Ken Borland

The DP World Lions men’s team will welcome back pace bowler Lutho Sipamla from international duty for their CSA 4-Day Series match against World Sports Betting Western Province in Johannesburg, starting on Thursday.

Having gathered 36.68 points from their two matches so far, the DP World Lions are in third place on the log, but very well-placed, just 2.70 points behind the leaders, the North-West Dragons, who have played an extra game.

The DP World Lions played the Dragons in their previous match, coming away from Potchefstroom with a draw due to weather interruptions and a flat pitch.

But #ThePrideOfJozi will now be back at the DP World Wanderers Stadium, where they convincingly beat the Northerns Titans in their opening game. Sipamla took four for 83 in the first innings of that match and the Bullring has been a happy hunting ground for the seamer, with 35 wickets in nine matches there, at an average of 25.25.

Although the DP World Lions were shaded by less than a point in the bonus point battle last week in Potchefstroom, coach Russell Domingo said there were a lot of positives to be drawn from the contest.

“I thought we played really well, the bowling in particular was excellent,” Domingo said, “I thought the discipline was fantastic and the energy in the field was also there. North-West have also been playing good cricket lately.”

One of the stars of both #ThePrideOfJozi’s opening games has been all-rounder Bjorn Fortuin, who has scored back-to-back centuries. Against both the Titans and North-West, the 30-year-old has come to the crease with his team in tough situations, but he has made it seem as if he was batting on the beach, scoring 116 off just 95 deliveries in the win over their Gauteng neighbours, as well as taking three wickets in the second innings as the Titans were bowled out for just 156; and then he made 120 off 140 balls in Potchefstroom.

“Bjorn has been our four-day player of the season for two seasons in a row and he’s a fantastic bowler and a batsman with great ability too,” Domingo said. “He’s a really dangerous cricketer and an amazing character, feisty and tough. Technically, he’s playing very well too and I’m ecstatic for him because he’s the guy you want in your team when you are in trouble. I would want him in every team I coach,” Domingo said.

Seam-bowling all-rounder Wiaan Mulder will not be available against Western Province as he will be heading to the coast for the Proteas’ two Tests against Sri Lanka in Durban and Gqeberha.

Sipamla will no doubt pick up his overs, while young Mohammed Manack will come in to replace Mulder the batsman.

“Western Province will also be losing players like Kyle Verreynne, David Bedingham, Dane Paterson and Tony de Zorzi to the Test team, so they will have a few changes. But they are always a highly talented team, they gave us an amazing game in the five-day final last season and they beat us in the T20 this season. So we know it’s going to be tough against them, they have become a side that knows how to win,” Domingo said.

Despite a small hiccup in the T20 match, DP World Lions women’s coach Shaun Pretorius is sticking to the same squad that did duty in Bloemfontein, with the addition of three returnees from injury, for this weekend’s HollywoodBets Pro Series matches at home against the South-Western Districts Garden Route Badgers.

Our DP World Lions started the season with an impressive Pro50 win over the Free State Knights, headlined by Karabo Meso’s brilliant century and the all-round form of Jenna Evans, but they lost by six wickets with two balls remaining in their Pro20 encounter.

Given that #ThePrideOfJozi had slipped to 113 for five in the one-day match before Meso and Evans batted sensationally to add 171 for the sixth wicket, and that they scored just 115 for five in the T20 game, it is good news that two leading batters have recovered from injury and will return to the squad this weekend – veteran Kirstie Thomson and 20-year-old Netherlands international Madison Landsman.

“We’ve added to the squad with Kirstie back and Madison over her concussion and having scored a century in a club game. Plus our left-armer, Relebohile Mkhize, is back from injury and she was definitely one of our unsung heroines last season, both as a bowler and a member of the team. She is under-rated, but she is so consistent and strikes at the right times for us,” Pretorius said.

“The youngsters got us out of a hole in the 50-over match, but we want to show our backing in our selection. In the T20 game, the pitch was quite up-and-down and our batters just need to read the game better, to understand the conditions and not assume anything. The pitches are deteriorating more because we are having longer matches on them.

“The intent from the batters was not really there and some bowlers did not hit their straps, so we were on the back foot. But we have a quality attack and we did well to make a game of it,” Pretorius said.

In his dozen years and more involvement in women’s cricket, Pretorius said Meso’s innings in Bloemfontein was perhaps the best he has ever seen.

Meso came to the crease at 52 for three in the 10^th over, the DP World Lions having lost two wickets in successive deliveries, and the 17-year-old eased her way in measured fashion to a 56-ball half-century, with six fours. But as her partnership with Evans grew, the wicketkeeper/batted laid into the Knights bowlers, ending with an astonishing 128 not out off 129 deliveries, with 15 fours and a six.

“It’s probably the best innings I’ve seen in the last 12 to 15 years,” Pretorius said. “Just the way she assessed the situation and tried to build partnerships, and then she knew exactly when to take the game forward.

“Jenna was also phenomenal, scoring 65 not out and then making the breakthrough with the ball when Free State had a hundred partnership and then wrapping up the innings with four wickets. They both have a very bright future ahead.”

The Badgers come to the DP World Wanderers Stadium having lost both their Pro50 and Pro20 matches against the KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins in Oudtshoorn in the opening round of fixtures.

The Sharks will continue to hide their leading URC players away from doing dual duty in the Currie Cup even though they are hosting the table-topping Free State Cheetahs in a vital match at Kings Park on Wednesday, but one star player who will feature, albeit off the bench, is Dylan Richardson.

Following their defeat to a star-studded Bulls team last week, the Sharks have slipped to third place on the log and are four points behind the unbeaten Cheetahs. But while the Bulls have regularly targeted key Currie Cup games by fielding several URC starters, the KwaZulu-Natalians are following a different policy.

But Richardson, named as a replacement loose forward on Tuesday, will certainly bring some quality. The 23-year-old Scottish international is a bit of a hoodlum on the field and he has already been bringing an edge to the Sharks’ training sessions following his return from a stress fracture in his leg.

“Dylan has been out for a while with a succession of unfortunate injuries and we can see he is really champing at the bit,” Sharks Currie Cup coach Etienne Fynn said on Tuesday.

“We’ve had a bit of niggle in training recently and it has been driven by him mostly,” Fynn added with a smile.

The feisty Richardson, who made his debut for Scotland towards the end of last year, will bring dynamism and power to the Sharks team and targets the breakdown hard, all valuable assets against a free-flowing Free State side.

As for the Sharks’ decision to not load their side – they also have a United Rugby Championship match against Edinburgh on Saturday evening – Fynn says the union’s management are rating the Currie Cup players just as highly as the URC regulars.

“I told the forwards today after a lineout session that not one of them is not good enough to be picked for the URC,” Fynn said. “We have a decent side with quality individuals.

“The opposition does not matter, we still have proper rugby players like Dian Bleuler, Hyron Andrews, James Venter and Fez Mbatha. We just try to field our most competitive team every time.

“Because of the URC, and playing two competitions at once, sometimes players have to double up and then it’s tough. The Free State Cheetahs are privileged to have consistency of selection.

“So we decided to go with the same pack as against the Bulls last week. That way you have the understanding of what the guy next to you is doing. The Cheetahs are really polished in the opposition 22 and that comes with playing together,” Fynn said.

Sharks team – Jordan Chait, Yaw Penxe, Jeremy Ward, Ethan Fisher, Curwin Gertse, Tito Bonilla, Cameron Wright (v/c), Celimpilo Gumede, Thembelani Bholi, James Venter (c), Hyron Andrews, Emile van Heerden, Wiehahn Herbst, Fez Mbatha, Dian Bleuler. Replacements: Dan Jooste, Braam Reyneke, Lourens Adriaanse, Jeandre Labuschagne, Dylan Richardson, OJ Noah, Sanele Nohamba, Lloyd Koster.

Loftus Versfeld has been a busy check-in, check out counter this week as Springbok flank Marcell Coetzee arrived for duty with the Bulls, on the same day that the departure of loose forward Tim Agaba, the former Springbok Sevens representative, was confirmed.

Coetzee has been a phenomenal performer for Ulster, when fit, over the last five years and was recently named the Pro14 Players’ Player of the Season. The 29-year-old is currently recovering from a hamstring injury but will certainly have his eye on a return to the Springbok loose trio for the series against the British and Irish Lions.

The fact that the owner of 30 Springbok caps is considered one of the star signings amongst a host of big names being lured to Loftus Versfeld was shown by the brand new Bulls bakkie that was waiting for Coetzee upon his arrival at his new home.

The 31-year-old Agaba will be playing in the black-and-yellow of the French Second Division side U.S. Carcassonne. He will join the South African contingent of locks – Claude Dry, Rynard ‘Ligtoring’ Landman and Christiaan van der Merwe – at the 122-year-old club that is languishing in the lower reaches of the Pro D2 division in France.