Ken Borland

There may still be a lot of water to flow under the bridge in terms of LIV and a deal to unify golf once again, but the Stinger GC team, made up of four South Africans, is pushing ahead with plans to grow their popularity at home and ultimately bring the breakaway league to this country.

Latest reports suggest Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, LIV’s chief backers, is in advanced talks over buying a 6% investment in PGA Tour Enterprises.

Richard Glover, the general manager of Stinger GC, which comprises Louis Oosthuizen, Dean Burmester, Branden Grace and Charl Schwartzel, says LIV is here to stay and eager to expand their presence in South Africa.

“It’s a team that really works and now we are trying to build a business brand for it. South Africans understand team sport and Stinger comprises four very authentic people, what you see is what you get with them. They are great friends and they have a great relationship,” Glover, who was previously the CEO of Tennis SA and a vice-president of the ATP Tour, told Rapport at Leopard Creek this week.

“I’m absolutely convinced LIV can work in South Africa and there is definitely an interest in hosting an event here. The when and the where are still open for discussion, but I believe there is a big opportunity for that moving forward. Maybe in 2026 or 2027?

“The obstacles are the exchange rate and the economic situation here, but LIV see it as a key market because of the history of golf here and the support base it has. LIV would resonate with our fans and it would be incredibly exciting to see some of the best golfers in the world up against our South African boys on their home turf.

“Ultimately we want to grow the Stinger and LIV brands here. We want to have a year-round footprint, so you will see Stinger clothing in the pro shops,” Glover said.

Burmester and Schwartzel were both in contention at the weekend in the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek, while Oosthuizen is the defending champion. There is clearly nothing wrong with the standard of play in LIV Golf.

“We’re still all competitors. It may be a different tour, but it’s definitely not the case that our games have become worse,” Schwartzel said. “There are great players on the LIV tour, names all the way through like Mickelson, Johnson, De Chambeau and Cam Smith, and we work extremely hard. We still arrive on the Monday and have an extra day to practise. Playing three rounds actually makes it harder to win because there is no let-up. I shot 71 on the first day here [Leopard Creek] and in LIV that would put you out of contention. With four rounds, you have more of a chance to make up the deficit. People who doubt the standard of play are just looking for excuses to criticise the tour.

Some of the brash new elements LIV have introduced would be considered terrible behaviour on the established tours, but this year’s event in Adelaide provided incredible entertainment.

Stinger GC and Ripper GC went head-to-head in a playoff for the title and the intensity was incredible, perhaps because they are the two teams with the strongest identities, being composed of South Africans and Australians respectively.

“Growing up, I played cricket and used to dream of the stadium-style contest. That was the closest I’ve got to experiencing that,” Burmester said. “There were thousands of people within yards of the golfers. I could barely make my backswing in some places, you’re asking 30 rows to move back. It was nervewracking and we lost, but it really helped my game.

“South Africa would be an incredible fit for LIV and there is work behind the scenes to make it happen, we are pulling on many strings. I feel we can create that Australian vibe, that stadium-style finish.”

Imagine a rematch at Sun City, South Africa versus Australia? With the Chasing the Sun documentary team doing behind-the-scenes coverage as they are currently doing for Stinger GC …

“That playoff was a critical moment for LIV and the scenes in Adelaide were incredible,” Glover said. “South Africa against Australia is always a grudge match because we both have such strong national identities. We would love a rematch with the Rippers!”

Our DP World Lions Ladies attack consists of four spin bowlers who have all produced outstanding displays for the team, and on Sunday it was Sarah Nettleton’s chance to shine as she produced the best ever figures for the Central Gauteng side in T20 cricket.

Nettleton claimed incredible figures of five for 11 in her four overs as #ThePrideOfJozi skittled the Momentum Multiply Titans for just 101 at SuperSport Park, on their way to a bonus point win by nine wickets with 71 balls to spare in their HollywoodBets Pro20 Series derby.

New DP World Lions recruit Tazmin Brits tore into the Titans bowling to plunder a dazzling 55 not out off just 22 balls, with five fours and four sixes, as she raced the Pride to victory in the ninth over.

But it was the 21-year-old Nettleton who stole the spotlight, as she broke the record for best T20 figures for the Lions, improving on the five for 12 Yumna Plowker took against Free State in 2012/13.

Off-spinner Nettleton’s changes of pace and subtle variations in length, combined with her accuracy, proved way too much for the Titans batters, as the home side crashed from 30 without loss to 79 for seven, with fellow spinners Kgomotso Rapoo (4-0-22-1) and Raisibe Ntozakhe (2-0-13-1) each contributing a wicket as well.

The new-ball bowlers, Refilwe Moncho (3.3-0-15-2) and Relebohile Mkhize (4-0-18-1) then returned to wrap up the innings.

Nonkhululeko Thabethe (22 off 18) and Kirstie Thomson (22* off 10) then helped Brits put the Titans bowlers to the sword.

The DP World Lions’ other spinner, Jenna Evans, took a couple of wickets the previous day in the HollywoodBets Pro50 Series match, helping to bowl out the Titans for 231 in the 48^th over after the hosts had elected to bat first.

The leg-spin of Rapoo was even more effective, as the captain took three for 40 in 10 excellent overs, and a fifth spinner, Madison Landsman, took two for 33 in seven overs. Mkhize took two for 35 in 8.5 overs of tidy left-arm seam.

Our DP World Lions made a great start to their run-chase, openers Thabethe (35) and Brits, who scored a run-a-ball 40, putting on 83 in the first 17 overs.

The wicket of Brits, caught at long-off off the bowling of her Proteas team-mate Sune Luus, was obviously a key blow, the DP World Lions then slipping to 88 for three, but the experienced duo of Thomson (15) and Sunette Viljoen-Louw added 43 for the fourth wicket to put the Pride back on track.

But Thomson was then stumped charging a spinner, Rapoo was run out and the Lions lost three wickets for 10 runs as Evans was bowled by a delivery that ripped back into her and kept low.

The DP World Lions obviously still had hope while Viljoen-Louw was still there and she stuck it out until the 43^rd over, scoring a determined 46. But the veteran batter fell to a miraculous one-handed catch leaping on the cow-corner boundary, and the DP World Lions then slid to 175 all out and defeat by 56 runs as they suffered their first loss of the 50-over competition.

The last month in England has produced never-seen-before scenes in Test cricket as the team representing the home of the stiff upper lip and historically often dominated by dour Yorkshiremen and Lancastrians, have pulled off four successive fourth-innings run-chases with all the dash and aggression of a limited-overs game.

England have chased down four targets in excess of 250, the first team in the history of Test cricket to do so in a calendar year, and they have done so extraordinarily quickly. Traditional Test logic is that scoring anything more than 250 in the fourth innings is never easy, but England have won by seven wickets twice and by five wickets twice in beating New Zealand 3-0 and now levelling their postponed series against India 2-2.

Their run-rates in those innings have been 4.93 chasing 378 against the powerful India attack, and 3.53, 5.98 and 5.44 against the New Zealand bowling line-up that won the World Test Championship last year.

These extraordinary achievements have come under the refreshing new positive philosophy of coach Brendan McCullum and captain Ben Stokes. It has been called BazBall in honour of the Kiwi-born coach, but it is also a reflection of how captain Stokes, one of the great all-rounders, has always tried to play the game.

Having seen off the two teams that played in the inaugural World Test Championship final, England are now heading into a series against South Africa, currently second in the standings.

Many critics will be tempted to write off the Proteas as having no chance, but let’s not forget they beat India in a series at the start of the year and then drew with the Black Caps in New Zealand. And South Africa have a history of taming teams that have set out to play ultra-aggressively against them, thanks to their perennially strong bowling attacks.

Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje are amongst the fastest bowlers in the world, and left-armer Marco Jansen is an exciting prospect who could surprise the English.

But it could be an unfamiliar strength that the Proteas turn to: In Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer, South Africa have two world-class spinners and, with the pitches in England starting to dry out and take turn in August, their contest with the mighty English batting order should be memorable.

The four remaining suspects in the 2015/16 RamSlam T20 Challenge matchfixing case will be sitting uneasily after Pumelela Matshikwe was given a six-year sentence, suspended for five years, for corruption in Pretoria last Friday.

Matshikwe is the second player to be convicted for his role in the matchfixing scandal, and he pleaded guilty to unlawfully entering into a corrupt relationship with Gulam Bodi and two separate bookmakers for fixing matches in the 2015/16 season of the T20 competition.

Bodi was sentenced to five years imprisonment in 2019 on eight charges of corruption for his role as the middleman in the scheme. It was the first time the Corrupt Practices Act had been used in a sporting context.

Fellow Highveld Lions cricketer Jean Symes has also been charged and his case is pending, while Thami Tsolekile, Ethy Mbhalati, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Alviro Petersen, who have all been banned from cricket, have not yet been charged.

But it is known that the Hawks Anti-Corruption Task Team under the guidance of the National Prosecuting Authority’s senior state advocate Willem van Zyl, is continuing investigations into that quartet of former players.

While Matshikwe, who entered into a plea agreement with the state, and Symes have kept silent over the case, Tsolekile, Mbhalati, Tsotsobe and self-styled whistleblower Petersen have accused Cricket South Africa’s Anti-Corruption Unit of racism and coercion against them. They began their campaign to have the investigation reopened on a well-known radio talk show based in the city and even repeated their accusations in the Social Justice and Nation-Building Hearings.

The SJN ombudsman, Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, did not uphold their allegations.

Apart from causing immense pain to the South African cricket family, the four remaining suspects have increased their risk of criminal prosecution, with insiders saying the Hawks are determined to prosecute all the suspects one-by-one.