsibility in the Springbok team ahead of the World Cup.

While Botha said he was encouraged by the style of play produced by the Springboks in the last two weeks against Australia and New Zealand, both games were ultimately lost and he said better decision-making would have avoided the final-quarter fade-outs.

At the start of the final quarter against the All Blacks, South Africa laid siege to the try-line against 14 men and yet couldn’t score, with Damian de Allende, who had spent the whole match bumping tacklers off, standing unused in the backline.

“We saw that we have enough talent last weekend, but we couldn’t get over the final hurdle in the last two games. The performance against the All Blacks was totally different to what we’ve seen over the last few years, but it should have happened two years ago. Under pressure, we just need to calm down, especially in the last 10 minutes.

“But I feel strongly that the flyhalf should be empowered more. In that crucial period when we just couldn’t cross their tryline, he should make the call to change the game plan because just going to the forwards wasn’t working. But too often the ball is not going to a decision-maker, in that zone you just need to relax and allow someone to take the lead and 99% of the time that should be the flyhalf,” Botha said on Wednesday at the launch of Creative Rugby, a book he has collaborated on with Dr Kobus Neethling, an expert in the field of creative behaviour.

“Handre is a fantastic player, the Bulls’ season hurt him in terms of his confidence, but we saw last weekend that he’s getting that back, his play was good. We’re fortunate to have him, but I’d like to see him take more control. Instead of the scrumhalves kicking up-and-unders from our 22, the ball should go to him to kick long because you don’t want to play in your own half,” Botha added.

The undisputed king of flyhalf play in the 1980s said if South African rugby in general could start thinking creatively rather than going “overboard on game plans”, then the Springboks would once again be world-beaters.

“The All Blacks scored a creative try to win the Test, that 74^th-minute lineout has to be called creative, and the first thing we do is question the legality with Law such-and-such. All international players are equally strong and fast these days, what makes you better then is what you have between the ears. Our players just need to play what is in front of them more.

“We need to think differently. In South Africa, if a team wins they say it’s because they stuck to the game plan, then if they lose it’s because they didn’t stick to the game plan. But great players become bad players because of game plans. You can’t just rock up without a plan, but that should just be a guide, we tend to go overboard on game plans.

“Five years later we’re still doing what worked before, we’re stuck while everybody else has moved on. We have to start thinking differently and think outside the box,” Botha said.

South Africa’s ODI series against the West Indies which started in Durban yesterday is going to be crucial preparation for the World Cup with several players looking to regain confidence ahead of the showpiece tournament that starts on February 14.

To add to the pressure, it is players that are not going to the World Cup – Morne van Wyk and David Wiese spring readily to mind – who have produced the most impressive recent performances.

The likes of Farhaan Behardien, Kyle Abbott and Wayne Parnell had poor returns in the T20 series against the West Indies and they will be desperate to go to Australasia with some success under their belts.

Apart from getting out-of-form players back into nick, captain AB de Villiers also needs to discover how best to marshal his resources during the five ODIs against the West Indies.

Chris Gayle had a grand old time against the South African back-up bowlers in the T20s, which merely highlights the pressure on Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander.

Given that South Africa’s main weakness is their bowling, it was strange to see the balance of the team for yesterday’s match against the West Indies: There were only four frontline bowlers – the three pacemen and spinner Imran Tahir – meaning JP Duminy and Farhaan Behardien had to bowl 10 overs between them.

Duminy has just come out of mothballs and so it may take him a while to regain his best bowling form, while at Behardien’s pace there is absolutely no room for error, particularly when he gets to the good batting pitches in Australia.

But that balance makes South Africa extremely vulnerable – teams are undoubtedly going to target the fifth bowling pair of Duminy and Behardien and, if one other bowler has a bad day, then the Proteas will be seriously derailed in the field.

Which is why I believe the selectors have erred in not including a genuine all-rounder in the squad. Wiese brings megawatts of hitting power and is also a canny bowler, while even Ryan McLaren, without being spectacular, is a decent all-rounder.

For those suggesting Parnell should fill the all-rounder’s berth, I would just smile and say ‘no thanks’. For all the talent the left-hander possesses and so-called X-factor, he has battled to perform with any consistency at international level and cannot be relied upon.

Philander has been touted as a possible number seven batsman and has been in good form with the bat in the Test arena, averaging 45 in 2014, and the strength of South Africa’s batting line-up might just make that the best option.

De Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla have all been superb in ODIs over the last year, scoring 10 centuries between them and all averaging over 50, while Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy have both proven their ability at international level, while David Miller can be as destructive as anyone on his day.

But listening to De Villiers’ gung-ho proclamations that South Africa will have the best team at the World Cup, one wonders whether he has identified the key areas of weakness in his side. No captain will ever highlight those weaknesses of course, but South Africa have not been the number one ranked ODI side for any length of time since 2009. They were on top of the pile last October after beating New Zealand away from home, but they were quickly deposed by Australia in November.

Very little has changed since then, except the Proteas have slid further down the rankings to third.