Ken Borland

Assupol Tuks sent their hosts from the north of England, Leeds Bradford MCCU, packing on the second day of the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals in London yesterday.

Tuks beat Leeds Bradford by seven wickets with 22 balls remaining to ensure their place in Saturday’s semi-finals of the T20 Varsity World Cup.

It was a second successive convincing victory for the University of Pretoria students after the Theunis de Bruyn-inspired thrashing of Bangladesh’s University of the Liberal Arts on the first day.

The hero yesterday was pace bowler Corbin Bosch, who took four for 27 in his four overs to restrict Leeds Bradford to just 109 for eight after they had elected to bat first.

Bosch, one of the stars of the SA U19 team that won the ICC Junior World Cup earlier this year, has not yet played first-class cricket, but he is almost certain to appear for Northerns later this year.

The son of former Test fast bowler Tertius, Bosch struck with the new ball in the second and fourth overs to immediately undermine the opposition innings, but he is also wonderfully skilful at the death and he claimed further wickets in the 18th and 20^th overs.

Off-spinner Ruben Claassen was the other class act for Tuks, taking two for 13 in four overs and showing as much talent as any of the other spinners from the east.

The runs have kept flowing for SA U19 captain Aiden Markram since that Junior World Cup where he was the man of the tournament, and he anchored a straightforward Tuks chase with a run-a-ball 42.

With Gerry Pike and De Bruyn both addings 20s, the target was reached in the 17^th over.

The Pretoria students complete their round-robin campaign against the Jamaica Inter-Collegiate Sports Association today, and the West Indians will qualify for the semi-finals alongside Tuks if they win.

If the South Africans make it a clean sweep of three from three in Group 2 then they will be joined by whoever has the better run-rate between the Jamaicans and the winner of the other clash between the Bangladeshis and English.

South Africa U19 captain and Big Sports Management client Aiden Markram is on his way to England with the Assupol Tuks team for the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals, effectively his second World Cup of the year.

Markram was the player of the tournament when he led South Africa to victory in the ICC Junior Wold Cup in Dubai at the start of the year, and the University of Pretoria cricket team will also be relying on his powerful strokeplay at the top of the order as they represent the country in what amounts to a T20 Varsity World Cup.

“I’m happy with my form and I know how important it is to get the team off to a good start, whether that means posting a total on the board or chasing a target. But I’m not taking anything for granted, that’s the last thing you want to do, and I’m going to keep working hard. As a batsman, I have to get the runs on the board,” Markram said on the eve of his team’s departure for London for the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals which start on Monday.

Markram will be playing in England for the first time and said he will be relying heavily on the knowledge of Tuks coach Pierre de Bruyn, who spent 10 years as a professional in the United Kingdom, apart from also playing for the Titans and Dolphins in South African franchise cricket.

“It will be my first time in England, but I’m fortunate to have coach Pierre and I’m looking forward to the challenge. I believe the ball does a lot at the start of the innings, but I’ve prepared as best as I could. We know there’s going to be good opposition, so we must just stick to what we know and not take the opposition for granted,” Markram said.

Tuks, having won the national club championships for the last three years and beating SA A in two warm-up games in the last week, undoubtedly have their sights set on next Saturday’s Red Bull Campus Cricket final.

To get there, they have to finish in the top two of their group and then win a semi-final earlier on Saturday. The student champions from the United Kingdom, Australia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies are the other competitors and the eight finalists will be split into two round-robin groups of four, with the draw only being done on Sunday evening.

The round-robin fixtures will be held at the picturesque Wormsley Cricket Club ground, on the Getty family estate and a venue where South African touring teams have played in the past, while the semi-finals and final will be held at the famous Oval, the scene of Hashim Amla’s historic 311 not out in 2012.

“As a team, we’ve played well and each person knows their role and how to execute that. We’re really confident and we trust the abilities of each other,” Markram said.

De Bruyn was more forthright when he said: “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.”

The coach said it was vital his team hit the ground running when the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals start on Monday.

“How we start is going to be crucial, there’s no room for us to start slowly, there’s no room for us 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.

India have dominated the previous two Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals – the inaugural event in 2012 was won by DAV College Chandigarh, while last year’s tournament was won by Rizvi College from Mumbai.

While Markram will set the tone up front with his broad bat, he will be backed by new Titans batting star Theunis de Bruyn, as well as exciting strokeplayers in Heinrich Klaasen, Sean Dickson and Johan Wessels.

The bowling will be led by Markram’s SA U19 team-mate Corbin Bosch, the man of the match in the Junior World Cup final, and left-armer Vincent Moore, backed by tidy seamers in De Bruyn, Wessels and Tian Koekemoer, and an array of spinning options – off-spinners Ruben Claasen and Markram, leg-spinner GC Pretorius and orthodox left-armer David Mogotlane.

“We’re going to be under pressure, we’re going to be tested, especially by the sub-continent teams because they have something different, like unorthodox spinners. But we’re a tight unit and this sort of environment is what we aspire to – I don’t think we could be better prepared, we’ve done the hard work and now we just need to express our skills with confidence,” captain Theunis de Bruyn said.

Participating teams: Leeds Bradford MCC (United Kingdom); University of New South Wales (Australia); University of Liberal Arts (Bangladesh); Rizvi College (India); Karachi University (Pakistan); University of Pretoria (South Africa);International College of Business and Technology (Sri Lanka); Jamaica Inter-Collegiate Sports Association (West Indies).

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.

– http://www.bigsportsmanagement.co.za/NewsInterviews/tabid/591/itemid/1090/amid/4719/18-july-2014.aspx

Cricket South Africa chief executive Haroon Lorgat was yesterday not only able to deliver the good news that he has been exonerated of all wrongdoing surrounding his alleged involvement in the media statement criticising ICC governance by their former legal advisor David Becker, but also news of on-going negotiations with Australia and England for more Test cricket against those countries.

The International Cricket Council yesterday announced that they could find no evidence linking Lorgat to Becker’s damning statement and also cleared him of allegedly trying to bribe or threaten journalists in an attempt to withdraw the story.

“Being exonerated is no surprise to me because I knew exactly what I had done and what I had not done, and I knew that I would not fail myself nor cricket in South Africa,” Lorgat said at the Wanderers yesterday.

“But I am gravely disappointed that I was found guilty in the media and a lot of things were said about me even before the investigation began.”

Not much seems capable of taking the former ICC chief executive by surprise and Lorgat also brushed off the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s decision to not stage any of the IPL in South Africa while revealing the prospect of increased Tests against Australia and England.

“We weren’t surprised at all by the BCCI announcement, they want to play the tournament close to home. We were involved in discussions all along and we were informed of the decision before it went public. It made sense to have the first 16 games in the UAE, if they needed longer outside India then maybe we would have featured,” Lorgat said.

“But we never had any plans for the IPL in the financial forecasts. It would have been a windfall, but it’s something we hadn’t bargained for.”

With Lorgat and CSA having a well-publicised falling out with the BCCI last year and India, Australia and England staging a virtual coup to take control of the ICC, the fears that South African cricket would be sidelined don’t seem to be materialising.

Lorgat revealed the success of preliminary negotiations with other boards that would see more Test cricket being played in South Africa.

“We are very keen to play four-Test series against Australia and we’ve gone some way to agreeing to that, although it’s dependent on the calendar. And we are talking to England and have agreed in principle to play a five-Test series in 2015/16. So we’ve already achieved a lot working together since the original ICC proposal, which has already been changed considerably,” Lorgat said.

Despite a spectacular loss to England in their last match of 2012, it was clear throughout the year that world champions New Zealand remain the benchmark in world rugby.

Their unbeaten run – extending to 20 Tests from the start of last year’s World Cup – came to a shuddering halt in London as England beat them 38-21, giving some hope to the chasing pack that are busy growing sides for the 2015 showpiece tournament.

It was a fabulous end to the year for the Red Roses after promising much but delivering little in losing three times to the Springboks and once each to Australia and Wales.

South Africa were also busy building a team, having lost the likes of John Smit, Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez, Bakkies Botha, Jaque Fourie and Danie Rossouw. Their new coach, Heyneke Meyer, seemed to have developed a sturdy, hardy outfit as they ended the year with an unbeaten northern hemisphere tour, but there were few flashes of brilliance from the Springboks and the rugby they played was generally dull.

Australia endured a troubled year, beset by injuries and speculation over the future of coach Robbie Deans, but if the crop of talented youngsters they have reach full bloom, then they will certainly be a major threat at the next World Cup.

Argentina immediately showed the benefits of joining New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship (replacing the Tri-Nations) for the first time, and the game can only grow in that country.

France, under new coach Philippe Saint-André, are also developing rapidly into another formidable outfit.

Wonderful attacking flair was once again the hallmark of the All Blacks’ success, but their game was also based on a steely defence and the core of experience that ran through the side was also a great help. By the end of the year, Tony Woodcock (96), Keven Mealamu (102), Owen Franks (45), Richie McCaw (116), Kieran Read (48), Dan Carter (94), Ma’a Nonu (76), Conrad Smith (66), Cory Jane (41) and Piri Weepu (69) had 753 caps between them, compared to the 431 the entire Springbok team had for their last Test of the year, also against England in London.

But South Africa had won – albeit by just a point – in the rain at Twickenham the week before against the same England side that then put the All Blacks to the sword and the other indication that they are not impossibly far off the world champions came in Dunedin in September when they tied New Zealand down for long periods. They would ultimately pay for Morne Steyn’s poor goalkicking and Dean Greyling’s lack of discipline in that match, going down 21-11.

In their return meeting in October, the iconic FNB Stadium would prove to be no protection from the attacking brilliance of the All Blacks as they swept to a 32-16 victory in their most impressive display of the year. Without the amulet of forward dominance, the Springboks were made to look second-best and the anti-Meyer chorus grew louder.

But even the All Blacks’ attacking brilliance is no protection from defeat if they lose the forward battle, as England showed two weeks ago when their pack put their bodies on the line in such impressive fashion.

The good news for the Springboks is that it is easy to see their pack developing into a world-class unit. Despite the absence of Bismarck du Plessis for most of the year through injury, Adriaan Strauss stepped in and enjoyed a superb season in the middle of the front row. Jannie du Plessis manfully filled the tighthead berth throughout the year, but there is no lack of loosehead talent with Tendai Mtawarira, Gurthro Steenkamp, Heinke van der Merwe and Coenie Oosthuizen all in the frame.

Eben Etzebeth showed signs that he will fill the considerable boots of Bakkies Botha, while, despite several injuries, the loose forward stocks still look strong with Francois Louw, Willem Alberts, Marcell Coetzee and Duane Vermeulen all having an impressive year.

It is among the backs where the future looks cloudy for the Springboks.

Burly inside centre Francois Steyn only played half of the Tests in 2012 due to injury, captain Jean de Villiers slotting into the number 12 jersey in his absence. With problems inside of them – Morne Steyn was in poor form at flyhalf, Johan Goosen was then injured before Pat Lambie eventually played in Britain and Ireland – there was little inspiration from the backline when it came to attack.

In Meyer’s defence, his first year in charge was always going to be a conservative one. In 2013, he should be able to build on the positives of 2012, most notably some incredible defensive displays, to ensure the Springboks are no longer left in the wake of the All Blacks.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-12-12-rugby-2013-the-all-blacks-will-still-be-the-team-to-beat