Ken Borland

Staying calm under pressure is probably the most necessary attribute needed to succeed at the highest level of sport and Marais Erasmus always gave the impression when he was umpiring out in the middle that he was in full possession of his faculties and emotions.

Getting 94% of your decisions correct – the general benchmark for being on the International Cricket Council’s Elite Panel of umpires – requires great composure and equanimity, as well as the ability to maintain credibility and authority in the highly-charged arena of the game at its pinnacle.

They are the qualities that Erasmus was most known for during his 16-and-a-half years as an international umpire. As renowned Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle says in the Foreword to the biography Telford Vice has written on the South African umpire – Marais Erasmus: The Rock ‘n Roll Years – “Apart from everything else, umpires, like doctors, must radiate confidence and a sense of calm. Marais Erasmus had that. When he walked out on to the field, you felt secure. You knew you were in safe hands.”

While the former Boland bowling all-rounder’s ‘bedside manner’ was imperturbable, Erasmus himself says it is a bit of an illusion.

“I didn’t set out to have a straight face all the time, and I did struggle sometimes not to show my emotions. But I couldn’t give away to the players that I was shitting myself, they do pick up that sort of thing.

“I just tried to apply the laws, even though sometimes a law is controversial. There are some grey areas in cricket, although less so than in rugby. I think it helps immensely to have been a former player, although it’s not a given that if you played good cricket you will become a good umpire – there are lots of other skills involved.

“Simon Taufel was one of the best umpires ever and he didn’t play first-class cricket, so potential umpires shouldn’t be discouraged if they didn’t play to a high level. But at the Elite level, on average 10 of the 12 on the ICC panel will have played first-class cricket, a lot of them have played international cricket. In South Africa, about 40% of our umpires are former first-class players. It means you’ve been in pressure situations before, the players will accept you more and that gives you confidence,” the former Boland flyhalf/fullback says.

The cricket world changed dramatically while Erasmus was progressing from a player who retired in 1996/97 to making his international debut as an umpire in 2006, standing in his first Test in 2010. In that time, the television umpire has become crucial, and the IPL arrived, making India the global superpower of the game. But, unfortunately, India have also not been shy to exert a “Might Is Right” philosophy on cricket and they are used to getting what they want. Which included not using DRS for their games until the absence of it had burned them too often.

Hostile crowds are matched by over-stimulated players like Virat Kohli, who occasionally lose their impulse control. One of India’s greatest captains infamously shouted into the stump-mics at Newlands in January 2022, accusing broadcasters SuperSport and the umpires of bias. Erasmus was standing in that match alongside compatriot Adrian Holdstock due to the Covid pandemic and the difficulties it caused in terms of international travel.

Erasmus had to give Sachin Tendulkar out lbw in his debut Test, thankfully not in India, where international cricket’s leading run-scorer is literally considered to be a god. These are also the days of social media allowing millions of people to dissect and criticise every decision. The officials can be crucified in the court of public opinion should they get the wrong decision wrong at the wrong time. Just think of how we South Africans curse referee Bryce Lawrence to this day for giving David Pocock free rein in the breakdowns during the 2011 Rugby World Cup quarterfinal.

So Erasmus experienced pressure right from the outset and his ability to handle it saw him appointed to the middle for seven World Cup finals across the formats, including the greatest of them all, the 2019 finale’ at Lord’s when England and New Zealand tied and England won the super over.

“Virat was like some of the kids when I was teaching. You give him Ritalin in the morning and you’ll have a good day. But sometimes by second break it’s gone … But we had a good relationship. David Warner is a dangerous man because he doesn’t understand when he’s being stupid and Ricky Ponting always wanted to fight with umpires,” Erasmus says.

Nathan Lyon is someone Erasmus singles out as a favourite, the Australian off-spinner saying on a live television interview that “Marais is a great man and an even better umpire,” when former captain Mark Taylor asked pointed questions about decisions that did not go their way.

Ben Stokes is another who Erasmus found to be likeable and the recently-retired England captain was, of course, pivotal in that 2019 World Cup final.

“Ben is one of my favourites. When you go to a team’s practice, some of the players ignore you but others come up to you. Ben would always ask how the last few months have been, how’s your family? He’s a good human being, although he has got himself in trouble and been through some fires on occasion.”

The details of the drama of the overthrows off Stokes’s arm and the full explanation as to why England were credited with an extra run they shouldn’t have been, are all in the book. Typically, Erasmus does not shy away from accountability.

“The overthrow incident was just a mistake. Kumar Dharmasena and I looked at each other and said ‘Six? Yeah’. Rod Tucker, the TV umpire, asked over the comms whether it was six and Peter Manuel, who was our umpires coach, was trying to explain that where the ball was released was crucial. But that was impossible for me to see.

“Part of the romance of our sport is that the umpires are not without blemish. The only way to survive as an umpire is not to dwell on your wrong decisions. Our coaches used to tell us to park them; my one New Zealand colleague then said ‘but my parking lot is full’.”

In Marais Erasmus: The Rock ‘n Roll Years, the subject brings that same voice of reason and gentle humour to corruption in cricket, the rise of technology and the many memorable Ashes clashes he was involved with.

EDENVALE (Gauteng) – Defending champion Robin Williams said an outstanding start and playing in the same three-ball as a charging Danie van Tonder were pivotal to his 65 on Friday, which gave him the lead after the second round of the Fortress Invitational at Glendower Golf Club.

Williams backed up his excellent 64 on the first day with a seven-under-par round that lifted him to 15-under-par at the halfway stage of the R2 million event, with Van Tonder firing a fabulous nine-under 63 on Friday to sit just one stroke behind on 14-under-par.

Altin van der Merwe (67) and Jovan Rebula (66) are a further two strokes behind, while first-round leader Kyle Barker is on nine-under, six behind, after a level-par 72 on Friday.

Williams notched three birdies in the first four holes, and reached the turn in five-under, but as most of the field found, the back nine was more testing and he came home in two-under, including a bogey at the par-three 12^th.

Van Tonder was the exception as he birdied the 10^th, 11^th and 14^th holes and then eagled the 477m, par-five 17^th to come home in 31.

“I had a good start and that set the tone for the whole round, I just had to keep the momentum going,” Williams said. “I’m very happy, you’re always pleased when you put yourself in position to win. I’ve gone above my expectations already, it’s my first title defence ever and there was quite a lot of pressure.

“But my favourite part of today was playing with Danie, we fed off each other. He played seriously good golf today and I’m looking forward to us pushing each other, bringing out the best in each other, over the weekend. It was great fun with him today and there was a stretch where he just could not stop getting birdies and I was just trying to keep up with him,” Williams said.

Because of the exciting promise he has shown and his success in the last year, Williams has had to mature quickly under the weight of attention. Especially after his sensational fourth-place finish in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

“It’s been tough handling all the external stuff, but I’m kinda learning how to handle it day in, day night. When I put my South African SIM card back in my phone, the number of messages waiting for me after the Dunhill was hectic.

“But I’m going to have to get used to it and learn to enjoy it. I still want to get my story out there as much as possible,” the 23-year-old Williams said.

Van der Merwe is 27 years old and only turned pro this year, but he showed why his amateur record was so good as he recovered from back-to-back bogeys on the third and fourth holes by collecting four birdies in the next five holes.

Rebula’s 66 included just one bogey and an eagle on the par-five 11^th.

EDENVALE, Gauteng – Norway’s Maiken Bing Paulsen produced a second consecutive top-class round of golf, including a pair of chip-ins for eagle, on Thursday as she gave herself a handy two-shot lead going into the final round of the Jabra Ladies Classic at Glendower Golf Club.

Paulsen shot a four-under-par 68 in the second round on Thursday to climb to 10-under-par for the tournament, doing extremely well to back up her 66 on the first day on a day when the scoring was higher and no-one managed to shoot lower than her.

South Africa’s Cara Gorlei also fired a 68 on Thursday and lies second on eight-under-par, while Elena Hualde (Spain) and the Swedish duo of Lisa Pettersson and Moa Folke were also four-under for the second round and shared third place with England’s Gabriella Cowley (71) on six-under-par.

The 27-year-old Paulsen was level-par through the first seven holes, but then chipped in for eagle on the par-five eighth. She dropped her second shot on the par-four 11^th, but Paulsen caught fire in the middle of the back nine as she birdied the 13^th, chipped in again for eagle on the 15^th and birdied the 16^th.

Unfortunately she bogeyed the par-three 17^th, but Paulsen was still understandably delighted with her round.

“It was a good day even though my putting didn’t get the ball in the hole as much as the first day. But I had three chip-ins, for both of my eagles and to birdie the fourth, and I was really steady off the tee,” she said.

A small struggle with her iron play was the only worry for Paulsen, but she handled it with aplomb thanks to her excellent short game.

“My irons were a bit of a struggle, so hopefully I figure that out for the final round. I only gave myself a few good opportunities on the front nine and I almost lost my ball when I bogeyed the seventh. So it was an interesting front nine, but I just tried to keep going and stay positive.

“There were some interesting pins and because the course is still wet it was playing quite long. But there was a little less wind today, which was nice. I didn’t find a big difference in difficulty today, but then I was hitting the ball so well on to the fairways, I am quite long off the tee, so that advantage meant maybe I didn’t notice.

“I’ve been trying to work on my swing and I’ve changed a lot, so that’s why my irons are still a bit flaky. Mistakes will happen in this transition period, but in the final round I’m just going to keep doing what I do. It’s the boring answer, but I just want to give myself chances, be in the fairways, try and make sure my irons are decent and hopefully the putts go in and it’s a happy day,” Paulsen said.

It was also a happy day for Gorlei, who scorched through the back nine in four-under 32.

Russia’s Nina Pegova, who shared the first-round lead with Paulsen, started her second round on the back nine and reached the turn in one-under, but then had a nightmare start to the front nine as she bogeyed the second and double-bogeyed the fourth hole. She finished with a 73 to drop back to five-under-par, sharing seventh place with South Africa’s Stacy Bregman, who was also part of the impressive 68-Club.

BENONI, Gauteng – Jayden Schaper enjoyed an excellent day on his home course of Ebotse Links as all aspects of his game came through for him in a seven-under-par 65 that gave him a share of the lead with Clinton Grobler and Ockie Strydom after the first round of the Fortress Invitational on Friday.

The highly-promising Schaper began his round on the 10^th hole with a birdie, and followed that up with consecutive gains on the 12^th and 13^th holes. A marvellous outgoing nine holes was capped by birdies at the par-three 15^th and par-five 18^th, seeing him go to the turn in just 31 strokes.

Schaper picked up three more birdies in four holes from the fourth, and even a bogey at the par-three eighth could not put a damper on a superb round of golf.

“Playing on my home course is a bit of an advantage because I know where certain pins are, where to miss and which bunkers to avoid,” Schaper said after his best round of the Sunshine Tour season so far.

“But you’ve still got to hit the ball well, hit the shots and make the putts. In the last couple of weeks, my tee-to-green play has been solid and I’ve been slowly getting better on the greens too.

“Today I just played really solid golf, I made good decisions and hit some really good shots. I was consistent today,” Schaper said.

The return of long-time coach Grant Veenstra from the United States may also have played a role in the impressive showing, with Schaper saying “it was the first week I’ve seen him in the last couple of months and it was really good to have him back to help out.”

Grobler, the 28-year-old Krugersdorp golfer, also started on the 10^th and began the round with three straight birdies, while bogeying the 17^th and fourth holes on the way to his 65. The highlight of his round was his eagle-three on the 18^th.

The in-form Strydom, from the nearby Serengeti Estate, cruised through the front nine in four-under-par, but then the rollercoaster began: The 37-year-old bogeyed the par-four 10^th, then grabbed a hat-trick of birdies from the 12^th, dropped a shot at 17, but then finished spectacularly with an eagle on the last hole to vault into a share of the lead.

The leaderboard is congested, with five golfers shooting 66, including the veteran Hennie Otto, the American Dan Erickson, the amateur Kyle de Beer, as well as Makhetha Mazibuko and Richard Joubert.

Wynand Dingle, the winner of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series San Lameer event three weeks ago, is in the group on five-under-par.