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Ken Borland



Proteas likely to stick with menacing pace bowlers as conditions revert back to the past 0

Posted on June 17, 2021 by Ken

The West Indies are famous for producing the most ferocious fast bowling attack of all time, but conditions in the Caribbean have changed so much since then that low and slow pitches are now far more common than hard tracks with pace and bounce.

South Africa, nevertheless, have won their last three series in the West Indies largely through the use of menacing pace bowling. Of the Proteas bowlers who have taken more than 10 wickets over there, Allan Donald (20), Andre Nel (17), Dale Steyn (15) and Morne Morkel (14) all average less than 25.

Jacques Kallis, who was certainly genuinely quick when the mood grabbed him, has taken the most wickets (27) on tour there, but played four more Tests (12) than any other bowler. Left-arm spinner Nicky Boje is the third-highest wicket-taker, but his 20 scalps came at an average of 40.55.

Current coach Mark Boucher also played 12 Tests in the Caribbean and it looks like the Proteas will be backing their fast bowlers again when the first Test starts on Thursday at Gros Islet, St Lucia.

“These are new conditions for us because we have not played here in the rainy season, normally it’s warmer and dryer. But it has felt more like England: overcast and although I have never seen it rain over here before, the last three days have been rainy. So there is a lot of movement and we are using the Duke ball and not the Kookaburra we used to over here. The Duke stays harder for longer and ball-maintenance will be key.

“We have got the right balance in the bowlers we have over here, we have four seamers that are probably hoping to play and then a spinner. Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi are all different and Keshav Maharaj can bowl well on any surface. Then there’s Wiaan Mulder too. We want to put the West Indies under pressure with ball and bat,” bowling coach Charl Langeveldt said.

So it seems unlikely that wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi will play and George Linde, who kind of does the JP Duminy role of back-up spinner who can bat, is likely to lose out to seam-bowling all-rounder Mulder.

Langeveldt admitted that the Proteas have not done themselves justice in Test cricket recently, and new captain Dean Elgar is certainly giving his team no peace about it in their team chats so far.

“We really want to turn our Test cricket around and the captain has talked about doing the basics for the longest. It might mean boring cricket, but that’s what you want in Test cricket. Dean certainly brings something different, he demands professionalism, discipline and that team ethos, which is something we’ve needed to revisit.

“He has asked the senior players to lead by example and to speak to the youngsters. We need to keep our disciplines for long periods,” Langeveldt said.

‘Just a hiccough’ – De Bruyn on losing Proteas contract 0

Posted on March 25, 2020 by Ken

Highly-rated batsman Theunis de Bruyn may have just lost his Proteas contract but the 27-year-old has enough perspective to know there are far more important issues at hand at the moment and he is confident a rotten 2019/20 summer for him personally is just a hiccough in a career that has promised so much.

While the Covid-19 pandemic brought the cricket season to a shocking, sudden halt, De Bruyn feels as if he didn’t really have a cricket season at all. From the time he scored 41 for SA A against India A in Mysore last September, he has batted just 20 times this summer.

His problems started in the Mzansi Super League in November when he was hospitalised with a mystery virus. Then in the Momentum One-Day Cup he had just scored a brilliant 120 against the Lions at Centurion when he tore a hamstring in the field. In his first net practice back, he was coming to the end of his session when he was too early on a pull against Junior Dala and suffered a concussion.

His last innings for the Proteas was back in October in the third Test against India in Ranchi, when, ironically, De Bruyn was the top-scorer as he made 30 out of a dismal total of 133 all out. And now he has lost his national contract.

So the 2019/20 season has exacted a heavy fee on his good humour.

“It was just one of those seasons and I have no answers to the questions why? But we need to put the situation in perspective with what is currently going on: we can’t even play cricket now, businesses are closing and it’s a crazy time. We can only hope this pandemic unites the nation and then we can stand up and rebuild. So we need to take all that on board for perspective.

“But this last season was completely not what I expected, not what I put in all the hard work towards. The current situation is a bit like my season, all questions and no answers. I’ve hardly played this season, it feels like the season never really started for me. I feel a bit forgotten but I just have to take it on the chin because I failed in international cricket. But at the end of the day the passion is still there and I will take on the new season,” De Bruyn told The Citizen on Tuesday.

The Titans star admitted it has been a tough time to get through, but he has already been putting in hard work to ensure he comes back next season as an even better player.

“I’ve figured a few things out as to how I can improve as a cricketer, to become a more complete package physically, mentally and technically. This season has been so tough, but then I had setbacks when I was young, not making a provincial team, and it makes you want to give up and then the next season you have the time of your life.

“I believe I still have a role to play in South African cricket, I still have eight-to-ten years left in my career so there’s still a lot of time. I’m just going to take all the lessons I can from this season. In the few innings I had, I actually felt good and what I have been working on was coming through. It’s the first time I’ve failed in my career but now I can help the Titans rebuild and get better, which is what I love. Plus I have the chance to watch all the cricket highlights on TV that I haven’t had the chance to see before,” De Bruyn said.

https://citizen.co.za/premium/2260168/bigger-things-are-happening-theunis-chilled-over-proteas-snub/

Many mountains to climb for the Stormers 0

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Ken

 

 

The Stormers have higher, far more treacherous mountains to climb than the picturesque hill near Newlands on Saturday. Ranked against them will be a crocked list that is as long as a teamsheet, their fans and the Reds – a side that has a strong pack and a potent attacking backline.

Oh, and if they lose there’s the possible purgatory of a promotion/relegation match against the Lions to look forward to.

Stormers supporters, their emotions coloured by all the recent success their team has enjoyed, are fearing the worst as their team take on the Reds in a crunch Vodacom SuperRugby encounter at Newlands on Saturday.

Coach Allister Coetzee, who delivered a long-awaited Currie Cup triumph last year as well as making the Stormers the most consistent South African team in SuperRugby over the last three years, is suddenly under enormous pressure after three successive losses overseas and a last-place finish in the Conference and an embarrassing – and potentially devastating – promotion/relegation match against the Lions now a possibility.

And to make matters worse, Coetzee now has to steer his side back to winning ways with a number of key players out injured.

Schalk Burger, Deon Carstens, De Kock Steenkamp, Michael Rhodes, Peter Grant, Jaco Taute and Ruan Botha have all been long-term injury losses, but in the last couple of weeks the coach has had to add Pat Cilliers, Frans Malherbe, Scarra Ntubeni, Deon Fourie, Andries Bekker, Rynhardt Elstadt, Duane Vermeulen and Juan de Jongh to the crocked list.

And so the Stormers go into the match against the Reds, a side that has a strong pack of forwards and a potent attacking backline, with several inexperienced SuperRugby campaigners trying to protect a six-point lead over the Southern Kings.

Damian de Allende, Nizaam Carr, Don Armand and Gerbrandt Grobler are all in the starting line-up despite still trying to find their feet at this level, and there are even more fresh faces on the bench with Martin Bezuidenhout, Chris Heiberg, Lions import Marius Coetzer, Rohan Kitshoff and Gary van Aswegen charged with making an impact.

One man who is not scared of all this youthfulness, however, is Stormers and Springbok captain Jean de Villiers.

“We have new players coming in and that’s exciting as it means there are players being presented with opportunities to stake a claim. I spoke to Chris Heiberg, a club player, and asked him if he would ever have dreamed he would be playing SuperRugby for the Stormers this year.

“This is his chance to play himself into the mix as a professional rugby player, it really is a big opportunity for him, and he is not the only player who is in that position this week. That is why I am excited about this team,” said De Villiers.

But most neutrals would agree that the Reds will probably offer more excitement on Saturday and flyhalf Quade Cooper could be a man on a mission after he was left out of the initial Wallabies squad to play the British & Irish Lions.

While the Stormers are battling just to stay off the bottom of the Conference, the Bulls are at the other end of the scale and could make themselves basically unopposed for the top spot if they beat the Sharks in Durban and the Cheetahs lose to the Kings in Port Elizabeth.

The Sharks will no doubt be relieved to be back at King’s Park after a torrid tour left them 10th on the log, but a misfiring attack makes one wonder how they are actually going to hurt the Bulls should the forward exchanges go their way.

Wing Piet Lindeque is now at outside centre after the Sharks lost yet another Springbok to injury in JP Pietersen, but the Bulls have often suffered at the hands of Pat Lambie and the incumbent Springbok flyhalf will be eager to build on the slowly-improving form he showed overseas.

The talk in Durban is that the Bulls are in for another of the Sharks’ surprises as the announced team is rumoured not to be the one that will take the field. The experience of Bismarck du Plessis and Butch James could yet feature on the teamsheet, even though coach John Plumtree did not announce them in the 22-man squad, saying that the injuries that have kept them out of the whole campaign thus far were still not quite right.

Be that as it may, the Sharks, with Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira back at loosehead prop, have the pack to match the Bulls. The lineouts will be an especially tough arena of battle as Franco van der Merwe and Pieter-Steph du Toit go up against Juandré Kruger and Flip van der Merwe; the quartet are all in the plans of Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.

Keegan Daniel, who showed his character by leading the Sharks to victory over the Western Force after a horrible week for him personally, is another who usually lifts his game against the Bulls and he will have top-class flanks alongside him in Willem Alberts and Marcell Coetzee.

But the Bulls are a settled, confident and in-form side and a tight contest is tailor-made for Morné Steyn to play a match-winning hand.

The exciting Francois Hougaard gets a second chance to start at scrumhalf after a disappointing outing last weekend, but it’s the strategic brilliance of Steyn that is more likely to win the Bulls a tough derby contest.

Another vastly experienced stalwart returns in Wynand Olivier and he will form a steely defensive alliance with JJ Engelbrecht in midfield, which will be vital as the Sharks are likely to base their attack around Lambie and big forwards Alberts, Coetzee, Mtawarira and Du Toit running off him.

The Southern Kings have already done enough this season to suggest most people would like to see them around in SuperRugby for more than just one year, but they have the opportunity on Saturday to make themselves most unpopular with their predecessors as everyone’s favourite underdogs – the Cheetahs.

The Cheetahs are firmly in contention for Conference honours but they are six points behind the Bulls, so defeat in Port Elizabeth and a victory for the visitors in Durban could leave them 10 points behind. And the Bulls have a game in hand.

The Kings are coming off a bye and have pretty much returned to full strength. SP Marais, a wonderful attacker with pace, vision and skill, comes in at fullback and has the talent to be the Eastern Cape’s answer to Willie le Roux.

And the less subtle talents of the formidable Jacques Engelbrecht are also just waiting to be unleashed on the Cheetahs from the bench.

Where the Cheetahs could have an edge is up front, in the set-pieces, where former Springbok great Os du Randt has proven to be a brilliant mentor.

“I think we have done really well the last couple of weeks in the scrums and lineouts,” Cheetahs captain Adriaan Strauss said. “The guys have worked really hard and much of the credit must go to Os du Randt for his efforts with the forwards. We will have to take the Kings on up front and are looking forward to the challenge.”

If the Cheetahs get enough forward dominance, they can aim for the four-try bonus point because one fancies the Bulls aren’t going to get one in the cauldron of King’s Park.

But as big Os has surely pointed out, the Kings are a proud bunch, they will be refreshed and confident after their great debut season thus far, and they’re certainly not going to lie down and just allow the Cheetahs to run riot.

Teams

Southern Kings (v Cheetahs, Saturday 15:00): SP Marais, Siyanda Grey, Ronnie Cooke, Andries Strauss, Marcello Sampson, Demetri Catrakilis, Shaun Venter, Cornell du Preez, Luke Watson, Wimpie van der Walt, David Bulbring, Steven Sykes, Kevin Buys, Bandise Maku, Schalk Ferreira. Replacements: Virgile Lacombe, Grant Kemp, Rynier Bernardo, Jacques Engelbrecht, Nicolas Vergallo, Shane Gates, George Whitehead.

Cheetahs (v Southern Kings, Saturday 15:00): Hennie Daniller, Rayno Benjamin, Johann Sadie, Robert Ebersohn, Willie le Roux, Elgar Watts, Piet van Zyl, Philip van der Walt, Lappies Labuschagné, Heinrich Brüssow, Francois Uys, Lood de Jager, Lourens Adriaanse, Adriaan Strauss, Coenie Oosthuizen. Replacements: Ryno Barnes, Trevor Nyakane, Ligtoring Landman, Boom Prinsloo, Sarel Pretorius, Riaan Smit, Raymond Rhule.

Stormers (v Reds, Saturday 17:05): Joe Pietersen, Gio Aplon, Jean de Villiers, Damian de Allende, Bryan Habana, Elton Jantjies, Louis Schreuder, Nizaam Carr, Don Armand, Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Gerbrandt Grobler, Brok Harris, Tiaan Liebenberg, Steven Kitshoff. Replacements: Martin Bezuidenhout, Chris Heiberg, Marius Coetzer, Rohan Kitshoff, Dewaldt Duvenage, Gary van Aswegen, Gerhard van den Heever.

The Sharks (v Bulls, Saturday 19:10pm): Riaan Viljoen, Odwa Ndungane, Piet Lindeque, Meyer Bosman, Lwazi Mvovo, Pat Lambie, Charl McLeod, Keegan Daniel, Willem Alberts, Marcell Coetzee, Franco van der Merwe, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jannie du Plessis, Kyle Cooper, Tendai Mtawarira. Replacements: Monde Hadebe, Wiehahn Herbst, Jandré Marais, Jean Deysel, Lubabalo Mtembu, Tian Meyer, Sean Robinson.

Bulls (v Sharks, Saturday 19:10): Jürgen Visser, Akona Ndungane, JJ Engelbrecht, Wynand Olivier, Bjorn Basson, Morné Steyn, Francois Hougaard, Pierre Spies, Dewald Potgieter, Deon Stegmann, Juandré Kruger, Flip van der Merwe, Frik Kirsten, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Dean Greyling. Replacements: Willie Wepener, Werner Kruger, Grant Hattingh, Arno Botha, Jano Vermaak, Louis Fouché/Jan Serfontein, Lionel Mapoe.

Other fixtures: Chiefs v Crusaders (Friday 9:35); Rebels v Waratahs (Friday 11:40); Blues v Brumbies (Saturday 9:35); Force v Highlanders (Saturday 11:40).

Bye: Hurricanes.

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-05-24-superrugby-preview-in-the-eye-of-a-storm/#.Vhucxvmqqkp

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    Philemon 1:7 – “Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.”

    “Every disciple of Jesus has a capacity for love. The most effective way to serve the Master is to share his love with others. Love can comfort, save the lost, and offer hope to those who need it. It can break down barriers, build bridges, establish relationships and heal wounds.” – A Shelter From The Storm, Solly Ozrovech

    If there’s a frustrating vacuum in your spiritual life and you fervently desire to serve the Lord but don’t know how you’re meant to do that, then start by loving others in his name.

     



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