Ken Borland

South Africa have made it through to the quarterfinals of the U19 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies but are obviously going to have to be at their best to avoid elimination as they take on one of the most impressive teams in the competition in England, at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium at North Sound, Antigua, on Wednesday.

With Dewald Brevis stealing the limelight in the first couple of games, it was encouraging to see the other Junior Proteas batsmen start to come to the party in the win over Ireland, which was basically a knockout fixture.

Brevis still made 96, but there was a tremendous century by captain George van Heerden and some brilliant late hitting by all-rounders Mickey Copeland and Andile Simelane.

But South Africa are going to need to repeat a similar batting effort against a stronger England attack that is led by a potent left-arm paceman in Joshua Boyden, while leggie Rehan Ahmed will test their abilities against spin.

While the rampant Brevis is the leading run-scorer in the tournament so far with 265 in three innings, England captain Tom Prest has roared to 251 runs.

He generally bats No.3 for England and South Africa have two ferocious fast bowlers in Liam Alder and Matthew Boast, who will want to get Prest in against the swinging new ball.

England, of course, are able to throw some serious cash at their U19 programme, but what the South Africans lack in Rands, they have been making up for in enthusiasm.

But for those wanting to take a punt on the outcome, bookmakers have installed England as the 1.6-1 favourites.

But much depends on Brevis.

“What works for you, you must stick with that,” Brevis, a major Bangalore Royal Challengers fan because his two favourite players – AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli – play for them, said when asked how he would be approaching the knockout encounter.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt said his team needs to learn quickly how to avoid giving away a raft of penalties following their chastening 42-17 defeat at the hands of Munster in their opening United Rugby Championship match at Thomond Park at the weekend.

Not for the first time this year, the Sharks’ ill-discipline prevented them from getting any sort of foothold in the match as they conceded a whopping 17 penalties. Munster were thereby gifted territory and, with their dominance in the set-pieces, they were able to merely grind the visitors out of the match.

“I was disappointed with the discipline, we gave away 17 penalties and almost all of them had massive consequences. So the guys have to learn quickly, although I felt we were a bit unlucky at the breakdown and could have been rewarded more there.

“The first 20 minutes was how we want to play, the territory and possession stats were both with us. But in the second quarter we gave away too many penalties and that’s all Munster needed to get control of the game. But I was very proud of the fight and energy the team showed for the full 80 minutes. There are three games left on this tour though, and the players have got to learn quickly,” Everitt said.

The Sharks were dogged in the Currie Cup by poor discipline at the defensive breakdown, making the same silly errors that were evident on Saturday night in Limerick. It is clear that this is going to be a massive issue for the Currie Cup runners-up going forward because their lack of focus is giving their opposition a grip on the game.

It is individual errors that are putting the whole team under pressure, forcing them to defend for long periods, which inevitably leads to more penalties. Everitt might need to now show more bite because his bark clearly is not working.

Nizaam Carr is a Springbok loose forward who hasn’t had much game time since joining the Bulls, but he said on Tuesday that working with coach Jake White has been one of the best relationships of his career and the desire at Loftus Versfeld is strong to avoid what the player called “the same fate as Liverpool”.

With the talismanic Duane Vermeulen currently unavailable after minor knee surgery, Carr could well get his chance to shine in the preparation series that starts this weekend, with the Bulls taking on Eastern Province in Pretoria on Sunday. The former Stormers and Wasps star said the message from White has been clear: Even though several of the stars who won both SuperRugby Unlocked and the Currie Cup might not be playing, the Bulls are looking to improve their game still further.

“The message from Jake was that we have to take it to the next level, whether that’s in our diet, our training, our gym or whatever. What happened to Liverpool, what my friends have been telling me about them because I’m not a big football fan … we don’t want to suffer the same fate. So we need to do something different to stay on top, we need to take our game up a notch.

“This series is the perfect opportunity for us to prepare and you can see everyone want this opportunity. I always back myself to start but I will do whatever I can to help the team, like I had to do for the Currie Cup final. But I have a good understanding with Jake and the other coaches, in fact my relationship with Jake is one of the best I’ve experienced with a coach. It’s been fantastic to continue my journey with these fantastic people,” Carr said on Tuesday.

Carr is probably competing with former Springbok Sevens star Tim Agaba for the eighthman berth vacated by Vermeulen. While Agaba will bring work-rate and physicality to the role, Carr said he sees his strength as being the more classical ability to link with the backs.

“I want to play eighthman, I feel I am best there, but it is nice that I can cover a lot of options and different coaches want different things from their eighthman. My strength is linking, mixing it up with the forwards and backs, doing the dirty work if necessary and bringing a high tackle count. I’m also a lineout option although I’m not the biggest guy.

“I’m not one of those 120kg or 1.95 metres guys, but I bring something else to the party. I have not played as much as I would have liked here, so it feels like my first game again, something I am really looking forward to. It’s a big opportunity, that’s the motivator for all of us, we want to showcase what we’ve got, show that we can turn up at this level, given the opportunity,” Carr said.

 

The open country around the Mankwe Dam is bordered by the Tshwene and Kubu drives, two of the four tar roads in the Pilanesberg National Park. I normally try to avoid the tar roads when I’m in the bush, but this area is so peaceful and tranquil, and being the main water source in the reserve, there is also usually lots of game in the vicinity.

But as a very warm afternoon clouded over and a typical Highveld thunderstorm approached, there came a stark reminder that this is wild Africa, red in tooth and claw.

Between the Mankwe and Motlobo drive turnoffs from Tshwene Drive, less than 20 metres from the tar and at the edge of a little bank, an unfortunate Impala took its last breaths. Two Cheetah, still panting hard from the exertions of the chase, soon had blood-stained faces as they tucked into their hard-won meal.

This is Lion and Leopard country as well so the Cheetah, the most lightweight of the big cats, needs to eat quick because there’s nothing like a kill to attract other meat-eaters. While the Cheetahs ripped at the carcass, a sly Blackbacked Jackal was already hanging around waiting for scraps.

Seeing one of the cats on a kill is always a special sighting, but to see Cheetah in the Pilanesberg is an exceptional occurrence because there are only five in the entire 572 square-kilometre park. The open country around Mankwe Dam is probably the best area for them because it allows them the space for their sprint, which is what sets them apart from other predators.

The adrenaline was still flowing from my first Cheetah sighting in the Pilanesberg when my buzz was shattered by an extremely loud, piercing call right next to the car. I was startled and momentarily baffled by what it could be – it was such a high-pitched, pure sound that I thought some sort of emergency alarm had gone off and was wondering if my windshield would crack!

Having regained my senses enough to realise that it was coming from the bushes next to the road, I scanned the vegetation and there the source was, with colours as bright as its song was loud – a beautiful Crimsonbreasted Shrike sitting in an open gap in the bushes.

The Crimsonbreasted is certainly the most brightly coloured of the Laniarius (Boubou) Shrikes and its underparts are a brilliant scarlet colour, heading towards crimson.

 

It provides a real flash of colour particularly when contrasted with the muted tones of the thorny scrub it likes to inhabit.

 

 

This is where the Mankwe River flows out of the dam and Mankwe Way crosses the river just north of the Fish Eagle turnoff. It’s a good spot to stop and scan for birds and, having seen one in the exact same dead tree on a previous trip, it was great to see an Osprey once again sitting up in the highest branches. It was joined by a Hamerkop that came to share its lofty perch and there were Pearlbreasted Swallows flying around and landing nearby as well.

Mankwe Way takes one into an area of open grassland, dotted with termite mounds and boulders as it heads west, past the old farm of General Jan Smuts, Buffelsdrift. Transitional zones where dry plains with short grass meet the longer grasses of the rugged upland areas are excellent for birding as well.

Apart from the White Rhinoceros in the vicinity, there were also Scalyfeathered Finches hopping on the ground and then flying quickly into the small trees when disturbed; Sabota Lark, Crowned Plover, Cinnamonbreasted Rock Bunting and Blackthroated Canary.

But a pair of birds had me a bit confused as they hopped around on the low bushes, behaving much like Capped Wheatears. But the adults of that plains specialist are distinctively marked and these birds were also making some strange, Lark-like calls. With their mottled bands of brown, buff and yellowish colours, they had me thinking of similar-looking rarities.

But discretion won the day and, considering that Capped Wheatears are well-known mimics, I went the most likely route and decided they were, in fact, a pair of immature Capped Wheatears.

Pilanesberg holds good numbers of both the Kalahari and Whitebrowed Scrub Robins and the central part of the

park has both these twitching, insectivorous lovers of thicket and low bushes in close proximity to each other.

Mankwe Dam is by no means the only productive body of water in the park, and if one enters through the south-western gate of Bakubung, after two-and-a-half kilometres on the tarred Kubu Drive, or a bit further if one turns left and takes the more meandering dirt road known as Kgama Drive, one comes to the Lengau Dam.

There are usually large numbers of birds here and on this occasion it was good to see African Darter, Whitefaced Duck, Pied Kingfisher, Greenshank, Marsh Sandpiper and Threebanded Plover. There are usually animals about as well, but this time there was just a solitary Warthog snuffling around.

Even the smallest bodies of water can provide something of interest though and as I was exiting through the easternmost gate – Manyane – four Redbilled Oxpeckers were drinking water from a puddle in the road.

Life can be very tough in the beautiful African bush and to survive the residents need to take advantage of every little windfall they can get.

 

Sightings List

Blue Wildebeest

Plains Zebra

Sacred Ibis

Warthog

Egyptian Goose

African Darter

Whitefaced Duck

Laughing Dove

Little Swift

Pied Kingfisher

Greenshank

Blacksmith Plover

Marsh Sandpiper

Threebanded Plover

Waterbuck

Jackal Buzzard

Impala

Greater Kudu

Rufousnaped Lark

Palm Swift

Marico Flycatcher

Greater Striped Swallow

Giraffe

Crested Francolin

Streakyheaded Canary

Great White Egret

Southern Masked Weaver

Pintailed Whydah

Blackeyed Bulbul

Whitebrowed Scrub Robin

Blackchested Prinia

Kalahari Scrub Robin

White Rhinoceros

Scalyfeathered Finch

Sabota Lark

Capped Wheatear

Crowned Plover

Cinnamonbreasted Rock Bunting

Blackthroated Canary

Hamerkop

Osprey

Pearlbreasted Swallow

Natal Francolin

Cape Turtle Dove

Grey Lourie

Glossy Starling

Cheetah

Blackbacked Jackal

Helmeted Guineafowl

Rattling Cisticola

Crimsonbreasted Shrike

African Elephant

Forktailed Drongo

Common Myna

Redbilled Oxpecker