Ken Borland

Our DP World Lions began their CSA T20 Challenge campaign with a painful defeat on their home turf against the Momentum Multiply Titans; but on Tuesday night they massaged that pain away with a comprehensive victory over their Gauteng neighbours, winning Qualifier 1 by seven wickets with four overs to spare to go directly into Sunday’s final.

It was an excellent all-round performance at the DP World Wanderers Stadium by #ThePrideOfJozi, with the bowlers doing a great job by bowling the Titans out for just 115, and then the batsmen, led by the ever-reliable Reeza Hendricks, cruised to 116 for three after 16 overs.

A good decision at the toss by skipper Bjorn Fortuin to bowl first because there was a bit of life in the pitch saw the DP World Lions take advantage as they reduced the Titans to 19 for three in the first four overs. Young Kwena Maphaka was once again superb as he took two of those three wickets, and then returned to claim a third in the penultimate over, finishing with figures of 4-1-11-3, the joint most economical in the competition this season.

Delano Potgieter was also excellent up front with one for 22 in his four overs, figures replicated by the other main all-rounder in the team, Evan Jones. Leg-spinner Nqaba Peter then wrapped up the innings with an outstanding return of 4-1-15-4, bamboozling and bowling both Donovan Ferreira and Dayyaan Galiem with his trademark sliders.

The loss of Zubayr Hamza (4) caught at cover in the third over, caused barely a pause for thought in the DP World Lions reply as Hendricks played a marvellous innings. The Proteas star looked comfortable on a pitch that always had something in it for the bowlers, stroking 61 off 43 balls, with seven fours and two sixes. Hendricks fell, trapped lbw by a Galiem off-cutter, just four runs short of becoming the highest ever run-scorer in the history of this competition: He moved to 3180 runs in 106 innings and Morne van Wyk’s record of 3183 runs in 113 innings will surely be surpassed in Sunday’s final.

The vastly experienced Rassie van der Dussen also played a fine innings as he stayed to the end, scoring 40 not out off 37 deliveries, with four fours. He added 92 off 69 balls for the second wicket with Hendricks.

Just as they did last season when they won the CSA T20 Challenge, our DP World Lions seem to saving their best cricket for the playoff rounds.

“We couldn’t really have asked for anything better tonight,” Hendricks said. “The bowlers set the tone, restricting the Titans to a good score for us, and then we were clinical with the bat to finish things off. So we are happy with the performance and hopefully we can repeat it on Sunday.

“It was a really good game by us after we had a bit of a stumble against Western Province last week, and hopefully we are peaking at the right time again. It gives us a great deal of confidence to beat this strong Titans outfit, but whoever we play on Sunday is going to come out firing against us,” Hendricks said.

It was late May and the Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve looked dry and worn-out as the harsh Highveld winter began to take its toll on this area of great peace and tranquility nestled in the suburbs of eastern Pretoria, below the Bronberg ridge.

The Rademeyerspruit, a tributary of the Moreleta River, runs through the reserve and one of the highlights of this suburban oasis is the Flufftail Hide, which overlooks a secluded little vlei area at the bottom of the hill on which the main entrance is situated.

But there was just a trickle of water to be seen and the only avian activity was some die-hard but non-breeding Southern Masked Weavers hanging around, flying between the tops of the reeds. What leaves were on the trees were dry and the veld was all dry, yellowing grass.

But close to the hide, next to the path leading from it, stood a tall, densely-branched Bluebush (Diospyros lycioides) with barely a leaf remaining from its autumnal shedding.

Suddenly there was a flash of bright yellow, like a torchlight in the gloom of all the dull winter colours, as a pair of Blackthroated Canary arrived at the top of the Bluebush. The yellow comes from their rumps, by far the most vivid colour on an otherwise rather drab grey, brown and black bird.

The ‘black throat’ is really just a smudge of black and is more obvious in the males. The Blackthroated Canary generally prefers drier conditions than its fellow Crithagra species, the Yellowfronted Canary, but is nevertheless often near water.

After a little while the pair flew off, making their charming, cheerful, high-pitched twittering & chirping calls.

Before leaving the general vicinity of the hide, I caught a glimpse of a Bushbuck, just before it dashed away into the riverine vegetation.

Heading back up the hill into the grasslands, a group of Redfaced Mousebird were flying between the bushy patches as I made my way towards the path that connects to the Duiker Route. A very large Leopard Tortoise was parked just off the path right at the junction.

The Duiker Route heads around to the east and then up the hill into some denser vegetation: a thicket of woody species but with a variety of grasses in the understorey.

A Browncrowned Tchagra sat briefly on a low, horizontal branch and then dived into the long grass and tangled thicket below the Blue Guarris, Searsias and Wild Olives. These tough, hardy evergreen trees are characteristic of the Highveld grasslands.

A Barthroated Apalis briefly appeared, casting a curious pale eye our way, before it skulked back into the thicket; only to reappear moments later at the tops of the trees, where it went flitting about the canopy.

A Karoo Thrush was also lurking about, before it slinked off into the undergrowth.

As a great time just being in nature in one of the most popular walking spots in Pretoria drew to a conclusion, the close interactions continued as a Common Ostrich wandered about near the path, next to the parking lot. It had been a fun 75 minutes with much to see and enjoy in this healthy eco-system, never mind the abundance of fresh air in a safe location!

Supporting these green areas in the heart of suburbia is so important, and this 100 hectare reserve is certainly an exquisite little treasure.

Where is Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve?

Sightings list

Laughing Dove

Blackeyed Bulbul

Southern Masked Weaver

Blackthroated Canary

Bushbuck

Redfaced Mousebird

Leopard Tortoise

Browncrowned Tchagra

Barthroated Apalis

Cape White-Eye

Plains Zebra

Karoo Thrush

Common Ostrich

Dean Burmester’s final round in the South African Open at Blair Atholl on Sunday began with him deciding to play aggressively, accepting that he would either post a brilliant score that would bring joy or a terrible total that would see him bomb out of contention. His round ended with him fighting back the tears as he claimed the title with a marvellous four-under-par 68.

Burmester began the last day tied for fourth, two strokes off the lead which was shared by young fellow South Africans Jayden Schaper and Ryan van Velzen. He ended up winning by three strokes as neither Schaper nor Van Velzen could stay under-par in the final round, and none of the other contenders could match a 68 on another torrid day of fierce heat and fast greens on the longest course in DP World Tour history.

“I told my caddie Jason Reynolds at the start of the day that I wanted to free it up today, it was either going to be a 65 or an 85 today because we were going to go for everything,” an emotional Burmester said after his biggest victory and his fourth on the DP World Tour. The 34-year-old also won last week’s Joburg Open, pulling off a rare double.

“Fortunately I just flushed it from the start and I could see the greens were really starting to firm up. I said to Jason that two hours from now, they would be nearly impossible to play so we should just post a score, sit back and watch.

“On the 18^th green I was just trying not to cry. I’m still trying. I am super-emotional, it’s been a long road to get here. I have both my national opens now and it feels surreal, it’s just super-special to do the SA double,” the Zimbabwe-born Burmester said after being presented with the most prestigious trophy in South African golf.

On a tightly-contested final day in which the toughness of the course made it extremely difficult for someone to really pull away, it was going to need nerves of steel and the mettle to seize the key moment when it presented itself for the winner to separate himself.

For Burmester, that moment happened on the 16^th. He had been hanging on to a one-stroke lead for most of the round after he sank a 40ft birdie putt on the seventh hole, but on the second-toughest hole on the final day, he hit a great approach to 10 feet and curled in the birdie putt.

He then rammed home his advantage on the par-three 17^th, a beautiful pin-high tee shot setting up a second consecutive birdie.

“Sixteen is when things swung for me. I had a perfect number from the fairway and, having missed a shortish chance on 14, it was fantastic to sink a 10-foot double-breaker on 16,” Burmester recalled.

“On 17 I hit a pitching wedge, again a lovely number, and I must credit my whole team for their great work in preparing me to perform under pressure because it is not my favourite club.”

Being the classy person he is, Burmester was also full of praise and sympathy for the pair of 22-year-old East Randers, Schaper and Van Velzen, who certainly did not hand victory on a plate to their more experienced compatriot.

Van Velzen finished in the tie for second on eight-under with Renato Paratore (70) and Jesper Svensson (71), his five birdies being undone by two double-bogeys and a bogey. He fought hard though, until the 14^th when he found both a fairway and a greenside bunker and then three-putted to drop two shots.

Schaper finished on seven-under in a tie for fifth after a 74 that included just three birdies but five bogeys.

“Winning is hard for young golfers and I know how Jayden and Ryan feel because I was there too. I feel for those two young guys at the back, it takes time and it takes a lot before you learn how to win.

“It was cool that I was drawn with Louis de Jager, he and I have a lot of experience and we were able to pull each other along. He’s been a prolific winner on the Sunshine Tour and we were both able to relax,” Burmester said.

De Jager played well but his putter did not help him much as he posted a 73 to also finish in the tie for fifth with Alejandro del Rey (68), Fredric Lacroix (69), Matteo Manassero (72) and Schaper.

Enoch Nkwe has been hard at work on Cricket South Africa’s pipelines since he began as director of cricket on July 1, but now the focus is shifting to ensuring the Proteas can win the T20 World Cup in Australia next month.

South Africa’s awful record at World Cups is not something Nkwe has shied away from, and he believes he has a plan to secure that long-awaited trophy.

“It’s been an exciting last couple of months, but we can’t hide away from the amount of work to come on our pipeline, which is our most important investment,” Nkwe said this week.

“But the focus is now on our men’s side, we want them to win the World Cup and we have to make sure their preparation gives them every chance of doing that.

“The challenge in the past has been how to confront knockout games, and we’ve been engaging with the coaches on how to overcome that. It’s actually pretty simple – when we get there we have to back ourselves.

“We need to stick to our identity and what has worked for the team, the system that’s in place. We’ve been working on different models to help the players to get through and win a World Cup,” Nkwe said.

At this stage, that does not include recruiting the services of a sports psychologist, with the Proteas rather focusing on their strengths, like their powerful bowling attack.

“We’ve spoken to the coaches and we did look into whether we need a psychologist or not, but SACA [players’ union] also plays a role in helping individuals,” Nkwe said.

“We believe in our blueprint and we speak a lot about pressure and how it’s about trusting the blueprint, whether we are coming from behind or we’re in front.

“We want to throw the first punch and then stay in control. We have impact players now like Rilee Rossouw and Tristan Stubbs who can take the game forward.

“Of course no coach or psychologist can walk on to the field and actually play, it’s up the players,” Nkwe said.