Ken Borland

A cricket ball that had had 116 runs belted off it by the opening batsmen was a pivotal item of lost property at SuperSport Park on Sunday as the Dolphins staged an impressive comeback against the Titans.

Having won the toss and batted, the probable Proteas opening pair at the same venue on Boxing Day, Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar, showed their class as they reached 92 without loss at lunch.

The runs were then flowing after the break when Markram unleashed a powerful straight drive for four off Daryn Dupavillon. Bizarrely, the Dolphins then could not find the ball and, after several minutes, a change of ball was ordered by the umpires.

And it proved a turning point as Elgar was caught in the slips off Ottneil Baartman in the next over for 52. Worse was to come in Dupavillon’s next over when the fast bowler got his hand to another fierce straight drive by Markram, deflecting the ball on to the stumps and running out Neil Brand for a duck.

Former Northerns star Ruan de Swardt then took over, removing the in-form Markram for 75 with the help of a superb catch at gully by Andile Phehlukwayo, and the seamer finished the day with career-best figures of four for 41 in 15 overs, nipping the ball in and out, as he did to great effect when he had Diego Rosier caught behind for 27.

With left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj getting some late reward for his lovely bowling all day, the Titans closed on 269 for nine. Maharaj ended the first day with figures of 23-9-48-3, winning his battle with Theunis de Bruyn (22), before Dayyaan Galiem denied him late in the day with a crucial contribution of 45 not out.

Batting at St George’s Park is even tougher, with the match between the Warriors and Cape Cobras looking already as if it is heading for an early finish.

The Warriors were bowled out for just 194 after winning the toss and batting, thanks in the main to Rudi Second’s 55.

Spinner George Linde wrapped up the tail to finish with four for 52, but Akhona Mnyaka (9-2-34-2) and Calvin Savage (15-7-23-2) were the chief threats.

The Cobras then struggled to 72 for three at stumps, but opener Pieter Malan, who is unfortunate not to be in the Test squad, is still there on 35 not out, along with Kyle Verreynne on 21*.

Glenton Stuurman, who is hoping for a Test debut after Christmas, was a handful up front, taking two for nine in nine overs.

In Bloemfontein, the Knights scored 327 for six after batting first, with Raynard van Tonder the only batsman to flourish, scoring a phenomenal 180 not out off just 226 balls against the Imperial Lions, the defending champions.

Van Tonder, who also has reason to feel hard done by with his exclusion from the Test squad, certainly gave the selectors more to think about as he stroked 23 fours and two sixes. No-one else scored more than 28 as pacemen Lutho Sipamla and Tladi Bokako took two wickets apiece.

Bulls coach Jake White has refused to release an injury report this week ahead of their SuperRugby Unlocked opener against Griquas at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night, and the reason became clear on Thursday when he announced a team missing several of the stars from their impressive warm-up against the Sharks a fortnight ago.

White has decided not to risk the “niggling” injuries captain Duane Vermeulen, dazzling new wing Kurt-Lee Arendse and experienced loose forward Nizaam Carr have suffered and he has also been shorn of the services of hooker Schalk Erasmus for six weeks, after surgery on a twisted ankle.

So flank Arno Botha, who has made an impressive return to South African rugby, will lead the team against Griquas and Tim Agaba will start at eighthman. The tall David Kriel looked a threat when he came on in the second half against the Sharks and he will replace Arendse at left wing, while the Bulls have good cover at hooker with Corniel Els starting and the exciting young Johan Grobbelaar on the bench.

“Duane has a bang on the leg from last week’s Springbok Showdown and he’ll be fine, but with us playing for five weeks in a row we cannot afford to risk him pushing through. We can afford to give other guys opportunity though and it’s a great chance to see how Tim, who everyone speaks highly of, goes along with the first-choice pack.

“Kurt-Lee is also injured, he has a contusion on his quad and for someone who needs to run a lot, that’s a risk. He’ll be ready next week. Schalk has had an operation on an ankle roll and we know he’ll be ready in six weeks, whereas if we’d treated it conservatively it could reoccur. Nizaam has a bang on his knee so I couldn’t pick him.

“All the teams seem to have a lot of niggles because of the lack of rugby and contact. I suppose I could pick these guys if I really wanted to, but we can’t afford it with our schedule if they have niggles. That’s why I don’t want to give my injury report on a Monday because then the opposition then basically knows my team at the start of the week and I wanted to see if some of these guys could pull through,” White said on Thursday.

The one area where White has taken something of a risk is at tighthead prop, however, with Trevor Nyakane chosen despite spending the week in Cape Town in quarantine because he had been in close proximity with fellow Springbok Oupa Mohoje, who has tested positive for Covid-19.

“Trevor had a training program in Cape Town and he’s been able to stick to that. Of course it’s not ideal that he hasn’t trained with us, but he’s a Springbok and important to us. He knows how we play, he’s been at every session except the last two weeks. We’ll start with him and then if he gets fatigued then we can bring the reserve [Mornay Smith] on,” White explained.

Grobbelaar has recently got over his own struggle with Covid-19 and with Lizo Gqoboka recovered from injury and starting loosehead Jacques van Rooyen having arrived at the Bulls and impressed, the Pretoria side have plenty of front-row experience for a clash in which the first battle will be up front.

Team – Gio Aplon, Travis Ismaiel, Stedman Gans, Cornal Hendricks, David Kriel, Morne Steyn, Ivan van Zyl, Tim Agaba, Arno Botha, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Jason Jenkins, Trevor Nyakane, Corniel Els, Jacques van Rooyen. Replacements: Johan Grobbelaar, Lizo Gqoboka, Mornay Smith, Sintu Manjezi, Elrigh Louw, Embrose Papier, Chris Smith, Marco Jansen van Vuren.

The South African men’s hockey team’s hopes at the Commonwealth Games were quickly extinguished, but apart from scuppering any possibility of them adding to the Proteas squad’s impressive haul of medals, more insidious damage was done to the image of the game as a whole in this country.

South Africa began their campaign with a disappointing 4-2 loss to Scotland, who are not even in the top-20 of the world rankings, and were then hammered 4-0 by Australia and 6-0 by New Zealand. They ended the pool stage with a good 2-0 win over 11^th-ranked Canada, but they were still condemned to playing in the wooden-spoon playoff for ninth and 10^th place.

A 3-2 defeat at the hands of Wales, ranked 24^th in the world, completed a shocking tournament for South Africa.

No-one is questioning the commitment of the team, who are, after all, basically amateurs trying to compete with professionals, but questions have to be asked about the selection of the squad.

Surely for a tournament of the Commonwealth Games’ stature – which attracts plenty of media attention back home – the selectors should fill the team with their most experienced, best players? This was not the case with several seasoned campaigners being left at home as SA hockey tried to ‘build for the future’.

The South African Hockey Association (Saha) like to give plenty of lip about a lack of financial support from Sascoc and corporates, but in this instance they have shot themselves in the foot.

The Commonwealth Games, with its widespread coverage, is the ideal platform – second only to the Olympics in terms of our hockey – for SA hockey to make a statement. Winning a medal, which is not a realistic target in the World Cup later this year, would make the public and potential sponsors and supporters sit up and take notice.

Even our women’s side, which is a top-class outfit, disappointed, only managing to finish sixth thanks to defeats to India and Canada and a draw with Malaysia. Canada and Malaysia are not even ranked in the world top-20, while South Africa are 14^th.

It all just showed a lack of strategic thinking by Saha. No doubt the powers that be will say something about the mechanics of preparation for the World Cup being behind the Commonwealth Games failure. But a Commonwealth Games medal – or even a strong run for one – would have been a real fillip for the game back home, engendering far more positive PR than a 10^th-place finish in a World Cup that the average South African will be totally oblivious about.

A full-strength South African side would have had a chance to nick a medal on the Gold Coast, something which nobody expects them to do in the World Cup. Now, instead, the public opinion of hockey will once again be of a bunch of no-hopers.

Saha needs to make better decisions to ensure they at least give their under-resourced, struggling national teams some gloss.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-gauteng/20180421/282376925178424

There were many inspiring individual performances in the Proteas’ 3-1 win over Australia in what was an incredible series, but the events in Durban on the fourth afternoon of the first Test may have been the most important catalyst for the impressive comeback.

It’s fair to say that the Proteas probably weren’t in the good books of their fans after they were walloped 5-1 in their ODI series against India and lost the T20 rubber as well, and then they were decidedly flat at Kingsmead as Australia put themselves in an unassailable position.

And then David Warner behaved as if he had a hornet in his pants, never mind sandpaper, after AB de Villiers was run out in the second innings, with an unhinged display of angry, crass celebration in the face of young Aiden Markram. It was clear Australia’s attack dog in chief had lost control, but insipid umpiring ensured nothing was done.

Much of the afternoon session was spent verbally abusing Markram and Quinton de Kock, who eventually decided to respond to all the personal taunts with a verbal volley of his own. Of course, according to the Australian team rules, that crosses the line and Warner was now threatening physical harm.

All of this drama had the effect of making the Proteas angry, as captain Faf du Plessis admitted, and from that moment on they were a different beast, and the South African public rallied behind their cause. It was like an unstoppable wave and all because of Warner’s sledging, a tactic which Du Plessis considers counter-productive, due to its motivational effects on the opposition.

The Australians were also angry, Warner’s exposure, Kagiso Rabada winning his appeal in Port Elizabeth and then the crowd in Cape Town making them feel more and more victimised. Warner, who was made vice-captain to bring positive energy into the camp, then crossed over onto the dark side because of how unfair he felt it all was. Ironically, it was he who had set all this in motion.

On the outside, Cricket Australia have seemingly been very upfront in dealing with the issue. But, as the dust has settled, it has become clear that they have merely stage-managed the whole fiasco, they have been doing their utmost to control the narrative and ringfence themselves from any major damage.

They have their three scapegoats in Smith, Bancroft and Warner, who have now accepted major penalties, but what of the organisation itself which has promoted the win-at-all-costs attitude in crass social media posts and that awful gloating podium presentation set-up after the Ashes?

Cricket Australia have not made the whole truth accessible, leaving questions unanswered such as how was it possible that not a single bowler knew what was going on? South African media were deliberately excluded from Darren Lehmann’s first press conference after the scandal and I was effectively banned from asking questions at Australian press conferences – whenever my hand was up, a firm shake of the head by their media manager would follow.

It should also incense South Africans that Cricket Australia came into this country, which holds democratic ideals so dear after our dark past, and tried to interfere in the rights of free speech of spectators. In Cape Town, several spectators were evicted for using abusive or foul language, the kind that is commonplace in Australia, at the behest of the tourists’ management, who had their security manager practically in the field of play.

There has, however, been a lot of soul-searching in Australian cricket this past two weeks, which is a positive, and in Tim Paine they have a captain who can lead them into the new brand of cricket they say they want to play.

But there are already murmurs in Australia that perhaps some leniency should be showed to the culprits, so whether they really do head in a new direction is by no means certain.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-gauteng/20180407/282475709397424