Ken Borland

Northerns Titans CEO Jacques Faul likes to spring a surprise on the opposition and, on face value, the franchise’s decision to sign Beyers Swanepoel for the coming season will be a shock to some, given the controversial fashion in which the all-rounder’s stint down the road at the Central Gauteng Lions ended.

The final match of last season was the One-Day Cup final between the two Gauteng archrivals and a tightly-contested thriller went the Titans’ way, thanks mostly to the heroics of Keegan Petersen and Duan Jansen.

But Swanepoel’s bizarre decision to leave the field of play in the 43^rd over of the Titans chase, having bowled his ration of 10 overs, also played a major part in the visitors to the Wanderers shifting the momentum of the game. Because Swanepoel had not suffered any injury, the Lions were not allowed to substitute him and were left with 10 fielders for the tense finale’, which they lost by three wickets on the penultimate ball of the match.

Swanepoel had chosen to leave early so he could catch a flight to England, where he was due to join Worcestershire for the county season. Astonishingly, he also did not have a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from his local franchise or Cricket South Africa to play overseas, an incredible oversight by his agents, Tridon Sports Management.

His team-mates were left in a strange state of heartbreak and fury after the game and it did not take long, less than two weeks later, for the Lions to terminate his contract. That did, however, make Swanepoel a free agent and CSA agreed to give him an NOC to play for Worcestershire. The mother body did, however, lay a Level 4 charge of bringing the game into disrepute against him.

That can carry a ban of 10 matches, which would be a sizeable part of next season. The CSA disciplinary hearing has still not been held, however, due to the unavailability of the disciplinary commissioner.

That means there is still a lot of uncertainty over Swanepoel: Not only in terms of his mental state but how much of next season he is going to be missing due to a ban. For Faul and the Titans, however, it is not an outside-the-box signing and the CEO confirmed that he did not even need Board approval to offer the talented 28-year-old a contract.

“Professional sport is cut-throat and we have to sign people who can help us to win. Our information was that four franchises wanted to sign him. He’s 28 years old, so he probably has seven years left as a top cricketer, and he has no track record of this sort of behaviour before,” Faul told kenborland.com.

“I think he just got the date of his flight wrong and to not allow him to play here would be a severe punishment. Everyone’s entitled to one mistake, he has apologised and he has been sanctioned by the Lions.

“He is still a very capable player and it would be wrong to scapegoat a quality cricketer like him. We had to sign him before the CSA disciplinary because the contracting window was closing. But hopefully emotions have died down a bit and he’s not painted into a corner.

“He thought no-one else would want him, but I hope he can redeem himself, I think he will. To be remembered for that one incident would be the saddest thing. And he is the right profile cricketer for us – at this stage he doesn’t play for SA A or the Proteas. And he was schooled here in Titans territory at Garsfontein,” Faul said.

It is believed that the Lions players and coaches did not want to lose a cricketer of Swanepoel’s ability and were willing to forgive him, but the Lions board were adamant that he had to go.

The whole incident will be even more galling for the Wanderers-based team now that Swanepoel has gone across the Hennops River to their great rivals, the same team that snatched the one-day trophy from them after his inexplicable departure. A swing bowler who can be quite phenomenal on his day, both with the red and the white ball, Swanepoel is also a very handy batsman down the order, capable of scoring very quickly.

Our domestic cricket would be the loser without Swanepoel playing and hopefully CSA can sort out his disciplinary hearing soon and therefore finally draw a line under a most unfortunate incident.

Coach Mark Boucher explained the controversial selection issues around the Proteas T20 team on Thursday and it would seem the chances are slim that rising star Kyle Verreynne will be playing in the fourth and final match against the Pakistanis at Centurion on Friday.

Verreynne was one of the stars of the last ODI against Pakistan, scoring a tremendously composed 62 off 53 balls, and has been one of the form batsmen of the summer, averaging 97.14 for the Cape Cobras in first-class cricket. But in the domestic T20 Challenge he scored 123 runs in five innings, at a strike-rate of 128.

The 23-year-old’s career strike-rate in T20 cricket is 123 and he hits an average of 1.86 fours per innings and a six in roughly every second innings. Pite van Biljon, who is probably the batsman Verreynne could replace, has a career strike-rate of 130 and an average of 1.58 fours per innings and one six per innings.

“I want to win games of cricket, that’s the focus for me, but I am one of four selectors and we choose from a squad that was selected for us. Kyle was chosen by them as the back-up wicketkeeper to Heinrich Klaasen when we spent two days discussing who was the back-up for whom. Wihan Lubbe [career SR 137] was chosen as top-three back-up. I understand Kyle was very good in the last ODI, but T20 cricket is a bit different.

“Directly after the franchise T20 competition, the computers were brought out and we considered the aggressive brand we want to play, and the collective felt that Lubbe should get an opportunity in the top-order. Kyle is growing and we believe he can still add to a couple of parts of his game and become a world-class performer in all three formats,” Boucher explained on Thursday.

The seeming imbalance of the side, with just about every bowling option under the sun being included but Andile Phehlukwayo batting at seven and not bowling has also come under scrutiny.

“Andile is playing as an all-rounder because you can’t go into a T20 with just five bowling options, that won’t work. It’s always nice to have options, we had seven in the last game, but the captain has to make the call when to use them. We bowled really well in the second T20 which is probably the reason why Andile didn’t bowl then.

“In the last game we couldn’t pick up wickets and we went to death bowling fairly early, and there are certain guys who then come into the game like Sisanda Magala and Lizaad Williams, as the captain wanted to make it difficult for Pakistan to score. But it didn’t come off,” Boucher said.

Springbok fullback Warrick Gelant scored a controversial 78^th minute try to save the Stormers from a humiliating defeat as they edged out the Pumas 42-37 in their Super Rugby Unlocked match in Nelspruit on Friday night.

Gelant produced a fine finish, stepping inside to evade a tackler and then racing away to beat the cover-defence and score the try, but the pass he received from flyhalf Tim Swiel was ‘flat’ enough to raise suspicions in even the most ardent Western Province fan. Referee Marius van der Westhuizen referred the decision to TMO AJ Jacobs and there was certainly enough evidence to rule out the try.

The Stormers were able to come back from a horror first half and they trailed 14-37 after 52 minutes, but they scored three tries in the last 10 minutes to steal the spoils.

The Pumas came with a simple and highly-effective game-plan by coach Jimmy Stonehouse but they were able to execute it perfectly in the first half as they raced into a 30-14 lead.

It was an epic effort by the Pumas, led by inside centre Wayne van der Bank, who took over the generalship duties after an injury to flyhalf Eddie Fouche, and the underdogs produced an outstanding display of clinical rugby to race into a 30-14 lead at the halftime break.

The Pumas were able to overcome an unfortunate blow five minutes into the second half when flank Jeandre Rudolph, an enormous figure in an asphyxiating display by the Pumas pack, was harshly yellow-carded by Van der Westhuizen after an innocuous jersey-pulling episode that saw Stormers scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies end up in the advertising boards.

It was Van der Bank who created an opportunity for an overwhelming 37-14 lead as he rounded off an armada of strong carries by breaking the gain-line and then producing a brilliant offload for wing Niel Maritz to score.

But it all served as an enormous wake-up call for the Stormers and tries from close range by replacement prop Neethling Fouche and hooker Bongi Mbonambi, followed by a classic backline try by wing Leolin Zas, brought them right back into the contest before an unfortunate end to the game for the plucky home side.

The Pumas may have lost, but what they clearly showed is that there is certainly an abundance of talent outside the big franchises and Stonehouse remains an extremely effective manipulator of that talent.

In an unprecedented move, Cricket South Africa company secretary Welsh Gwaza is set to be given his own personal assistant, but the controversial Thabang Moroe ally may find his empire-building cut short following the mentions of him in the Fundudzi Forensic Report released on Monday.

Asked to confirm on Monday whether CSA are busy with the appointment of a PA for Gwaza, CSA communications officer Sipho Rihlamvu said: “CSA considers vacancies based on each portfolio’s needs analysis and how the filling of such vacancies would best serve the organisation. These needs are presented to the relevant structures within CSA and signed off with the prerequisite approvals. Any consideration for the positions within CSA must satisfy the said criteria.”

Other sources have suggested Gwaza has requested a PA because of his “increased workload”, a sure sign that the company secretary is being given more responsibility and therefore more power.

But Gwaza could be one of the CSA staff members against which both Fundudzi and CSA’s lawyers, Bowmans Gilfillan have recommended disciplinary processes be started.

One of the most serious examples of misgovernance exposed by Fundudzi was the deal with Global Sports Commerce for the Mzansi Super League, which has now opened CSA up for losses of R27.5 million should GSC fail to honour the terms of the settlement. The CSA Board were given assurances by Gwaza, as well as former CEO Moroe and chief operating officer Naasei Appiah, who have both subsequently been fired, that due diligence had been done on GSC, but it was never presented to the Board, before Moroe authorised payment of R30 million to the sports management company.

Gwaza was also one of the Exco members who was aware that the South African Cricketers’ Association had not been paid the image rights money due to them from the 2018 MSL.

Other funds that CSA are trying to recover, as exposed by the Fundudzi Report, are the R3 019 244 given to ‘Service Provider X’ by Moroe and Appiah without following the Procurement Policies of CSA.

Moroe’s bungling of the step-in at the Western Province Cricket Association, with Fundudzi finding he misled the CSA Board, cost the federation R725 227 in costs awarded to WPCA by the arbitrator. His appointment of Chantel Moon, who was not qualified for the job, as head of human resources on a consultancy basis without following due process in August 2019 cost CSA nearly R1.7 million according to the report. Moon was also allegedly paid R1.25 million in 2017/18 for ad hoc HR work without a signed contract.

Appiah’s purchase of alcohol for R201 372 on the company credit card was also flagged by the forensic investigators, as was Moroe’s R64 830 booze bill.

In terms of loans to the affiliates, the WPCA owe CSA R57.7 million, while the total loan bill to all affiliates for stadium upgrades comes to nearly R169 million.

Most alarmingly, CSA could not provide the forensic investigators with documentation supporting the signing of the top 40 procurement contracts agreed between January 2016 and December 2019.

NSA Vulindlela were paid about R6.8 million for security services without a contract or Board approval, and without a tender process.