Ken Borland

Temba Bavuma is recovering well from his dislocated finger and is expected to be in charge of the Proteas team for their T20 series against the West Indies that begins on Saturday, with all-rounder Wiaan Mulder and left-arm quick Beuran Hendricks also called into the squad after being in the Caribbean for the Test series.

Bavuma missed the two Tests in St Lucia after first suffering a hip injury and then dislocating his finger during training ahead of the second Test. But team management released a statement on Thursday saying he is “responding well to his middle finger dislocation rehabilitation and is expected to lead the team in the upcoming T20 series”. Bavuma has been lined up by the Proteas to do the traditional captain’s press conference on Friday on the eve of the game.

Mulder, who impressed with the ball and with some outstanding catching behind the wicket in the Tests, has remained in the West Indies as a replacement for Dwaine Pretorius, who unfortunately had to stay behind in South Africa after testing positive for Covid-19, but is asymptomatic. Swing bowler Hendricks has been added to the squad as extra pace cover.

The absence of Pretorius could be a lifeline for Andile Phehlukwayo, whose rather unkempt bowling of late has seen him concede 9.85 runs-per-over in T20 internationals since the start of last year, while he has also scored just 54 runs off 46 balls in nine innings in the same period of time.

South Africa’s four frontline bowlers are likely to be Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi, with George Linde favoured as a spin-bowling all-rounder. That leaves the Proteas with a choice between playing another all-rounder at number six or another specialist batsman.

Aiden Markram, who has been a clean striker of the ball lately in T20 internationals, can bowl a couple of overs of tidy off-spin, and South Africa do seem a little reliant on David Miller and, to a lesser extent, Linde to clear the boundary in the closing stages.

Having played on seam-friendly pitches with pace and bounce on the island of St Lucia, the Proteas are likely to find themselves back on a more usual Caribbean pitch that offers some turn, but T20 is all about runs so a true surface is expected, albeit a little slower than the Test wickets.

The West Indies will pose a formidable challenge because they are able to call on all their T20 stars such as Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle and Andre Russell.

Proteas T20 Squad – Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, George Linde, Sisanda Magala, Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams.

According to coach Jake White, the Bulls team expected a “bollocking” from him at halftime in their Currie Cup match against the Free State Cheetahs at Loftus Versfeld at the weekend, but a return to the basics saw them romp to a 40-13 victory in the second half.

The Bulls started the match well, racing into a 13-3 lead in the first quarter, but they then allowed the Cheetahs to dictate affairs and the visitors had pulled level at 13-13 at the break.

“Just before the game I think I gave them a bit of a scare when I told them a thunderstorm could stop the match so we needed to be in front at halftime. We were up 13-3 but then we started defending and waiting for halftime. I think the guys were a bit scared of the weather, they were a bit naïve and psychologically it’s part of the learning process.

“I think they expected a bollocking at halftime but I just said that we had had no ball but when we did have possession we created pressure in their half. I just told them to go back to what they had practised, to believe in it. And in the second half everything worked, we definitely got it right. It was very pleasing, very good rugby and the bench impact was very good too,” White said after the win.

White said his team continues to learn how to come out on top in different match situations.

“Last week we had to show massive character to win with 14 men against Western Province and this week we had to work really hard in the second half and go hard to the end to get the bonus point. Overcoming these sort of challenges are all building blocks, it goes in the memory bank and it’s another box ticked. There’s that understanding how to get it done and the direction.

“Trevor Nyakane is a World Cup winner, he comes on and all of a sudden we get a scrum penalty and that changes the whole game because the scrums are very important. Duane Vermeulen played well and spoke well to the team, he brings massive composure. Nizaam Carr also brought composure and Morne Steyn was good too, it’s very good to have him back in the system,” White said.

Judging by the summary of the Fundudzi Forensic Report released by Cricket South Africa on Monday, it would seem dismissed CEO Thabang Moroe failed “to act with the degree of care, skill and diligence that may reasonably be expected” on an almost daily basis and the report exposes just how shambolic the running of the game had become under his watch and that of the Board.

The Fundudzi Report was commissioned, according to non-independent director John Mogodi in his presentation on Monday, to “investigate various governance issues, lapses in CSA controls and governance oversights” between January 2016 and December 2019. And it uncovered an extensive list of actions and inactions that justified disciplinary measures against Moroe.

But certain other staff members, most notably former chief operating officer Naasei Appiah, who was dismissed in mid-August, are also implicated in misgovernance and the Board itself is accused of dereliction of their fiduciary duties.

Moroe, however, is mentioned a dozen times: for contravening the CSA Code of Conduct when he revoked five journalists’ media accreditation, his failure to ensure the South African Cricketers’ Association were paid their image rights timeously which amounted to treating the players’ union with disdain and causing CSA to suffer reputational damage; several instances where he failed to follow procurement protocols and did not act in the best interests of CSA; misleading the Board when it came to exercising their step-in rights with the Western Province Cricket Association, and in failing to ensure due diligence was done in signing Global Sports Commerce for the Mzansi Super League; excessive credit card expenditure and the irregular appointment of a consultant who was not qualified for the post as head of human resources.

The fact that the CSA Board were so easily misled by Moroe and others will tickle those who have long stated that many of the directors are not fit for office.

Former independent director Mohamed Iqbal Khan and current acting president Beresford Williams were both accused of contravening the Companies Act due to a conflict of interest surrounding FinCom’s decision to make loans to the Western Province Cricket Association.

The Board also approved the agreement with GSC despite never being shown the due diligence report they had previously insisted on and GSC’s failure to provide a bank guarantee. Only 8% of the R169 million the Board has approved in loans to their affiliates for stadium upgrades has been paid back since May 2017, with several of the provincial presidents that benefit from the loans sitting on the CSA Board.

Fundudzi also found that CSA have had no effective internal audit unit for the last four years and the extension of Khan and Dawn Mokhobo’s terms as independent directors last year contravened their own Memorandum of Incorporation.

Mogodi said CSA’s lawyers, Bowmans Gilfillan, had recommended disciplinary processes against other employees of CSA and that although it was still early days in terms of those investigations, “we have already taken action on many findings and the Board are determined to act without fear or favour. We will not tolerate fraud, corruption or mismanagement”.

Fundudzi recommended criminal charges be laid in respect of the Service Provider X deal which saw Moroe and Appiah, without following the correct procurement processes, approve payment of nearly R3.5 million for services that have not been delivered.

Rugby fans who have had enough of the current fatigue-inducing set-up will be eagerly anticipating Christmas and the expected announcement by Sanzar of a new SuperRugby format from 2016. But what they find in their stocking might still leave them unimpressed because Sanzar are unlikely to go the most obvious route of two pools of nine, eight matches home and away and semi-finals and a final.

Because the Southern Kings had such a dramatic impact on rugby in the Eastern Cape, certainly in terms of crowd figures, the South African Rugby Union (Saru) seem to have accepted that they can no longer leave such a massive region out in the cold even though they lost the promotion/relegation series to the Lions. And Argentina, full Sanzar partners now, look set to be rewarded with a place in SuperRugby as well, expanding the competition to 17 teams. Judging by the noises coming out of New Zealand and Australia, some sort of Japanese involvement is also being strongly considered to make it an even 18.

But the same Australian demands that impacted so heavily on the previous broadcasting agreement, which brings in all the money and therefore decides the format, seem set to ensure common sense does not apply. In order to sustain the ailing code of rugby union in Australia, they want their own conference, even if they have to share it with some New Zealand teams.

So the three proposals that Sanzar are considering are to keep the status quo (yes, many stakeholders, most of them living on a big island, actually think the current format is great), to split into South African and Australasian conferences, or to expand the competition even more and include other Asian teams, and the USA and Canada as well.

It would appear the two-conference system has been most positively received by Saru, and hopefully their negotiators will show much more skill when Sanzar meet in Sydney next week than the muppets who negotiated the previous deal. That could mean six South African franchises, which play each other home and away, making 10 fixtures. If the Australasian conference is split into two pools, with Japan in one and Argentina in the other, then they, too, could play 10 round-robin matches. The idea is then for the top six or eight teams across the conferences to play in the finals. If six teams go through and play each other, that’s five more matches. A semi-final and a final would then mean a maximum of 17 games per team – much cleaner, much simpler and less of a slog than SuperRugby is at the moment for all concerned.

What is vital is that Sanzar consult the players, on whom they rely to sell their product. There is a strong suggestion that the current exodus of players from the southern hemisphere to Europe is not just because of the power of the euro, but also because they are on their last legs due to the unceasing intensity and quantity of rugby Sanzar has foisted on them.

Bulls captain Pierre Spies, one of many on the injured list after the prolonged SuperRugby campaign, is pegging his hopes on change. “I’d really like to see the competition end before the international season. That three-week break for the internationals in June is a waste. I’d like to see all the focus on SuperRugby, get that done with and then give all the teams three or four weeks to prepare for the Tests. We could then finish the Rugby Championship at the end of October and either go back to our franchises or prepare for the end-of-year tour. I’d prefer there to be one global schedule and to finish SuperRugby in one go. That would also give all the teams one extra bye,” Spies told Daily Maverick on Thursday.

There does seem to be growing agreement on the sense of having one global rugby season. The International Rugby Players’ Association has come out in favour of it and even Sanzar CEO Greg Peters has said it makes sense. “The idea of moving June to July, in a Sanzar context, certainly holds a lot of appeal, for a lot of reasons,” Peters told The Herald Sun. “We could complete the SuperRugby season without a break, which is something in an ideal world we would want to do. Then you would move straight into the international program, have a short break, the Rugby Championship, short break, and then the Spring Tours. We would certainly be interested in sitting down with the northern unions and getting their views about whether it would work. And obviously we are interested in the views of the players’ associations as well.”

The Currie Cup Premier Division also looks set to change, with a new eight team format apparently agreed to in principle by the Saru executive committee, just two years after they went to great lengths to justify a cut to six teams. The phrase “political expediency” immediately springs to mind, but the thought of the Kings and the Pumas, who have dominated the First Division in recent times and are based in the rapidly-growing centre of Nelspruit, competing at the top table does have appeal.

The administrators sit in the boardrooms and make the decisions over lavish lunches, changing tune according to their own vested interests, but it is the players who have to go out, put their bodies on the line, and make these formats work.

“I’ve only been playing SuperRugby for six years and I’m struggling to get on the field now,” says Springbok star Francois Steyn, who has been out of action since May after two operations for compartment syndrome in the leg – an over-use injury.

“In South African rugby, we all worry about saying something wrong and stepping on someone’s toes, so I should probably keep my mouth shut. But it’s all about bringing the fans out and less rugby is probably better. Then the top players can play for longer. At this rate, if you play for 10 years, you’re a lucky guy.”

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-08-30-quo-vadis-superrugby/#.WKrl_2997IU