Ken Borland

Pool A of the Momentum One-Day Cup in Potchefstroom effectively ended after just two matches, the rest being washed out, and the Imperial Lions will know the importance of their opening two games on Friday and Sunday with the currently good weather in the North-West set to turn next week.

The Lions play the Cape Cobras on Friday and then the Warriors on Sunday, and will be looking to follow the same route through to the semi-finals as the Dolphins did. The KwaZulu-Natalians won their first two matches against the Titans and Knights in convincing fashion and then sat back knowing they were safe as the rest of the fixtures could not be played due to regular showers and the outfield not being fit for play.

“It was a bit disappointing not to see a lot of cricket being played because of the weather, and hopefully the good weather now will hold out. Every game is important, bad weather or not, but it’s very important we hit the ground, up-and-running, from the start, we need a good performance from Game 1. We were fortunate we could play a couple of warm-up games at the Wanderers and we’re happy with the prep and where we are,” Lions captain Aaron Phangiso said on Thursday.

Pedigree alone suggests the Lions should join the defending champion Dolphins and Knights in the semi-finals. Phangiso’s men beat the Dolphins in their last round-robin fixture of last season’s Momentum One-Day Cup to finish second on the log. But the Natalians were awarded the trophy when the knockout rounds were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, because they finished first in the standings, two points ahead of the Lions.

“We had a good season, we beat the Dolphins in our last match, but that is last season. But then again there has not been much cricket played lately, so we will take some confidence from that and our warm-up games. Potchefstroom is a second home for us, we know the conditions well, even though the pitch played completely different to what we are used to for Pool A.

“But we just have to adjust. The pitch is normally true and the ball comes through, but now the slower bowlers will definitely play a big role. We do have that in our attack with Bjorn Fortuin, myself and Malusi Siboto, we can all deliver in those conditions. Plus Sisanda Magala played for the Warriors before so he is used to those conditions and has given us one or two tips.

“Sisanda is going to be a big weapon for us in terms of tactics. The conditions would seem to favour the coastal teams because they play more often on slower pitches than us, but it’s just a matter of us adjusting and having better tactics. We have good enough players to deliver, and we have all played big cricket so we are experienced enough,” Phangiso said.

Lions squad: Reeza Hendricks, Dominic Hendricks, Ryan Rickelton, Kagiso Rapulana, Wesley Marshall, Delano Potgieter, Bjorn Fortuin, Sisanda Magala, Malusi Siboto, Eldred Hawken, Aaron Phangiso (cpt), Nicky van den Bergh, Johannes Diseko, Mitchell van Buuren, Tladi Bokako, Nono Pongolo.

An emphasis on dot-balls – being able to both deliver them and absorb them when batting – stood the Proteas in good stead on Sunday as they dominated the opening day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at the Wanderers.

Having lost the toss and being sent into the field to bowl first, South Africa had to weather a blazing 60 off 67 balls by opener Kusal Perera before fighting back to claim the last nine wickets for just 86 runs to bowl Sri Lanka out for only 157. Wiaan Mulder sparked the collapse by taking three wickets for one run just before lunch, before fast bowler Anrich Nortje ran through the rest of the batting with career-best figures of six for 56.

Dean Elgar (92*) and Rassie van der Dussen (40*) were then able to adapt their games to how well Sri Lanka were bowling as they added 114 for the second wicket to take the Proteas to 148 for one at stumps. There were periods when the Sri Lankan bowling was exceptional and both batsmen showed great composure and patience to ride out those tough periods.

Elgar changed gears impressively: his first 25 runs came at a run-a-ball but he reached his half-century off 70 deliveries, before accelerating again as his next 42 runs came off 49 balls. Van der Dussen faced 26 deliveries before getting off the mark but refused to give his wicket away in an immense display of restraint.

“As a bowling unit we did very well and it was great to improve the way we did after the first innings at Centurion. Lungi Ngidi bowling three maidens up front set the tone and we knew that if we were building dots them something will happen. Credit to Wiaan for bowling really well from the start, he didn’t just bowl dot balls but got wickets as well which helps us so much.

“We just wanted to be tight and keep things as simple as possible, use the extra bounce and not try and do miracles. We stuck to what we wanted which was to bowl in the channel, get dot balls and not try to do too much. It’s very important to bring the run-rate down because that usually creates wickets, but Dean and Rassie knew they had a lot of time and did not rush. They played that tight period very well, they knew there was no need to try and hit balls outside off that posed a risk. They played the conditions really well and when the straight balls came they got the runs. Credit to them, they really batted well,” Nortje said after the close of play.

Mulder may not have the excess speed of Nortje, but it was the all-rounder who pulled Sri Lanka back by removing Kusal with a good length delivery angled across the left-hander. Sticking to that probing line and length and getting a bit of movement was what he used to dismiss Kusal Mendis and Lahiru Thirimanne as well.

“Wiaan got the wickets he deserved and he has been amazing for us. He still bowls at a good speed, but to have control like that is so valuable. Dwaine Pretorius did a similar role against England and it’s nice to have a bowling partnership like that. Wiaan just keeps doing what he does and that makes it much easier for the rest of us.

“He doesn’t just hold up an end. He’s building pressure and adding a lot of value to the attack,” Nortje said.

Like all good coaches, Jake White does not like to elevate certain pool games to greater importance than others, but there has been an obvious lifting of the ante this week as the Bulls have prepared for the arrival of their arch-enemies, the Stormers, for their SuperRugby Unlocked match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The importance of the match – between two of the favourites for the title; the top-of-the-log Bulls against the unbeaten Stormers – has been shown by White providing his most obvious example yet of his famous mind games since he arrived in Pretoria.

And White’s focus has been on the importance of the forward battle, with some sledges thrown the Stormers’ way over his perception that they will field a bench with six forwards and just two backs, the veteran coach implying that this was a betrayal of Western Province rugby’s running-rugby traditions.

But there can be no doubt that the Stormers’ greatest strength is their scrum and, in particular, the first-choice Springbok front row of Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi and Steven Kitshoff.

“The win over the Sharks was a good performance and a massive confidence boost, but this is a really big game on Saturday, just given the history between the two teams and the intensity of the clashes before. The Stormers pride themselves on their scrum and maul and the forward battle is going to be really important and we know we have to match them up front.

“Last week, both our game and the Stormers’ bad game against the Pumas showed that rugby has not changed, the forwards are always the ones who win the game for you and this Saturday will be one of those games too. What we learnt from the Pumas match is that the Stormers use their scrum to get out of their own half, and with that front row that works for you,” White said.

Bulls captain Duane Vermeulen was also certainly looking forward to the arrival of his former team.

“They have a quality pack, that’s where it’s all going to go down. Their forwards really pulled them through against the Pumas, the momentum they got from the scrums allowed them to kick to touch and set up mauls. They may have a 100% success rate at scrum-time, but how many times has the scrum gone down? I think there have been lots of resets, but they know how to scrum.

“We’ve lost a couple of scrums, but we will keep building. We’re trying to work on our consistency as a whole, we’re not there yet and we had a slippery start, losing at the death against the Cheetahs. It hasn’t been the consistency we want, but this is a North versus South derby and hopefully we play better as both individuals and as a team,” Vermeulen said.

Stormers coach John Dobson has been extolling the super powers of Kitshoff, his stand-in captain now that Siya Kolisi is injured, but it is the character of the men from the Cape that has probably been their greatest virtue so far in holding on for victory against the Lions and the great escape in Nelspruit.

Teams

Bulls: David Kriel, Travis Ismaiel, Stedman Gans, Cornal Hendricks, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Morné Steyn, Ivan van Zyl, Duane Vermeulen (captain), Elrigh Louw, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Jason Jenkins, Trevor Nyakane, Johan Grobbelaar, Jacques van Rooyen. Replacements – Joe van Zyl, Gerhard Steenekamp, Marcel van der Merwe, Sintu Manjezi, Nizaam Carr, Embrose Papier, Chris Smith, Marco Jansen van Vuren.

Stormers: Warrick Gelant, Edwill van der Merwe, Dan du Plessis, Rikus Pretorius, Leolin Zas, Damian Willemse, Herschel Jantjies, Juarno Augustus, Ernst van Rhyn, Jaco Coetzee, JD Schickerling, Salmaan Moerat, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff (captain). Replacements (from) – Scarra Ntubeni, Leon Lyons, Neethling Fouche, Chris van Zyl, David Meihuizen, Marcel Theunissen, Ben-Jason Dixon, Godlen Masimla, Tim Swiel, Angelo Davids, Tristan Leyds.

Kick-off: 19h00.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt said he felt his team was still in good health at halftime as they only trailed the Bulls 9-17 in their Super Rugby Unlocked match at Loftus Versfeld at the weekend, but the unrelenting physical bombardment of the home side eventually saw them subside to a 41-14 hammering.

The Sharks had actually had the better of the exchanges in the first half and they led until the 28^th minute when the Bulls scored the first of two quickfire tries before the break. Thereafter it was one-way traffic.

“There are no excuses, we started really well, but then we leaked two soft tries. But we still felt very much in the game at halftime, but the Bulls have a very good pack, big and physical, and they just wore us down in the second half. We had a dominant scrum until Thomas du Toit went off because of his calf, and we had a lot of go-forward in the first half.

“I like to think we also matched them in the loose in certain periods, but it was just our execution that let us down. The breakdown was going well when we had forward dominance in our carries, but I think the Bulls just outmuscled us a bit in the end and Marco van Staden is a great fetcher and not a Springbok for nothing. We were also not accurate enough in our kicking game,” Everitt said after the match.

Hooker Dylan Richardson was the outstanding player for the Sharks and scored a beauty of a try, after a lovely little dart by eighthman Sikhumbuzo Notshe, to keep the Sharks in the game at 14-24 down after 53 minutes. But the rest of the second half belonged to the Bulls as they scored three more tries. The lineouts were a particular area of concern for the Sharks as the Bulls stole a few balls against Richardson’s throw.

“Dylan’s general play was outstanding, he made lots of tackles and won three turnovers for us. It was a big step for him to move from openside flank in Super Rugby, but we feel hooker is a position he can excel in and his throwing is just a teething problem, that will get better with game time,” Everitt said.