Ken Borland

University of Pretoria cricket coach Pierre de Bruyn is understandably a confident fellow as his Tuks team leave today for the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals in London, the student and three-time national club champions being worthy representatives of South Africa.

Such is the talent and efficiency of this Assupol Tuks team that they beat the Australia-bound South Africa A side in two warm-up games in the last week, and they must be one of the favourites to win what amounts to a T20 Varsity World Cup.

The student champions from eight different countries will be competing in the Campus Cricket Finals, which start on Monday, concluding with the final on Saturday evening.

“I’m really chuffed with our preparation, it was great for the guys to play against SA A and measure themselves. And we managed to ruffle a few feathers as well!

“SA A retired a couple of batsmen in the T20 game, but at the end of the day we took five wickets in the last four overs to win that match, and in the 50-over game, we were very convincing winners with seven overs to spare.

“We had our last net this [Wednesday] morning and everyone’s looking confident and very excited. We’re expecting a very high standard at the tournament, but we’re going there to win,” De Bruyn told The Pretoria News yesterday.

The fact that Tuks managed to beat the second tier of South Africa’s best cricketers suggests the opposition could be mourners by the end of the week in London. The draw for the three other teams in Tuks’s pool will only be made on Sunday, but the other competing teams are Leeds Bradford MCC (UK), University of New South Wales (Australia), University of Liberal Arts (Bangladesh), defending champions Rizvi College (India), Karachi University (Pakistan), International College of Business and Technology (Sri Lanka) and Jamaica University (West Indies).

As SA A discovered, coming up against pace bowlers Vincent Moore and Corbin Bosch, and hard-hitting batsmen like Theunis de Bruyn, Sean Dickson, Johan Wessels, Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram is a daunting task.

While there is obviously enormous talent in the Tuks side, it is the ability of those around the stars – lesser-known players such as Tian Koekemoer, Ruben Claasen and GC Pretorius – to perform under pressure that makes them a formidable outfit. Tuks have been unbeaten for the last three years at the National Club Championships, a remarkable streak of 18 games that proves they know how to win.

“Some people don’t like pressure, but we want it, we thrive on it. We don’t pretend it’s not around and we’ve coached the players to deal with it. They make sure they find a way to perform under pressure and that plays a massive role, they have belief when they’re under the pump because they’ve overcome most pressure situations in the last three years,” De Bruyn, one of the most tenacious cricketers of his era, said.

Wormsley Cricket Club, one of the most beautiful grounds in England, will witness this formidable Tuks side in the group stages, with Saturday’s semi-final and final being held at the Oval, a famous venue fit for youngsters that are bound to make their names in South African cricket.

“How we start is going to be crucial, there’s no room for us to start slowly, there’s no room to try and find our feet or get into an innings or a bowling spell. We have to be on the button from the first ball on Monday,” De Bruyn said.

Tuks squad: Theunis de Bruyn, Heinrich Klaasen, Sean Dickson, Gerry Pike, Aiden Markram, Corbin Bosch, David Mogotlane, Tian Koekemoer, Vincent Moore, Nsovo Baloyi, GC Pretorius, Ruben Claassen, Johan Wessels.

The Unlimited Titans and the bizhub Highveld Lions will once again be killing two birds with one stone when they start their pre-season competitive cricket with the Momentum eKasi Challenge, which the Southern Gautengers are hosting this year, at Dobsonville Oval on August 22.

The eKasi Challenge not only boosts grassroots cricket by bringing top franchise players to the townships, but also provides the team with valuable competitive action before the more serious competitions start.

The eKasi Challenge has become a sought-after trophy after just a single year – the Titans hosting and losing the inaugural match last August in Mamelodi – with Lions coach Geoffrey Toyana committing himself yesterday into playing his strongest available side, including five players who will have just returned from Australia on SA A duty.

“We’ll have everyone back and will play our strongest team as we’re looking to start afresh this season after being poor last year. Aaron Phangiso, Hardus Viljoen, Eddie Leie, Temba Bavuma and Kagiso Rabada will all be back and although I was planning to give them a break, they really want to be involved in the game.

“The eKasi Challenge means a lot for us, four or five of our players come from Soweto and it’s a great thing for them to go back and play there,” Toyana said yesterday at the Wanderers for the announcement of the venue.

Titans veteran Ethy Mbhalati said there is a similar sense of expectation in their squad.

“It’s very exciting, just remembering Mamelodi last year and the amount of people that came to watch, making a noise and supporting, that makes it a more serious game. I love spending time with the kids, it’s what I enjoy the most and there could be another Ethy Mbhalati in the eKasi.

“You just want to leave something for them, show them that there are people from the townships who are in top cricket.

“The guys are looking fit, we’ve been running and bowling and hitting balls for the last couple of months and we can’t wait for the season to start,” Mbhalati said.

It seems the cries of Black African youth in the townships for greater opportunities in cricket are being heard, thanks to Cricket South Africa, Momentum and the two Gauteng franchises joining forces in such an effective manner.

“I have to thank Momentum for coming up with this plan to bring cricket to eKasi. We would have had so many township cricketers playing at a high level if it had happened before. As Phangy [Aaron Phangiso] always says, ‘don’t forget your roots and where you come from’ – which is eKasi,” Mbhalati said.

The face of South African domestic cricket will change even more in the coming season with every franchise team required to field two Black African players and Mbhalati said the effect of this could be phenomenal.

“There’s always a starting point but we need to go from two to three to four. We’ve got enough talent, we don’t need to worry about that, it won’t be a problem. We can pick four now and they would do well, they would be there on merit.

“Maybe if this had happened in the past, we would have had more Makhaya Ntinis, Lonwabo Tsotsobes or Monde Zondekis by now. If you have three or four Black Africans playing then it brings even more hype to eKasi. If there’s only one Black African in a team, then people in the township wonder if they can make it, but if there are three then they think maybe they can be the fourth player,” Mbhalati said.

The positive effects of seeing role-models in action are obvious; and bringing those same heroes to the townships can only prove the success of the eKasi Challenge concept.

In discussion with new SA U19 coach Lawrence Mahatlane

Lawrence Mahatlane is the new man in charge of South Africa’s U19 cricket talent and he says their future success will be down to how self-aware and mentally equipped they are for the challenges of the professional game.

Mahatlane has big boots to fill, succeeding Ray Jennings after he steered the U19s to Junior World Cup glory in Dubai on March 1, but he is already bringing a new emphasis to the development of South Africa’s young stars.

“My job is to get them ready, mentally as much as anything. It’s about how they adapt to match situations and we need to accelerate the process of their up-skilling.

“It’s all linked in to their self-awareness. Are they comfortable with their own technique? Technical matters can create doubt – thinking about your head falling over or your hands not going through the ball while you’re batting is not ideal,” Mahatlane told The Pretoria News on Monday at the University of Pretoria, where the U19s are having trials.

“If you’re worrying about your technique, worried about where your toes are pointing when someone as fast as Dale Steyn is running in to bowl at you, then you’re in a lot of trouble. A player is going to run into a hundred coaches through his career and if you’re not self-aware, you will struggle emotionally. You need to understand your technique and grow with it. The game is a lot more about the mental aspect higher up and the youngsters need to be able to survive the heat.

“So that’s why I’ve had them all fill in questionnaires about how they see their own games. By writing it down, they become more self-aware and then we have video analysis to see if they are actually doing it – it’s a different thing doing it under pressure in the middle,” Mahatlane explained.

Mahatlane is taking over the SA U19s at a time of natural change, when a procession of new cricketers come through the age-groups; there are only three players eligible for selection from the World Cup-winning squad.

The first engagement for Mahatlane and his team is a tour to England. A month today they will be playing the first “Test” against England in Cambridge. The tour includes two four-day internationals and then five ODIs.

“We’ll take 15 over from these trials and it’s going to be quite a challenge for them. There’s only a couple of players available from our World Cup squad, while England have just about their whole team back. But there have been some very impressive performances at this camp,” Mahatlane said.

The SA U19 job marks a return to mentoring junior cricketers for the 37-year-old, who was previously the Highveld Lions assistant coach and the head coach of Pirates Cricket Club, but first made his name as the 2002 SA U19 assistant coach. The next year, he was in charge as the team won the Junior Commonwealth Games title, and he also worked under current Proteas coach Russell Domingo in the 2004 Junior World Cup in Bangladesh.

Although Mahatlane has the credentials and respect in cricketing circles, his appointment to succeed the popular Jennings so soon after the Junior World Cup triumph was controversial and poorly handled by Cricket South Africa. Many have seen it as a hospital pass for the well-known radio commentator.

“I don’t see it as daunting, I see it as exciting. At this age-group, every year there is change and growth and if players are going to perform at such a young age, then they need to be mentored better and for longer,” Mahatlane said.

That 2003 U19 side included AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, Vernon Philander, JP Duminy and Aaron Phangiso. There’s no doubt Mahatlane’s early mentoring was good for their careers and he will be hoping to have a similar impact for the current crop of young talent.

JP Duminy is excited by the extra responsibility heading his way, serving as a key lower middle-order batsman, second spinner and senior figure in the changeroom as the South African cricket team head to Sri Lanka on their first tour without the stalwart triumvirate of Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher.

In fact, the 30-year-old feels that the increase in responsibility has not been a sudden thing: Duminy has gradually been taking on more and more of a senior role in the South African team, becoming a key player as his batting and bowling have grown to maturity.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge, but it hasn’t just started now. It started a few months ago already, especially when Graeme retired. There’s already been added responsibilities, definitely in the shorter formats, and I think it brings the best out of me and my game.

“But this season will determine whether I can sustain that, but I think I’ve played enough cricket now to know what leadership is about,” Duminy said yesterday at the Cricket South Africa Centre of Excellence in Pretoria, where the Proteas were having a two-day fitness camp.

Duminy admitted that the Proteas have been stung by the loss of their number one Test ranking to Australia and he said they needed to start strongly in the three-match ODI series that precedes the two Tests against Sri Lanka.

“Obviously we don’t have a good record playing Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka and it’s going to be a tough ask. But we have a nice squad and it’s going to be important to start well in the ODIs. That’s a very important aspect of the tour and we need to get our games right heading into the Tests, where we want to get that number one ranking back,” Duminy said.

Batting at number six (he deserves to be treated as one of the top six with either Stiaan van Zyl or Quinton de Kock at seven), Duminy can put money on the fact that he is going to face plenty of spin in Sri Lanka, an area of weakness previously which he has now greatly improved.

“Playing spin is going to be crucial and I have had an issue with it in the past, but I’ve put that behind me. I’ve definitely improved a lot from three or four years ago and I feel confident facing spin now. I feel like I now have good game plans facing spin and my experience in the IPL has improved me too,” the stylish left-hander said.

There is a sense of calm now about the veteran of 115 ODIs, 55 T20 internationals and 24 Tests and Duminy says life is not going to be radically different as the Proteas enter a new era under Hashim Amla.

“The team culture is there already and there’s a great balance in the squad. Small things will change, but we understand what we stand for and the guys stepping into the side have the freedom to express themselves and there are still several guys who have been around for a long time.

“We want to dominate the international circuit; yes, there’ve been big losses from the team, but we see it as a great opportunity for the new breed of players,” Duminy said.

http://www.iol.co.za/sport/cricket/proteas/mature-jp-happy-with-leadership-role-1.1706919#.U6gkvpSSxUE