Ken Borland

The life of a professional cricketer on tour seems rather nice – practise for two or three hours, go for a massage, and then you have the rest of the day off apart from maybe an evening meeting. But in these days of Covid bubbles, the monotony of that treadmill and the lack of meaningful human contact can lead to boredom, frustration and bad mental spaces.

Proteas all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius is a husband and father of a little boy and he spoke on Sunday of some of the difficulties of being in quarantine in Sri Lanka ahead of their limited-overs series which starts next week.

“We have to train in smaller groups because of Covid quarantine, so you lose a bit of that connection. And we also have separate eating areas so you miss that team environment. But we are strong enough to get past that, it will only be for three or four more sessions. I think it’s actually more challenging for the coaches because instead of only being out there for two or three hours, it has now become five or six hours.

“The most challenging and disappointing part of it is not being able to see the country. I’ve always wanted to see Sri Lanka, which I’ve heard is a beautiful country, so that’s the toughest part. You sit in your room a lot trying to figure out how to stay busy, but also to relax because you can’t stay switched on all the time.

“You spend so much time alone that you have to make sure you’re not just thinking about cricket because you want to be mentally fresh. And it’s even more difficult not having our families with us. Luckily I have a wonderful wife and my boytjie is a legend. I chat to him on Google Duo that has effects like spaceships and funny faces.

“We keep each other busy, although he misses me too much to actually see me so I chat to him through a little rhino he was given at the World Cup by the hotel we stayed in. He puts it in my bag and I chat to him through that rhino called ‘Westin’, and he has also put a soft toy in my bag that I will be chatting through with him,” Pretorius said.

In terms of the actual cricket, Pretorius says the pitches at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, where all three ODIs and three T20s will be played, will be lowish scoring and the outfields are not particularly quick either.

“The pitches will be slow and it looks like the outfields will be too. I think spin and changes of pace will play a massive role and there won’t be much swing. In terms of batting, it’s about playing good cricket shots, hitting hard and hitting the spaces,” Pretorius said.

Apart from the daunting task of trying to make the Rainbow Cup final, the Sharks are adamant that they cannot brook the thought of the Bulls beating them on their home turf when they meet in the crunch final round of South African Pro14 fixtures in Durban on Saturday.

In order to top the South African standings and get to travel to Italy to take on Benneton Treviso, the Sharks have to win the game with a bonus point and deny the Bulls any log points. And they need to do that with a side weakened by what coach Sean Everitt described as “a few niggles we are trying to push through”.

Because of that, their bench will only be announced on Friday, “once we have more clarity on injuries”, but the starting line-up revealed on Thursday is missing wing Sbu Nkosi and loose forward Henco Venter and there are concerns over the two reserve props, Ntuthuko Mchunu and Wiehahn Herbst.

But Everitt says the Sharks will not be lying down even if their Rainbow Cup hopes are dashed because they have endured some painful defeats in Pretoria over the last year and they don’t want to suffer the same fate at home.

“Psychologically it’s important that we lead on the scoreboard at the end of the day, and I’ve told the players that we first have to win the game anyway and then go for the bonus point. The players want to make Kings Park a fortress, although we narrowly let that slip against the Stormers. They were disappointed with how we went down in the last 20 minutes of the last game against the Bulls in Pretoria.

“But we have also won games coming from behind at the death and the players want to show their character. It’s important we get one over the Bulls regardless of whether we qualify for the final or not. We were narrowly beaten by the Bulls in the Currie Cup final and we want to bounce back and turn the tide against them. The energy and motivation this week is the best it’s been,” Everitt said.

After the impressive win over the Lions last weekend, it has taken a bit of finesse in selection for Everitt to both reward the players who shone at Ellis Park and reintegrate his Springboks.

“We took a changed team to the Lions, where we had to get the bonus point win which is never easy, and the guys really turned up and did very well. So this is another opportunity for many of them and they are good enough for that, we just want to build on that performance.

“But it’s also about my relationship with the international players and I never question their efforts. They got us to where we are now, many of them are world champions and a guy like Lukhanyo Am is our captain who has played well every week,” Everitt said.

Sharks – Aphelele Fassi, Anthony Volmink, Lukhanyo Am (C), Marius Louw, Makazole Mapimpi, Curwin Bosch, Jaden Hendrikse, Phepsi Buthelezi, Thembelani Bholi, Siya Kolisi, Hyron Andrews, JJ van der Mescht, Khutha Mchunu, Kerron van Vuuren, Khwezi Mona. Bench: *To be confirmed.