BALLITO (KwaZulu-Natal) – Luke Jerling rates Umhlali Country Club as being one of his favourite courses and he continued to show how comfortable he is on the 5943m Peter Matkovich design as he fired a second consecutive 66 on Thursday to claim a two-shot lead after the second round of the SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun Sibaya.
The 32-year-old Jerling had eight birdies but three bogeys on the first day, but he played much more controlled golf on Thursday, dropping just the one shot, on the tough par-four 15th hole. A hot putter allowed him to collect six birdies as he goes into Saturday’s final round on 10-under-par.
“I really enjoy this golf course, I finished third here in this event last year and just missed out on a playoff,” Jerling said. “I’m not the longest hitter and this is not a bomber’s paradise. There are quite a few fiddly tee-shots and good par-threes.
“Fortunately my short game is my strength and I also made a few putts after struggling for a while with the putter. It was nice to see a few roll in and my iron-play was also very solid,” Jerling said.
Danie van Tonder is poised for another final-round charge as he lies second on eight-under-par, following a 67 on Thursday that included an eagle on the 489m par-five 10th hole.
Pieter Moolman (66) and Astin Arthur (69), the amateur from nearby Mount Edgecombe who has won five events this year, are tied for third on seven-under-par.
Overnight leader Jacob Oakley endured a disappointing day as he shot a 75 to finish on four-under-par, still inside the top-10 though. There are a host of Sunshine Tour winners in the top-10, including the in-form Malcolm Mitchell, who is ninth on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy.
Jerling has come close before to winning his maiden Sunshine Tour title, finishing third three times and being the runner-up in the 2022 Manguang Open. Although he is now based at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club, Jerling is with the coastal players who are hoping for the wind to get up in the final round.
“The wind might pick up more and I won’t mind at all coming originally from Port Elizabeth, where you have to shape the ball a bit. It’s the sort of course where my game-plan will be the same whether I’m chasing the cut or enjoying a five-shot lead, I’ll hit the same shots.
“So I’m not going to think too much about the final round, although it would be lovely to get over the line. It’s actually a bonus being in contention because I’ve been doing some good work with my coach Neil Cheetham and we made a breakthrough last week with my driver and my transition of weight, getting a better turn off the ball with more width. I can see the improvement, which is exciting,” Jerling said.
Allan Donald has seen a lot in a legendary career that has taken him all over the world, but he admitted to being blown away by the passion with which the youngsters he was coaching recently at the DP World Wanderers Stadium are chasing their cricket dreams.
DP World Lions bowling coach Donald, as well as the men’s team’s head coach Russell Domingo, conducted a coaching clinic as a reward for the winners of the best batter and bowler awards in each division of the Diadora Jozi Cup held over the winter. Donald said it was a most rewarding experience for himself as well.
“It was a lot of fun because it’s not every day that I get to work with youngsters. The passion for DP World Lions cricket was just extraordinary, the enthusiasm and love for the game. And also their knowledge of the game, they were all talking about their heroes.
“You tend to think that everything is about the Springboks these days, so it was refreshing and really cool to see that passion for cricket. It stems from the schools and it tells me how the schools look after their facilities and the level of coaching, including the pipeline coaches. It shows that we have a proper cricket culture in this province. There’s a lot more talent in our cricket than people think.
“I just really admire the work Jono Leaf-Wright [CEO] puts into the pipeline, he doesn’t get enough credit for it. Russell says the same thing, it’s a real eye-opener. I was stunned by the amount of leagues, blown away. I had heard about the Diadora Jozi Cup but it has really struck me how much effort the DP World Lions put into it, their heart and soul. And there’s also the Black Widow League.
“I haven’t seen this sort of well-run effort before and it’s a bit of a culture shock, in a good way of course,” Donald said.
Retaining all this talent in the great game is vital and Donald is mindful of how the different levels of cricket have different needs.
“It’s not often that I get to coach at this junior level, maybe 2% of the time, so you hope to influence them positively. Then again we even had one of the Over-40 winners batting in the nets!
“But with the little guys I stay away from technique because they won’t really understand those details until they are more senior. It’s just cool to see them enjoying themselves and it’s amazing how quickly they adopt what you are telling them. They must be allowed to fail; I was lucky I didn’t have parents or uncles or grandparents in my ear all the time when I was growing up.
“But it shows how healthy our school system is and hopefully they can get a lot more exposure, like schools rugby does on TV, that takes things to a different level. The problem with cricket is when the players leave school and go to Varsity, they get lost and despondent that they’re not being looked at. These players who are adrift in the system is why the academy was brought back,” Donald said.
Reuben Mandlazi, the DP World Lions amateur cricket manager, was a proud onlooker at the coaching session.
“This is testament to the work of the Diadora Jozi Cup, which caters for everyone from U11s to veterans. Cricket is our core business at the Lions, we have to ensure the game gets stronger and I’m excited where this is going – it is a feeder to our clubs and our pipeline. I’m very pleased, even though there is still a lot to improve on in certain areas.
“This is the first time we have had this MVP experience for the best batter and bowlers in each division, and any aspiring youngster could not ask for more than to be coached by Russell Domingo and Allan Donald. They understand what it takes to get to the top, they know what high-performance cricket takes,” Mandlazi said.
Proteas coach Shukri Conrad is comfortable with the bowling attack for the World Test Championship final despite a couple of notable absentees.
Being able to bowl consistently at speeds in excess of 140km/h is obviously a great asset in Test cricket and South Africa have had two of their prime express pace options in Anrich Nortje and Gerald Coetzee removed from the equation, but the Proteas are content they have all their bowling bases covered for the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s next month.
South Africa announced their 15-man squad for the showpiece final on Tuesday and Nortje and Coetzee were both excluded based on concerns over their match fitness and their ability to last all the days of what could be a six-day Test. Nortje has played just once for Kolkata Knight Riders in this year’s Indian Premier League, while Coetzee returned to action this month and has played twice for Gujarat Titans. But four-over spells are hardly a base in terms of conditioning for the demands of Test cricket and coach Shukri Conrad has wisely left both out of the final squad, however much he would have wanted them there.
Dane Paterson and Lungi Ngidi have been called up instead and both have the experience to deal with the pressures of a final and the skills to bowl effectively at Lord’s. And Corbin Bosch, the most like-for-like bowler to Nortje and Coetzee, has also been named in the squad.
“We all enjoy sheer pace, but unfortunately Anrich’s return to the Test squad just did not pan out the way we hoped. He was due to play in the Centurion Test against Pakistan but then suffered a broken toe and is now in no position to play a Test match,” Conrad said at Cricket South Africa headquarters in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
“Gerald has been able to make his way back on to the field as well, but he’s in a similar boat as Anrich when it comes to bowling loads. But if you look at what Corbin has done against Pakistan, then you’ll know he’ll provide really good cover and could even make the starting XI depending on conditions.
“Corbin certainly doesn’t lack pace, so we are not too compromised on that front, he brings really good balance to the squad. The medical staff have been in touch with all the bowlers since the IPL started. They might not get the necessary workloads in the matches, but they are at the nets and we are all very happy that they’re doing the necessary work, they report regularly to us and we are very comfortable with where we are at. And Australia are in a similar position to us,” Conrad said.
Bavuma said he was very happy to have Ngidi and Paterson, both more fast-medium practitioners but with plenty of seam-bowling skills that will suit English conditions very well, in his attack. Especially Ngidi, even though the 29-year-old has not played a Test since last August in the West Indies.
“Playing in Australia or South Africa, the conversation about extra pace is definitely bigger, but there’s a different view for fixtures elsewhere. Control and skill is a lot more of a thing in England and having Lungi and Dane will definitely benefit the team.
“With Lungi, if he’s fit and motivated then you know what you’re going to get, whether he’s been playing for six months or not. So there’s no massive risk with him, I know what I’m going to get and he’s a senior player. The team listen to what he has to say and there’s a lot of backing and confidence in him in the team,” Bavuma said.
While the coach conceded that Australia were probably favourites for the one-off final, he and captain Temba Bavuma were still full of fighting talk about their prospects.
“We probably go in as underdogs, not in terms of ability but experience. But I’m very confident that if we play to our best then we have every chance of beating them. We never just want to compete and, while reaching the final was a goal, so was winning it. That was the goal Temba and I set out once the Test side started to get some momentum.
“We have very good players, our bowling attack is always a threat and we have batsmen who have the ability to put the Australians under pressure. Every Test for us lately has almost been a must-win and the players have shown they can deal with those pressures.
“And it’s great that the final is against Australia because we haven’t played them for a while and they are the one side we always want to topple and show the world that we belong at the top table. Test cricket is the lifeblood of the game around the world, the other formats rely on it and the ICC need to take it in hand and look after it rather than the whims and fancies of a few nations,” Conrad said.
Bavuma said another opportunity to secure some long-awaited ICC silverware should not be seen as added pressure, but rather a reward for playing very good cricket in the World Test Championship.
“We have some experience in knockout games now and getting into these positions shows that we have been playing very good cricket, playing well enough to get into those matches. Now it’s about what we need to do to get over the line, what exactly do we need to do differently? Or, what happens to us emotionally that we do something different when we should just stick to what we’ve been doing.
“But we are not really feeling any extra pressure, we have a 50/50 chance and we will make sure it stays that way by preparing as well as we can and making sure we leave no stone unturned. We have found ways to be successful and we take confidence from that. We respect Australia, but we have certainly earned our place in the final,” Bavuma said.
WTC Final squad: Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, David Bedingham, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne, Ryan Rickelton, Lungi Ngidi, Keshav Maharaj, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Dane Paterson, Senuran Muthusamy, Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder.
SUN CITY, North-West – England’s Lauren Taylor concentrated on first and foremost just being herself in the opening round of the SuperSport Ladies Challenge presented by Sun International at the Lost City Golf Course on Wednesday, and it paid off as she finished in first place on the leaderboard.
Taylor fired a four-under-par 68 to enjoy a one-stroke lead over Vanessa Knecht, Ana Dawson, Pasqualle Coffa and leading South African Kaleigh Telfer.
The 29-year-old Taylor played the back nine at Lost City first, and made the perfect start with birdies on the first three holes and another on the 15th. A bogey-birdie finish to the back nine saw Taylor go out in 32, and she then came home in level-par thanks to a birdie on the ninth making up for a bogey on the par-five seventh.
“I was just trying to be myself out there and take it hole by hole,” Taylor said. “It was a good day. I made a hot start, it’s always nice to get three birdies first up, so then I just tried to keep being aggressive.
“All parts of my game were pretty good, but the best part was that I hit every fairway. My irons were also good and that’s always a good combo which will always give you chances. So I was hitting good shots and making birdies.
“I still gave myself some chances on the front nine but I just didn’t hole the putts. But I was very happy to finish with a birdie. I was feeling confident after a good week at Fancourt in the Dimension Data Pro-Am, but anything can happen in golf and you never know how it’s going to be on the day,” Taylor said.
The in-form Dawson, who led for most of the Dimension Data Ladies Pro-Am before eventually finishing tied-third, continued her fine form, her 69 including just one bogey – on the par-three 13th.
Telfer, who enjoyed an excellent Sunshine Ladies Tour campaign last year, posted five birdies with two bogeys to position herself just behind the leader.
Two South Africans – 2022 champion Paula Reto and amateur Isabella Ferreira, were two strokes back after shooting 70s, along with Romy Meekers of the Netherlands and Sweden’s Ellen Hutchinson-Key.
Ferreira also started on the back nine and reached the turn on one-over-par, but she was excellent on the front nine, collecting three birdies.
Proverbs 3:27 – “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.”
Christian compassion is a reflection of the love of Jesus Christ. He responded wherever he saw a need. He did not put people off or tell them to come back later. He did not take long to consider their requests or first discuss them with his disciples.
Why hesitate when there is a need? Your fear of becoming too involved in other people’s affairs could just be selfishness. You shouldn’t be afraid of involvement; have faith that God will provide!
Matthew 20:28 – “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
