Ken Borland

The rampant form of two South African centres based overseas has not gone unnoticed by one of the Springboks’ most celebrated midfielders, with Jean de Villiers this week heaping praise on Damian de Allende and Andre Esterhuizen.

De Allende is the incumbent Springbok No.12 and still a crucial part of the Munster side that is in the European Champions Cup quarterfinals and in fourth place in the United Rugby Championship, while

Esterhuizen has been a roaring success at Harlequins. The former Sharks player is very much a specialist inside centre though, so in terms of the Springboks, he is only likely to get called up if De Allende is injured.

“Damian has been crucified at times for the way he plays and some people only see him as an abrasive midfielder,” De Villiers told a URC media briefing. “He was getting boxed into that role over here.

“But Damian has been phenomenal the way he plays for Munster and the Springboks, the value he brings is massive. He was probably one of South Africa’s top three performers at the last World Cup.

“His distribution skills are fantastic and his defence is aggressive, it’s like having another loose forward in the midfield. He’s also so good at competing on the ground, him slowing the ball down makes it easier for the rest of the defence.

“And there’s no reason to think he’s slowing down, he gave another great performance on the weekend when Munster beat Exeter. Damian is critical for the Springboks and his partnership with Lukhanyo Am is phenomenal,” De Villiers said.

The former Springbok captain, speaking in his capacity as a SuperSport analyst, was also full of praise for Esterhuizen and said his departure from the Sharks has been the reason for many of their attacking frustrations.

“Andre has been a big loss for the Sharks and has been fantastic for Harlequins, his partnership with flyhalf Marcus Smith really just works for both of them.’

“The Sharks have lost both him and Lukhanyo Am and they are lacking in midfield. And with Aphelele Fassi out injured too, they are not able to fire the way they were when those two were available.

“I think Makazole Mapimpi has been affected as well. He and Lukhanyo are just on the same wave-length and the Sharks have missed Mapimpi’s X-factor with Am,” De Villiers said.

Former Scotland lock Jim Hamilton, another URC analyst and someone well acquainted with barging over the opposition during his 63 Tests, is also a big Esterhuizen fan.

“Esterhuizen has been carving it up over here, I can’t believe what a signing he’s been for Quins. He would be one of the first names on my team-sheet,” Hamilton said.

Ferisco Adams produced outstanding death bowling as Boland Rocks staged a great escape to beat the North-West Dragons in a Super Over in their CSA T20 Challenge match at St George’s Park on Sunday.

At some stage on Sunday, Dwaine Pretorius’s cellphone would have pinged with a message telling him that he will going to his maiden IPL tournament at the end of the summer and the Proteas all-rounder celebrated by battering 74 off 51 balls. It was an innings that seemed to have secured victory for the Dragons as they went into the final over needing just nine runs to win, with Pretorius and Delano Potgieter (37* off 27) flying as they had already added 94 in nine overs.

But Adams restricted North-West to just four singles off the first five deliveries, and Pretorius was forced to hook the final delivery for four just to tie the game and ensure a Super Over.

Then Adams missed his length with his first ball, Potgieter slog-sweeping a full toss for six, but Pretorius was then run out by Adams, who fielded a fierce straight hit and Potgieter was caught at long-off next ball, meaning the Dragons were all out.

Boland needed just three balls to get the seven runs they needed, Janneman Malan edging one boundary and reverse-paddling the other off Duan Jansen.

North-West were chasing 183 for victory and Pretorius came to the crease after opener Wesley Marshall, who blasted 34 off just 16 balls, had taken them to 42/2 in four overs.

The lanky 32-year-old took a little while to get going, but captain Nicky van den Bergh was playing fluently at the other end with his 28 off 19. But once he was bowled by off-spinner Imraan Manack, Pretorius changed gear and struck sixes off Manack and Zakhele Qwabe in the 12^th and 13^th overs.

Spinners Siyabonga Mahima (4-0-25-1), Manack (4-0-28-1) and Shaun von Berg (1-0-5-0) all bowled tidily for Boland.

Boland had posted 182/6 in a well-structured innings that saw Janneman Malan dash to 33 off 18 balls up front, while his brother Pieter anchored the innings with 53 off 46.

Christiaan Jonker provided the big finish with 37 off 19 deliveries, helped by Hardus Viljoen scoring 19 off just eight balls.

Pretorius (4-0-33-1) and Potgieter (2-0-10-1) both did well with the ball as well, but 19-year-old leg-spinner Caleb Seleka was the pick of the North-West bowlers with two for 20 in his four overs.

While Boland have broken North-West’s winning run, Western Province notched their third successive victory when they beat the Central Gauteng Lions by five wickets with five balls to spare.

Sent in to bat, the Lions posted just 140/5 with Shane Dadswell (27 off 16) and Mitchell van Buuren, who bashed 44 off 34 balls, adding 48 for the third wicket in 5.2 overs. Sisanda Magala finished well with 19 not out off 15 deliveries, but Kagiso Rapulana took 36 balls over his 32 not out.

Beuran Hendricks (4-1-26-2) and Wayne Parnell (4-0-24-0) were tough to get away, but spinner Junaid Dawood broke the Lions’ momentum with 2/23 in his four middle overs.

Gavin Kaplan (39 off 32) and Tony de Zorzi (42 off 31) added 47 for the second wicket in six overs to give WP a fine start, but the Lions gave themselves a sniff by reducing them to 113/5 with four overs left.

But Yaseen Vallie (21*) and Aviwe Mgijima (16*) broke the Lions’ hearts.

Magala (4-0-24-1) and Codi Yusuf (4-0-20-1) were excellent with the ball for the Lions.

The Central Gauteng Lions celebrated their second successive win in the CSA Four-Day Domestic Series with a thumping innings victory in just three days over the Eastern Province Warriors at St George’s Park on Sunday.

The hosts were left contemplating a dismal batting performance that saw them bowled out for just 54 on Sunday, to go with their paltry 96 in the first innings.

It meant the Lions’ first innings total of 170 was enough for an innings-and-20-run win.

Paceman Sisanda Magala was the hero on Sunday with 6/30 in 13 overs on his former home ground.

The Free State Knights attack was also dominant in Potchefstroom as they bowled out the North-West Dragons for 197, leaving them with just 17 runs to get for a 10-wicket win.

North-West were forced to follow-on after Mbulelo Budaza’s 4/64 saw them dismissed for 237 in their first innings, Patrick Kruger also taking 3/12 with the ball to follow up his blazing 192* with the bat.

Young Gerald Coetzee was the chief destroyer in the second innings with 4/47.

The Western Cape derby in Paarl saw Western Province take a big 177-run lead on the first innings as opener Tony de Zorzi (129) and Zubayr Hamza (94) added 170 for the second wicket to lay the platform for their total of 444.

A solid batting display saw Kyle Verreynne and Aviwe Mgijima score 40s and Mihlali Mpongwana and Yves Kamanzi put on 53 for the last wicket.

The Boland opening pair of Isma-eel Gafieldien (60*) and Pieter Malan (41*) did well to get the deficit down to 71 with their unbeaten stand of 106 before the close of play.

A slow pitch at SuperSport Park did not make for the most adorable cricket as the KZN Dolphins piled up 433 all out to lead the Northerns Titans by nine runs after the first innings.

Opener Sarel Erwee was patience personified as he batted for 370 balls in scoring 163, sharing valuable partnerships with Bryce Parsons (78), Keegan Petersen (41) and Jason Smith (59).

Off-spinner Simon Harmer came into the game well in the afternoon, taking 4/106, with paceman Corbin Bosch getting three wickets.

Northerns openers Grant Mokoena (58) and Neil Brand (58*) played some gorgeous strokes as they put on 125 for the first wicket.

A great catch by Kerwin Mungroo at backward point off Daryn Dupavillon removed Mokoena five balls before bad light stopped play with the Titans on 126/1, leading by 117.

Ryan Rickelton celebrated his inclusion in the Proteas squad for the first time with a marvellous unbeaten century to take the Imperial Lions to a bonus-point victory over the Cape Cobras in their Momentum One-Day Cup match in Potchefstroom on Friday.

Rickelton thoroughly dominated the bowling as he stroked an impressive 109 not out off 98 deliveries, as the Lions chased down their target of 222 in just 39.2 overs with six wickets to spare. The 24-year-old Rickelton is one of the country’s brightest young batting talents and this week he was named in the Proteas squad for the T20s in Pakistan, his maiden international call-up.

Opening the batting, Rickelton and Wesley Marshall (28) gave the Lions a solid start by raising the 50 in the 10^th over, before the Cobras struck back with two wickets in four overs. But an inspired stand of 98 in 16.2 overs between Rickelton and Dominic Hendricks (54 off 61 balls) put the Lions within sight of victory.

Rickelton completed his third century in 50-over cricket and a brisk 22 from Nicky van den Bergh ensured the bonus point was gained.

The Cobras, having won the toss and elected to bat first, made a good start, Janneman Malan’s well-controlled 67 off 94 balls driving them to 121 for two after 28 overs. But the Lions attack, bowling straighter and fuller than they had been earlier, fought back impressively by taking regular wickets.

It was fine all-round effort by the Lions attack, but Eldred Hawken, in his first game this season, recovered from a rusty start to lead the pacemen with one for 26 in eight overs, and captain Aaron Phangiso took care of the middle overs, taking two for 33 in his 10 excellent overs of left-arm spin.

Debutant Jean du Plessis scored 34 and Christiaan Jonker struck a quickfire 33 off 35 balls, but the Cobras batsmen were generally lacking enough intent against the tight Lions bowling.

The Cobras will also leave Senwes Park for the bio-bubble feeling they had a raw deal when it came to lbw decisions. Du Plessis looked unfortunate to be given out to Phangiso just as he was starting to accelerate, while Rickelton survived three appeals during his innings when the ball certainly looked wicket-bound.