Ken Borland

SUN CITY, North-West (14 October) – Ruan Korb is learning to stay patient and composed when things are not going his way in his third season on the Sunshine Tour, and he needed those qualities in the remorseless heat at the Gary Player Country Club on Thursday.

Korb kept his cool on a much tougher second day of the Blue Label Challenge, collecting six points in the modified Stableford scoring system and going to the top of the leaderboard on a total of 20.

The left-hander is one point ahead of first-round leader Ockie Strydom, who lost the lead thanks to a massive setback on the par-four 12^th, where he lost three points. Strydom finished his round with four points to end the halfway stage of the tournament on 19 points overall.

“I didn’t look like getting to 20 points at the turn,” Korb said after his round that featured four birdies and two bogeys. “It was hot and the wind was pretty tough, swirling the whole time – it never seemed to come from the same place for longer than 10 minutes.

“I just had to keep concentrating for the whole 18 holes and, after getting going with birdies on five and six, I knew the most difficult tee-shots were coming around the turn. Unfortunately I made bogey at nine, but kept my cool and had a nice sand-save for birdie on 11.

“I feel solid about my game, I have beautiful new irons – Titleist T100s – and that has given me more confidence. I like the format too because I am an aggressive player,” Korb added.

While many of the golfers were forced to kneel before the stringent test that is the Gary Player Country Club with the wind up, it was a good day for Keagan Thomas, who picked up nine points to go to third on 17 points.

The experienced Lyle Rowe produced the second-best round of the day with his 10-point tally, including four birdies and an eagle on the 11^th, lifting him to 16 points and a tie for fourth with Jaco Ahlers and Rhys Enoch.

Scores – https://sunshinetour.com/tournament-information/?tourn=BLCH&season=221S&report=tmentry~season=221S~alphaorder~#/home

Dwaine Pretorius has bent the selectors’ ears his way shortly before a world cup on two previous occasions and the 32-year-old all-rounder will be hoping to do it a third time when the Proteas tour Sri Lanka next month.

South Africa has such a great tradition of all-rounders and competition for those places has been stiff, but Pretorius made the cut for both the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2019 World Cup. The latter tournament was the last time he played an ODI for South Africa and he finished a wretched tournament for the Proteas as their most economical bowler.

And now the T20 World Cup looms in October/November and Pretorius has one chance to stake his claim for that touring party with his performances in Sri Lanka. That he has left it this late is no fault of his own – he has had terrible luck with injury and then caught Covid, which meant his last match for the Proteas was in February in Pakistan.

“The last six months have been the most frustrating of my career ever. First I broke my ribs taking a catch and then the night before flying to the West Indies I tested positive for Covid. Missing that one flight meant I missed two tours, to both the Caribbean and Ireland, so it was a shocker. Covid has brought a lot of new challenges, bubbles aren’t easy and there’s no leeway.

“So it’s been a tough one, but I just have to get over it and deal with it. It’s the third time I’m going through this sort of pressure, it was the same in 2017 and the 2019. I just take it game-to-game and focus on what’s in front of me now. I will try and play my brand of cricket that I believe can add value to the team,” Pretorius told The Citizen on Thursday.

The T20 World Cup is also being played on the subcontinent and Pretorius has bowled cannily in those conditions before and he strikes the ball strongly in the lower middle-order. He is a really valuable white-ball cricketer.

Andile Phehlukwayo has been left out of the T20 squad for Sri Lanka and that leaves Pretorius, Wiaan Mulder and spinner George Linde to fight for probably two all-round places in the XI.

“If I try and do a role that is not me, then the chances of success are so much less. I know I can do the fifth/sixth bowler role and I have the power with the bat to finish innings. I will just try and prove that again and hopefully the selectors will decide I am the type of player they want in the World Cup squad.

“It’s a fight-or-flight situation and you just have to back what makes you you. I can score boundaries from ball one, but it’s risky and I could get out for less than 10 every time and then I will miss the World Cup,” a philosophical Pretorius said.

Opener Janneman Malan has also been left out of the T20 squad and Lungi Ngidi (personal reasons), Quinton de Kock (resting) and David Miller (hamstring injury) will miss the ODIs in Sri Lanka. Fast bowler Junior Dala returns to the Proteas squad, having also last played in Pakistan in February, and he will boost the wicket-taking capability of the attack.

Proteas squads

ODI – Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma (captain), Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, George Linde, Wiaan Mulder, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Junior Dala, Beuran Hendricks, Lizaad Williams.

T20 – Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, George Linde, Wiaan Mulder, Bjorn Fortuin, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Beuran Hendricks, Sisanda Magala, Lizaad Williams.