Ken Borland

George Linde has obviously found married life to be to his liking as he led Western Province to victory over the Boland Rocks with a fine display with both bat and ball on the opening day of the CSA T20 Challenge at St George’s Park on Monday.

Linde, who pulled out of the Proteas tour to New Zealand due to his wedding last weekend, was outstanding with the ball as he took 2/13 in four overs as Boland were restricted to 142/6 after electing to bat first.

They got that far thanks to a partnership of 79 between Christiaan Jonker (46) and Ferisco Adams (34), both of whom were dismissed in the space of three balls by the orthodox left-armer.

Fellow spinner Junaid Dawood (4-0-20-1) and left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks (4-0-28-2) were also impressive for Western Province.

The Western Province chase was given a superb start by returning opening batsman Richard Levi, who slammed 67 off 39 balls, despite another former international, fast bowler Hardus Viljoen, taking 3/16 in three overs.

But Levi was dismissed in the 13^th over with 42 runs required, giving Boland a chance of getting back in the game.

But Linde then scored 20 not out and, with Aviwe Mgijima (26*) steered Western Province home with three overs to spare.

The Northerns Titans, with Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen and Theunis de Bruyn providing plenty of batting power, and spinners Tabraiz Shamsi and Aaron Phangiso dominating the middle overs, have been installed as one of the favourites for the competition.

But they were beaten by 8 runs by the Eastern Province Warriors as their batting failed to fire and poor bowling with the new ball and in the closing overs undid their good work in the middle.

Sent in to bat, Matthew Breetzke (36 off 21) and Wihan Lubbe raced to 65 inside the first seven overs.

The Northerns spinners, led by slow left-armer Phangiso’s 1/24 in four overs, then fought back, but Lubbe batted through to the 17^th over for his well-controlled 56 off 46 balls and Tristan Stubbs provided a matchwinning boost by lashing an outstanding 51 off 27 deliveries to take EP to 163/8.

Lizaad Williams dismissed them both to finish with 2/29 in his four overs.

Lubbe then claimed the key wicket of De Kock for a two-ball duck in the opening over and Gihahn Cloete (23), De Bruyn (17) and Klaasen (20) were all unable to build on starts.

The talented Donovan Ferreira belted 60 not out off 40 balls but did not have enough support as Northerns closed on 155/8.

Lubbe took 2/15 in two overs, but the best Warriors bowler was the experienced Jon-Jon Smuts, who conceded just 12 runs in his four overs and claimed the key wicket of Klaasen.

It was never going to be a dolly of a catch that Social Justice and Nation-Building ombudsman Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza found himself under, but given the evidence provided during the last week of hearings, his job over the next month in compiling his final report should be like taking a firmly-struck drive straight to you in the covers.

Given the legal pedigree of Ntsebeza, I would be surprised if he fumbled. Even though the way assistant Sandile July seems to have already made up his mind about who the villains of this piece are is a bit like your team-mate distracting you under a high catch by also trying to get under it.

As Ntsebeza has often reminded, his brief is to find whether there has been racial and gender discrimination in South African cricket.

For those of us who have been involved in the game since unity, the evidence has clearly backed up what we knew all along. There was most certainly racial discrimination and lingering Apartheid attitudes that caused some fine cricketers and people to be dreadfully treated.

But since around 2010, the issue becomes cloudier. The national team became more representative and more aware of diversity and cultural differences. Cricket South Africa’s Board became majority Black.

The last week has seen Ntsebeza admit that the evidence provided by those found guilty of attempting to corrupt the game – Alviro Petersen, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Ethy Mbhalati and Thami Tsolekile – that they had been discriminated against on the basis of their colour, was “a red herring”.

Ntsebeza expressed his regret that so much time had been spent on the issue, likening it to “a runaway horse” that was eventually corralled by the testimony of those who led the matchfixing investigation in 2015/16.

So their evidence – save for some of the harrowing tales from Tsolekile’s youth – should be discounted. Along with that of former CSA independent director Eugenia Kula-Ameyaw, who ironically came up with the SJN idea.

That she actually has very little clue on the game in this country was borne out by much of her evidence being picked apart by the compelling testimony of SACA chief executive Andrew Breetzke, CSA’s acting head of pathways Eddie Khoza and acting CEO Pholetsi Moseki.

High-profile lawyer David Becker, along with Moseki, also cleared up many of the untruths about how Graeme Smith came to be in CSA’s service as director of cricket.

It is a pity that none of Smith, Mark Boucher or AB de Villiers have given public testimony, but hopefully there is enough in their affidavits for Ntsebeza to have a clear picture of their side of the story.

It is to be hoped that Ntsebeza, who seemed to grow increasingly frustrated towards the end of the hearings but managed to remain in control and exude a definite air of fairness, is able to produce a final report that CSA can call into service to ensure they continue the progress in transformation that they have made.

The importance of the SJN is to guide CSA into the future and not to settle the scores of those who are bitter, especially those who are chiefly responsible for their own demise.

Selection and quotas will always be a contentious issue. And even though Khaya Zondo was clearly unfairly treated in 2015, it is difficult to say it was on the basis of his colour given the fact that Black people, and not just De Villiers, were involved in that controversy.

Speaking of being unfair, July himself admitted that targets were discriminatory but were designed to undo previous wrongs. It is an argument with huge merit, but the other side of the coin is that innocent people are being punished for the sins of their fathers.

I always think the opinions of West Indian great Michael Holding should guide one’s view in most cricketing discussions. But even he appeared a bit stumped by the whole quotas issue when he addressed the SJN hearings at their closure.

Calling them “an unnecessary burden” for players of colour, allowing the churlish to say they are only in the team because of regulations, he added that he understood the reason for them because people wanted to see a team that is fully representative and that the fear is, without quotas, this will not happen quickly enough.

Holding said he hoped they would eventually no longer be necessary.

My hope is that the SJN leads to exactly that, where all cricketers in this country have an equal opportunity to play for the Proteas.

DURBAN, KwaZulu-Natal – For the second day in a row, Louis Albertse found himself at the top of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series leaderboard alongside Adilson da Silva as they go into the final round of the Mount Edgecombe event.

Albertse teed off in the afternoon on Friday and the 25-year-old from Dundee once again matched the veteran Brazilian all the way after Da Silva had come home in two-under 35 in the morning. The pair both shot one-under-par 69s in blustery conditions to go to five-under for the tournament, one stroke ahead of Ockie Strydom.

Although the rain that was an irritation on the first day had disappeared, there were gusty winds and rather fresh temperatures to contend with on Friday.

But Albertse, who is now in his fourth season on tour, felt at home, not only in the tricky weather but also being right in the mix at the top of the leaderboard.

“Conditions were not easy but I felt I handled them very well. In these conditions there are always going to be mistakes, but I’m happy that I’ve ended the day in a good position. There was no rain this afternoon, but the wind was definitely a factor. In my last six or seven holes it really picked up and it was a bit cold as well.

“At times the wind meant a difference of three or four clubs, and at this place when that happens then anything under par is good. I will approach the final round exactly the same, I’m playing nicely and there’s no need to change anything. Both my bogeys today were putting errors on the par-fives, which was really surprising because I’ve been putting well. I’ve played with Adilson before and he’s a really nice guy,” Albertse said.

With finishes of T10th, third (a career-best finish at the SunBet Time Square Challenge at Wingate Park), T42nd and T12th since the beginning of August, Albertse has risen to 21^st on the order of merit. He is certainly playing with more consistency now, which he puts down to the work he has done with strength and conditioning coach Jacques Swarts.

“I think my recent success is a factor of a lot of things coming right at a similar time. But with Jacques Swarts I’ve been working really hard in the gym for the last couple of years and since that I’ve become a lot more consistent because my body feels good throughout a tournament. It’s small things added together which have led to more consistency,” Albertse said.

Strydom, a winner of the Sishen Vodacom Origins of Golf Series leg in 2019, closed to within a shot of the leaders with his two-under-par 68 on Friday, which featured a double-bogey six on the 11^th hole and two other dropped shots, which were nullified by three birdies on each loop.

CJ du Plessis made a strong move into the tie for fourth on three-under-par with his 67, with experienced golfers Lyle Rowe, Anton Haig, Trevor Fisher Jnr and Hennie Otto lurking with intent on two-under-par with several other golfers.

Scores – https://sunshinetour.com/tournament-information/?tourn=VOWC&season=221S&report=tmentry~season=221S~alphaorder~#/profile

Captain Siya Kolisi said on Friday that the Springboks have been measured by themselves and they found themselves wanting in last weekend’s defeat to Australia, which is why they will be running out with great determination to rectify that when they meet the Wallabies again in a Rugby Championship Test at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday.

South Africa went down 26-28 to Australia last weekend in an unfocused, error-strewn and ill-disciplined performance. Kolisi said the world champions and the team clinging on to the number one ranking under pressure from the All Blacks know they are much better than what they showed on the Gold Coast.

“We know exactly where we went wrong, it was very upsetting to lose like that. The mistakes we made with things that are normally a given, it was so tough to see that on the review. They were simple errors. Just on the day, we were not at our best in the physical part. We have our standards, but we made fewer tackles and especially less dominant tackles, Australia dominated their hits with ball-in-hand.

“We compared ourselves to how we played against Argentina and the British and Irish Lions and the standard was definitely not the same. We need to make that better first before we complain about anything else. So we are going to be more determined on Saturday to bring what we did not show on the field last weekend,” Kolisi said.

To make matters tougher, the Springboks have a very disappointing record in Brisbane. Since the return from isolation, South Africa have won just once there in 12 attempts against Australia. Kolisi, along with Willie le Roux, Eben Etzebeth and Duane Vermeulen, is one of the players who featured in that memorable 38-12 hammering of the Wallabies in 2013.

“We’ve only won once at Suncorp and we want to change that, but the most important thing is for us to stay in the competition and defend the Rugby Championship. So we are going to throw everything into this game. We’ve spent the week asking ourselves why we did not get to where we are meant to be in the previous game and I’m confident we will pitch up this weekend.

“Winning is what we care about, that’s the only way we can maintain our number one ranking. But the ranking is not our focus, we want to get back into the competition and give ourselves a chance of winning it again. But if we’re not disciplined then we won’t get the result we want,” Kolisi said.