Ken Borland

IRENE, City of Tshwane – Sunshine Tour rookie Ryan van Velzen roared to a marvellous eight-under-par 64 at Irene Country Club on Friday to claim a one-stroke lead after the first round of the KitKat Group ProAm, the R1 million tournament being held for the second time after flooding washed out the tournament in February.

The 21-year-old Van Velzen, playing just his fifth Sunshine Tour event, was particularly rampant on the par-fours, picking up six of his eight birdies there, to go with birdies on the par-five 10^th and 17^th holes. It was also a bogey-free round for the Benoni golfer, who won his card from the Big Easy Tour in January.

“I’m really happy and I played really nicely, hitting the ball good and close and making the putts,” Van Velzen said after racing past his previous best Tour round of 68.

“I drove the ball straight most of the day, I didn’t miss many fairways and my iron play was really good. I was surprised how good the greens were after all the rain and flooding earlier in the year.

“The course is in really good shape and you have to hit it straight off the tee because of all the trees. And the greens were pretty quick so you didn’t want to be on the wrong side of the hole,” Van Velzen said.

The former GolfRSA squad member was on the right side of most things on Friday, including an extraordinary tussle for top spot on the leaderboard that he eventually won.

Dylan Mostert finished just one stroke back after a brilliant 65, converting a great start after he was three-under through five holes.

Merrick Bremner, Ockie Strydom and JJ Senekal made the early running with their five-under-par 67s, but endured the frustration of watching the leading duo sweep past them in the afternoon, as well as the in-form Louis Albertse, Malcolm Mitchell and Keagan Thomas, who all shot 66s.

Rourke van der Spuy, who drank from the champagne bottle a week ago when he won the SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun City, was also part of the bottleneck at the top as he started on the 10^th tee and moved to four-under-par after his birdie on the third hole. But the aggressive 32-year-old did not quite have the finish he intended as he then bogeyed the par-four sixth and made pars the rest of the way in to finish with a 69.

Sport being big business these days, it stands to reason that administrators believe that the more content they can provide in terms of matches, the better it is for the game and the players just need to avail themselves of these increased opportunities.

But what administrators forget, as their eyes are distracted by shiny piles of cash, is that they are in the entertainment business and quality of performance is more important to the consumer than quantity. As more and more sport is played, we see more and more jaded athletes, especially in these tough days of Covid restrictions, unable to reach their previous heights.

As former Springbok captain Jean de Villiers said this week: “For too long administrators have thought that more is more, but actually less is more. That way you get a high-quality product that people look forward to and don’t want to miss out on watching. The players are the main assets of the game and we have to make sure they are looked after.”

While I would not go as far as former Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula – that’s actually probably a good rule for life – in describing our sports stars as soldiers doing battle for South Africa, there is no doubt they are still representing our country and often providing great joy to a land that has known more misery than most in recent years.

Form is a fickle thing at the best of times – I was chatting to a former Proteas batsman recently and he told me of the time he came off a great century and then in his next innings he could barely get bat to ball – but a relentless schedule of games and travel will eventually wear down even the best.

Just look at former India captain Virat Kohli, who a couple of years ago was trumpeted as the best batsman in the world. And then came Covid with bio-bubbles and severe restrictions added to the grind of playing and captaining in all three formats for the richest and most scrutinised team on the planet.

Little wonder then that Kohli has now gone 100 innings across formats without scoring a century and his former India coach, Ravi Shastri, is in no doubt that too much cricket is to blame.

Shastri was quoted this week as calling Kohli “overcooked” and he implored Indian cricket to have the empathy to give their star player six months away from the game otherwise he will end up with “a fried brain”.

Amongst the fans, too, there is an air of indifference to the wellbeing of our sports stars, with the expectation being that they must bring their A-game every time they compete. The old chestnut of “I pitch up to the office every day and give my best otherwise I’ll be fired” is often heard. But not many of us have jobs that require intense physical training every week and then an opposition hellbent on making sure you cannot do your job.

This is not, however, a call for sponsors and equity partners in sport to be sent packing like witches on their broomsticks.

Professional sport needs money to flourish and the best-performing teams are more often than not those with the deepest pockets. But there needs to be a balance between commercial demands and player welfare.

The best way to handle that balancing act is probably by ensuring there is greater depth in playing squads.

I know fielding second-string outfits does not fly well with fans, but if a team has sufficient depth and has looked after their pipeline properly, then rotating players should ensure improved performance and give exposure to potential new heroes.

United Rugby Championship frontrunners Leinster are a club that does this very well, and I look forward to seeing how they do, without 10 first-choice players, against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday night.

Sbu Nkosi was born in Barberton 26 years ago and will now wear a Barberton Daisy on his rugby jersey, saying on Thursday that he believes a move to the Bulls is just the fresh start he needs to return to being the top-class wing who helped win the 2019 World Cup.

Nkosi famously filled in for an injured Cheslin Kolbe in the World Cup semi-final against Wales, but then did not play in the Tests against the British and Irish Lions last year and has endured a rotten run of injuries and illness this year. Given his limited playing time for the Sharks, it is unlikely that Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber still sees him as being in the top three wings for the national team.

“Injuries happen but it’s a chance for me to completely reset and build afresh, being here is a massive chance to be part of a good thing going on in Pretoria,” Nkosi said at Loftus Versfeld on Thursday.

“I am very grateful to the Sharks, they are the reason my career has gone the way it has, they developed me and taught me to be a man. But moving to the Bulls is the best decision for me.

“I felt like a new chapter needed to be opened so I can get my career back to the Sbu Nkosi everyone knows. It doesn’t matter what union you play for when it comes to making the World Cup squad.

“That is judged purely on performance and I need to be fit and ready to play to even start thinking about being in the reckoning for selection,” Nkosi, who arrived on crutches following ankle surgery but was sporting an extremely smart navy blue jacket with a pocket square in the light blue colour of his new team, said.

Nkosi was headhunted by Bulls director of rugby Jake White to replace Madosh Tambwe, who is heading to Bordeaux Begles, the pair having first met while the wing was at Jeppe High School. Nkosi said he was honoured to be coming to such a proud union and was determined to do the business on the field.

“Jake and I have a relationship that dates back to high school and he actually signed me to the Sharks straight from school. We agree on certain values, which was a big motivating factor to come here.

“In a way I’ve come full circle and I want to be part of Jake’s work, dig into his mind a bit. The general mix in the Bulls’ style of play is extremely exciting, they are getting it right.

“It’s always nice to be at a place with a full trophy room and the Bulls have a legendary legacy. I understand the history and that rugby is like the fourth meal of the day here in Pretoria!

“I feel very privileged to be picked out by a coach like Jake and I’m looking to improve my decision-making, which is a very crucial part of the game. Keeping a cool head at the right time is what separates players. Understanding the game is way more important than a sidestep,” Nkosi said.

The Proteas really are extremely hard work for their fans, the latest grave distress they have inflicted on them being their hugely disappointing series loss to Bangladesh in the ODIs.

It is Bangladesh’s first series win in South Africa in all formats and they are going to be favourites now going into the two-Test series. Conditions at Kingsmead and St George’s Park are probably going to be low and slow, the Proteas are missing five frontline players who have chosen to go to the IPL instead and the tourists certainly have all the momentum with them.

How South Africa managed to lose to Bangladesh in a three-match series on the Highveld, with plentiful bounce on offer in all three games, is baffling though and the shockwaves are going to reverberate around the ODI team for a while.

What makes the loss even more dismaying is how poorly they played in the deciding match and also the fact that this same team, minus Kagiso Rabada, beat India 3-0 in their previous engagement.

It is this infuriating inconsistency that the Proteas are going to have to stamp out. Several wins are required for them to qualify automatically for the World Cup next year and South Africa are certainly not going to be contenders unless there is a greater steadiness to the execution of their 50-over skills.

Top limited-overs teams always talk about intent these days and that was rather lacking from the Proteas batsmen. Intent is, of course, easier to show once a partnership has taken control of the innings and one of the major differences between the Bangladesh and Indian series was that South Africa had major partnerships in the latter. Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen both scored hundreds in their incredible partnership in the first ODI, openers Janneman Malan and Quinton de Kock took the Proteas to 212/2 in the 35^th over in the second match, and centurion De Kock and Van der Dussen shared a crucial stand of 144 in the last game.

The overs after the fall of a wicket are always a tricky time for the batting side, but in the deciding match against Bangladesh, Malan, who had started at about a run-a-ball, inexplicably went into his shell after De Kock’s dismissal. He had 28 off 31 balls at the end of the over before the wicketkeeper holed out at long-off, but then began leaving balls outside off stump and was eventually dismissed for 39 off 56 deliveries.

That innings included seven fours, which points to the fact that Malan was too block-block-block-four-block-block-block in his innings; De Kock had only faced eight balls at the time of his dismissal in the seventh over, the lack of rotation of strike probably causing frustration.

Malan (65.09), Bavuma (59.32) and Kyle Verreynne (74.57) all had strike-rates of below 80 in the series; 80 should always be the benchmark in decent batting conditions. Bangladesh certainly showed that as none of their batsmen scored at less than 74 runs per 100 balls.

South Africa also need to look at the composition of their attack. Simply choosing the Test bowlers and adding Tabraiz Shamsi and an all-rounder like Phehlukwayo or Pretorius is not cutting it in ODI cricket.

Different, specialist skills are needed, especially at the death. If Rabada and Lungi Ngidi don’t strike up front then they are in trouble, generally needing Shamsi to bail them out in the middle overs.

There also clearly needs to be a discussion over whether the fitness tests are helping the team or hurting them. While Lizelle Lee was able to join the Women’s World Cup squad late and lacking match fitness, Sisanda Magala was ruled out of the Bangladesh series because he failed a fitness test. While taking bags full of wickets for the Central Gauteng Lions, scoring vital lower-order runs and generally showing the skills so sorely lacking in the Proteas attack.

And it seems the Proteas need a full-time sports psychologist in camp as well.