Ken Borland

The last time the DP World Lions men’s team were in Bloemfontein to play the Free State Knights in a T20 match was, astonishingly, way back in December 2017 and it was a tiff that only lasted 13 overs before rain forced play to be abandoned.

Our defending champions are back in the City of Roses to take on the Knights in the CSA T20 Challenge on Wednesday night, and it is something of a journey into the unknown given the gap between T20 fixtures there and the fact that the Free Staters boast a new-look side.

Back in 2017, the Knights had players like Keegan Petersen, who scored an unbeaten 52 off 40 balls to take them to 86 for two when play was stopped, Theunis de Bruyn and David Miller playing for them. Now, having returned from being relegated to Division II last season, they boast some exciting new talent like Garnett Tarr, Dian Forrester and Tiaan van Vuuren.

The Free Staters may have only won one of their three matches so far this season, but DP World Lions coach Russell Domingo says it would be ill-judged to underestimate them in any way.

“The Knights could easily have won three from three; one of their losses was in a super over. They have good young cricketers but also lots of experience with guys like Aaron Phangiso, Malusi Siboto and Gihahn Cloete. Along with Jacques Snyman and Tiaan van Vuuren, they are a helluva dangerous side and they had a great win over the Warriors in their last match,” Domingo said upon their arrival in Bloemfontein.

“So we need to do what we’ve been doing in our last two matches, it’s working at the moment. We want to be solid and well-organised up front, and then play from there. We have a much less experienced batting line-up than last season with Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen, Reeza Hendricks and Wiaan Mulder all away, and the last thing we want to do is lose early wickets like we did in our first game against the Titans.

“So our plan is to assess conditions in the first three overs or so, and then allow the really good finishers we have to play. I’m of the school of thought that T20 games are not won in the first six overs but in the last six overs of each innings,” Domingo said.

Evan Jones (SR 193.10), Connor Esterhuizen (SR 165.71) and captain Mitchell van Buuren (SR 159.37) are like heavyweight boxers, primed to deliver the knockout blow at the death.

Our DP World Lions won both their weekend matches in Johannesburg, but just to ensure their success does not breed any complacency, their game against the Dolphins ended up in a much closer finish than expected.

The bowling attack is yet to resemble the title-winning unit of last season, and has been dogged by wides and no-balls in the first three matches – 38 wides and six no-balls in total.

“I’m still reasonably happy because it’s always tricky starting the season with T20 because your bowlers are not yet battle-hardened. We’ve had quite a lot of extras, especially wides,” Domingo said.

With Kwena Maphaka staying behind in Johannesburg due to school exam commitments, Lutho Sipamla is likely to return to the attack. Codi Yusuf took his place in the last match against the Dolphins, after a tough opener versus the Titans, and bounced back in typical bulldog fashion with two key middle-order wickets while conceding just six runs-per-over.

“Codi was good, he’s a big bowler for us across all formats. He was just struggling a bit with confidence, but he’s done a lot of work with Allan Donald [bowling coach],” Domingo said.

Danie van Tonder says it feels marvellous to be based back in South Africa again, but the challenge of making it on an overseas tour still appeals to him, and the 33-year-old is thinking about perhaps having a go at the Asian Tour and hopefully the LIV.

But what about a return to the DP World Tour and playing in Europe, the usual route to the top for South African golfers?

“Never again,” Van Tonder says emphatically.

The 2021 South African Open champion enjoyed a successful first full season on the DP World Tour that year, winning the Kenya Savannah Classic and finishing 75th on the Race to Dubai with more than €340 000 in prizemoney for the season. Having also made the cut in both the PGA and Open Championships of 2021 and won five Sunshine Tour tournaments in the previous eight months, it seemed his career was heading to great heights.

But 2022 and 2023 were years of struggle for Van Tonder as he finished 125^th and 117^th respectively on the order of merit, losing his DP World Tour card. For the self-taught golfer from Boksburg, the slog of campaigning in Europe was not for him.

That realisation was confirmed in August when he won the FNB Eswatini Challenge at Nkonyeni Lodge and Golf Estate, his first victory since his massive SA Open triumph at the Gary Player Country Club, Sun City, in December 2021. Van Tonder’s two-stroke victory in Eswatini came after he had taken a long break from competitive action.

“It was great to win again, my previous title was the SA Open and that was like three years ago. So there was a bit of a drought, but I went through some big changes, I was on the road for so long. It becomes a grind and you’re just not able to fix things in your game,” Van Tonder says.

“I had six weeks at home before playing in Eswatini and that really helped. I felt great coming into the tournament and I’m finally seeing the results of the work I’ve been able to put into my game.

“Playing week-after-week on the DP World Tour, you begin to get into bad habits and you try and fix them, but you don’t really have the time to make the changes you need to or to improve your game. I won’t be doing that again, I need to take breaks.”

The lucrative LIV Tour is obviously still the subject of much chat in Sunshine Tour locker rooms, especially since the Asian Tour sanctions the International Series, made up of 10 events which provides a route to Greg Norman’s breakaway league. South Africans such as Jbe’ Kruger, Jaco Ahlers, Neil Schietekat and Yurav Premlall have already tried their hand at these enhanced events that offer a minimum purse of $2 million.

Van Tonder is forthright in admitting that the LIV Tour, with its unique, non-traditional format, megastar signings and emphasis on fast-paced, more entertaining play, has caught his eye.

“I like to take driver and hit it long and far and straight. That’s why if I do play overseas, I would prefer to be on the Asian Tour because I love the thought of playing LIV. I think they would enjoy me on that tour, the way I play and my personality. I’m always aiming for a lot of birdies,” the winner of more than R17 million on the Sunshine Tour says.

Playing LIV, which only has 14 events a year, would also allow Van Tonder to take those breaks from golf that he needs to keep himself fresh. Plus each event is only played over three rounds and there’s a more relaxed dress code in which shorts are allowed.

The Serengeti Estate golfer is more of a traditionalist though when it comes to equipment and he says he is looking forward to the golf ball rollback that will come into force in 2028.

“I use the Titleist Pro V1 23X which everyone plays with. To use the older one would be a disadvantage because it goes shorter, but I will go back to it when the rollback happens because those are the distances we’ll be going back to. I’m looking forward to the change,” Van Tonder says.

“I still have my old Titleist 620 CB irons and I waited eight months for my old putter to be refurbished. It kinda works so I stick with it.”

Which is typical of a golfer who may be idiosyncratic, but he is his own man and his record speaks for itself.

SIDEBARS

Danie’s favourite courses

Carnoustie

Leopard Creek

Gary Player Country Club, Sun City

Glendower

Serengeti

(“Nkonyeni is very close to the top 5 because that was fun to play,” he says.)

What’s in Danie’s bag?

Titleist TSR3 Driver

Titleist TSi 3-Wood

Titleist GT 5-Wood

Titleist CB irons 3-9

Titleist Vokey SM10 wedge, gap wedge & lob wedge

Scotty Cameron Futura MB putter

How does Danie prepare before a round?

“Every day is different: sometimes I will do weights to get loose, on other days I will listen to music. I really enjoy David Crowder’s music, pump up music or just a whole mix of everything.”

Jesse Kriel has been in hot form for the Springboks ever since stepping back into the starting line-up at last year’s World Cup and the 30-year-old says the resurgence in his fortunes is no accident, it is down to plenty of hard work through the years.

The outside centre position for the Springboks has been fiercely contested by Lukhanyo Am and Kriel, two world-class No.13s. When Kriel came off the bench and was injured in the opening match of the 2019 World Cup, it opened the door for Am to make the position his own.

But ironically, last year the situation was reversed as Am was injured at the World Cup and Kriel stepped up in spectacular fashion. He has continued that strong form this year, shining in the Tests against Wales and Ireland. And the second Test against Ireland in Durban on Saturday saw the former Bulls star partner Damian de Allende in midfield for the 30^th time, making them South Africa’s most-capped centre combination, beating the old mark set by the great pairing of Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie.

“The rugby I’m playing at the moment is definitely right up there with the best of my career. But a great World Cup doesn’t just happen, it takes continual work, year after year,” Kriel says.

“It helped that I was given the opportunity to play more and playing in Japan has built my confidence, allowed me to tweak my game. In Japan I regularly have up to 80 touches of the ball in a game, so being that involved is familiar to me. Japan has also taught me to be open to other ideas from players and coaches.”

Kriel’s livewire displays this year have come in a backline that also seems to have discovered a fresh spring in their collective step, attacking with greater width and ambition than previously.

“I think it just shows how good Tony Brown has been coming in as attack coach,” Kriel says. “He has really changed our mindset on attack. In previous Tests you would never see us doing offloads and chicken wings, but now we have drills, we actually practise those skills.

“Tony just has a very positive way of seeing rugby and he’s got the whole side excited about attack now and getting the ball in their hands. If we want to become a better team, then we can’t just carry on doing the same things, we’ve got to keep changing things up, those are those marginal gains that are so crucial.

“I think we’re just a handful of games away from nailing it. Every training session is better than the last, our players have awesome skill-sets and we are starting to see that now. Damian definitely has the best pass in the team and he has an unbelievable rugby brain. But we’re also seeing the big guys using their hands, like Eben Etzebeth popping the ball out the back, along with typical South African physicality. We’re playing really smart rugby,” Kriel says.

While De Villiers did send a congratulatory message to Kriel’s phone, the Canon Eagles player also had kind words for his partner De Allende.

“Damian and I have been off-field mates since around 2019. It’s very nice to share this record with him because he’s a special player. We’ve got to know each other in a deeper way, I see his character and he’s one of the first people I would take to war with me. When the going gets tough, he always puts up his hand,” Kriel says.

While the slick handling and searing breaks are the sexy things that get noticed on the field, it is Kriel’s work ethic in training and conditioning that lays the platform for his success. He is magnificently conditioned and trains with heavyweight boxer Kevin Lerena.

“Kevin is a good friend and we have a similar mindset in how we approach sport. I like cross-training in general, it keeps me stimulated. So I’ll run along the beachfront promenade or go mountain biking as well. It’s a good way to challenge yourself mentally in a different way.

“Playing in Japan also has a big part in my conditioning, having such high ball-in-play times helps both on attack and defence. It’s not as physical as Test rugby, but it is such a competitive league and there are so many former All Blacks, Fijians and Tongans playing,” Kriel says.

The 6’1 star is in such good nick that he says he would like to play in two more World Cups, extending his career another eight years to when he is 38. One should not bet against Kriel pulling that off.

Our DP World Lions may have only gone down by two runs in their CSA T20 Challenge match against the Dafabet Warriors, but coach Russell Domingo says the team are well aware that it was not the type of performance the Pride are looking for and they will need to be back at their best on Sunday when they take on the GBets Rocks at Boland Park.

Although the match at the DP World Wanderers Stadium against the Eastern Province side went down to the last ball, the Lions have readily admitted they did not play well, a messy performance in the field being the main cause of their defeat.

“We didn’t deserve to win and the Warriors thoroughly deserved their triumph,” DP World Lions coach Russell Domingo said. “Our fielding was really poor, we were far too sloppy and we also had a poor start with the ball and bowled too many soft balls throughout.

“Intensity and more focus in the field is really important. These days players are not just batsmen or bowlers, if you want to play international cricket then you have to offer more than one discipline. We have so many good players, but we’re not going to get by with average fielding.

“With the bat, we really needed someone to score eighty-odd and bat through; the only reason we got so close was thanks to Wiaan Mulder hitting some boundaries at the end.

“But we are only halfway through the competition, there are still seven matches to play, so there’s a lot of cricket left for us to get back up the log. Rather have that sort of performance now than at the end of the tournament,” Domingo said.

Their next opponents, the Rocks, are obviously not going to be lacking any intensity or motivation because they are in the midst of a relegation battle. Our #PrideOfJozi will also be leaving the comforts of home for the late-summer heat of the Boland valley.

“The Rocks had a good win over the Dolphins, who beat us, and we know they are going to be up for it, so it’s not going to be an easy game,” Domingo said.

“Late in the season up on the Highveld, there’s a bit of a chill in the evenings and the pitches are maybe not as hard as previously, so there is a bit of movement. The scores are not as high now and it is tricky for the batters.

“But I expect it to be drier and slower in Paarl, it could spin a bit and spinners will come into the game more. A good total could be around 150-160, and chasing might be difficult because we are playing the second match of a double-header on the same pitch,” Domingo said.