Ken Borland

The Bulls may have scored as early as the second minute, but for more than an hour they then struggled to go around or get through a ferocious Lions defence, eventually battling to a 22-9 win in their Rainbow Cup match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.

The Bulls began superbly, retaining possession from the kickoff for two minutes before flyhalf Chris Smith jinked and slipped though some tackles to score the opening try. Thereafter, however, the Bulls found themselves in a tremendous tussle, struggling to cope with the Lions’ line-speed in defence and their aggressive targeting of the breakdowns.

Only once in the whole game was there a short kick over the top of the rapidly advancing Lions defence and it nearly resulted in centre Cornal Hendricks scoring. But the Bulls did not use that tactic or the grubber nearly enough. And for all their possession, the Lions were dominant at the breakdowns so it almost always came to nothing.

Smith added a penalty to the conversion of his try and Lions flyhalf Fred Zeilinga kicked two penalties as the Bulls went into halftime 10-6 ahead. The Lions made a good start to the second half, allowing Zeilinga to close the gap to just one point with another penalty in the  44^th minute.

The final quarter belonged to the Bulls though as they camped in the Lions half. After 10 minutes in the 22 they eventually broke through, helped by EW Viljoen’s yellow card for a deliberate knock-on, when replacement prop Lizo Gqoboka won a turnover to win a penalty, and then produced a mini-break before offloading to substitute scrumhalf Zak Burger to race over under the poles for the matchwinning try.

The never-say-die Lions were better than the final scoreline suggested, conceding a try right at the death as flank Elrigh Louw powered through several tackles to score. Hendricks had fought hard on the gainline in the build-up, before offloading to Burger, who darted well and then found Louw with a neat offload.

But the Bulls will point to having three tries disallowed by the TMO and the soft underfoot conditions as having put paid to their more ambitious plans.

Scorers

Bulls: Tries – Chris Smith, Zak Burger, Elrigh Louw. Conversions – Smith, Morne Steyn. Penalty – Smith.

Lions: Penalties – Fred Zeilinga (3).

While a majority independent board and an independent chair have been the most well-publicised aspects of the new Cricket South Africa constitution eventually agreed to by the Members Council, the process by which independent directors are appointed is another vital pillar of the new MoI … and it is now raising concerns among stakeholders in the game.

The MoI puts into place a Nominations Committee which will be a six-person panel comprising either a men’s or women’s former international player nominated by SACA, alongside a former CSA president nominated by the Interim Board, a Members Council representative and people from the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Institute of Directors and the Legal Practice Council.

The only problem with the Nominations Committee is that their word is final and the non-independent directors, or anyone else, are not allowed to object to the names they come up with.

The dangers of that clause are brought into focus by the first board that will serve under the new MoI. Because the Nominations Committee will only exist after the new constitution is formally adopted on Wednesday, they will be picking from a list that the Interim Board have seemingly put together from the applicants who put themselves forward before the cut-off date for applications, which was in February.

It is hardly an independent process because nobody knows who applies and who handled the applications, apart from the Interim Board.

Given the schisms in South African cricket that are obviously still present even though they will ‘officially’ be signed away on Wednesday, there is still an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty out there, and that has led to all manner of speculation and rumour about who CSA’s new directors will be.

The return of Norman Arendse, president of CSA from 2007 to 2008 and a controversial figure because of his continued interference in the selection of the national team, has been mooted, while some administrators have warned of a new wave of cadre deployment as they fear Minister of Sport Nathi Mthethwa wants to drive the ANC agenda in cricket.

Other administrators have called for the institution of an independent administrative office to handle applications for independent director posts, which would then pass them on to the Nominations Committee, with independent auditors exercising oversight through the whole process.

The process of appointing independent directors has the potential to be the new battleground of South African cricket.

South Africa will be kicking themselves that they didn’t just score a handful more runs or solve their no-ball problem as they made Pakistan sweat in pursuit of a target of just 145, the tourists eventually winning by three wickets with just a ball to spare in the fourth and final T20 at Centurion on Friday evening.

Following a dismal batting display that saw the Proteas bowled out inside their 20 overs for the first time in more than a year, Pakistan made a fast start courtesy of Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman (the Proteas will be having nightmares over those two) adding 91 in nine overs.

Fast bowler Lizaad Williams removed both in the 10th over, Fakhar having blazed his way to 60 off 34 balls, while Babar’s contribution was a mere run-a-ball 24.

Much like in the South African innings, the collapse from there was rapid as Pakistan crashed from 92 for one to 129 for seven.

Pacemen Sisanda Magala (4-0-33-2), Andile Phehlukwayo (2-0-11-1) and Williams (3.5-0-39-2) backed up another excellent spell from wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (4-0-21-1), and suddenly South Africa were back in the game with Pakistan needing 25 from three overs.

The 18th over by Phehlukawayo went for nine but Magala made a magnificent start to the penultimate over, with three dot balls and a wicket bringing the equation to 16 needed off eight balls. And then he bowled successive no-balls for the second time in the series, the second free hit seeing Mohammad Nawaz (25* off 21) hammer a six that meant only a run-a-ball was needed in the last over.

The Proteas, needing to win the match in order to share the series, started well enough after being sent in to bat as they reached 109 for two in the 13th over. But outstanding seam bowling saw them lose seven wickets for only 35 runs as they were skittled for a meagre 144, posting their lowest all-out total since Australia shot them out for just 96 at Newlands in February 2020.

Aiden Markram again looked in prolific touch, hitting Nawaz’s first four balls for 11 runs, but he was then trapped lbw by the left-arm spinner’s arm ball, a bit unluckily as the batsman’s review showed it was umpire’s call for both height and hitting leg-stump. Janneman Malan scored 33 off 28 deliveries as he put on 57 for the second wicket with Rassie van der Dussen.

The ever-reliable Van der Dussen went on to score 52 off 36 balls, but he had just reached the milestone when things again fell apart for the Proteas around the 13th over, he and captain Heinrich Klaasen (9) being dismissed in successive overs.

Malan and Van der Dussen were the only batsmen to reach double figures as Pakistan’s pacemen, keeping to a good, full length on a pitch that was slower than two days ago, ripped through the rest of the batting.

Faheem was outstanding, taking three for 17 in his four overs, Haris took two for 18 in three-and-a-half overs and Shaheen Shah Afridi also bowled extremely well to concede just 19 runs in his four overs and take a wicket.

The Bulls produced a telling mix of power in the tight phases and slick attacking play in the second half to run away with their Currie Cup match against the Free State Cheetahs at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, eventually romping to a 40-13 victory.

The Bulls started like a house on fire, cruising to a 13-3 lead after the first quarter, but the Cheetahs, taking advantage of their impressive scrum and some errors in judgement by the Bulls in their own territory, dominated the rest of the first half and the score was level 13-13 at halftime. And that was with the Free Staters wasting a few opportunities for more points.

But with Trevor Nyakane replacing Marcel van der Merwe at tighthead prop after 34 minutes, the Bulls shored up their scrums, their lineout work was excellent and they contested very well on the Cheetahs ball, they used the rolling maul to good effect and were clinical in forcing turnovers and then capitalising on them.

Having been sucked into playing the way the Cheetahs wanted to in the first half, the Bulls once again showed that when they stick to their game-plan, they are tough to beat.

Openside flank Marco van Staden went to town at the breakdowns, was prominent in the mauls and carried the ball strongly, being rewarded with two tries and the man of the match award.

Other heroes for the Bulls were flyhalf Morne Steyn with his educated boot, which netted him a perfect six-from-six record from two conversions and four penalties, as well as gaining the home side plenty of territory with pinpoint accuracy. He did go through a bit of a distracted phase in the second quarter though, his mistakes allowing the Cheetahs to pin the Bulls in their own half.

The experienced hands like captain Duane Vermeulen, flank Arno Botha and Steyn led from the front in ensuring the Bulls returned to basics, and coach Jake White followed his urgent introduction of Nyakane by bringing on lock Ruan Nortje and scrumhalf Ivan van Zyl early in the second half, both of them making a difference in lifting the energy of the home team.

The Free State Cheetahs certainly extended the Super Rugby Unlocked champions more than the final scoreline suggests, but for all their valiant efforts, they were simply not accurate enough, handling errors and soft penalties costing them dearly.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Embrose Papier, Marco van Staden (2), Chris Smith. Conversions: Morne Steyn (2), Smith (2). Penalties: Steyn (4).

Free State Cheetahs – Try: Rynhardt Fortuin. Conversion: Francois Steyn. Penalties: Steyn (2).