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Ken Borland



From Godfather Donald to Rabada: Proteas pace rules 0

Posted on October 10, 2022 by Ken

Kagiso Rabada became the second-quickest bowler, in terms of deliveries bowled, to reach 250 Test wickets during South Africa’s almighty thrashing of England at Lord’s, making it three Proteas inside the top-four of that particular statistical honours list.

The great Dale Steyn tops that list, needing just 9 927 deliveries to take 250 wickets, with Rabada reaching the milestone with his 10 065th ball, a clever slower-ball that had a slogging Stuart Broad caught at backward point. Pakistani legend Waqar Younis is third on 10 170 deliveries, with Allan Donald, the godfather of Proteas fast bowling, the fourth quickest (11 559).

Since South Africa’s return from isolation in November 1991, they have taken over from the West Indies as the team that has consistently produced the most lethal fast bowlers, and it was great to see that traditional strength used to such marvellous effect at Lord’s.

Test cricket is arguably at its best, a heavenly spectacle indeed, when great fast bowlers are in action, especially these days when so much is loaded in favour of batsmen.

South Africa is clearly blessed to have four world-class pacemen at the same time in Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen, who played together for the first time at Lord’s.

Sadly, it seems they will not be given enough Test matches to put up the same numbers as some of the other great fast bowlers in the history of the game.

Rabada, for instance, takes his wickets currently at a rate of 4.71 per Test. With just 28 Test matches scheduled for the Proteas over the next five years, given the same strike-rate, Rabada will be on around 380 Test wickets, still well short of breaking Steyn’s mark of 439 as South Africa’s most prolific bowler. Even Steyn himself expected Rabada to cruise past his record, but if South Africa keep playing as few Tests as they do, it will take the man who sprang to fame as the spearhead of the U19 side that won the Junior World Cup until he is in his mid-30s to claim the record.

For neutrals, South Africa’s demolition of England at Lord’s must have made for compelling viewing. Surely the International Cricket Council would want to ensure their fans get to see more of that?

Jake admits it will be a long shot for Bulls to beat Leinster 0

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Ken

Bulls coach Jake White all but admitted on Friday that it will be a long shot for his team to beat Leinster, symbols of all that is strong in European rugby, when they meet in their opening United Rugby Championship match at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday, but he added that it is a lengthy competition and whatever happens, South Africa’s champions will know how close they are to competing for honours up north.

Leinster won the last four editions of the Pro14 before the rebranding with the arrival of the four South African franchises, and they are also perennial contenders for the Champions Cup, Europe’s premier competition, having reached the knockout stages in 12 of the last 13 years and winning the title five times.

“It’s all an unknown for us but a great opportunity. Leinster are like the Barcelona of rugby and there’s not much I have to say to the team about playing them. It will be a great benchmark of where we are early on, it will be  a huge test coming up against guys who have played 30-40 Tests for Ireland and European finals. They are by far the leaders in European rugby.

“We have guys who have played against the same teams in the Currie Cup, which is a significant difference. So it’s going to be a massive fixture for us but it is a long tournament – we could play 21 more games. So one thing we can learn from Leinster is that it’s not so much about the first game, they have often been slow starters, it’s about how you adapt and evolve through the competition,” White said.

The Sharks, bridesmaids to the Bulls since rugby returned after Covid, have a similarly dauting task as they take on Munster, perennial runners-up to Leinster recently, on Saturday night. One gets the feeling the Sharks legged it to Ireland with some relief as their last match was yet another defeat to the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, the biggest margin of defeat in Currie Cup final history.

But the Sharks are traditionally good travellers and coach Sean Everitt knows they will be playing finals rugby once again, rather than the running game they would probably prefer.

“Munster are a well-drilled team who do not give you much, so it’s going to be about execution on the day. Johann van Graan is a well-organised coach, he’s been involved at the highest level with the Springboks and has brought a style to Munster that is very difficult to play against – they suffocate and strangle you. They are a well-oiled machine.

“Munster defend really well and have a strong kicking game – they want to trap you into playing in the wrong areas. So it’s going to be tough for us, but we are focused on what we need to do to succeed. We need to manage the game better and be more disciplined in that regard,” Everitt said.

The Stormers, given their recent troubles, will be grateful that they start against Italian opposition in the form of Benetton Treviso.

But Treviso were the team that destroyed the Bulls in the Rainbow Cup final and, given the Western Cape team’s struggles against their arch-rivals recently, they will have their hands full in northern Italy.

Rabada & De Kock have both missed out on any major CSA awards nominations 0

Posted on June 02, 2021 by Ken

Kagiso Rabada and Quinton de Kock, who have dominated the CSA Men’s Cricketer of the Year award in recent years, have both missed out on being nominated for any of the major honours for the last season as the list of nominees for the CSA Awards was announced on Monday.

Fast bowler Rabada, named the Cricketer of the Year in both 2016 and 2018, played just two Tests and two ODIs in the last season and took five wickets at an average of 39.40 in the longer format and two wickets in 50-over cricket. In two T20s, he claimed just one wicket.

2017 and 2020 Cricketer of the Year De Kock, who endured a torrid time with the captaincy, scored just 74 runs in six Test innings, while he only played two ODIs and three T20s last season.

The fact that it was a deeply troubled season for the Proteas is reflected in the fact that the four nominees for the award – Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Anrich Nortje and Rassie van der Dussen – have all never won the main prize before.

Markram (Test & T20), Nortje (Test & ODI) and Van der Dussen (ODI & T20) have all been nominated for two of the other main awards, while Bavuma is on the shortlist for Test Cricketer of the Year, having averaged 50.40 last season.

Markram was the second-highest run-scorer in the four Tests the Proteas played, scoring 36 less than Dean Elgar and averaging 56, while Nortje took twice as many wickets as anyone else – 20 in four matches at an average of 24.85.

Van der Dussen only played two ODIs, but was the leading run-scorer with 183, including a brilliant unbeaten 123 against Pakistan. The three-match series against Pakistan was the only ODI action South Africa saw last season, with their series against England being cancelled due to Covid.

The Proteas Women had a season they could be proud of, however, and fast bowler Shabnim Ismail and batters Lizelle Lee, Sune Luus and Laura Wolvaardt will battle it out for the Women’s Cricketer of the Year title.

Brumbies confirm credentials with comprehensive win 0

Posted on August 26, 2014 by Ken

A surprisingly comprehensive 29-10 victory over the Sharks in Durban has confirmed the Brumbies as a top-class side and a certain contender for SuperRugby honours.

It was a win achieved in a brutally efficient fashion, with the Sharks having no response to the sheer physicality, direct approach and excellent ball retention and support play of the Brumbies.

The visitors ran in four tries in a stunning first-half display, with the Sharks managing just a Pat Lambie penalty in reply as they struggled beneath the burden of having just one-third of the possession and territory.

The Sharks lifted their intensity in the second half, but by then they were far too far behind against an uncompromising Brumbies defence and the weather was only getting worse, with heavy rain making it extremely difficult for them to score the host of tries they needed to stage an unlikely comeback.

The Sharks have not often been so outmuscled and dominated in the collisions as they were on Saturday night and coach John Plumtree admitted the players did not really know how to respond.

“Our defence clearly wasn’t up to the mark in the first half, particularly. But I don’t really want to take anything away from the Brumbies attack. The way they kept the ball and built pressure was a real lesson for us and probably a lot of teams.

“Defensively we haven’t had to sustain that type of attack before, so they just ate us up. They sapped our energy levels. It was just a tough night for us and we clearly weren’t good enough,” Plumtree said.

The Sharks loose trio of Marcell Coetzee, Keegan Daniel and Ryan Kankowski, with Jacques Botes coming off the bench, is a potentially damaging one, but it’s lacking the physicality a Willem Alberts or a Jean Deysel brings and it was Ben Mowen, Stephen Moore, Peter Kimlin, Sam Carter and, in particular, eighthman Fotu Auelua who were hitting the ball up, getting over the advantage line and also shoving the Sharks back on defence.

It’s also been a long time since the Sharks scrum was so outplayed, even suffering the ignominy of a tighthead that led directly to wing Henry Speight’s try shortly before half-time that left the home side with an insurmountable deficit to overcome.

The Cheetahs were the only South African side to win on the weekend, with both the Bulls and the Southern Kings suffering at the hands of top-class displays from their New Zealand opposition.

The Bulls were the victims of a predictable backlash by the Crusaders, a quality outfit that was in a desperate mood after losing their first two games, in Christchurch.

The Crusaders’ 41-19 victory was a fair reflection of their dominance and, had their handling and passing been better in the opening quarter, a bigger hiding would have been on the cards.

Centre Robbie Fruean is built like a house but has the pace of the guard dog outside and, after shaking off an awful start in which he dropped practically every ball that came his way, he tore through the inexperienced Bulls backline.

Apart from Wynand Olivier – and he went off injured – and Zane Kirchner, the Bulls backline doesn’t contain the strongest defenders and the Crusaders were able to constantly get over the advantage line.

And, to make matter worse, the Bulls lost another veteran back in Akona Ndungane, leaving a shuffled backline to try and cope with the constant threat. And all this time Francois Hougaard remained on the bench, unused, and it has now been revealed he will be flying home due to an ankle injury. Presumably he suffered it while sitting down, or was an injured player chosen as a substitute?

The young Bulls props – Frik Kirsten and Morne Mellett – also had a torrid time in the scrums and the Bulls were on the back foot throughout the match.

But thanks to the wastefulness of the Crusaders backs, the Bulls were only trailing 9-15 as the halftime hooter went and still in the contest. But the Cantabrians scored a crucial try through the final movement, left wing Johnny McNicholl going over, although there was the suggestion that he had lost the ball forward during the multi-phase build-up.

But the Crusaders added another try, through the impressive right wing Tom Marshall, five minutes after the break and then another, by front-row demolition man Wyatt Crockett, on the hour mark, before the Bulls scored their one and only try with 13 minutes remaining. Therefore there can be no complaints about the outcome.

The Southern Kings went down 35-24 to the Chiefs in Port Elizabeth, but anyone who deems the SuperRugby newcomers to be uncompetitive must have an agenda of some sort after the defending champions were pushed hard at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

A quick supply of ruck ball, the brilliant orchestration of halfbacks Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Aaron Cruden, and the backline’s almost telepathic use of space ensured that the Chiefs won with a bonus point, but it was the incredible tenacity and sheer gumption of the Kings that will remain the lasting memory.

It was sad that such a festive occasion, featuring splendid rugby, was marred by a couple of dreadful TMO decisions by Johan Meuwesen that cost the Kings eight points.

He firstly ruled that Demetri Catrakilis had tackled Tim Nanai-Williams late and dangerously, which was an appalling decision because the Kings flyhalf was already committed to what was a perfectly legal but crunching tackle, when the Chiefs outside centre dropped the ball.

Meuwesen then missed two forward passes in the build-up to Lelia Masaga’s second try, which rather detracted from the magical interplay between Cruden and Nanai-Williams in the build-up.

The Kings were trailing 13-18 at halftime, buoyed by Sergeal Petersen’s scintillating 85m try, but had had no luck, especially considering they also lost captain Darron Nell, in the warm-up, and fullback SP Marais to injury.

The Chiefs quickly extended their lead to 32-13 after the break and at many other venues in South Africa a pall would have descended over the stadium. But, with the large crowd giving boisterous support, the Kings mashed together some phases, playing enterprising rugby and were rewarded with a try by eighthman Jacques Engelbrecht. They spent much of the final quarter hard on attack and, with two Catrakilis penalties cutting their lead to just eight points, the Chiefs were forced to kick at goal to keep themselves safe.

The Kings could have pushed the Chiefs harder by committing more players at the breakdowns just to slow down their ball, and also to clean out the many Kiwis hampering their own recycling, but up till now the Eastern Cape rookies have done themselves proud in the toughest of competitions.

While the mood was buoyant in Port Elizabeth, there were bound to be several nights on the tiles in Bloemfontein as the Cheetahs pulled off a second consecutive victory overseas as they edged the Waratahs 27-26 in Sydney.

The smoke from the fireworks had still not cleared from the air as the Cheetahs scored a breathtaking opening try, Willie le Roux regathering his own deft chip and sending Robert Ebersohn dashing down the right wing.

Le Roux was at it again with 10 minutes remaining when he again chipped over the defence and then palmed the ball on to Raymond Rhule in an astonishing moment of skill. Rhule was brought down inside the Waratahs 22, but was unstoppable a couple of phases later as he weaved his way through to the line for a wonderful try.

The try was also the match-winning one as it gave the Cheetahs a 27-23 lead, but their fantastic defence in the closing minutes was probably the premier reason for a victory that seemed unlikely for lengthy periods when they were being dominated by the home side.

 http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-03-18-superrugby-wrap-cheetahs-keep-sa-flag-flying/#.U_x0SPmSxe8

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  • Thought of the Day

    2 Peter 3:18 – “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

    True Christianity starts with accepting Jesus Christ as your saviour and redeemer and fully surrendering to him. You have to start living a new life; submit daily to the will of your master.

    We need to grow within grace, not into grace, and the responsibility rests with us. Your role model is Jesus Christ and he is always with you to strengthen you in your weakness, but you have to cultivate your growth. So spend more time in prayer and use the faith you already have.

     

     



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