Ken Borland

The desire not to be pinned in their own half for lengthy periods has seen the Sharks recall Curwin Bosch to the starting flyhalf berth for their United Rugby Championship match against Benetton in Treviso on Saturday.

Italian vogue might be extremely exciting for those who consider themselves to be dedicated followers of fashion, but their rugby, apart from 2015 when the national team wore pinstripe shorts, can be dour at times. Kicking long and deep is a tactic Sharks coach Sean Everitt is fully expecting from Benetton Treviso on Saturday, and in Bosch he has one of the longest boots in the game to repel the strategy.

“Benetton have made the fourth-highest kicking metres in the competition so far, so we thought we would go like-for-like,” Everitt said on Thursday. “Curwin has gone well over the last couple of weeks, and he kicked for poles very well when he came on against the Bulls.

“Our goalkicking accuracy has not been as good as we would have liked and hopefully Curwin can take that away. It’s going to be the same challenge as we faced against Ospreys, who are also in the top-five for metres kicked.

“We have to be really smart in how we manage the game. Benetton also rely a lot on their maul, so we have to make sure we’re playing in the right areas. I’m excited that Curwin has earned a starting berth again,” Everitt said.

Although Benetton Treviso will be missing their Italy national squad players, they showed in hammering the Bulls in the Rainbow Cup final eight months ago that their no-name-brand team are a lean, mean, fighting machine.

“Benetton are just outside the top-eight already and they have run teams close in their five defeats, even when they’ve been under-strength,” Everitt said. “They won the territory and possession battle last weekend against Glasgow Warriors, but lost the match 13-3.

“We have learnt lessons from teams like the Bulls and we won’t take them lightly. They have still got their overseas players – five of them South African in Irne Herbst and Carl Wegner at lock, Dewald Duvenhage, Andries Coetzee and Rhyno Smith.

“Those are all good players, some of the best in South Africa. We are sure they will come with a lot of emotion and passion, and we’ll have a target on our backs with a lot of Springboks.

“And we expect a lot of local support in the Stadio Monigo. Treviso is a small city, but there is lots of rugby interest. We’re expecting hostile stands,” Everitt said.

Sharks – Aphelele Fassi, Sbu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am (c), Marius Louw, Makazole Mapimpi, Curwin Bosch, Jaden Hendrikse, Phepsi Buthelezi, Henco Venter, Siya Kolisi, Gerbrandt Grobler, Ruben van Heerden, Thomas du Toit (v/c), Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche. Replacements: Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Khutha Mchunu, Le Roux Roets, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Cameron Wright, Tito Bonilla,  Werner Kok.

While most of South Africa returned to the office on Monday, half of the country’s franchise cricketers left for Potchefstroom to enter a bio-bubble for the Momentum One-Day Cup.

Cricket South Africa announced at the weekend that the schedule for the 50-over competition has been revised, with the Momentum One-Day Cup now being held in just one venue, in a bio-secure environment and being reduced to just 15 matches. The franchises are still in their two pools of three teams each, but they will only play within their pool, two matches against each team.

The Dolphins, Titans and Knights will be in Pool A and will kick off the action from Saturday. The Imperial Lions, Cape Cobras and Warriors are in the other pool which will be in action from January 29.

The top two teams in each pool will then contest the semi-finals on February 11 and 12, with the final on Sunday, February 14.

Dr Shuaib Manjra, CSA’s chief medical officer, said the official reason for the decision was as a precaution against the ever-rising tide of Covid-19’s second wave of infections.

“We have seen the number of cases rise significantly and the second peak is reaching new levels that are higher than the first wave. We have seen infection among our players as well, we had to cancel a four-day match, and we have a duty of care to the players. We also want to ensure the integrity of the competition, we don’t want to have to start cancelling games.

“So the best way to do that is by playing the whole competition in a bubble. There are risks associated with flying around the country for games because airports are one of the major sources of infection, they are high-risk. So we have decided on the precautionary option,” Manjra told The Citizen on Monday.

Cutting the number of fixtures down from seven round-robin games each to just four has been necessary so that the players only have to spend 11 days in the bio-bubble, which has increasingly been shown to be quite a tough environment to cope with mentally.

It is a big drawback for the teams in Pool A though that they will face a gap of more than three weeks between their last match and the semi-finals, giving the Pool B teams a definite advantage in that they finish their round-robin games on February 5, leaving a space of just six days before the semi-finals.

While CSA have well-publicised financial troubles, playing in a bio-bubble is not expected to cost them more money than if the tournament was staged normally, plus there is the added bonus that broadcasters SuperSport and the sponsors are unlikely to suffer reduced content due to games being cancelled.

South Africa’s second innings is still under construction, but even with half their wickets gone and only 135 runs on the board, they are still in a commanding position after the second day of the third Test against Pakistan at the Wanderers.

That was chiefly thanks to another demolition job by Duanne Olivier, their wrecker-in-chief in this series win, the 26-year-old Central Knights fast bowler taking five for 51 as Pakistan were bowled out for just 185, a first-innings deficit of 77.

Olivier has now taken 21 wickets in the three Tests, at the ridiculous average of just 13.28. He has broken Dale Steyn’s record for the most wickets for South Africa in a series against Pakistan – 20 in 2012/13, which included 11 for 60 in the corresponding Johannesburg Test.

South Africa’s batsmen did not fare much better in their second innings, but there is plenty of movement, both in the air and off the pitch, on offer at the Wanderers, and with a lead of 212 already in the bag, a couple of lower-order partnerships should take the target beyond Pakistan’s reach.

Despite their dominant position, the second day was far from the usual standards set by the Proteas. The first hour of play, after Pakistan had resumed on 17 for two, was particularly scrappy as South Africa dropped four catches, missed a couple of run outs and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, who dropped two of them, also missed a stumping, albeit an extremely tough one down the leg-side standing up to Vernon Philander.

Just to add to the sense of calamity, there were 8 runs gifted through overthrows, captain Dean Elgar dropped another catch soon after the lunch break and Dale Steyn left the field rubbing the shoulder that started all his injury problems.

Opener Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Abbas took Pakistan to 53 for two at the first drinks break and the Proteas’ huddle was an intense one.

The change in fortunes was spearheaded by Olivier, who took two wickets in four balls in the first over after the break. Abbas, who had done the staunchest of jobs with 11 runs in 88 minutes, was taken in the slips by Theunis de Bruyn as he drove listlessly and then Asad Shafiq (0) showed terrible technique against the short delivery, just ducking without any idea where the ball was, and gloving a looping catch to the wicketkeeper.

Pakistan were back in trouble on 53 for four and when Elgar snapped up a sharp catch behind the wicket to dismiss Imam for a two-and-a-half hour 43, they were teetering on 91 for five.

But Babar Azam (49) and captain Sarfraz Ahmed (50) decided to react with a courageous counter-attack, bashing 75 runs in the next 10 overs. For them, there was no debate over whether to play or leave deliveries outside off stump, they went for them all.

Being so aggressive against such a high-quality attack is unlikely to succeed in the long-term, and Sarfraz fell two balls after reaching his second successive half-century, wafting outside off stump and edging Kagiso Rabada into the slips.

With Azam being dismissed in the next over, caught at fine leg hooking Olivier, Pakistan’s resistance was over as the last five wickets fell for just 16 runs.

Olivier was well-supported by Philander, who took three for 43 in 13 overs, while Rabada weighed in with two for 41.

Elgar was again caught behind by wicketkeeper Sarfraz (on his way to a Pakistan-record eight dismissals in the match against South Africa) for five, this time off Mohammad Amir, but the Proteas had reached 25 for one by tea, stretching their lead to 102.

But Markram was sent packing by Abbas in the first over after the break, also caught behind by Sarfraz as he was undone by his strength – his driving ability – on 21.

South Africa were then rocked by a double-strike by Faheem Ashraf in his first over.

Theunis de Bruyn (7) disappointed by trying to drive a delivery that was not full enough and edging to slip, while Zubayr Hamza fell lbw for a duck second ball as Faheem hit a crack and the ball barely rose shin-high. Such deliveries are almost impossible to play, but it also showed the magnitude of the task Pakistan are facing batting last.

Tough runs are Temba Bavuma’s speciality and he scored 23 in adding 48 for the fifth wicket with Hashim Amla, before leg-spinner Shadab Khan spun a delivery sharply across him and had him caught behind.

South Africa were 93 for five, but Quinton de Kock was as fluent as ever as he stroked a run-a-ball 34 not out to provide a quick boost to the lead late in the day.

The home side are also fortunate to still have Amla at the crease, holding the innings together with 42 not out. The veteran batsman has already been at the crease for 164 minutes and was close to his imperturbable best.

Against a South African attack that has been completely dominant all series, if the lead grows to more than 300, the chances of a 3-0 series whitewash for the Proteas are highly probable.

Even scoring at an unlikely five runs an over, that would mean batting for at least 60 overs, something Pakistan have only managed once in five innings in the series.