Ken Borland

Playing all of their fixtures against the European sides on foreign shores is going to prejudice the hopes of the four South African teams in the Rainbow Cup, but Sharks coach Sean Everitt believes his team should still be competitive given their history of travelling well during SuperRugby.

The Rainbow Cup starts on April 24, with the South African franchises playing local derbies on the first three weekends. They then cross over to the Northern Hemisphere to play the existing Pro14 sides. While the fixtures for Rounds 4-6 have not yet been confirmed due to uncertainty over travel plans, those matches will all definitely be in Europe.

“We only have three domestic games and two of ours are not at Kings Park, but those are the cards we have been dealt and we just have to get on with it. But the Sharks have always travelled well and I expect the same. We will be there for two weeks before our first game so we can get used to conditions and I don’t think conditions will be as severe at the end of May as some people are expecting.

“We are looking forward to the challenge of playing against new teams and creating new memories and great experiences. But I think SuperRugby will be missed because it suited our style of play, we want to attack, it’s in our DNA, and it was a great competition. Our squad will stay the same as now, we’re only allowed to sign 45 players and I think we have to take 42 of them over there,” Everitt said at the weekend.

While the beloved free-flowing play of SuperRugby will be missed, Bulls coach Jake White said some of the less appealing features of the southern hemisphere competition once it expanded – such as the lopsided nature of the draw – will be repeated in the Rainbow Cup.

“We know our first three games are in South Africa so that’s our focus. But it’s not ideal to be playing all the European teams away, especially if conditions get helluva tough. But it’s going to be the same for all the South African sides. The Rainbow Cup is a very unique competition in that you have six games to get into the final and four of ours are away from home.

“But we’re lucky because some teams [the Sharks] have five away games. It’s a great opportunity to prepare for when we actually do play Pro16, but it’s a bit like SuperRugby if you didn’t have the favourable draw. Like if you had to play the Crusaders, Chiefs and Hurricanes away, you had a very much more difficult draw than the teams that played them in South Africa,” White said.

Cricket South Africa’s Interim Board have been attacking the problem of the Members Council’s intransigence with Dobermann-like tenacity over the last week and there are hopes that next week will bring a reconvened meeting of the provincial presidents and a revote that sees the new Memorandum of Incorporation for the permanent board passed.

Last weekend the Members Council rejected the proposed MoI that would have implemented the recommendations of the Nicholson Commission, specifically having a board made up of a majority of independent directors, chaired by one of the independent directors.

The Interim Board has spent this week engaging with the provincial boards and have discovered that the 8-6 vote against an independent board may not have been an accurate reflection of the actual wishes of the delegates. In their discussions it has also emerged that there were misunderstandings over the definition of an ‘independent’ director, in some cases because of misinformation from the provincial president sitting on the Members Council.

“The Interim Board has engaged with the affiliate unions and they have found an open mind. It seems there has been some misinformation and they did not understand how a majority independent board would work, with more specific focus on getting cricket people involved. There are thousands of cricket-lovers in this country who could be eligible as an independent director.

“It seems some Members Council delegates who are not keen on the change did not motivate the proposals correctly to their own provincial boards. Some false notions were peddled, maybe to try and ensure more seats for the non-independents. It also seems that the vote against the MoI may not have been properly recorded because some provinces actually voted yes but wanted more detail,” a source with intimate knowledge of the discussions told Saturday Citizen on Friday.

One of the arguments put forward against the new MoI is Sascoc policy that states members are to have boards comprising a majority of non-independent directors. But it is believed the Interim Board are willing to face down Sascoc as well if they do not allow the composition of CSA’s board to change.

New South Africa limited-overs captain Temba Bavuma said on Monday that he hopes to define a style of play for the Proteas that will be fit for every condition and for every occasion.

Bavuma will lead South Africa for the first time in the three ODIs against Pakistan which start at Centurion on April 2, followed by four T20 Internationals.

The Proteas’ failure to win any of the world cups is well-documented and their performances in the global tournaments seem to be getting worse rather than improving, their most recent failure being their dismal showing in England when they failed to advance to the knockout stage. South Africa have not played an ODI since their tremendous 3-0 whitewash of Australia little more than a year ago, but since the 2019 World Cup they have completed just five matches.

“South Africa have always been more than competitive in ODIs, we’ve been No.1 in the world before. As the leader I’m just going to try and define a style of play that we will be able to execute in any conditions and under any occasion. To do that, mentally we need to improve a lot, we need to get stronger. I’ll be trying to inspire and get the guys into a space where they can perform as well as they can.

“We want to be aggressive and able to dominate in all conditions. We definitely want to test ourselves more in conditions that may be ‘unfavourable’ for us, we want to see if we can execute our brand of play at all times. The mood is optimistic and hopefully I can lead the team to a couple of victories as we build to 2023. We really want to define our style of play,” Bavuma said on Monday.

Bavuma’s landmark appointment – he is the first Black African to lead South Africa – comes after he has played just six ODIs, but has scored 335 runs at a strike-rate of 92 in those games. While the 30-year-old has now scaled the Drakensberg in terms of his career, he knows he needs to keep posting performances to add to the rocks already on his cairn on top of the mountain.

“Those conversations about where I’ll bat are still ongoing, but it will probably be in the top three, I would like to think no further down than number four. But being versatile is something I pride myself on, it’s something I’ve always had to do. I’ve got to make sure I’ve got the skills to achieve whatever role I’m in. Obviously I’m excited by the responsibility.

“I’m going to enjoy the journey and this new chapter in my career, and I look forward to adding value with the bat. I have to stamp my mark on the game and I will be the guy on the field who the players will look to for decision-making and plans. It starts with communication off the field and then hopefully we can execute the plans,” Bavuma said.

The South African women’s cricket team’s hopes of playing internationally this year seem to be crumbling into dust with no real effort being made by the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture to pay anything more than lip-service to their stated intention of uplifting women’s sport.

On Tuesday Cricket South Africa were forced to turn down an invitation from world champions England to play five women’s ODIs and two T20 internationals next month due to government not being willing to relax their international travel restrictions.

That would be understandable if it weren’t for the fact that the England and Wales Cricket Board had offered a chartered flight with all necessary health protocols to fly the Proteas team over. Government have also already granted certain sportsmen permission to travel overseas and compete. Repatriation flights and some business travel have also been allowed.

“It is frustrating that another opportunity for our Momentum Proteas to play against top-quality opposition has again had to be cancelled, but as always the safety of our players and support staff is the prime consideration, ” CSA director of cricket, Graeme Smith, said in a statement released on Tuesday.

Clare Connor, the managing director of England women’s cricket, sounded even more frustrated.

“I am immensely disappointed. We have been committed from the outset to deliver the same bio-secure standards for both men’s and women’s international cricket, an investment that included exclusive hotel use for teams, chartered flights and medical provisions. An ECB team, with support from the county ground in Derby, has created a dedicated behind-closed-doors environment to host all of our women’s internationals,” Connor said.

While the Ministry did not respond to a query for comment, they have been users of punitive measures against sporting federations that were not in their good books before. When CSA appeared before the sports portfolio committee recently, they were castigated by Minister Nathi Mthethwa for their “all-White management”.

President Chris Nenzani and acting CEO Jacques Faul have since resigned, but it would be no surprise if the ministry, often ill-informed on events on the inside of sporting organisations, have now also jumped on the anti-Smith bandwagon and are trying to make his life more difficult.