Ken Borland

Unlimited Titans coach Rob Walter yesterday conceded that the right two teams will be competing in the RamSlam T20 Challenge final because his side only showed glimpses of their true ability through the competition.

The Titans were beaten by the David Miller-inspired Dolphins in Thursday night’s qualifying playoff for the final, leaving the KwaZulu-Natal side to take on the Cape Cobras in the final at Newlands on Sunday.

“To sum up our campaign, I would say we showed glimpses of what we can do, but never really put it all together. It was an inconsistent campaign and making the playoff for finishing third was a small reward for the times we did play well,” Walter told The Pretoria News.

“Our skills can be better in everything and you’d hope a team always has that mindset. We were short in all departments and you can’t do things well one day and not the next if you’re going to win competitions. We need to improve our skills and execute them more consistently.”

The Dolphins were sent in to bat and posted a daunting 200 for four in their 20 overs. Their innings was dominated by Miller, who hammered an outrageous 93 not out off just 37 balls.

The Titans had fought back well after a rapid start by Cameron Delport and Morne van Wyk had taken the Dolphins to 50 midway through the seventh over. Their night would have been very different had Miller been given out lbw on five when Albie Morkel, the ball after dismissing Daryn Smit, angled a delivery into the left-hander from around the wicket and struck him on his pads. The ball would clearly have hit the stumps, but umpire Ian Howell ruled not out, presumably believing the ball had struck the batsman just outside off stump.

“The Miller lbw shout was out, but those aren’t given sometimes. It was a big decision in a big game and at 80-5 in the 13^th over, it would have been a different match. But the Dolphins and Cobras playing in the final is a fair reflection of the competition as a whole.

“I think they should use DRS in all televised matches, with one referral. Against the top-quality players you generally only get one chance. But it was an extraordinary innings and at some point you just have to give credit to the batsman. I haven’t seen striking like that for a long time, he didn’t mistime a single ball and it was a serious effort,” Walter said.

Although the Titans bowlers were taken to the cleaners by Miller – most notably Ethy Mbhalati (two overs for 35) and Roelof van der Merwe in an 18^th over that cost 34 runs – Walter said their performances had not been poor.

“I don’t think we bowled badly, it’s just that Miller hit every length and all our slower balls. It’s easy to criticise in retrospect, but sometimes the bowlers just have to go with how they feel on the day.

“And I was proud of the way we batted, it was a bloody good chase. On any other day, Heino Kuhn’s 76 off 39 would have been the stand-out innings and then Mangaliso Mosehle produced a flippen’ awesome cameo at the end [31 off 14].”

But T20 is a school of hard knocks and Walter was left to reflect that “it was a game of very small margins”.

“Losing Albie Morkel and David Wiese back-to-back took the wind out of our sails. Before that the required run-rate was less than 13 and it was game on.”

For Walter, the performances of senior players like Kuhn, Van der Merwe, Farhaan Behardien and the Morkel brothers were positives from the campaign as a whole, and youngsters like Graeme van Buuren and Theunis de Bruyn also produced match-winning showings that they could be proud of.

Lions coach Johan Ackermann has freshened up his team with nine changes to the starting line-up for their Lions Challenge match against the Cheetahs at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The Cheetahs are bringing an injury-hit squad featuring fringe players to Johannesburg and Ackermann will also be fielding several new faces for the Lions’ second game of the season, following their 51-13 victory over Russia last weekend.

But centre Alwyn Hollenbach, who has been mentioned for higher honours, has returned from injury and will provide captain JC Janse van Rensburg with experienced support alongside loose forward Derick Minnie.

Swys du Toit has also been introduced at hooker, with Martin Bezuidenhout, the subject of loan speculation in Cape Town, out of the squad. While the Lions did confirm they are in negotiations with the Stormers over lending the front-ranker to them, Ackermann said the Orkney-born 23-year-old would have been rested this weekend anyway.

“We received a call requesting we loan Martin to the Stormers from February to the end of March and we are busy finalising the details. We should know for sure on Monday,” Lions CEO Manie Booysen said on Friday.

Janse van Rensburg said he expected a tough encounter with the Cheetahs.

“There’s always extra competition against the South African teams, it will be like a derby, hard and tough. The Cheetahs are in the same boat as us, their tight five will also be out to prove themselves, so it will be  as tough as always up front,” he said.

Coach Ackermann has brought Du Toit, two new locks – former Northern Free Stater Gavin Annandale and Hugo Kloppers – and flank Jaco Kriel into the pack, while the Cronje twins, Ross and Guy, will direct affairs from halfback.

Amongst the backs, former Blue Bulls flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff is included at fullback and Ackermann confirmed the 24-year-old is being looked at as a challenger to Andries Coetzee in the number 15 jersey.

“Marnitz played a lot of rugby at fullback for the Blue Bulls U20 side and we want to see how he goes at 15, he is challenging Andries Coetzee. Marnitz can cover flyhalf as well, while Ruhan Nel can also play fullback and Lionel Cronje covers inside centre too,” Ackermann said.

Hollenbach at inside centre and Nel on the right wing are the other changes to the backline and Ackermann said Hollenbach, the former SA U19 star, was eager to get back on to the field after a shoulder injury.

“Alwyn is eager to play, I asked him if he was sure he was 100% ready and he said it’s time to get back on the park, he didn’t want to wait another week,” Ackermann said.

Team: Marnitz Boshoff, Ruhan Nel, Stokkies Hanekom, Alwyn Hollenbach, Anthony Volmink, Guy Cronje, Ross Cronje, Willie Britz, Derick Minnie, Jaco Kriel, Hugo Kloppers, Gavin Annandale, Ruan Dreyer, Swys du Toit, JC Janse van Rensburg. Substitutes – Robbie Coetzee, Jacques van Rooyen, JJ Breet, Claude Tshibidi, Michael Bondesio, Lionel Cronje, Andries Coetzee.

The Wanderers pitch is not easy for batsmen but South Africa boast an amazing bowling attack, Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore said after his team had been bundled out for a record-breaking low of 49 on the second day of the first Test on Saturday.

Pakistan’s total is their lowest ever in Test cricket, worse than their 53 against Australia in Sharjah in 2002/3, and South Africa’s lead is already 411 after they reached stumps on 207 for three in their second innings.

“It’s not an easy wicket to bat on but the way South Africa bowled was incredible. I have not seen two hours of relentless, incredible pace bowling as I witnessed today. Most of our batsmen got out to terrific balls and you really need to give credit to the opposition.

“If you look at the facts and not emotion, then the reason for our score was a combination of a difficult pitch and incredible bowling,” Whatmore said.

While the former Sri Lanka and Bangladesh coach admitted that he felt the pitch was too difficult for the second day of a Test, he declined to comment on the inconsistent application of the HotSpot technology by third umpire Steve Davis that saw every decision using that camera go against Pakistan.

“We’re not meant to speak about that and we’ll make our comments in the right channels,” was all Whatmore would say, but the animated discussion he and manager Naveed Cheema had with match referee Jeff Crowe after the end of play suggests the International Cricket Council should expect a complaint from Pakistan.

But it did not detract at all from Steyn’s magnificence or South Africa’s dominance.

The world’s number one ranked bowler said it was just one of those days when he was able to hit his stride from the outset.

“We had spoken about the morning being the best time to strike at the Wanderers and I woke up early today, Skyped the missus in LA and dominated our morning game of footie … I just had so much energy today, the ball was coming out sweetly and it was a lot of fun today,” Steyn said of his phenomenal haul of six for eight in 8.1 overs.

The 29-year-old produced a top-class display of fast swing bowling and he said a pep talk from captain Graeme Smith, who is leading a Test team for an unprecedented 100th time, had helped provide a spark.

“We don’t often have these conversations because you don’t have to tell anyone in this team when they’ve done something wrong, but Graeme sat us down, he felt the urge for just a two-minute chat, and said he wanted a 100% day from us because he didn’t feel yesterday was a 100% effort.

“The ball swung more as it got older, but the new ball swung a decent amount too and the pitch obviously assisted as well.”

Steyn brushed aside the Pakistan top-order with three wickets in his first two overs on Saturday and he said that had pleased him the most.

“For the first time in a long while, I got the first three wickets and was able to break through early. I was pretty stoked about that.”

Whatmore praised Steyn for the way he led a marvellous South African bowling unit.

“He’s one of four seamers who never took the pressure off, we scored 34 runs in two hours, about 25 overs, which is unheard of. His skill level plus that of the other three is amazing,” Whatmore said.

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer says his team’s rise from number four to number two in the world rankings tells him they are on the right track, but it was the smattering of applause his squad received when they arrived at O.R. Tambo International Airport on Monday that was perhaps an even bigger advisory that the public, his sternest critics, are pleased with his efforts.

It’s hard to remember when the Springboks were last applauded in the arrivals hall at O.R. Tambo, but it must have been 2009 when they returned from Hamilton with the Tri-Nations trophy. Generally, the media gathered for interviews have been the only ones to show much interest, the general public keeping an awkward distance, much like how the employee who got drunk and took all his clothes off at the office Christmas party is treated.

But South Africa’s unbeaten tour of Great Britain and Ireland, the first perfect end-of-year trip since 2008, has enabled Meyer to lift his record in his first year in charge to seven wins, three losses and two draws from 12 Tests. The former Blue Bulls coach has admitted that for him, too, it has been a steep learning curve.

“Our three goals were to remain unbeaten, which has not been done for quite some time on the end-of-year tour, secure the number two ranking and, perhaps most importantly, make our supporters proud. So it was really great to see the support here at the airport.

“It’s been a tough year, we’ve lost three out of 12 Tests, but the great thing is we started at number four on the world rankings and now we’re second. So I’m very happy, especially considering we lost a lot of guys through injury, and we can only grow from here,” Meyer said.

While the likes of Eben Etzebeth, Willem Alberts, Adriaan Strauss, Francois Louw, Marcell Coetzee, Duane Vermeulen and Pat Lambie have stolen the limelight, captain Jean de Villiers has been the unsung hero of the team, alongside ever-present tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis.

De Villiers was initially appointed as captain for just the three June Tests against England, which was quickly extended to the whole year and now, after an often torrid season, Meyer advised that he was unlikely to change captain next year in the light of the calm, intelligent leadership shown by De Villiers.

“Jean has been awesome. He’s one of three players to have started every game this year and he’s also been a great ambassador for the country. In the last three games, he was our main ball-carrier and he gained good ground for us. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be captain again next year,” Meyer said.

The two areas about which Meyer has been most strongly criticised have been the attacking play of his side and his transformation record.

While the wet conditions overseas served to undermine much of their attacking ambition, there were hints against England at Twickenham last weekend that, with Lambie at flyhalf and Juan de Jongh at outside centre, the backline could develop into more of a threat.

The transformation issue is one that all Springbok coaches – save for Peter de Villiers – have had to face, but it is disingenuous to single out Meyer for criticism.

Nine players of colour, including five black Africans, were in the touring squad which is as good a record as any of his predecessors, including De Villiers. With Siya Kolisi out injured, it is difficult to imagine other black players who can feel unfairly treated by not being selected.

Even criticism that these players did not get game time on the tour is unfounded, because there were a heap of white players who also spent the three weeks carrying tackle bags. It’s the nature of sport that not everyone can get a run and even someone like Elton Jantjies, whose form has begun to taper off after a great start to the Currie Cup campaign, was overlooked because Lambie deserved a fair chance to stake his claim at flyhalf.

Meyer’s focus in 2013 should be on wedding better backline attacking play to the formidable pack he is building and the outstanding defence shown on tour. He will also want the team to perform more consistently: they have produced their best for the full 80 minutes perhaps only once this year (against Australia in Pretoria) and the need for a ruthless, killer edge was shown in the last two matches when they allowed both Scotland and England back into contention in Tests that looked done and dusted.

But these lapses of concentration that afflicted the team are in stark contrast to the mental strength they showed in winning all three Tests in Europe despite being in high-pressure situations (even if they were of their own making).

“A lot of guys hadn’t been on an end-of-year tour before and a lot of great players have lost over there. We’d lost the previous Test against Scotland and we’d only won one of the last three in Ireland. I always say there are only two types of rugby: winning rugby and losing rugby. And we won three out of three, so I’ll take that.

“There is still lots of room for improvement, but that will come with experience. It takes a lot of mental effort to grind out wins like that. But we made life hard for ourselves by conceding 17 penalties a game on tour, compared to six per game back at home, so that’s unacceptable and has to change,” Meyer said.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-11-27-meyers-mojo-growing-stronger