Ken Borland

Financial services provider Momentum announced on Tuesday that they will continue to prop up the national women’s cricket team but they have pulled the plug on renewing their sponsorship of men’s ODI cricket when their contract expires in April 2021, in a clear shot across the bows of Cricket South Africa.

A statement released by public relations firm Fleishman Hillard on Tuesday said “Momentum has expressed that they are not satisfied with the current state of affairs at CSA regarding governance and other reputational issues”.

“We will continue our dialogue with CSA to keep them accountable to do the right thing. We all want to see a governing body that is run professionally and ethically, and one that considers all stakeholders to the game. We wish CSA well as they move forward,” Momentum’s head of sponsorships Carel Bosman was quoted as saying.

While the move is not unexpected given the previous concerns Momentum have expressed over the governance issues plaguing CSA, there will be great relief that the Proteas Women’s side, a talented outfit that has lifted itself into the upper echelons of the game but desperately needs more support to remain competitive with highly professional teams like Australia and England, will continue to receive the backing of one of cricket’s most loyal supporters. That contract runs through to April 2023.

“We have been extraordinarily proud of our role in supporting the advancement of the women’s team and remain committed to that sponsorship agreement. Our continued support of the Momentum Proteas is in line with our brand narrative and we will continue to shine a light on their talent, build their commercial value and enable them on their journey to success,” Bosman said.

Tuesday’s announcement is a major blow for the men’s game, however, as Momentum have since June 2012 been leasing their support to just about every level of the pipeline – the U13, U15 and U17 schools weeks, developmental initiatives such as the Momentum Friendship Games, the national club championships, the Momentum One-Day Cup for domestic franchises and all ODIs involving South Africa.

A physical, ball-carrying No.12 has almost been one of the consecrations at Loftus Versfeld through the years, but new Bulls coach Jake White looks set to deviate from that formula, which is why he released former captain and stalwart Burger Odendaal from his contract.

The 27-year-old Odendaal, who played 56 Super Rugby and 50 Currie Cup games for the franchise, has moved across the Jukskei River and will turn out for the Lions once rugby resumes in South Africa, hopefully within the next two months. It has left the Bulls with a very inexperienced midfield comprising Clinton Swart, Stedman Gans, Diego Appollis, Dawid Kellerman, Marnus Potgieter, Jay-Cee Nel and Wian van Niekerk, none of whom have any Super Rugby experience.

“The way the Bulls played in the past, there’s no question Burger was very important to the team as a captain and leader and added value as a player. But it was going to be very difficult to continue with him as a player if I could not guarantee him a starting spot and because of the new salary caps you can’t afford a high-earner like him if he’s not going to play.

“It’s like back in 2004 when I became Springbok coach and De Wet Barry and Marius Joubert were the centres, two great players and people. But in the 2007 World Cup my centres were Jean de Villiers, Francois Steyn and Jaque Fourie because I had evolved as a coach from using a player like De Wet into looking for something else. So when I looked at Burger I thought it would be like going back to De Wet Barry and we want to play differently.

“So telling him that up front meant he was able to go with the market value as captain, rather than staying and not playing and losing value, so he decided to go. Our CEO Edgar Rathbone was previously with the Lions and he helped broker the deal such that the player didn’t lose any money and has guaranteed playing time, so it’s a win/win for everybody,” White explained to selected Bulls media on Thursday.

While the Bulls’ midfield may be raw and young, there is plenty of experience elsewhere with the likes of Gio Aplon, Cornal Hendricks, Morne Steyn, Duane Vermeulen, Arno Botha, Juandre Kruger and Trevor Nyakane, and White says he is encouraging an avuncular approach in order to help a new-look squad gel together.

“We’re not like other teams which have the luxury of being settled and how quickly we can become a team is a big question. Duane Vermeulen, for example, does not know half the guys because they have never trained together. But there are things we can do to help that, which we are busy with, such as every week the players draw a name out of a hat and they have to have coffee with that guy and find out his story.

“Psychologist Henning Gericke has also been helping because we are probably the one team that needs cohesion. I heard there’s a possibility of us playing in two bubbles, the first six weeks with the four Super Rugby teams and then in the second round an eight-week Currie Cup like tournament with Griquas, the Pumas, Free State Cheetahs and Southern Kings. I’m sure in 14 weeks we can get them tight-knit and we just want to make sure we get into the finals in December,” White said.

Graeme Smith has agreed to a two-year contract to continue as full-time Director of Cricket, Cricket South Africa are set to announce on Friday.

South Africa’s most successful captain was appointed to the post of interim director of cricket in December to see the Proteas out of the crisis – caused by the fall of former chief executive Thabang Moroe and numerous staff suspensions at CSA – and through the summer.

Smith has managed to get on-field operations on to something of an even keel and said at the end of last month that he was keen to sink his teeth into making the structural changes necessary to restore the national team’s reputation as one of the world’s best teams and fix CSA’s pipeline at all levels.

“I feel we have a really strong and exciting season coming up and now it’s about looking at the seasons to follow. I’m busier now than I was before the Lockdown – looking at new content, but it needs to be financially viable; trying to improve our women’s team even more and looking at them in exactly the same light as the men’s game; advertising for both women’s and U19 coaches, as well as the convenor of selectors, and just trying to ensure effective, high-quality cricket bearing in mind the sponsorship situation and the TV rights market.

“I’ve been in the job for such a short space of time but there have been important learnings. I’m probably in a good place now to implement the ideas I have in terms of contracting and getting all our teams to perform well across the board. Hopefully we’ll have a really successful team at the 20/20 world cup. We’re also going into a new financial year so I hope to improve some of those aspects as well,” Smith said.

One of the most important issues Smith will have to deal with ahead of the 2020/21 season is what to do with the 17 Kolpak players who have signed to play in England this year.

Because of Brexit, all Kolpak contracts will be terminated at the end of the year. Judging by the news coming out of England earlier this year, it is probable that the counties will, however, be allowed to play two overseas players, which would make some of those Kolpaks eligible for new contracts. Whether the counties will be able to afford two overseas players though remains to be seen after the crippling effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Either way, England are going to ‘deport’ several players back to South Africa and Smith needs to strategise how best to get them back into the system.

Once Kolpak is scrapped on January 1, 2021, those players also all become eligible for the Proteas again and Smith will have to handle the hot potato of balancing the renewed availability of some elite cricketers who would certainly add value to the national team with the undeniable ill-will that exists towards players who have ‘deserted’ their homeland by taking the skills that were honed locally to foreign shores for great riches.

Highly-rated batsman Theunis de Bruyn may have just lost his Proteas contract but the 27-year-old has enough perspective to know there are far more important issues at hand at the moment and he is confident a rotten 2019/20 summer for him personally is just a hiccough in a career that has promised so much.

While the Covid-19 pandemic brought the cricket season to a shocking, sudden halt, De Bruyn feels as if he didn’t really have a cricket season at all. From the time he scored 41 for SA A against India A in Mysore last September, he has batted just 20 times this summer.

His problems started in the Mzansi Super League in November when he was hospitalised with a mystery virus. Then in the Momentum One-Day Cup he had just scored a brilliant 120 against the Lions at Centurion when he tore a hamstring in the field. In his first net practice back, he was coming to the end of his session when he was too early on a pull against Junior Dala and suffered a concussion.

His last innings for the Proteas was back in October in the third Test against India in Ranchi, when, ironically, De Bruyn was the top-scorer as he made 30 out of a dismal total of 133 all out. And now he has lost his national contract.

So the 2019/20 season has exacted a heavy fee on his good humour.

“It was just one of those seasons and I have no answers to the questions why? But we need to put the situation in perspective with what is currently going on: we can’t even play cricket now, businesses are closing and it’s a crazy time. We can only hope this pandemic unites the nation and then we can stand up and rebuild. So we need to take all that on board for perspective.

“But this last season was completely not what I expected, not what I put in all the hard work towards. The current situation is a bit like my season, all questions and no answers. I’ve hardly played this season, it feels like the season never really started for me. I feel a bit forgotten but I just have to take it on the chin because I failed in international cricket. But at the end of the day the passion is still there and I will take on the new season,” De Bruyn told The Citizen on Tuesday.

The Titans star admitted it has been a tough time to get through, but he has already been putting in hard work to ensure he comes back next season as an even better player.

“I’ve figured a few things out as to how I can improve as a cricketer, to become a more complete package physically, mentally and technically. This season has been so tough, but then I had setbacks when I was young, not making a provincial team, and it makes you want to give up and then the next season you have the time of your life.

“I believe I still have a role to play in South African cricket, I still have eight-to-ten years left in my career so there’s still a lot of time. I’m just going to take all the lessons I can from this season. In the few innings I had, I actually felt good and what I have been working on was coming through. It’s the first time I’ve failed in my career but now I can help the Titans rebuild and get better, which is what I love. Plus I have the chance to watch all the cricket highlights on TV that I haven’t had the chance to see before,” De Bruyn said.

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