Ken Borland

“We are not a one-man show,” Wiaan Mulder said when asked why the Durban Super Giants have made it all the way to the SA20 final following their 69-run demolition of the Joburg Super Kings in the last Qualifier at the Wanderers on Thursday evening.

But if truth be told, their emphatic victory was at most a two-man show as a scintillating partnership between Mulder and Heinrich Klaasen carried the game well out of the Super Kings’ reach.

Klaasen and Mulder added 101 for the fifth wicket off just 38 balls, transforming a match in which Joburg seemed to have the upper hand for the first dozen overs. They lashed 112 runs in the last seven overs, including 29 runs being plundered off both the 15^th over bowled by Imran Tahir and the 18^th bowled by Sam Cook.

The incredible onslaught carried the Super Giants to 211 for six after they had been sent in to bat. The stand between Klaasen and Mulder was the best ever for Durban’s fifth wicket, beating the unbeaten 84 Klaasen and Matthew Breetzke put on against the Pretoria Capitals at SuperSport Park last season.

The Super Giants then kept chipping away with the ball, dismissing Joburg Super Kings for 142 in the 18^th over.

The Durbanites did not have a great start, being 52 for three after seven overs, but Sri Lankan Bhanuka Rajapaksa, making his SA20 debut, helped Klaasen stabilise matters with his composed 35 off 23 balls as 43 was added for the fourth wicket. They then had the breathing space to launch the most stunning assault in the closing overs.

“We kinda knew the pitch had something in it and it was important to have a partnership,” Mulder said. “It’s not like we said we were going to pull the trigger, but we had a couple of match-ups, one thing led to the next and it just happened.

“A couple of soft balls got me going, then Klaasie got going and we all know how devastating he is when he’s firing. He’s arguably the best T20 batsman in the world at the moment. He’s a superstar and to score 74 off 30 on that pitch is a joke.

“I don’t think over 200 was par, maybe 180. It was really hard to score when they bowled into the pitch, but we had a couple of opportunities when they went full. And the way Klaasie was striking it, he turned 180 into more than 200. If the bowlers missed by a foot, they were in the stands, and maybe there were a few execution errors,” Mulder said.

The all-rounder will surely have changed some perceptions about him as a T20 player as his superb, vital 50 not out off just 23 balls continued his strong form this season.

While Klaasen will undoubtedly be the key man when DSG take on the Sunrisers at Newlands on Saturday, the defending champions will know their opponents have in-form, contributing players right through their line-up.

Breetzke and Jon-Jon Smuts have both made consistent runs and five DSG bowlers have taken more than 10 wickets.

“We are very similar to the Sunrisers in that we’ve had consistent performances from different people and that’s what wins competitions,” Mulder said. “To win competitions doesn’t take one person, it’s about how the players and management look after each other. In any successful team, the people play for the team.

“The most important thing is the environment and trying to create a good culture. There’s no unnecessary pressure put on us and there’s no nitpicking from anyone. That’s a big part of why we will be playing in the final,” Mulder said.

The way Nick Bachem cruised to victory in the Jonsson Workwear Open at Steyn City on Sunday, it may have seemed that DP World Tour titles are not retailing for much these days.

But don’t be fooled by the ease with which the 23-year-old German soared to 24-under-par and a four-stroke victory with a tremendous final-round 64; this was high-quality golf overpowering a field boasting plenty of strength in depth.

Having won his DP World Tour card for the first time at qualifying school in November, Bachem claimed his first title in just his 10^th start in the 2022/23 season. The engaging youngster admitted that he did not expect to be winning tournaments quite so soon.

“It’s just amazing, this is just my 10^th start. I believed I could win, but just to be playing here is actually pretty overwhelming. I don’t really understand what has happened over the last couple of days, in fact over the last year-and-a-half,” a beaming Bachem said.

“Today was just my day. I thought it was going to be super-close, but I was still chilled and so relaxed. But then on the 15^th I saw a scoreboard and saw I was four ahead. And then I got super-nervous! I knew I just needed three pars and I would win, but suddenly that felt so hard!

“But I had to tell myself that it is just golf I am playing and a missed putt or something is not the end of the world. And then it was a nice finish.

“Getting my tour card is always in mind when I’m playing, and now I’ve got the job done pretty early. Now I can just enjoy playing all the events and letting all the experiences sink in.

“It feels unreal right now, it’s definitely a dream come true. I felt it would take more time,” Bachem said.

Beginning the final day one stroke behind leader and fellow German Alexander Knappe, Bachem was struck with terrible bad luck right from the outset, a decent opening tee-shot ending in a plugged lie. He had to take a drop and did exceptionally well to still get a par-four.

From there he reeled off four birdies in the next five holes, which sent him soaring to the top of the leaderboard. Four more birdies on the back nine sealed the deal, the second-placed South African duo of Zander Lombard (65) and Hennie du Plessis (68) left in his wake on 20-under-par.

Another South African, Ockie Strydom, finished in a tie for fourth on 19-under with Scotsman Ewen Ferguson.

The genial Bachem showed he has the bottle to win on the main tour and he said making sure he enjoyed himself on the course was a vital part of handling the pressure.

“I was leading a tournament for the first time a couple of weeks ago in the Kenya Open and I just wanted to win so badly, I wanted to shoot course records, and I ended up nearly finishing last.

“But yesterday I was really calm, I just felt like if I finished top-20 I would be happy. And then my goal today was to just enjoy myself and enjoy as much as possible having the chance to win.

“It’s definitely something I have to keep telling myself because it is not always easy out there. But I just reminded myself that I am in sunny South Africa while it is winter in Germany, playing on a beautiful course. So life is actually pretty good and you need to try and remember that in the tough times.

“I don’t believe there is anything better that I could be doing, playing golf just brings me so much fun and joy. Even when there are bad weeks, it is nice to be able to enjoy them as well, because that is when you learn. In Kenya I learnt so much and without that experience I would have had no chance of winning here,” Bachem said.

It’s been a crazy 18 months for Bachem and now he has even more exciting possibilities in store to look forward to.

“When I was still an amateur, I played a few events on the Pro Golf mini-tour and then I turned pro. Playing on the Challenge Tour in 2022 was pretty good, but I just missed winning my DP World Tour card. Qualifying School was then a real rollercoaster, I was four-over after the first round but then shot 10-under. Just a couple of months later, here I am having won my card for the next two years. So I am pretty excited about the future,” Bachem said.

In his immediate future, there is a trip to France next week. Bachem does not just enjoy riding the waves of fortune and misfortune in the golfing world, he is also a keen surfer of literal waves.

Between the Kenya Open and the Jonsson Workwear Open, Bachem spent time at South Africa’s surfing mecca, Jeffrey’s Bay.

“My family used to go to the west coast of France for holidays on the Atlantic and I started to get into surfing since I was young. I’ve been doing it more and more since I turned 18. Now I can drive a car and I spent six weeks in Portugal recently in a campervan. Maybe there is a career in surfing after golf for me … ”

The Bulls will be eager to stop their slide down the United Rugby Championship table before the end of October when the competition takes a break, but disappointing results are not the main reason coach Jake White has changed half his starting line-up for their match against Benetton in Treviso on Friday night.

Having been knocked over and physically dominated by the Glasgow Warriors and Munster on successive weekends, the Bulls are now down to sixth on the log. Benetton will definitely be tricky to beat on their home turf, and the high-flying Sharks then come to Loftus Versfeld on October 30.

“It’s not just results that decide selection, I would have changed the team anyway this week,” White said on Thursday. “Every coach has an idea of a certain team he wants to play against certain opposition.

“But then the whole thing changes with injury and I didn’t think I would not have Johan Goosen or Cornal Hendricks. But it’s a long season and the European competition hasn’t even kicked off yet.

“Benetton rested a lot of their main players last week, we know they have targeted this game and everyone understands how tough it will be. It shouldn’t be an ambush here anymore.

“We have not gone from a good team to a poor one overnight, and this is a massive game for us because an away win is like gold. No-one must think we’re going through the motions,” White said.

The ever-improving Benetton side is certainly not going to stand back for anyone on their home ground anymore, and the Bulls can expect a feisty welcome up front, led by loose forward Lorenzo Cannone and his brother, lock Niccolò. Benetton still talk about their famous victory over the Bulls in the Rainbow Cup final last year, when White’s team, rampant at home, were shocked by the intensity of their hosts.

“I hope we are not surprised again. There will be unbelievable passion in the crowd and we are coming from rain and cold every day in Scotland and Ireland to warm weather and sunshine,” White said.

“Benetton still talk a lot about beating us in that final, and that was an opportunity for us to learn some lessons. I hope we are wise enough that we don’t get caught again.

“They are a good team, well-coached, while, for whatever reason, we have not played as well as we can. Sometimes it feels like we are stuck in third gear and we struggle to get into fifth.

“But our saving grace is that it is a long season and we only need to play our best rugby at the back end. But the challenge is for us to get better every week,” White said.

Bulls: Kurt-lee Arendse, David Kriel, Stedman Gans, Harold Vorster, Wandisile Simelane, Chris Smith, Embrose Papier, Elrigh Louw, Marco van Staden, Marcell Coetzee (CAPT), Ruan Nortje, Janko Swanepoel, Francois Klopper, Bismarck du Plessis, Gerhard Steenekamp. Bench – Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Simphiwe Matanzima, Mornay Smith, Walt Steenkamp, WJ Steenkamp, Zak Burger, Morne Steyn, Stravino Jacobs.

Kickoff: 6.30pm.

SUN CITY, North-West (14 October) – Ruan Korb is learning to stay patient and composed when things are not going his way in his third season on the Sunshine Tour, and he needed those qualities in the remorseless heat at the Gary Player Country Club on Thursday.

Korb kept his cool on a much tougher second day of the Blue Label Challenge, collecting six points in the modified Stableford scoring system and going to the top of the leaderboard on a total of 20.

The left-hander is one point ahead of first-round leader Ockie Strydom, who lost the lead thanks to a massive setback on the par-four 12^th, where he lost three points. Strydom finished his round with four points to end the halfway stage of the tournament on 19 points overall.

“I didn’t look like getting to 20 points at the turn,” Korb said after his round that featured four birdies and two bogeys. “It was hot and the wind was pretty tough, swirling the whole time – it never seemed to come from the same place for longer than 10 minutes.

“I just had to keep concentrating for the whole 18 holes and, after getting going with birdies on five and six, I knew the most difficult tee-shots were coming around the turn. Unfortunately I made bogey at nine, but kept my cool and had a nice sand-save for birdie on 11.

“I feel solid about my game, I have beautiful new irons – Titleist T100s – and that has given me more confidence. I like the format too because I am an aggressive player,” Korb added.

While many of the golfers were forced to kneel before the stringent test that is the Gary Player Country Club with the wind up, it was a good day for Keagan Thomas, who picked up nine points to go to third on 17 points.

The experienced Lyle Rowe produced the second-best round of the day with his 10-point tally, including four birdies and an eagle on the 11^th, lifting him to 16 points and a tie for fourth with Jaco Ahlers and Rhys Enoch.

Scores – https://sunshinetour.com/tournament-information/?tourn=BLCH&season=221S&report=tmentry~season=221S~alphaorder~#/home