Ken Borland

The Sharks will have to make a change at hooker and appoint a new captain for the next month after Bismarck du Plessis was suspended for four weeks by Sanzar on Sunday for petulantly kicking out at the head of an opponent during the match against the Chiefs at Kings Park.

Du Plessis’ act of gross unsportsmanship came just three minutes after the Chiefs had had their hooker, Hika Elliott, red-carded, and subsequently suspended for one week, for charging into the back of Tendai Mtawarira’s head with his shoulder at a ruck, almost immediately transferring all the pressure back on to the home side.

Matters became even worse for the Sharks when Frans Steyn was red-carded for a dangerous tip-tackle before the half-hour mark and his hearing is set for Monday.

While those two senior players let the side down so badly, the other 13 players on the field rallied magnificently to sneak a 12-11 victory over the Chiefs.

Kyle Cooper and Monde Hadebe are able replacements for Du Plessis in the front row, but the issue of who takes over the captaincy is less clearcut.

Flyhalf Pat Lambie or eighthman Ryan Kankowski would appear to be the frontrunners.

Director of rugby Gary Gold also faces a tough decision once Du Plessis returns to action on April 19 as this is the Springbok’s second incident of foul play at a crucial time this season, following his assault on Victor Matfield in the Sharks’ loss to the Bulls in Pretoria three weeks ago. Does Gold trust that the fiery hooker can mend his ways and remain disciplined under pressure for the sake of his team or does he take firm action against a repeat offender?

The matches that Du Plessis will miss are at home to the Western Force and Crusaders, the visit to Ellis Park to play the Lions and the return fixture against the Bulls in Durban.

The Titans took a bruise to their pride in their opening RamSlam T20 Challenge loss to the Dolphins, but successive victories have lifted the mood and left them eager to maintain their momentum as they head into a vital weekend.

The Titans travel to Bloemfontein to take on the Knights on Friday night, before returning home to face the Warriors on Sunday at Centurion in a double-header that also features the Dolphins playing the Cape Cobras.

“We weren’t happy with our performance in that first game against the Dolphins, we just didn’t adapt to conditions, we weren’t smart enough. So we’re very happy with our progression through the last two matches, but we’re still playing at only 70% of our capability. We’re executing better game plans and we’re very happy that the workload is being shared in terms of both batting and bowling,” senior batsman Farhaan Behardien said at SuperSport Park on Wednesday.

The inclusion of players like Graeme van Buuren and Lungi Ngidi has helped the change in fortunes, but there is likely to be another shake-up of the team this weekend with the return of all-rounder David Wiese after recovering from a hand injury.

While other captains are stumbling around in the fog when the pressure is on, Albie Morkel can chuckle and consider the luxury of fielding eight batsmen and nine bowlers – five pacemen, a dibbly-dobbler in Behardien, wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, a slow left-armer in Van Buuren and offie Henry Davids.

“We’re seeing in T20 now that you need eight batsmen, you need that depth if you go five or six down. The last two games, we’ve had enough batting to win and that takes the pressure off Albie and myself, everyone is chipping in. It’s where the game is going and we’ve taken a leaf out of Australia’s book – they have guys like James Faulkner, Mitchell Marsh and Mitchell Johnson; Chris Morris, Albie and David are a wonderful addition to our team. We have three frontline bowlers and three all-rounders with a wealth of experience internationally,” Behardien said.

“There are so many different combinations and it’s a quality 15-man squad. Anyone on their day can perform, we probably have more variety with our bowling than any other team and a lot of guys who love batting under pressure,” Van Buuren said.

The successful series against the West Indies did answer a few questions about the Proteas as they head into the World Cup, but a couple of glaring question marks remain – such as why the bowlers insist on banging the ball in halfway down the pitch so often?

Bowling coach Allan Donald was quoted as saying this week “I’d rather not have that many yorkers at the back end … at the World Cup, we want to be unpredictable in the last 10 overs and that is not going to be about bowling 40 yorkers in the last 10 overs.”

Not bowling yorkers is also becoming predictable, however, for this attack.

While the South African bowlers were generally dominant against the eighth-ranked West Indies – and let’s be honest, their batting was largely woeful – it was alarming to see how exposed the Proteas were once again in the death overs when Andre Russell, Darren Sammy and the tail took the tourists to an unlikely victory in the fourth ODI in Port Elizabeth.

The West Indies top-order was barely a factor through the series, meaning they were under pressure every time they batted; how will South Africa’s attack fare against much stronger batting line-ups at the World Cup, especially if the pitches are flat, without the luxury of early wickets?

Kyle Abbott was particularly disappointing in the series – taking just two wickets for 121 runs, conceded at a rate of 7.33 per over. It was depressing to see someone who had previously shown such skill in finding the blockhole, banging the ball in short and getting regularly smashed – perhaps Donald’s comments have something to do with that? There was surely a message in the second of those Abbott wickets coming from a full, straight delivery that bowled Marlon Samuels at Centurion.

Lady Luck has not been kind to South Africa in previous World Cups, but she tends to favour teams that are tactically astute, hard-working and gifted. The Proteas are certainly dedicated to their craft and in terms of talent we only need to mention AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn, so no issues there.

But while the batting looks so powerful – Rilee Rossouw adding his name into the mix of potential match-winners – their bowling remains vulnerable due to the current strategic thinking and I have a feeling opposing teams will back themselves to chase down whatever target South Africa set by putting them under pressure in the field.

The balance of the team – without a genuine all-rounder – is out, so JP Duminy and Farhaan Behardien have to share 10 overs or someone like Vernon Philander or Wayne Parnell has to bat seven.

That fifth-bowler portion will certainly be targeted by the opposition and sides like India and Australia will probably have a go at Morne Morkel and Philander as well.

Immersed in the pressure of a knockout game, how cool can Morkel stay? His display under the pump in Port Elizabeth suggests the portents are not that good, while Philander, at no more than fast-medium pace and generally sticking to line-and-length, could also be vulnerable.

The positives, however, are that South Africa, with Dale Steyn and Imran Tahir, are better than most at taking wickets in the middle overs and there will be no more feared batting line-up at the World Cup.

The bookies are hawking odds of between 3/1 and 13/3 on South Africa winning the World Cup, but they are only second favourites behind Australia – who range from 2/1 to 13/4 to win their fifth title.

There are a million different scenarios that could play out – and South Africa have historically provided the weirdest of those – but I will be hugely frustrated if the Proteas post 350-8 in a semi-final and then lose by three wickets in the final over as Duminy/Behardien travel for 90 runs in their 10 combined overs and Morkel and Philander concede 75 each.

Ryan McLaren or David Wiese are not part of the squad to provide a genuine fifth bowling option and from what we’ve seen from the West Indies series, South Africa are not going to be able to stray too far from their first-choice attack.

Which is not entirely a bad thing. Barring the number seven position, South Africa are a settled combination, going to Australasia with confidence and not many teams will fancy taking them on.

Danny Willett called it a “ridiculous” amount of money as he cashed in to the tune of $1.25 million by winning the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City on Sunday, but his sensational final round of 66 to head the elite 30-man field by four strokes deserved no less.

It is a triumph the 27-year-old will no doubt cherish, being just his second, but he also maintains that one of the most lucrative tournaments on the European Tour is extremely special in its own right.

“It’s a ridiculous amount of money to win, but a week like this won’t be matched anywhere, not even on the PGA Tour. It’s great to win against a very good field, because it says I’m improving and I can compete against the best,” Willett said.

The win takes the former amateur world number one into the top 60 on the world professional rankings and means a definite place in the Majors is beckoning, never mind the Ryder Cup points earned by one of Europe’s rising stars.

It was a win based on his aggression off the tee and his deft touch around and on the greens.

“We [he shared the credit with caddy John Smart] had a good game-plan, this course is visually intimidating off the tee, but we wanted to be aggressive and take it on, I trusted my driver. We would take on shots where others would lay back.

“I also felt comfortable on the greens, they remind me of home without much grain on them. The grass around the greens is also not as sticky as elsewhere, it feels similar to home,” Willett said.

With that positive attitude, he perhaps caught the other Englishmen in the final three-ball napping and Luke Donald and Ross Fisher were still trying to get into their rounds by the time Willett had roared to three birdies in the first five holes.

“I hit a lot of driver on the first few holes where a lot of other golfers would hit irons. It meant I had a five-iron into two, a nine-iron into three, where the others are hitting five or six-irons into narrow greens. There was no hanging back for me,” Willett said.

Donald endured a frustrating day on his 37^th birthday with a one-over-par 73, but the overnight leader had the good grace to rave about Willett’s performance.

“I could have played a bit better but I still would have had to shoot five‑under just to tie with Danny.  He played really focused golf today and hats off, he’s a deserved winner.

“He just had a red‑hot putter, didn’t seem to miss and did everything really well. He just drove it amazingly well around here, which is a very tough, tight golf course. There’s a lot of trouble, and every time when the pressure is on, he hit it down the middle,” Donald said.

Willett had reason to be smug as he was barely challenged in the final round, but he admitted that he still felt the pressure.

“It was always comfortable enough, but you still put pressure on yourself, you’re saying ‘well I can only throw this away from here’. Three-putting on nine after I hit two good shots in gave me a kick up the backside and it was a good one to win … “ he said.

He was worth it all the way, particularly on the weekend when he shot 65-66, and the richness of the event means he now has a sizeable head-start on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai.

“It’s obviously a real boost, I’ll be leading the Order of Merit and hopefully the other wins will come along the way,” Willett said.

The quality of his play suggests that win may even come next weekend at the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek.