Ken Borland

Cricket South Africa’s announcement on Thursday of a partnership with global events company Roc Nation is indicative of a newly-prioritised effort to restore their relationship with their fans and ensure better engagement and experiences for them, while hopefully attracting new converts to the game.

Given Roc Nation’s understanding of creating great experiences for fans, and their already-in-place connection with South African sports fans (especially the crucial Black market) through their management deals with national captains Temba Bavuma and rugby star Siya Kolisi, they are the ideal consultants for CSA as they not only look to restore their public image but also ensure the game grows in the post-Covid world.

Roc Nation are the entertainment strategists for the NFL in the United States, tasked with enhancing the league’s live experience for fans, including the SuperBowl, which is second only to the Uefa Champions League final as the most-watched annual club sporting event worldwide. Roc Nation are also lead players in augmenting the social justice efforts of the NFL through the Inspire Change initiative, which will come in handy when CSA have to negotiate movements like Black Lives Matter.

CSA’s new management, both in terms of the board and the executive, have been frank about how they need to restore trust after the divisive battles of recent times.

As CEO Pholetsi Moseki said: “One of our big tasks is to rebuild confidence and the faith of the fans. It’s about how we enhance the brand and bridge the divide, the lack of trust, between us and our stakeholders, especially the fans.

“If we’re honest, we were struggling to attract fans back even before Covid. This partnership is about how we re-connect with our fans and get new ones.

“We are the custodians of the game, but we are also in the entertainment business and Roc Nation are the absolute best partner we can have for that. Fan experience is key whatever the sport.“

Given the dreadful mess they inherited, it is likely the new CSA executives will not err in thinking the sport is about them, because that drove the game on to the rockiest of reefs. Roc Nation are ideally placed to help restore the damage.

The measurements of the St George’s Park ground are perhaps conducive to spectacular run-scoring, but the bowling-friendly nature of the pitch has raised concerns that Cricket South Africa’s imminent announcement that the entire Mzansi Super League will be played in a bio-bubble in Gqeberha may be misguided.

CSA are set to announce that both remaining domestic white-ball competitions this summer – the Momentum One-Day Cup and the MSL T20 competition – will be played in bubbles, which are on course to be a staple part of the South African game for a while yet.

In fact, the International Cricket Council have apparently decided that all international cricket for the next two years will be held in bio-bubbles.

The MSL is set to be played between February 7-28. In the two four-day matches played at St George’s Park this summer, scores of 170, 54, 96, 173, 366 and 79 have been recorded. If conditions stay the same, batting is not going to be easy, which many fans believe will detract from what is meant to be the T20 showpiece of the season.

Batsmen and spinners are going to be happier to hear that the 50-over Momentum One-Day Cup will be staged in two bubbles, one in Durban and the other in Potchefstroom.

Given how spin-friendly Kingsmead has been in recent years, and how flat the Potchefstroom pitch generally is, the pacemen are going to be disappointed.

The Momentum One-Day Cup is set to start in early January and will be completed before the MSL. Last season’s competition ended in disappointment in Potchefstroom as the Imperial Lions and Dolphins were forced to share the title after rain washed out play after 55.2 overs on the reserve day.

Meanwhile, the final round of fixtures in the first stage of the 4-Day Franchise Series, due to start on December 19, is set to be postponed because several teams have large numbers of Covid-positive cases within their squads.

The four-day competition is due to resume on March 4.

It will be all change for the Sharks in both halfback positions as they begin their United Rugby Championship campaign overseas, following the announcement on Friday of their touring squad that is without Lionel Cronje but includes two scrumhalves on loan from the Free State.

The 32-year-old Cronje was on a short-term loan to the Sharks from Toyota Verblitz in Japan for the duration of the Currie Cup and his arrival saw coach Sean Everitt shift Curwin Bosch from flyhalf to fullback.

But Cronje’s departure means Bosch is likely to return to the number 10 jersey in which Everitt backed him so strongly before the Currie Cup. Boeta Chamberlain is the only other specialist flyhalf in the squad.

Veteran Springbok Ruan Pienaar has returned to the Sharks on loan from the Cheetahs and has moved to flyhalf quite often during games for Free State, but with the Sharks suffering an injury crisis at scrumhalf, Pienaar is likely to be backing up Sanele Nohamba. Tian Meyer has also made the trip from Bloemfontein to Durban on loan.

Everitt will be pleased to have locks Hyron Andrews and Ruben van Heerden back from injury, which will add depth to a crucial position that already features Gerbrandt Grobler, Le Roux Roets and Reniel Hugo.

Eighthman Phepsi Buthelezi will lead a squad that will relish taking on some fresh opposition, having butted heads many times back home with the Bulls and taking a severe beating in the Currie Cup final last weekend.

“The boys are up for the challenge, we have some experienced players who have played in the Pro16 before and have had a taste of European conditions, and we have coaching staff who have coached at the highest level. We’re all confident that we can do well overseas, we’ve taken a young squad mixed with some older heads with experience.
“It will be exciting to see what these guys can deliver against opposition that we don’t see too often, nor play against. The boys are excited about experiencing a new competition, the URC is a tough tournament that brings in new challenges and different opposition, but the guys are up for the challenge after a very good Currie Cup and a good year,” Everitt said.

Squad: Anthony Volmink, Yaw Penxe, Thaakir Abrahams, Marnus Potgieter, Werner Kok, Marius Louw, Jeremy Ward, Murray Koster, Rynhardt Jonker, Curwin Bosch, Boeta Chamberlain, Sanele Nohamba, Ruan Pienaar, Tian Meyer, Phepsi Buthelezi, Henco Venter, Thembelani Bholi, Celimpilo Gumede, Dylan Richardson, James Venter, Gerbrandt Grobler, Hyron Andrews, Le Roux Roets, Reniel Hugo, Ruben van Heerden, Thomas du Toit, Khutha Mchunu, Lourens Adriaanse, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Wiehahn Herbst, Khwezi Mona, Kerron van Vurren, Fez Mbatha, Dan Jooste.

South Africa’s new Test captain will take office on Friday with Cricket South Africa due to make the announcement following a lengthy meeting between the selectors and director of cricket Graeme Smith on Thursday afternoon.

While Smith said back in April that white-ball skipper Quinton de Kock will not be the Test captain as well due to workload concerns – a decision the wicketkeeper/batsman has backed – there have been recent mutterings that, with a new convenor of selectors in place in Victor Mpitsang, that position might be revisited.

But Mpitsang, newly installed as convenor, is unlikely to want to rock the boat too much as he presides over his first Test squad. There was certainly nothing controversial or left-field in the white-ball squads chosen for the curtailed series against England, and it is most likely that a placeholder captain will be put in place on Friday.

That’s because two of the most obvious candidates for the captaincy – batsmen Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma – have not exactly cemented their places in the Test line-up.

Markram averaged just 28.61 in 2019 and needs to win his place in the XI back after injuring himself in the Boxing Day Test a year ago against England. While he has almost certainly done that by scoring three successive centuries for the Titans in four-day cricket, he now needs to regain that consistency at international level.

Bavuma returned to the side for the final Test against England, scoring 27 and 6 as South Africa’s batting disappointed at the Wanderers, and he averaged just 19.84 in 2019. And in all cricket this summer he has scored just 150 runs in six innings, plus he will not be playing in this weekend’s round of four-day matches for the Imperial Lions, having been released to attend to personal matters.

But with Faf du Plessis having retired from Test cricket, Bavuma is almost certain to keep his place in the Test team, although making him captain would appear to be placing unnecessary pressure on him whilst his Test future is still uncertain.

Rassie van der Dussen has shown great leadership qualities ever since he made his Proteas debut in October 2018. But he is still making his way in Test cricket, having only played four matches.

The Proteas do, however, have a ready-made candidate to take over the captaincy from Du Plessis, even if it is just as a stand-in for a couple of seasons. Dean Elgar is established in the Test team, having scored 3888 runs in 63 matches at the solid average of 38.49, considering South Africa is the toughest place to open the batting.

The 33-year-old Elgar is highly respected in the changeroom, especially for his indomitable qualities, and has openly put his name in the hat for the captaincy. Plus he has done the job before – leading the team against England at Lord’s in 2017 and to victory over Pakistan in Johannesburg in January 2019.

With South African cricket in such turmoil at the moment and the Proteas languishing in a woeful eighth place in the ICC World Test Championship, now is the time for stability and not gambling.