In the first two editions of the Mzansi Super League (MSL), feted cricketers like AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle have been marquee players allocated to one of the teams but that is all set to change, along with many other aspects, in this year’s T20 carnival.
The third instalment of the MSL will see only eight CSA-contracted players allocated to teams. The plan is for each of the eight franchises to then be able to choose one Kolpak or non-contracted South African and one overseas player from the draft.
In that way the MSL draft will become a much more exciting extravaganza with the eight teams competing for some truly top-class attractions. It means someone like De Villiers, who is a non-contracted player, will no longer be allocated to the Tshwane team but will no doubt cause something akin to a bidding war amongst the eight teams as he will be available on the draft. And there will also be much jostling for international players, who have been of mixed quality over the first two seasons.
Quinton de Kock, formerly of the Cape Town Blitz, has been mooted as the new marquee player for the Centurion-based side.
The other change will be in the names of the teams. The six domestic franchises will now be able to choose whether to continue with their MSL brands or revert back to their own names – i.e. Cobras, Dolphins, Knights, Lions, Titans and Warriors.
It means cheesy names like the Tshwane Spartans, which have developed little traction with fans (what are Spartans anyway?), will be ditched.
Franchises will also be able to source their own sponsors and will share in whatever profits the tournament makes.
A new broadcast deal has yet to be signed for MSL III, but CSA are known to have offered the rights to SuperSport. The first two editions of the MSL were broadcast for free by the SABC, contributing to the massive losses the tournament made.
Richard Pybus has been one of the real legends of domestic coaching in South Africa, having won nine trophies with the Titans and Cape Cobras franchises, but he began his career guiding lowly Border into a position where they were competitive against the big guns of local cricket. So when the former Pakistan and West Indies coach says plans to change the domestic structure, increasing the top level to 12 provincial teams, are not addressing the true problems in South African cricket then his views should be considered seriously.
“It’s a terrible idea,” Pybus said of the plan to do away with the six franchises at the top table of domestic cricket. “They are trying to fix the wrong thing. The issue is the administration of the game and not franchise cricket. Why are Cricket South Africa in their current financial position? They should review that. Why pull apart a highly effective system, the same sort of model that has given Australia consistent success?
“The issue is not our model but getting our administration right. Our problems are not about the franchise game, that’s giving us what is needed, which is incredible competition, the best 66 players in the country going up against each other. The franchise system was directly responsible and supported our national team getting to number one. We want strength versus excellence, not to dilute that,” Pybus told The Citizen from his house in Hermanus.
The 55-year-old Pybus said the domestic system needed to reflect the differences between the high-performance needs of the Proteas pipeline and those of growing the game.
“Our cricket has lots of layers and it needs to be clearer whether those layers serve the recreational game or the Proteas, with a lot of layers not really serving either of them. A lot of our cricket should not be professional and any changes should be about strengthening that level. We have a brilliant, multi-cultural game and it also needs to be inclusive.
“The development programme does have some issues, there are not enough players coming from Black communities, but that has nothing to do with franchise cricket. There are geographical and historical reasons for those issues. Coaching is also a real problem and it will take a generation to transform that because we have pushed all our senior coaches out, that intellectual capital is gone,” Pybus said.
Golf courses, despite usually bringing dramatic change to the natural environment, are often havens for a number of bird species, even if they are generally the usual suite of semi-rural/semi-urban birds that have adapted well to their altered landscape.
Leopard Creek, however, is an exceptional golf course, not only because of the quality of its design and the magnificent test of golf it provides, but also because of its setting, in the thorn thickets and thick woodland along the Crocodile River, with the famous Kruger National Park on the other side of the water.
As a birdwatcher covering golf at Leopard Creek, there is double excitement because apart from watching the professionals tackle the daunting course, there is always the feeling that something special from the avian world could be lurking nearby.
I have previously seen specials like the Blackthroated Wattle-Eye and African Finfoot at Leopard Creek, so I am always excited driving through the entrance, situated across the river from the Malelane Gate into Kruger National Park.
The first bird I saw was no surprise – a Blackeyed Bulbul, the ubiquitous Toppie one sees so often in the bushveld. The new name – Darkcapped Bulbul – is poor in my opinion because all three South African species have much the same black crest on top of the head.
Blackeyed Bulbul
But then, skedaddling along the side of the tar road was something most unexpected – a Plainbacked Pipit.
This nondescript LBJ is usually a bird of grasslands and rocky hillsides. It does venture into the lowveld in winter and is sporadically recorded in Kruger Park, where it probably breeds and there are estimated to be about 500 adults. According to Roberts, it is often found on the edges of wooded country.
But the grasslands of Leopard Creek are what is known as sweet grass (sweet grasses maintain their nutrients in the leaves in winter and are therefore attractive to grazers) so it is often overgrazed, which makes it more attractive to Pipits, especially when there has not been much summer rain yet.
The more arid conditions meant a bird like Marico Flycatcher, very much a denizen of the western grasslands, was also present. The Marico Flycatcher is a great lover of Acacias though and the low rolling hills surrounding the Crocodile River are full of stunted Knobthorns Acacia nigrescens, so although rare this far south-east, it was not an unprecedented vagrant.
Leopard Creek, being a top golf course, does have a lot of water besides the Crocodile River, and this is obviously a magnet for both birds and animals.
The Knob-billed Duck is more a bird of vleis and pans (even temporary ones), than rivers and it is often seen flying over the golf course, but only in summer because it is a migrant from further north in Africa, generally breeding in the north-eastern areas of South Africa.
Whitefaced Duck, a common bird that sticks around all year long, is almost always seen flying over and whistling it’s beautiful call, while Water Dikkops patrol the tar roads at night, when Bushbuck come out to play after sheltering during the hot sunlight hours.
African Pied Wagtails march up and down any of the fairways close to water, while a couple of the bigger water hazards hold Reed Cormorant and African Fish Eagle, overhead, and Common Sandpiper, feeding on the sandbanks when they get tired of the Crocodile River.
The Fish Eagle is not the only raptor that comes over from KNP airspace, Wahlberg’s Eagles, which are especially common in southern Kruger and enjoy a diverse range of prey, leave their woodland strongholds to check out what’s on offer at Leopard Creek.
No trip to Leopard Creek is complete without walking out to the 13th green, situated 32 metres above the Crocodile River, and on this hot day some stately Waterbuck were present while a family of Chacma Baboons were foraging and vocalising. Along the way to this stunning viewpoint, the riverine woodland holds such delightful birds as the Plumcoloured Starling, Natal and Crested Francolins, Heuglin’s Robin, Blackcollared Barbet, Sombre Bulbul and Redbilled Firefinch.
Q: What were the reasons for your decision to join Bayonne on a two-year contract?
TvJ – It was a good opportunity for me to get a start in France and I’m looking forward to learning a lot there, especially with Yannick Bru, the former France hooker who has been coaching at Toulose, now in charge at Bayonne. We learn from each other in this game and in France there are different focus points, like the scrum and set-pieces, they are more technical there, while in South Africa we are concentrating more on playing quicker rugby. The biggest thing is that you still need the hard buggers up front to do the hard work in France, and that’s what makes their rugby so competitive. I’m definitely looking at really improving my play as a tight forward over there.
Q: Having been born in Namibia and playing most of your rugby with the Mpumalanga Pumas and the Free State Cheetahs, are you looking forward to the change of culture that you will experience in south-west France?
TvJ – Yes, my parents still farm in Namibia and it’s obviously a very different lifestyle there. But I’m looking forward to living in France, I’m going to learn the language and it’s a new culture. I love a good braai [barbecue] and my Namibia team-mate PJ van Lill tells me that they still do a lot of braaing in Bayonne! That’s how you bond, especially as tight forwards. So I’m looking forward to socialising, having a few beers with mates, and hopefully doing a bit of hunting as well.
Q: Although you were born in Namibia, your education was in South Africa. Tell us about your journey as a professional rugby player?
TvJ – After school in Pretoria, I was at the academy at the University of Pretoria for one-and-a-half years, playing for the first XV and studying sports science, but then I got into pro rugby with the Pumas. That was hard graft because they are a small union, and now I’ve had five good years at the Free State Cheetahs. They have treated me really well but now it is time to move on to my next chapter.
Q: Having impressed in South African rugby and playing for a South African Barbarians side, were you tempted to try and play for the Springboks rather than your native Namibia?
TvJ – It’s always a difficult decision whether to play for Namibia or wait for South Africa to select you, which you can never be sure is going to happen. I felt I was banging on the door for four or five years but I was never invited to any Springbok camp or anything. So in 2014 I accepted a call-up from Namibia and it was an amazing experience to play for them in the 2015 World Cup, especially to play against the All Blacks. Just to gain that experience at that level was fantastic.
Q: How are Namibia’s prospects looking going into the build-up for the Gold Cup, which is Africa’s qualifier for the 2019 World Cup in Japan?
TvJ – The boys are looking really well, there are more and more Namibian-born players in the Varsity Cup, so things are brewing there. We’re definitely able to qualify for the World Cup again, if we work hard and have our best talent available. We’re looking strong. Unfortunately I won’t be playing in the Gold Cup because I have a lot of admin to do for my move to France and I’ve also been playing one-and-a-half years of continuous, extremely tough rugby, so I need a break before I start in France in July. But I will be available for the two Namibia Tests in August.
Q: Your one-and-a-half years of continuous rugby is because the Free State Cheetahs went straight from SuperRugby into the Currie Cup and then into the Pro14; how different is the Pro14 to playing in SuperRugby?
TvJ – The Pro14 is more technical, there’s a lot more focus on your exit game. It’s more like Test rugby in terms of structure and teams don’t take so many risks, you don’t see sides running the ball out of their 22 as an exit play so often, they would much rather kick. So there’s more of a Test mindset in Pro14 and sometimes the weather plays a role in that as well. But it’s been fun, even getting stuck in the mud sometimes!
Q: That sounds like the sort of rugby made for big, heavy tight forwards but do you think being a mobile hooker who has also played flank will be an advantage for you?
TvJ – Yes, I also had offers from Scotland but I believe playing in France will be a bigger grower of my career. It will be good to play in wet weather, in France they have very big packs and heavy runners and it will be good to see if I can play against that. PJ van Lill is also a heavyweight and he’s done okay!
John 14:20 – “On that day you will realise that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
All the effort and striving in the world, all the good works and great sacrifices, will not help you to become like Christ unless the presence of the living Christ is to be found in your heart and mind.
Jesus needs to be the source, and not our own strength, that enables us to grow spiritually in strength, beauty and truth.
Unless the presence of Christ is a living reality in your heart, you will not be able to reflect his personality in your life.
You need an intensely personal, more intimate relationship with Christ, in which you allow him to reveal himself through your life.
