Ken Borland

The DP World Lions ladies team upset the existing order of things in the HollywoodBets Pro50 Series in Johannesburg at the weekend, hammering the previously-unbeaten Western Province side with a bonus point to replace them in second place on the log.

Western Province had won the toss and sent the DP World Lions in to bat, picking up the important wickets of Proteas Tazmin Brits (14) and Sinalo Jafta (9) in the first 10 overs.

The tenacity of opener Nonkhululeko Thabethe (27) took her through to 20 overs, but when she fell, #ThePrideOfJozi were 73 for four.

But the experience of Sunette Viljoen-Louw, now batting in the middle-order, is an obvious strength of the DP World Lions, and the fightback began when she came to the crease.

The 41-year-old former Olympic silver medallist and Proteas player formed superb partnerships with the lower-order as the DP World Lions posted a most competitive 272 for nine in their 50 overs.

Karabo Meso, just 17 years old, scored 28 as she added 54 for the fifth wicket with Viljoen-Louw. The in-form Jenna Evans then scored a brisk 27 in a partnership of 79 for the sixth wicket, and Fay Cowling stroked the ball all around the DP World Wanderers Stadium in her 29 off just 19 deliveries, as she and Viljoen put on 34 for the seventh wicket.

Coming off a hugely successful season in British club cricket, Viljoen-Louw was out in the final over for a memorable 93 off 94 balls, with 11 elegant fours and a mighty six.

Western Province began their chase in ferocious fashion, with former Proteas captain Dane’ van Niekerk taking them to 94 for two after 13 overs.

But like the Empire in Star Wars, once the DP World Lions found the chinks to weaken them, their collapse was brutal.

Cowling removed opener Babette de Leede after she had bashed two boundaries in three balls, and then the lanky seamer returned in the 14^th over to have Van Nierkerk superbly caught by Meso, diving at point.

DP World Lions captain Kgomotso Rapoo then produced a marvellous spell of mesmerising spin bowling to run through the rest of the Western Province batting, taking five for 44 in eight overs as the visitors were bowled out for 184 in just 27-and-a-half overs.

Following their 88-run win in the Pro50 match, the DP World Lions conceded a mighty 198 for four in the T20 game.

Spinner Evans was the most impressive of the bowlers with two for 33 in her four overs.

Faced with such a big score, the DP World Lions did not produce their best with the bat, eventually being restricted to 142 for nine in their 20 overs, losing by 56 runs.

That was despite the marvellous start given to them by Viljoen-Louw (29 off 25) and Brits (40 off 25).

It’s been an SA20 campaign of some angst for the Pretoria Capitals and their new coach Jonathan Trott, but a change of captain and bringing in a handful of fresh players saw them ease to an assured bonus point victory over the Joburg Super Kings at Centurion on Tuesday night, which will provide a considerable confidence-boost as the playoffs loom.

The Capitals came into this crucial local derby having won just one of their previous seven matches, but two No-Results and a bonus point win meant they weren’t knocked out of contention just yet. But another victory was almost essential and they pulled it off in style, winning by six wickets with fully eight overs to spare.

The triumph was set up in the field after new skipper Kyle Verreynne won the toss and sent Joburg in to bat. The bowlers responded with a superb display of calm discipline – conceding just one leg-bye and one wide as extras epitomised that – and the Capitals were brilliant in the field.

The pressure saw the Super Kings restricted to just 99 for nine in their 20 overs, the lowest SA20 total ever at Centurion.

Two players making their SA20 debuts set the tone with the ball. Australian Thomas Rogers was excellent up front, taking one for 20 in his four overs, while Gideon Peters, from North-West via Border but born in Pretoria, caused great unease in the middle overs with his sheer pace and excellent control. He finished with two for 15 in his four overs, dismissing two of Joburg’s international stars in Devon Conway (9) and Moeen Ali (0). And Peters very much got them out – Conway couldn’t handle the heat from a short delivery and was caught behind, while Moeen was trapped lbw by a searing leg-stump yorker.

The batting line-up also has a fresh look with Will Smeed, Ashton Turner and Keagan Lion-Cachet all in the top six.

Regular captain Rilee Rossouw was unavailable on Tuesday because his wife had given birth in the morning, but Verreynne confirmed after the match that the change of captain will be in place until the end of the tournament.

“We wanted to freshen up the team with new guys and they’ve had an immediate impact. We’ve had five guys sitting on the side who are very hungry and we did really nicely in the field, just keeping it simple,” Verreynne said.

“I thought with both the ball and in the field we were exceptional and we were really ruthless, which is maybe what we have lacked up till now. We just kept putting pressure on the Super Kings and the way we played is very pleasing and important because we’ve spoken about getting momentum to take into the back stretch of the competition.”

The Pretoria Capitals are now just one point behind the fourth-placed Super Kings, with both franchises having two games remaining. The Joburgers host Paarl Royals and Durban Super Giants, while the Capitals play home and away against MI Cape Town, so it is going to be a tense finale to the round-robin stages.

Joburg Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming was upset by his team’s failure to exhibit much tenacity. After their poor batting display, they were scattergun with the ball and sloppy in the field, two catches going down. The most crucial was Marques Ackerman being missed on 0 by Lutho Sipamla at deep backward point when Pretoria were two down inside the first five overs. The left-hander went on to score 39 off 22 balls, which settled the contest in poised fashion.

“It was a really bad one, a poor performance. There’s been a bit of a trend this season that batting first seems a bit more challenging, but the players didn’t have the mindset to work their way out of a tough situation. We were sloppy with the bat, the ball and in the field, so 0/3 of our skills worked, which is a problem,” Fleming said.

“The Capitals were able to extract variable pace and bounce, but we contributed to our own demise, we should have posted 140 but we just gave up too easily. You need to adapt to conditions and get a score on the board, but the modern player doesn’t seem to have that toughness to find a way to do it. It’s mostly mental.”

With the Western Cape teams playing such inspired cricket at the moment, Fleming admitted that it will now take a miracle for the Joburg Super Kings to finish in the top two and earn themselves two chances of making the final.

“We’re probably out of the race for one and two, but there are three teams hunting hard for the other two playoff places. We have our last two games at home, where we are very comfortable. So that’s a positive, but we have to play better,” Fleming said.

The Pretoria Capitals, meanwhile, seem to have found some belated inspiration. The rousing fast bowling of Peters had much to do with that. The 25-year-old was born and schooled in Pretoria and represented the SA U19s in 2018. He played 28 matches for Northerns across all three formats, but for some reason left to play for Border in 2021.

Thankfully for a bowler of his potential, he has been playing for North-West in Division One for the last two seasons.

While Peters may not be known to many, Verreynne had a brief but memorable meeting with him before they became SA20 team-mates.

“I played against him in a T20 match for Western Province last season. The first ball I didn’t see and the second ball got me out. So I knew what he was about and obviously I’ve seen him a lot in training now. He’s a serious talent with the ability to bowl 150km/h-plus, and his ability to bowl at any stage of the innings impresses me. Plus his attitude and hunger is most pleasing,” Verreynne said.

The Springboks, daring to use ball-in-hand way more than last weekend, hammered Australia 24-8, with a bonus point in their Rugby Championship match at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday.

Here are four talking points:

Daring to use ball-in-hand

South Africa scored four tries and not one of them came from a rolling maul, and they did not win a single scrum penalty, showing that they can score tries through different ways. The whole mentality of the Springbok team on Saturday seemed to be focused on scoring tries and not merely winning penalties. But by daring to use ball-in-hand way more, they showed, and hopefully proved to themselves, what potential they have as an attacking side.

Nineteen-year-old wing Canan Moodie scored on debut from a brilliant up-and-under win, and excellent kicking did also play a big role in South Africa’s triumph. But Franco Mostert’s exceptional try, rounding off a team build-up, showed the way forward. The Springboks were patient in winning a kicking battle and then, once they were in Australia’s half and set, they swept left and then right, practically the whole team handling before Mostert went over in the right corner.

Hail King Kolisi

South Africa’s captain produced a brilliant effort as he led from the front with a display that showed true Warrior quality. He won three turnovers, his work-rate was superb as he mopped up or provided continuity, he was strong in defence and, perhaps most importantly, he was at the forefront of showing that the Springboks were not going to put up with any of the Wallabies’ niggling nonsense like they did in last weekend’s match. And he did all this with impressive composure, never losing his cool.

Willemse and Hendrikse

South Africa fielded a new and youthful half-back partnership in 22-year-old scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse and 24-year-old flyhalf Damian Willemse. What an exciting future they have together!

Willemse was outstanding as the general in the No.10 jersey – the backline looked more effective thanks to his silky skills, he kicked some lengthy touchfinders as the Springboks convincingly won the territory battle, and he defended his channel stoutly.

Hendrikse was slick in his service from the base and varied his pass or run game nicely, and his box-kicks were on-point, as in when he provided Moodie with the opportunity for his try on debut.

Abundant talent and potential in evidence

The Han of China might be the world’s largest ethnic group, comprising 18% of the global population, but in terms of rugby talent, South Africa is overflowing. They showed on Saturday – when they were not even particularly clinical in taking all their chances – what can be when they get their selection right and back themselves more in playing a varied brand of attacking rugby.

A good start, with Damian de Allende rounding off nine minutes of dominance from the opening whistle, was crucial and showed the importance of having your best players on the field from the start and keeping them on for longer.

The first-choice tight five started and Malcolm Marx, Eben Etzebeth and Mostert, who moved to lock, played the full 80 minutes.

Considering the players on the sidelines though, coach Jacques Nienaber definitely has the raw material to mount a strong defence of the World Cup. It is a matter of getting the mindsets and game-plan right.

The facts at the end of the day show that the Bulls scored six tries to two and beat Benetton Treviso 46-29 with a bonus point in their United Rugby Championship match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, but they were a sick and sluggish beast in the first half.

Bulls badly off colour in first half

The Bulls did not make a good start to the match as they gave away a soft penalty and then a soft try inside the first dozen minutes to trail 10-0. The impression that this was a sickly Bulls side, their usual confident attitude not being there, as they missed 11 of the 36 tackles they had to make in the first half and were also lethargic at the breakdowns, being turned over five times. That they only trailed 12-16 at halftime was thanks to fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse scoring in the 41^st minute thanks to a lovely long pass out wide by flyhalf Chris Smith.

When the Bulls get gainline dominance they are hard to stop and that’s a fact! Once the Bulls shrugged off their lethargy and started pressurising the gain-line, the Benetton Treviso challenge fell away. Gaining dominance in the collisions had the rub-off effect of sorting out their breakdown problems and the Bulls’ power game also saw them dominate in the scrums, earning penalties for territory, and their maul started to get good traction in the second half as well.

Christmas comes early for Kurt-Lee Arendse

The Bulls also made a sloppy start to the second half, but the advent of the 50^th minute saw fullback Arendse gifted a try as centre Iganacio Brex’s terrible pass went to ground behind his own line and the Bulls’ whippet pounced, racing away from his own 10m line to score.

In the final quarter Arendse then set up the try that sealed the contest with a brilliant counter-attack. Going back into his 22 to field a kick, he beat the first defender and was away; lock Ruan Nortje galloped up in support and he made the final pass to wing Canan Moodie to score.

Mixed afternoon for Chris Smith

Bulls flyhalf Chris Smith struggled with his goalkicking, missing three of his eight shots at goal, including his first two as the home side struggled to get going. But his distribution was fantastic. His change of direction to go blind for flank Cyle Brink to score was a moment of fine vision, helped by hooker Johan Grobbelaar’s burst and Nortje’s deft offload.

Smith and Arendse also combined brilliantly for the crucial score after the halftime hooter.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Cyle Brink, Kurt-Lee Arendse (2), Marcell Coetzee, Canan Moodie, Simphiwe Matanzima. Conversions: Chris Smith (3), Morne Steyn (2). Penalties: Smith (2).

Benneton Treviso – Tries: Tommaso Menoncello (2). Conversions: Rhyno Smith (2). Penalties: Smith (5).