Ken Borland

Mitchell van Buuren could have followed in the footsteps of his older cousin Graeme and become an émigré to the United Kingdom, but the 24-year-old batsman has decided to stick it out in South Africa and on Friday he was the saviour of the Central Gauteng Lions side in their crucial final round 4-Day Domestic Series fixture against the Northerns Titans in Centurion.

The Lions, frontrunners in the four-day competition for so long, are trying to hold off strong late challenges from Northerns as well as the Eastern Province Warriors, and they were in early trouble at SuperSport Park as they slumped to 79/4.

That was when Van Buuren came to the crease and he showed impressive discipline and composure even as the Lions slid further into the mire on 118/6. Sisanda Magala then joined him and the burly Proteas white-ball player was able to show his value with the bat as he fought hard for nearly two-and-a-half hours, playing some lovely strokes in his 61 and adding a vital 130 for the seventh wicket with Van Buuren.

With off-spinner Simon Harmer (31-7-84-3) wrapping up the tail, the Lions were bowled out for 270 on the stroke of stumps, with Van Buuren finishing unbeaten on a highly-responsible 103, which included 10 fours and three sixes.

Seamer Aya Gqamane was the pick of the Northerns bowlers, taking 3/45 in 16 overs, his victims being the star trio of Josh Richards (33), Ryan Rickelton (24) and Magala. Lizaad Williams was also slippery, taking 2/42 in 22 overs.

The Warriors, meanwhile, were in firm control of their match against the Free State Knights in Bloemfontein until the hosts were lifted to a tolerable 198/7 by a marvellous 107 not out by Patrick Botha.

The EP pacemen, Tiaan van Vuuren (14-4-32-3), Akhona Mnyaka (12-1-49-2) and Mthiwekhaya Nabe (11-1-35-2) quickly ripped through the Knights top-order, with only Raynard van Tonder (34) showing much resistance.

Coming in at 39/4, Botha shared successive partnerships of 54 with Van Tonder and 72 with Migael Pretorious (17). It lifted the mood in a Knights camp that is missing several key players and has been further rocked by the resignation of Allan Donald as coach. The Proteas great is taking up a role as bowling coach of Bangladesh.

Scores in brief for other games

Western Province 332/4 (Jonathan Bird 128, Yaseen Vallie 44, Gavin Kaplan 73, Daniel Smith 46*; Delano Potgieter 2/56) v North-West.

KZN Dolphins 272/5 (Grant Roelofsen 49, Keegan Petersen 115*, Andile Phehlukwayo 69*; Shaun von Berg 3/81) v Boland Rocks.

Juan Mostert has followed a similar road to Loftus Versfeld as the great Handre Pollard and he could get his first chance to shine at senior level as he was on Thursday named on the bench for the Bulls for their United Rugby Championship match against Zebre in Parma on Friday night.

Mostert has been named as the flyhalf cover for starting No.10 Chris Smith. The Bulls have something of a flyhalf crisis on the go at present as Morne Steyn is suspended for three weeks and Johan Goosen is out with a long-term knee injury.

So the 21-year-old Mostert has been lured out of a deal with the Seattle Seahawks for Major League Rugby and offered a two-year deal by the Bulls, whose director of rugby, Jake White, has been tracking the young talent’s career.

“Fortunately Juan had not quite done all the paperwork for the United States because Covid and visa requirements did not make it as easy as he thought it would. So we have signed him to stay,” White said on Thursday.

“He has a two-year deal and we’ll probably look to keep him for longer. He’s big and tall and he played for SA Schools and Paul Roos Gimnasium. He’ll be an understudy to Morne, Chris and Johan.

“He probably didn’t think he would get a chance so soon, but he’ll always be in the mix because he can play flyhalf, centre and fullback. Hopefully he can get on the field against Zebre and get a feel for this level.

“He’s had a bit of injury problems with a quad strain that has gone on for a while, but he’s got everything – pedigree of playing for South Africa at junior level and versatility,” White said.

Pollard was also schooled in the Western Cape (Paarl Gim) before heading to Pretoria and Mostert is even more of a physical specimen, being four centimetres taller than the Springbok star at 6’4”. Mostert starred for Maties in the Varsity Cup before his decision to further his career in America.

But when Jake White makes an advance, it’s probably best for a young rugby player to take up the offer. With Steyn already 37 years old, Goosen turning 30 in July and Smith 27, Mostert could well be the flyhalf of the future for the Bulls.

Bulls team:Kurt-Lee Arendse, Cornal Hendricks, Lionel Mapoe, Harold Vorster, Madosh Tambwe, Chris Smith, Embrose Papier; Elrigh Louw, Arno Botha, Marcell Coetzee (CAPT), Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Jacques van Rooyen, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. IMPACT -Bismarck du Plessis, Simphiwe Matanzima, Robert Hunt, Janko Swanepoel, WJ Steenkamp; Keagan Johannes, Juan Mostert, Canan Moodie.

Cricket South Africa president Chris Nenzani on Tuesday night denied that the organisation was afflicted by terrible chaos but admitted that the delays in holding former CEO Thabang Moroe’s disciplinary hearing were not good for the game, although unavoidable to ensure correct procedures were followed.

Moroe was suspended in December pending the outcome of a forensic investigation, and last week returned to the CSA offices, purportedly to ‘return to work’ as he believed his suspension expired after six months. This happened after the South African Cricketers’ Association, the players’ union, warned that the CSA Board lacked the will to finalise Moroe’s case.

CSA’s former Head of Sales and Sponsor Relations Clive Eksteen, who was suspended by Moroe in October and fired by CSA at the weekend, on Tuesday announced that he would be taking the organisation to the CCMA for unfair dismissal.

“I don’t think Cricket South Africa is in chaos although there are challenges we have to go through. We have to make sure we deal with certain in-house issues so they don’t impact on the game. We hoped by now that we would have been able to announce the outcome of the investigation into Mr Moroe, but unfortunately not and there is great disappointment over that at Board and Members Council level. It is not desirable that it take so long and we will take the necessary action to ensure CSA are protected.

“But I ask for understanding because we must complete a forensic investigation that meets the highest levels of governance and that is time-consuming. We have been promised by the investigators that the first part of the report will be ready by Friday and the Members Council will then decide the way forward. But set processes need to be followed so we don’t fall foul of the law. I can assure that the terms of reference of the investigation are as exhaustive as possible, but it is not common practice to make them public,” Nenzani said in a virtual press conference on Tuesday evening.

While Nenzani did his best during an hour-long conference to depict all CSA’s cups as being half-full, the organisation’s president since 2013 admitted that he should not have extended his record tenure by another term.

“One of the things I would have done differently in hindsight is that I would not have agreed to serving as president for an additional year. I regret that. But when you are an elected official you have an obligation to serve and so when the Members Council asks you to continue then you subject yourself to that. But the term of the president will come to an end in the AGM in September,” Nenzani said.

The Bisho schoolteacher refused to deny, however, that he has his eye on the position of International Cricket Council Chairman.

“As far as the position of chairman goes, the ICC has issued a moratorium on people expressing a desire for that post. They haven’t even opened the process of nominations yet, so it would be premature to make any declarations of being available or not being available,” Nenzani said.

Titans coach Rob Walter has followed the same route as several other franchise coaches and included some young new faces in his squad for the opening weekend of RamSlam T20 Challenge action, but he says this is purely incidental because he is looking to put his best possible team out on the park for their match against the Dolphins in Centurion on Sunday afternoon.

Off-spinner Ruben Claassen and seamers Sammy Mofokeng and Lungi Ngidi have been called up to the squad, which also includes returning internationals Quinton de Kock, Farhaan Behardien and Chris Morris.

“This is the best team we can choose at the moment and the guys coming in have certainly showed that they have something to offer. The fact that they are young is just incidental. It was very clear in the Momentum One-Day Cup that if we get our skills together in all three disciplines, like we did in the successive bonus-point wins, then it’s difficult to compete with us. But in the rest of the games, some of our skills were only at 30%,” Walter told Saturday Citizen on Friday.

De Kock and Behardien are in fine form right now and will certainly boost the Titans against a star-studded Dolphins team in which David Miller and Kevin Pietersen pose a clear and present danger.

“It’s great to have those guys back, especially after such a successful series. They’re individuals who have done well, they’re in good form and they’ll bring energy and experience to the team.

“We don’t have any special plans for KP … he hasn’t hit many balls in the last couple of months. But the Dolphins are a good all-round team, their batting is probably their strong suit, but Kyle Abbott and Craig Alexander have been bowling pretty well,” Walter added.

Squads

Titans: Henry Davids, Quinton de Kock, Grant Mokoena, Mangaliso Mosehle, Farhaan Behardien, Qaasim Adams, Albie Morkel, Chris Morris, Marchant de Lange, Tabraiz Shamsi, Junior Dala, Heino Kuhn, Ruben Claassen, Lungi Ngidi, Sammy Mofokeng.

Dolphins: Morne van Wyk (captain), Cameron Delport, Cody Chetty, Kevin Pietersen, David Miller, Khaya Zondo, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Kyle Abbott, Ayavuya Myoli, Craig Alexander, Rabian Engelbrecht, Prenelan Subrayen.