Ken Borland

There were so many birdies, a couple of eagles and very nearly an albatross for the red-hot Danie van Tonder on Wednesday that one half-expected the Rise Up Series order of merit leader to shoot something new and extraordinary like a gosling in the first round of the Vodacom Championship Reloaded at Huddle Park Golf Club.

Van Tonder instead settled for a wonderful nine-under-par 63 in a superb round of golf that meant the baby Egyptian Geese in danger were the ones way down the fairway and certainly not those around the water hazards. The 29-year-old collected six birdies and two eagles as he basically overwhelmed the course from the tees. He very nearly scored an albatross two at the 438-metre par-five 14^th hole, when his approach lipped out of the hole.

“I’m very happy, the Driver gave me lots of chances with wedges to get really close to the pins. On 14, I hit a five-wood off the tee and then had 110 to the pin, I took my lob-wedge and said to my caddy that I must go for some spin, and I spun it back almost into the hole for a two. But almost all the holes are birdie holes, you can attack the pins and there are lots of chances on every hole.

“I’m quite happy about everything in my game, it’s great to see my hard work paying off and I’m just going to keep on practising and trying to get better. It’s a new day tomorrow and I will try and make a 10-under 62, you never know. I’ll go home now and wait for the rain to come – the greens are already very receptive and rolling nicely,” Van Tonder said after starting his hunt for a third Rise Up Series title in perfect fashion.

Four-time Sunshine Tour winner Christiaan Basson has had a disappointing Rise Up Series, only making the cut at the African Bank Championship at Glendower, but on Wednesday he played like he had a personal grudge against Huddle Park as he fired an eight-under-par 64.

He was joined on that score soon afterwards when Louis de Jager, playing in the same three-ball as Van Tonder, finished with three 3s to also sign for a brilliant 64.

It was also a good day for the experienced and consistent Jacques Blaauw, who also had two eagles on his way to a 65, and Musiwalo Nethunzwi, who also finished on seven-under alongside rookie Malcolm Mitchell.

Young Jayden Schaper produced one of the more exciting rounds of the day as he eagled the first three par-fives on his way to a 66 that gave him seventh place all by himself.

On a day when one golfer was heard to enquire “where is the rest of the par-five?”, it was a very disappointing first round for Darren Fichardt, Van Tonder’s only rival for the Rise Up Series order of merit title, as he let himself down by coming home in 38 shots (the back nine was tougher on Wednesday) to finish with a 72. With 64 golfers shooting under-par on the first day, Fichardt’s battle is now to make the cut.

AB de Villiers plundered 61 off 24 balls to lead his Eagles team to a commanding total of 160-4 in their 12 overs, something neither the Kites nor the Kingfishers were able to chase down in their 3TCricket match in Centurion at the weekend, and afterwards said he enjoyed the format and it definitely was something worth continuing.

The new format sees three teams of eight playing at the same time, with each side batting for six overs against each of their opponents. With Aiden Markram firing alongside him in a dazzling innings of 70 off 33 deliveries, captain De Villiers was the first to lift the Solidarity Cup, with Kites posting 138-3 and the Kingfishers finishing on 113-5.

“It was great fun and lovely to just be out there, I’ve been pretty frustrated not playing any cricket. It was great to have a hit-around and the format is pretty good. It definitely has scope for the future, I liked the flow of the game that you spend time in the dugout and the teams rotate. I was also incredibly impressed by a lot of the bowling. I thought they’d be rusty but they were nailing their yorkers and clearly there’s a lot of talent around.

“I also really like that the leading team at halfway bats first in the second innings because chasing is definitely an advantage in limited-overs cricket. This was just one of those rare occasions when we were able to take our score out of reach. My only suggestion would be to have teams start from zero again in terms of wickets lost when you bat again, because otherwise they try to consolidate and think of the next innings. With that bit of insurance, teams can have a really attacking mindset,” De Villiers told The Citizen after the match.

With De Villiers in scintillating form, his starring role has again raised questions about his possible return to the Proteas, at least in T20 cricket, in which a World Cup is scheduled for October in Australia but is probably going to be postponed to next year. The 36-year-old said the Covid-19 pandemic has left everything in limbo, but he still has an interest in playing for South Africa again.

“I have no idea when I’ll be playing cricket again, there’ve been lots of talks about all sorts of leagues. So I will just stay fit and keep hitting balls. It’s difficult to commit myself a year ahead of time, but I have a good relationship with Graeme Smith [director of cricket] and Mark Boucher [Proteas head coach] and I would love to play again. But once we know what the calendar will be like then we can sit down and I will make a decision because I have to be either in or out,” De Villiers said.

After a fractious week in South African cricket, the launch of 3TCricket has provided some balm, with an air of unity and reconciliation at SuperSport Park as all the players wore black armbands with Black Lives Matter written on them and all three teams, the officials and the commentators took a knee before the start of play in support of the movement. “I’m happy with how things have unfolded, we’ve had really good communication, nobody felt left out and it was all explained to us. Black Lives Matter and the campaign against Gender Based Violence were the causes that were the focus for today and it was most important for us to show that unity,” De Villiers said.

AB de Villiers got the newest cricket format off to a thoroughly entertaining start as he led the Eagles to victory in the inaugural 3TCricket match at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Saturday, but he also got tongues wagging yet again about a potential international comeback.

De Villiers blazed a typically imperious 61 off 24 balls to lead the Eagles to 160-4 in their 12 overs against the Kingfishers (113-5) and Kites (138-3). With Aiden Markram reminding everyone of his abilities with a dazzling 70 off 33 deliveries at the other end, the Eagles were always going to be tough to catch. De Villiers and Markram shared a stunning partnership of 100 off just 43 balls.

Markram set the tone up front as the Eagles posted 66-1 against the Kingfishers in their first six overs, scoring 47 not out off 23 balls. But they were under pressure early on as the economical Glenton Stuurman bowled Rassie van der Dussen for 8 and the score was only 23-1 after 2.5 overs when wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen dropped De Villiers on just one off wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi’s sixth delivery.

Shamsi’s day grew progressively worse as he ended up conceding 56 runs in his three overs.

The Eagles’ total was the best after the first half of the match, better than the 58-1 posted by the Kites against them and the 56-2 scored by the Kingfishers against a Kites attack led by Anrich Nortje. So they batted first in the second half and De Villiers immediately got the momentum going with successive sixes and 19 runs off spinner Jon-Jon Smuts’s first over.

De Villiers was eventually dismissed in the penultimate over, skying the excellent Nortje (3-27-2) to long-on, but the Eagles had already scored enough to secure first place.

The Eagles bowlers also did their bit in limiting their opposition with left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin (3-20-1) and Andile Phehlukwayo (3-24-2) being particularly outstanding. Fast bowler Junior Dala was tidy, conceding just 18 runs in his two overs.

The return to cricket in these days of Covid-19 got off to a heartwarming start as all the players, officials and commentators took a knee in support of Black Lives Matter before the first ball was bowled. All the players wore black armbands with Black Lives Matter on them and, after a fractious week in South African cricket, there was a pleasing air of unity and reconciliation, with Graeme Smith and Makhaya Ntini taking a knee next to each other with their right fists raised. They then commentated together with Smith saying he “could feel the emotion” and Ntini replying, “We stand together”.

The Kites finished second after Smuts provided a solid platform with his 48 off 26 deliveries and all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius added to their halfway total of 58-1 with a ferocious 17-ball 50 not out.

The Kingfishers were the first team to bat and battled to get going even though captain Reeza Hendricks (20) and Janneman Malan (31) shared the biggest opening partnership of the day – 51.

Batting for the second time, Faf du Plessis gave the Kingfishers some momentum with his 28 off 12 deliveries, before he was beaten in the flight and bowled by Fortuin.

Young all-rounder Gerald Coetzee, who bowled with good pace and skill, scored 24 not out off 15 balls, but he could not prevent the Kingfishers from finishing last. But their paceman Stuurman took two for 26 in his three overs and was the most impressive bowler of the day.

But it was the veteran De Villiers who showed once again that he remains South Africa’s most destructive batsman. With a T20 World Cup still hovering somewhere on the horizon, it was clear the Proteas could certainly use him in the shortest international format.

Geoff Toyana will give his Eagles team his usual shrewd strategic input before the game but the veteran coach knows that the nature of 3TCricket is such that that will only be the tip of the iceberg and captain AB de Villiers will need to be at his sharpest and most flexible if they are to win Saturday’s inaugural unveiling of the new format.

The country’s best 24 available cricketers will return to action in a SuperSport Park bio-bubble and the beloved game will return to our television screens on Saturday in a fundraising match for the cricket industry’s hardship fund. But it will be a version of the sport never seen before as three eight-member teams will battle it out at the same time, each batting for 12 overs in six-over blocks against each of their opponents.

The Eagles, Kingfishers and Kites will get their first sip of 3TCricket on Thursday when they play a practice match, but Toyana is already certain that captains will play the leading role. He has full confidence in his skipper, former Proteas captain De Villiers, who will lock horns with current national limited-overs captain Quinton de Kock (Kites) and ace fast bowler Kagiso Rabada (Kingfishers).

“It’s something new for all of us and we are still finding our strategy, tomorrow [Thursday] is the perfect opportunity to test things out and also sharpen up on the rules. There’s not just one opponent to worry about now but two and you need to be smart in terms of who bowls against who, each bowler only gets three overs, so do you bowl say Lungi Ngidi for two overs against the first team or against the second side?

“There are going to be headaches like that and the last man stands rule in batting is also very exciting. I think the captain is going to be the big player and he needs to get his tactics spot-on. He’ll have to really think on his feet, but fortunately AB is really positive and passionate about this. And he’s hitting the ball extremely well, as good as I’ve ever seen him hit it in fact,” Toyana told The Citizen on Wednesday.

While the Covid-19 restrictions will rob the match of some of its joy, Toyana said the players are all delighted to be playing cricket again.

“It’s just a really good thing to be back on the field again, the sun’s shining and we had really good training. Rassie van der Dussen is also looking good although he keeps wanting to bowl, Andile Phehlukwayo had a good hit too and Bjorn Fortuin was in his element. Lungi Ngidi and Junior Dala have been hard at work here at the Titans for the last two weeks and they are very excited too.

“We will have to observe social distancing of course and there are some strange red lines on the field. Plus the players all use their own balls, which makes it tricky for the coach because you hit one to a player and he ignores it because it’s not his ball! But these are tough times, it’s a charitable cause and the guys all just want to help out,” Toyana said.

Originally, Proteas white-ball spinner Tabraiz Shamsi was the only slow bowler named in the squads, but Highveld Lions star Bjorn Fortuin has subsequently replaced Sisanda Magala, who has pulled out due to a family bereavement. Judging by how spinners were fatally under-rated when T20 first came along, not having a frontline spinner could hurt the chances of the Kites, although Jon-Jon Smuts is far from a part-timer.

“I think this game will be good for spinners as well and I’m glad we’ve got one. And Bjorn is one of the best in the country at controlling the field, we could even use him up front against certain batsmen,” Toyana said.