Ken Borland

The Proteas put aside all the misleading claims that their fortunes are at an all-time low as they hammered Sri Lanka by nine wickets with 35 balls to spare in Colombo on Sunday to clinch their third consecutive T20 series win.

In their final dress rehearsal before next month’s T20 World Cup in similar conditions in the United Arab Emirates, South Africa took an unbeatable 2-0 lead, winning both games comfortably. They will now go into the showpiece event with both a settled, confident team and a game-plan that is working.

Sri Lanka had won the toss and batted first, but paceman Anrich Nortje ended a fast and accurate second over by removing Dinesh Chandimal, mishitting a pull to mid-on, for just 5.

Although Kusal Perera (30 off 25) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who was particularly severe on ace fast bowler Kagiso Rabada in his 20 off 13 balls, swung lustily to add 28 for the second wicket in three overs, the Proteas kept taking wickets, with the spinners leading the way.

It was the part-timer, Aiden Markram, who made the breakthrough with Rajapaksa’s wicket, before Tabraiz Shamsi took wickets in successive overs to reduce Sri Lanka to 71 for four in the 10^th over.

Markram then trapped Kusal lbw and the rest of the batting folded as Sri Lanka were bundled out for just 103, their lowest completed score against the Proteas.

Shamsi returned to his best after missing the mark in the first T20, taking three for 20 in four superb overs, while Markram did a brilliant job in taking three for 21 in four overs that included a maiden.

Orthodox left-armer Bjorn Fortuin returned the magnificent figures of two for 12 in four overs, while Keshav Maharaj chipped in with a wicket and was tidy as ever.

Quinton de Kock then killed off any aspirations Sri Lanka may have had of snatching a comeback win and dismissed all claims that he will be under-prepared for the World Cup as he cruised to 58 not out off 48 balls to steer South Africa to one of their most comprehensive victories ever in T20 Internationals.

De Kock collected seven fours as he unveiled the full array of his wonderful strokeplay, and his skill and placement was on full display as well.

South Africa’s charge to victory was delayed by rain after nine overs, with their score on 65 for one, but Aiden Markram (21* off 19) helped De Kock seal their biggest ever victory over Sri Lanka batting second. Reeza Hendricks scored a run-a-ball 18 adding 62 for the first wicket with De Kock.

There is a forgotten early-1980s pop star by the name of Jona Lewie, a rather avant garde electro-pop musician who just happens to be one of my all-time favourites. Perhaps songs like Stop the Cavalry, You’ll always find me in the kitchen at parties and Louise will jog the memory because they were all big hits in South Africa.

But apart from those hits, Lewie also wrote a more classical piece entitled Rearranging the Deckchairs on the Titanic, which is all about making changes to something which are always doomed to be futile.

I was thinking about that piece when SuperRugby’s regular season came to an end last weekend and the Cheetahs and Kings played their final games, while the critically endangered Western Force made a statement of their own by hammering the Waratahs, the favourite sons of Australian rugby.

Sanzaar have not only forgotten the high standards and norms that made Super Rugby the greatest competition in rugby but have also shifted away from one of the cornerstones of any successful sporting endeavour and that is the integrity of the competition.

There is no doubt that the current iteration of SuperRugby is not a hit and it is rapidly losing value, while costs have escalated by bringing in extra teams, especially the expansion sides from Japan and Argentina.

I believe it is always a good thing to be inclusive, though, and the problem with SuperRugby is not so much the number of teams participating but the totally farcical nature of the tournament itself.

It is guaranteed to cause disdain amongst a sports’ customers – the people who watch it – when a team like the Brumbies, who won just six of their 15 conference matches, gets to host a quarterfinal, like they did on Friday against the Hurricanes. Even the people of Canberra didn’t seem enamoured by the idea, given the poor crowd that was present.

There is no integrity to the competition because lesser-performing teams are advantaged and not everyone plays each other – not having to face any New Zealand sides is clearly a massive advantage.

So cutting the number of teams but keeping the same competition format is clearly merely rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic and is not going to stop SuperRugby from sinking into the depths of history.

And, let’s be honest, the axing of teams like the Kings, Cheetahs and possibly Force is not about their competitiveness. Sport is not only about those teams that are consistently winning, part of the romance are the wonderful stories of the underdogs causing shock upsets.

The Kings and Force, having won just as many games as the Brumbies, who made the finals, can argue that they are not even minnows, while the Cheetahs finished above the safe Bulls in the final standings.

The fact that the Kings and the Cheetahs will now ply their trade in Europe will have far-reaching consequences. With much easier travelling schedules and no country as dominant as New Zealand, I’m sure SA Rugby will discover the grass is greener in the northern hemisphere.

If South Africa pull out of SuperRugby entirely, it will definitely hurt New Zealand because it was our viewership numbers that fetched top dollar with the broadcasters, and without their share of that bigger pool, the All Blacks will find it increasingly more difficult to stop European teams from raiding their best players.

If Sanzaar are to have any hope of saving SuperRugby, they have to sort out the format and somehow come up with something that is going to ensure the integrity of the competition as well as be easier to understand for the average fan.

The current format was largely brought in to ensure bigger interest in Australia, but for how much longer will New Zealand rugby be willing to carry their neighbours across the ditch?