Ken Borland

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Albie Morkel is being unfairly judged in South Africa and there is no such thing as form when it comes to his power-hitting role in twenty20s, Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming believes.

South Africa failed to fire in the ICC World T20 in Sri Lanka recently and Morkel received plenty of criticism for his role – he scored just 19 runs in three innings, but faced only 12 balls and was dismissed just once, while he bowled a paltry seven overs in four matches and conceded 70 runs and took two wickets.

The all-rounder was also controversially omitted from the South African team for their must-win match against Australia, his replacement Wayne Parnell not batting and bowling two overs for 24 runs.

“Albie seems a bit more secure with the Super Kings and he’s given us great performances all the way through the history of our franchise. We’re able to give him long stretches of games and that benefits his confidence,” Fleming says.

“It’s a lot more cut-throat at international level and he seems to be under more pressure with South Africa. It’s a talented team with a lot of multi-skilled players and they’re always trying different tactics, so perhaps he’s still searching for his role a bit.”

At the Chennai Super Kings, arguably the most successful twenty20 team ever with two IPL crowns and a Champions League title, Morkel’s role is clear – to hit the ball hard and to take wickets, operating more often than not as a strike bowler up front.

“Albie operates to a different set of rules,” Fleming, a cerebral former New Zealand captain who produced top-class results with a small resource base, says, explaining that the left-handed power-hitter is being subjected to a traditional set of expectations which no longer apply.

“A concept like form doesn’t exist in twenty20, you can throw that out the window. At Chennai, Albie would be deemed a success if he comes off in one out of five innings, scores 40 off 20 or even 18 off five. We’re able to accommodate inconsistencies in that role and even if he hits two boundaries off three balls at the death, then he’s done a job.

“Those little cameos are a major factor in twenty20, but it seems over here that Albie’s analysed in old ODI terms but there’s no such thing as form in this game,” Fleming says.

Morkel has been given some weighty responsibilities by the Super Kings, even opening the bowling, but he has seldom let them down.

“He’s really valued by us, Chennai love him and he’ll have 40 000 people screaming his name when he plays. But we have really consistent selection, we’re very conservative when it comes to selection, and sometimes you even have to apply a bit of false confidence to him,” Fleming says.

The Chennai Super Kings, winners in 2010, will be one of the favourites in the Champions League competition that kicks off properly, after the qualifying stage, with the two Group A clashes at Centurion on Saturday.

While Morkel is almost certainly going to be in their starting XI, another South African, Faf du Plessis, will be competing with Australian great Mike Hussey for a place at the top of the order.

“Mike Hussey has done very well for us, but Faf has the same sort of skills and we’ve groomed him to play the same role. He’s a very clever batsman, there’s no reason why he can’t be effective in the first six overs, he can hit over the top and improvise by coming down the track and he played very well for us in the last IPL.

“It’s a big positive that he’s backing up and competing with Mike Hussey,” Fleming says.

The South African players also have other talents which the Indian giants appreciate.

“It’s excellent to have the South African players because they arrange golf courses very well and Albie is brilliant for safaris,” the debonair Kiwi laughs.

The real usefulness of Du Plessis and Morkel being in the CSK squad though is their local knowledge.

“The conditions at this time of year mean selection is a bit of a juggling act. We have to make sure we don’t just stick to a firm plan, we have to work conditions out quickly and that’s where the South African knowledge is so useful,” Fleming says.

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer on Monday pronounced himself “very satisfied” with the Springboks’ 31-8 weekend win over Australia, but said they would have to be even more clinical to beat New Zealand in Saturday’s Rugby Championship Test in Soweto.

“It was a good performance, definitely the most satisfying of the year. We were clinical at times, but we’ll need to be even more clinical against the All Blacks and, if the game opens up, probably use the ball even more,” Meyer told reporters in Johannesburg on Monday.

“That was the type of rugby we want to play. This is a very special group of players, they’ve only had seven weeks of coaching and there’s a lot of youth in this team.

“I always knew this first year would be tough, but winning all of our home games was one of our goals,” the new Springbok coach said.

While Meyer, who firmly believes in continuity in selection, would like to choose an unchanged team for the match against the All Blacks, injuries could disrupt the much-improved backline.

Flyhalf Johan Goosen, who added a much-needed spark at flyhalf, is struggling with a bruised heel, while fullback Zane Kirchner’s hip was injured when Wallaby centre Adam Ashley-Cooper knocked himself out on it in tackling the dreadlocked player into the touchline to prevent a try on the stroke of half-time in Pretoria.

“I have a long-term plan and it’s important that I show the players that I believe in them and reward their good form.

“But we kept Johan out of training today. It’s important that he’s 100% on Saturday because, to beat the All Blacks, you have to kick at an 80% success rate and our kicking hasn’t been great this year,” Meyer said.

The coach also praised scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar for doing much to help Goosen in his first start at flyhalf.

“Ruan was great in taking the pressure off Johan. His tactical kicking and his service was awesome and it’s important for us that our scrumhalf plays well,” Meyer said.

The midfield combination of captain Jean de Villiers at inside centre and new cap Jaco Taute outside him is likely to stay as is because Francois Steyn is being sent for surgery on Wednesday.

Springbok team doctor Craig Roberts described the surgery as “the right thing for his long-term career prospects”.

“Frans has quite a few loose pieces of bone in his ankle and every now and then one of them gets lodged in the joint, causing him excruciating pain. As a long-term solution, we’re sending him for surgery to have it cleaned out on Wednesday. Unfortunately that means he will be out for three months and he will miss the end-of-year tour,” Roberts said.

Prop Coenie Oosthuizen, who was initially named on the bench for the Test against Australia after just 35 minutes of action following a neck injury, will see a specialist for a second opinion on his fitness on Tuesday.

“Again, we want to ensure we make the right long-term decision and I’m not happy with his neck, he still has some quite significant symptoms, especially stiffness,” Roberts said.

Flank Jacques Potgieter has also been released due to an abdominal strain and Meyer has called up the uncapped duo of Lions centre/wing Lionel Mapoe and Bulls loose forward Arno Botha.

Meyer said the statistics from Saturday’s win show that territory does still trump possession in terms of value.

“At this level you need to play a tactical game and we only had 45% possession against Australia. Our defence was also the best it’s been the whole year, we made 178 tackles compared to their 109, and we had a 96% completion rate, we only missed seven tackles,” Meyer said.

“Our lineout was also great and I’m very happy with our forwards, especially our loose forwards who are working very well together.”

Meyer said the Springboks’ whole game plan against the All Blacks would be geared towards stopping them from launching their fast-paced, expansive strategy.

“Playing at home, there’s always more pressure to run the ball, but that’s what New Zealand like because it gives them turnovers and they punish you. You will never beat New Zealand at their own game, you’ll never out-run them. You have to put pressure on them, especially at the breakdown, in defence and with your kicking game,” Meyer said.

Two defeats to the All Blacks and a loss to Australia have shaken South Africans’ confidence in the Springboks, but the truth is coach Heyneke Meyer has presided over one of their better seasons in the Rugby Championship/Tri-Nations tournament.

There have only been six years out of the 17 in the tournament’s history in which South Africa has lost less than three games in a season, and one should not yet condemn Meyer because he has just started on his journey as Springbok coach. Furthermore, he has begun his tenure with the most inexperienced Springbok team since 2004.

That was the year Jake White began his reign in a similar state of rebuilding,and even though he claimed one of South Africa’s three Tri-Nations titles that year, his troubles emerged in 2006, just a year before his World Cup triumph, when public sentiment also turned against him. That was the year the Springboks were humbled 49-0 by Australia in Brisbane, and White only kept his job thanks to a one-point victory over the All Blacks in Rustenburg and a 24-16 triumph over Australia at Ellis Park.

But throughout the turmoil – and many similar criticisms as Meyer has had to face – White always seemed to have a plan, was steadfast in what he was trying to achieve, and we all know how it all came together in 2007.

So before the mob calls for Meyer to be run out of town, the current coach should be given time to build on the positive signs that have been there this season. He has not faltered in his views, for which he gives reasoned explanations, and has been consistent in selection, so he seems to know what he is doing.

An overseas tour with Tests against Ireland, Scotland and England beckons,and Meyer will have time now whilst the Currie Cup finalists are decided to ponder what changes he needs to make to his squad.

The 30-man squad that was involved in the home Rugby Championship Tests should all be having visas organised for Great Britain and Ireland, save for those that are injured like Johan Goosen, Jacques Potgieter and Frans Steyn, and perhaps CJ van der Linde, who at 32 years old probably isn’t an option for the long-term future.

Whatever other selections he makes, the debate will be all about what Meyer does at flyhalf. With Goosen ruled out for six months after knee ligament surgery, it would be a major surprise if Morne Steyn did not return.

The fact is that he will have had a break; he is the only flyhalf in contention who has experience of British conditions and the fields are likely to be heavy, prompting a kicking game; all these are factors in Steyn’s favour.

Elton Jantjies took the first steps of what should be a long international career at Loftus and Soccer City, but his experience is largely limited to mild winter days on the Highveld or summer in New Zealand, a far cry from the rain and snow that can be expected in Dublin, Edinburgh and London in November.

It is also clear after his man-of-the-match performance for the Sharks against Griquas on Friday night that Pat Lambie has a part to play at flyhalf in the future, and it would be fantastic if Meyer could throw him into the mix in that position at some stage next month.

But what makes building for the future tough for the coach is that winning against the Northern Hemisphere sides is a non-negotiable. Losing to the All Blacks is understandable, defeat by the Wallabies is infuriating, but losing to the likes of Scotland could be career-limiting.

The main area of concern is in the backline with JP Pietersen, in such inspirational form before his unfortunate hand injury, an obvious and vital returnee now that he is back in action.

Impressive Lions centre Lionel Mapoe is in line to travel as a replacement for Frans Steyn, while Bulls flank Arno Botha stepped in for Potgieter when he strained his groin during the week’s training ahead of the All Blacks’ game.

Meyer has already spoken of the faith he has in his current pack, and they can make another big step forward in Britain, where the conditions mean there is huge importance is placed in the set-pieces.

The unit will be kept together to grow as a whole, with hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle probably making a return and abrasive Sharks loose forward Jean Deysel perhaps gaining a recall.

For the Meyer game plan to work, the key factor is forward dominance, and the coach certainly has the makings of a dominant pack in place, judging by the showings up front against the Wallabies and All Blacks.

The potential is there, and hopefully the strategy put in place will be the right one to see off Ireland, Scotland and England.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2012-10-13-heyneke-meyer-have-a-little-faith-folks

Experienced 20/20 coach Dave Nosworthy said on Monday that South Africa’s failure to settle on a batting order had been a major factor in their disappointing early exit from the ICC World T20 competition in Sri Lanka.

South Africa lost all three of their Super 8s games to leave Sri Lanka as also-rans, despite being the number one ranked team in the world heading into the tournament.

The batting failed to fire, with the top-order having a dismal time and the likes of AB de Villiers floating around in the order and not getting enough time to stamp his mark on the innings.

“The big worry for me, looking from the outside, was that we didn’t seem to know what our best combination was. I think that we had the right players there, so I’m not blaming selection, but there wasn’t enough consistency or continuity in the batting order, but also in the bowling roles,” Nosworthy told Business Day on Monday.

“The guys didn’t seem to know what role they should play because they were in different positions all the time, they hadn’t spent long enough in specific roles.”

Nosworthy, who led the Highveld Lions to Champions League T20 qualification but is coaching Sri Lankan champions Uva in the tournament starting this week in Gauteng and has also had stints  with Canterbury, the Titans and the Punjab Kings XI, said that the confusion badly impacted on the performances of De Villiers and Kallis, probably South Africa’s two best batsmen.

“AB has to bat in the top three, he opened the batting as a youngster under me and kept wicket. He played freely then and, although he does an important job in the middle-order, someone else can do that and he can dominate from the outset.

“Kallis should not be batting three, he should have opened as he does in the IPL with very great success in similar conditions. We know he’s good enough and he’s better batting up front, the IPL proved that,” Nosworthy said.

The well-travelled coach was also highly critical of the death bowling issue, which he said receives a lot of airtime in South Africa, but nothing seems to be done about it.

“For 10 years we’ve been saying we don’t have any death bowlers, but you can talk until you’re blue in the face, nothing gets done about it. They’re not going to fall out of heaven. Death bowlers need to be identified and told ‘that’s your job, now stick with it’.

“I know he’s injured at the moment, but a year ago, Rusty Theron should of been told that he’s a death bowler and make him a specialist at it. Charl Langeveldt used to just bowl at boots all day and became a very good death bowler for South Africa.

“Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn can do it, but their job is more as strike bowlers, to take wickets. I point fingers at the players, because someone should identify that death bowling is a weak area in South African cricket and say ‘I can do it’.

“You’ve got to train yourself for the job, that’s what being a professional is about. That’s how Lasith Malinga became great, he trained himself for that role,” Nosworthy said.

On the positive side, Nosworthy said the spirit in the team appeared to be good.

“There looked to be a good sense in the side and for that Gary Kirsten deserves credit for gelling them together. They weren’t necessarily a unit in terms of role-definition, but they looked happy and they were always competitive.

“The performances of Robbie Peterson, who played really well, and Dale Steyn, who was brilliant, were the real positives.”

The experienced Nosworthy added, however, that the outlook was mostly positive for South African cricket.

“It’s easy to be critical when they’ve lost, but there’s a good crop of youngsters there with Morne Morkel, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis and I think Robin Peterson will play a few more years too. They should all be around for the next few world cups, we just need to keep the group together and let them get to know their roles,” Nosworthy said.