Ken Borland

Only government approval stands in the way of cricket resuming at the end of the month, with Cricket South Africa optimistic that they will get the go-ahead for a return to action on June 27.

It will only be the Proteas playing for the time being, but all the country’s top cricketers are set to be involved in a made-for-TV match at SuperSport Park in Centurion on the last Saturday of June. With no spectators allowed, a different format featuring three different teams will be trialled and televised live by SuperSport.

“Government have to gazette the Level III regulations and then the Minister of Sport will go over the return-to-play protocols that we have sent, which he must agree with. It’s in the hands of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, but they have been good with us. So hopefully we’ll be playing again at the end of June and we’ll start with the Proteas players, for obvious reasons,” CSA chief executive Jacques Faul confirmed to The Citizen on Wednesday.

“It’s going to be a fundraiser with an exciting new format, sadly without spectators but SuperSport will be broadcasting it live,” Faul added.

Dr Shuaib Manjra, CSA’s chief medical officer, said they are confident cricket can safely go ahead under the protocols they have proposed to government.

“First of all it will be an empty stadium, we’re looking at the minimum number of people being there for the event to happen and be broadcast, which is about 200. We will limit the number of team staff, otherwise it will just be the broadcast personnel, officials, players and stadium staff. There will also be thorough cleaning of the stadium beforehand.

“The players will get in three days before and be kept in a sanitized eco-system, at the hotel, when they travel and at the stadium. We will test the players before they get to Centurion and again five days afterwards in order to get rid of any false negatives. On average it takes five days from infection for someone to test positive. In the stadium, everyone will wear masks and doors will be kept open along with other safety measures,” Manjra said.

While Cricket South Africa are all ready to go with a return-to-play, government’s hands are legally tied at the moment because of the court ruling that said their Lockdown regulations were unconstitutional. Which is why fresh laws need to be gazetted and then permissions can be granted by Minister Nathi Mthethwa. The players are obviously raring to go and the June 27 match will be a major milestone on the path to the Proteas hopefully playing international cricket again in August, with India likely to come to South Africa for three T20s and a series against the West Indies also scheduled.

This last year has probably been the toughest in Faf du Plessis’ Proteas career but the 35-year-old revealed on Monday that he does not believe this is the end of his story as an international cricketer.

A year ago, Du Plessis was coming off the ignominy of leading South Africa to a Test series defeat to Sri Lanka at home, but looking forward to the World Cup with optimism. This hope was misplaced and the accursed tournament was an even bigger disaster than the ones that have gone before for the Proteas, and then Du Plessis was at the helm for a humiliating Test thrashing in India.

As if the on-field woes were not enough, Du Plessis then had to pick up the slack as the dysfunctional Cricket South Africa executive imploded just weeks before England arrived for the summer’s major tour. Having helped restore some stability along with Jacques Faul, Graeme Smith and Mark Boucher, Du Plessis then lost form with the bat, scoring just 195 runs in 11 innings in the Tests against England and three T20s versus Australia. This put pressure on his place in the underperforming team.

He relinquished the captaincy in February. And then Covid-19 struck, leaving him in Lockdown and the Indian Premier League, the lucrative annual jamboree of the world’s elite cricketers, cancelled. But all the troubles have at least focused Du Plessis’ mind.

“It was probably one of the toughest seasons I’ve ever had to face and it was not just about cricket. I felt that I had fought the good fight, I gave everything leading the Proteas, I went away to reflect and I felt it was the right time to stand down. There’s a new coaching staff, maybe they should start their journey with someone new and me stepping aside could fast-track that process.

“But I still believe I have a lot of value to add, I still love playing and being involved with the Proteas. I’m still extremely motivated to play in all three formats and at no stage did I think of signing overseas. The time away from the game has made sure that my hunger is still there and I really look forward to getting back to the Proteas. The time is right to help grow other leaders,” Du Plessis said.

The veteran of 36 Tests as captain said he is optimistic that the Proteas will now return to winning ways, although he warned the Test team is still in a growing phase.

“The India tour showed us the Test team was far behind, we weren’t scoring enough runs and we weren’t able to take 20 wickets, plus we didn’t have the skills to back up our performance. There are a lot of holes. It was obvious for me that you can’t replace all the playing experience we lost overnight, but I also felt there was a lack of experience in the coaching staff, which required a lot of energy from me.

“Enoch Nkwe did a great job in India but we needed to fill that lack of experience in the coaches because you can’t just get experienced players in. Some really good moves were made in the build-up to the England series and we are in a position to start producing again now. Our structures look sound and we have good heads in charge to grow the game. The series against Australia showed that we definitely have a lot of talent,” Du Plessis said.

New Presidents Cup Internationals team captain Trevor Immelman is keen to build on the foundation laid by Ernie Els and has warned that his side will have a lot of exciting youngsters providing great depth as they look to end the eight-match winning streak of the United States.

Els led the Internationals to one of their best ever showings in December as they were edged out 16-14 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club by the Americans, captained by Tiger Woods. Immelman is the youngest ever captain to be appointed – he will be 41 when the Presidents Cup is played again in September 2021 at Quail Hollow, beating the mark set by Woods, who was coming to the end of his 44th year in December.

And Immelman is banking on an injection of youth to make the International team even more competitive next year.

“I was part of Ernie’s team for the last Presidents Cup and I will try and continue his legacy and I really look forward to building on the platform he created. It’s an amazing honour to follow in the footsteps of Ernie Els and Gary Player as the Internationals captain. They have both been mentors and great friends of mine, whose advice I have relied on through my life.

“In the last two years we’ve had a number of youngsters step up as some of the best golfers in the world. We have a lot of different players starting to play really well, guys who were on the fringes of the team last time around. We had a group of 12 in Melbourne and now I can cast a bigger net and create a group of 30 to 40 golfers, and start to get the camaraderie going,” Immelman told OFM radio’s Morgan Piek this week.

The 2008 Masters (again beating Woods) and two-time SA Open champion mentioned players such as Koreans Sungjae Im and Byeong Hun-An, Cameron Smith, Jazz Janewattananond, Pebble Beach winner Nick Taylor and Corey Conners as being amongst the young talent that is making him excited about being the seventh Internationals captain.

Not that the Cape Town-born Immelman is discounting a healthy contingent of his countrymen making the cut in 2021.

“There are the more experienced guys I grew up with like Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen, but South Africa has such a rich history of golfers performing at the highest level and winning the biggest championships – guys like Charl Schwartzel, who is coming back from injury and showing good form, and Branden Grace, who won the SA Open recently.

“Plus there’s someone like Erik van Rooyen, who has been playing some beautiful golf on the PGA Tour, and Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who is competing against the best in the world and showing what he can do,” Immelman said.

A wonderful Leopard sighting near Kubu Dam

Being in the bush and birding is always such a special time for me, real soul-food, and a time of replenishment before heading back into the hectic ‘real’ world. So I have a small obsession about what my last sighting is, always wanting to end on a high note, preferably with something exotic, something I don’t see every day in my garden.

It is also a source of motivation to stay sharp and keen-eyed at the end of what are normally long, hot days in the bushveld.

Pilanesberg National Park may be one of the most popular reserves in the country and is attached to a tourist hot-spot in Sun City, but it is Big Five country and genuine bushveld. It has a ruggedness about it with its hills lying at angles (after the massive volcanic eruptions that shaped the landscape), its rocky outcrops and the densely-wooded gorges where few people would have ventured.

It is normally also blisteringly hot in summer but this October day had been pleasant: a beautiful sunny day with barely a cloud in the sky and a lovely cooling breeze. The temperature did not get above 31 degrees.

I had concentrated my efforts on the southern half of the park, doing a half-circle from KwaMaritane to Bakubung, and I was 10 minutes from the exit gate when sighting number 53 appeared – a pair of Common Mynahs flying along!

These aliens are all over our towns, cities and neighbourhoods and are considered a scourge in our wild places, like game reserves. So you can imagine my dismay at the very real possibility now that this invasive would be my last sighting of the day … Oh, the horror!

But this was a happy day (it had included a Leopard sighting next to the road) and Mother Nature was kind to me.

Just when I thought the Mynahs would be my last bird, a magnificent pair of Violeteared Waxbills popped up in the bush next to me on the side of the road!

Now these waxbills are really exotic-looking with their incredible combination of violet, red, bright blue and chestnut colours. It is one of my favourites, not only because it is exquisite but also because it eluded me for many years before my first sighting. I even had to put up with my birding colleague Stidy seeing it as a passenger in my car while I dipped on it!

It would have been a dream last bird, but Mother Nature had another trick up her sleeve for me. At Bakubung Gate, amongst the buildings – which I guess make fairly authentic copies of the boulders found on the koppies that are normally their home -were a pair of Mocking Chat.

I had no problem with these cute, somewhat mischievous birds being my last sighting. They are real characters and I watched them a bit before finally departing the peaceful, but wild, hills and valleys of the Pilanesberg.

I was still buzzing though from my Leopard sighting, which had been in the vicinity of Kubu Dam, just before I turned west off the tar and on to the Kgama Drive that goes past Lengau Dam and then rejoins the tar just before the Bakubung Gate.

The Leopard was lying with typical insouciance under a shady bush, about 20 metres from the road, but quite hard to see due to the combination of dappled light and the rosettes on its body. What a gorgeous young specimen it was though.

The insouciant Leopard

While the Leopard was, typically, a loner, there were lovely family sightings of 10 African Elephant marching along the flanks of the Magare Hills, away in the distance as the Tsepe Drive turned to the north-west, having skirted along the south-eastern border of the park for nearly 10km from the KwaMaritane entrance.

It was also most pleasing to see three different family groups of Squarelipped Rhinoceros, numbering 10 in all of these critically endangered animals.

The group theme had started at the beginning as I entered KwaMaritane gate and was immediately bombarded by three Blackchested Prinia dashing around and calling loudly in some sort of furore.

Two Greater Kudu youngsters down by the Maritane River were much more peaceful, and some Little Swift were also swirling around merrily, without a care in the world.

Blackcollared Barbets are normally seen amongst the trees at the picnic sites, so it was nice to see one at the hills and plains of the Tshepe Drive. Further down the road, a Kalahari Robin was conspicuous as it posed on top of a bush, behaving more like a Chat. Which is not surprising because the Scrub Robins (Genus Cercotrichas) are in the same Subfamily – Saxicolinae – as things like the Familiar and Mocking Chats, both characteristic birds of the Pilanesberg.

Close by, a juvenile Blackshouldered Kite was also posing nicely on top of a tree,

Juvenile Blackshouldered Kite

while both Redfaced and Speckled Mousebirds were in close proximity to each other as the Tshepe Drive crossed the Mankwe River, where, as is often the case, a purposeful Cape Wagtail was doing a thorough inspection.

The Lengau Dam was hosting a big flock of Sacred Ibis, and there were also Redbilled Teal, which I have only seen infrequently in the Pilanesberg.

Where is Pilanesberg National Park?

Sightings list

Blackchested Prinia

Greater Kudu

Little Swift

Blue Waxbill

Blackcollared Barbet

Neddicky

Kalahari Robin

African Elephant

Sabota Lark

Blackshouldered Kite

Rattling Cisticola

Grey Lourie

Redfaced Mousebird

Speckled Mousebird

Cape Wagtail

Cinnamonbreasted Rock Bunting

Glossy Starling

Southern Yellowbilled Hornbill

Southern Yellowbilled Hornbill

Blackeyed Bulbul

Impala

Marico Flycatcher

Blue Wildebeest

Helmeted Guineafowl

Giraffe

Redbilled Oxpecker

Natal Francolin

Capped Wheatear

Springbok

Pied Crow

Squarelipped Rhinoceros

Lesser Striped Swallow

Common Waxbill

Longtailed Shrike

Longtailed Shrike

Arrowmarked Babbler

Whitebreasted Cormorant

Reed Cormorant

Southern Masked Weaver

Blackbacked Puffback

Laughing Dove

Great White Egret

Browncrowned Tchagra

Warthog

A Warthog strolling along

Leopard

Familiar Chat

Plains Zebra

Waterbuck

Blacksmith Plover

Redbilled Teal

Dabchick

Sacred Ibis

Egyptian Goose

African Darter

Common Mynah

Violeteared Waxbill

Mocking Chat