Ken Borland

Residents of Gauteng have become accustomed to three different cricket unions – the Gauteng Cricket Board, Northerns Cricket Union and Easterns Cricket Union – controlling the game in the province, but this is likely to change as Cricket South Africa accede to Sascoc’s demand that the sport be administered along the same lines as the geopolitical boundaries of the country.

People in the Cape can expect the same change as Eastern Province, Border and Kei will need to merge into a single Eastern Cape controlling body, while Western Province, Boland and South-Western Districts will need to do the same in the Western Cape.

That change is along already-existing franchise lines, and KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and Northern Cape (Griqualand West team) will be in a similar position. But Gauteng will need to reorganise itself because there are two franchises – the Highveld Lions and Titans – based in that province.

CSA chief executive officer Haroon Lorgat confirmed that the change is in the offing, but added that they can still keep their same franchise and competition structure.

“That’s the next big thing we are planning, we might have to change the demarcations of our unions to mirror the geopolitical boundaries. But we can still have the same franchises and semi-professional teams and it won’t affect our competitions.

“But we’ll need to have nine controlling bodies from each of the provinces. So the Lions and Titans can still play and be run as separate teams, but they’ll need to have an overall Gauteng board above them,” Lorgat explained to The Citizen at the announcement of Momentum’s R475 000 backing of the academy at the University of Fort Hare in Alice.

Lorgat was critical of government’s support for grassroots development at that function but said the new geopolitically-aligned structure can improve the relationship between CSA and the state.

“It can be beneficial because then the unions can go to provincial government as one entity. I think it will help because then the provincial government is just dealing with one board. At the moment, the Titans, Lions and Easterns all go to the Gauteng provincial government for assistance and maybe they don’t know who to help?” Lorgat said.

At the moment, government expects CSA to fill their teams with previously disadvantaged players, but offers scant support in terms of the infrastructure that is essential to achieving that. Even the academy at Fort Hare, in the heartland of Black African cricket, has received nothing from the state.

“People think transformation is about black and white, but in my view Lance Klusener and Dale Steyn are both transformation products because they come from remote, rural areas. If it wasn’t for these programs, like our joint venture at the University of Fort Hare, then these jewels would not be found. We have not yet unlocked the potential in our country,” Lorgat said.

Titans captain Henry Davids

The Unlimited Titans take on Gauteng neighbours the Highveld Lions in a Sunfoil Series match at the Wanderers from this morning knowing that they are only as good as their previous performance, which fortunately in their case was a highly-encouraging return to four-day form, beating the Knights in Kimberley last weekend.

“We’re not looking too far forward, four-day cricket is our weakest format at the moment and we just want to go out and try to improve on our last showing and play disciplined cricket. But our last outing was a very good team performance, we stuck to our disciplines as a unit,” Titans captain Henry Davids said yesterday.

The Lions have had as tough a second-season fade-out under coach Geoffrey Toyana as could be imagined, but they are actually ahead of the Titans on the Sunfoil Series log, although by a slender three points.

It would be foolish to dismiss them, however, because they have quality players who will be hungry to make an impact and get something out of a thoroughly miserable season.

Quinton de Kock heads the list of star players as he goes about trying to prove he can play long-form cricket as spectacularly as he performs in the limited-overs formats. The Young Turk heads a batting line-up that features other future stars in Temba Bavuma and Dominic Hendricks, while Neil McKenzie, Stephen Cook and Thami Tsolekile have scored plenty of runs in four-day cricket down the years.

The Titans can probably kiss their hopes in the competition goodbye if they lose to the Lions as they are already 15 points behind the log-leading Cape Cobras, but in order to triumph their batsmen are going to have to police a probing Lions attack very carefully.

Once Hardus Viljoen and Lonwabo Tsotsobe have been blocked out with the new ball, there is the crafty leg-spin of Imran Tahir, the seam of Pumelela Matshikwe and possibly the swing of Cliffe Deacon to deal with.

In terms of the Titans attack, the bad news for them is that fast bowler Marchant de Lange, having travelled down many roads in trying to recover from a side strain, is still not fit enough for four-day action. He will be playing for Easterns in the three-day amateur competition instead, Davids confirmed.

Ethy Mbhalati and Albie Morkel are also out with niggling injuries and so the pace bowling responsibilities will fall on David Wiese, CJ de Villiers and young Vincent Moore, who shone with both bat and ball on debut last weekend.

Shaun von Berg, fresh off a career-best seven-wicket haul, and 10 in the match, against the Knights, will be a threat if the Wanderers pitch is tailor-made for Tahir, and Roelof van der Merwe will provide support in the spin department.

Hopefully, after going winless for 15 Sunfoil Series matches, the Titans have now turned the corner and they can maintain the momentum from Kimberley against the struggling Lions at the Wanderers.

Squads

Highveld Lions: Stephen Cook, Dominic Hendricks, Temba Bavuma, Neil McKenzie, Devon Conway, Quinton de Kock, Thami Tsolekile, Brett Pelser, Cliffe Deacon, Pumelela Matshikwe, Hardus Viljoen, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Imran Tahir, Rassie van der Dussen.

Titans: Heino Kuhn, Francois le Clus, Henry Davids, Farhaan Behardien, Qaasim Adams, Mangaliso Mosehle, David Wiese, Shaun von Berg, CJ de Villiers, Vincent Moore, Roelof van der Merwe, JP de Villiers, Cobus Pienaar.

It was a result cheered all around the country, except probably in Gauteng, as the Southern Kings surprised everyone by making a winning debut in SuperRugby and dispatching the Western Force 22-10 in Port Elizabeth.

It was a thrilling victory for rugby romantics, with passion and commitment in defence counting as much as any skill or big-name stars.

That the Force enjoyed 63% of possession and made just 83 tackles compared to the Kings’ 165 (with a 94% success rate) are telling statistics epitomising an effort that will go down in Eastern Cape rugby folklore.

And the name Sergeal Petersen is one you are clearly going to hear a lot more of as the 18-year-old SA Schools wing scored two tries.

What’s impressive about Petersen is that he clearly has a nose for an opportunity, his first try coming when he darted between two defenders, juggled and caught the bouncing ball and sped clear to make a try out of nothing.

Petersen’s second try came when he received the ball close to the touchline, but he managed to evade a couple of defenders and the powerfully-built former World Youth Championships athlete then muscled his way over.

The Kings’ character was in the firing line in the first half as they trailled 5-10 and then lost inspirational captain Luke Watson after he took a blow in the throat. But they came out in the second half in high spirits, taking the lead through two penalties by flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis.

The key moment came in the 54^th minute as Force lock Hugh McMeniman was yellow-carded for a high tackle. The penalty was kicked into the corner and this gave the Kings the territory to launch the attack that led to Petersen’s second, crucial try.

The rookies led 16-11 and Catrakilis added to this advantage with two late penalties to seal one of the most surprising results ever in SuperRugby.

The other surprise of the weekend came in Pretoria where the Stormers played with none of the spark nor passion that took them to the top of the South African Conference and Currie Cup glory last year.

Coach Allister Coetzee called it “the Currie Cup blues” and the over-riding impression was that the Stormers just failed to pitch up for the game, which was extraordinary because it was the north/south derby against their arch-rivals, the Bulls.

The Bulls’ game plan of strangling the opposition by dominating territory through their kicking game was clinically executed, with flyhalf Morne Steyn the star of the show for the way he took control of the match and succeeded with all seven of his kicks at goal.

As captain Jean de Villiers pointed out, the Stormers picked up a log point from every game last year, but this time they would depart Loftus Versfeld with nothing after their 25-17 defeat.

“We were flat, in the first half especially, and we gave away stupid penalties and made stupid mistakes. It’s a massive wake-up call, there’s a huge difference between Currie Cup and SuperRugby, you need to step up, and we didn’t,” De Villiers said.

When playing the Bulls at Loftus, it is essential to have a good kicking game to release the pressure, but flyhalf Elton Jantjies sadly had a dreadful first outing for the Stormers, missing their first four kicks at goal and also being schooled by Steyn when it came to tactical kicking.

A creaking scrum and a dysfunctional lineout will be other items Coetzee and De Villiers will be looking to address this week.

The Bulls were in firm control in the first half, enjoying 68% territory, and probably should have converted that pressure into more points than just the three Steyn penalties that put them 9-0 in front.

Judging by how upset Coetzee was after the game, the Stormers were obviously given a blast by the coach in the changeroom in the halftime break and they came out firing for the third quarter.

De Villiers dived over in the corner for a try – which only the man in the TMO box thought was legal after a knock-on and Bryan Habana crawling along the ground with the ball – and a Joe Pietersen penalty closed the gap to 10-12 in the 54^th minute.

Stormers scrumhalf Nic Groom then did well to catch Pierre Spies in possession at the back of a scrum, but the visitors then went off their feet, gifting Steyn his fifth penalty.

De Villiers was then caught on the wrong side of a ruck in front of his own poles, giving Steyn another penalty just four minutes later, and hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle’s try, running on to a Francois Hougaard grubber, gave the Bulls a cosy 25-10 lead with just 12 minutes remaining.

The Sharks had to survive some rough seas in Bloemfontein (sorry, but there is Naval Hill nearby!) to see off the Cheetahs 29-22.

Attacking from broken play is the one department in which the Cheetahs consistently excel and, as the game opened up in the second half they mounted a stirring fightback from 5-26 down.

But the Sharks always had the edge in the set-pieces and this ultimately was the telling factor.

“We always knew it would be tough playing the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, but the whole pack of forwards dominated on the day. Thanks to guys like Jannie du Plessis and Beast Mtawarira, we got a good platform from the scrums for our attacks,” Sharks captain Francois Steyn said.

It also didn’t help the Cheetahs that their talismanic young flyhalf Johan Goosen had an awful first half.

In contrast, his rival for the Springbok number 10 jersey, Pat Lambie, had a fine afternoon and had a hand in much of the good work the Sharks did, as well as kicking faultlessly at goal.

The Cheetahs were not structured nor sharp enough on attack in the first half, not enjoying the same cohesion they displayed in the second half when Goosen came good.

But when they click, the Cheetahs are not going to be easy-beats in Bloemfontein.

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