Ken Borland

Fast bowler Duanne Olivier is starring in four-day domestic cricket, back in South Africa for the first time since February 2019, when he took four wickets in the Proteas’ infamous second Test loss to Sri Lanka in Port Elizabeth, when the tiny island nation became the first subcontinental team to win a Test series here.

He then added to the sense of shock in South African cricket at the time by taking a Kolpak contract to play in English county cricket for Yorkshire. Olivier did play in the Mzansi Super League for the Jozi Stars at the end of 2019, but with the Kolpak door now closed, the 29-year-old should be back in the local game permanently.

Olivier was named in a powerful four-man Central Gauteng Lions pace attack on Friday in their CSA Four-Day Domestic Series match against the North-West Dragons at the Wanderers, and was in fine form, taking four for 50 in 14.2 overs. And it wasn’t just all fire and brimstone either, there were clearly intelligent plans at play too.

As a fiery strike bowler, Olivier is always expected to take wickets and be the spearhead of a successful team. Certainly in English county cricket, he will be looked to by Yorkshire as the overseas pro who will win them matches and get them into contention for silverware.

Despite fairly modest returns of 75 wickets in 25 first-class games for Yorkshire at an average of 32.42, Olivier has been signed as an overseas pro through to the end of next season.

The owner of an excellent Test record of 48 wickets in 10 matches at 19.25 will have the same level of expectation from the Lions, especially since their home base of the Wanderers is ideally suited to his high-energy, high-impact bowling that can drag life out of most pitches.

Olivier said he is loving the pressure that is on him to perform.

“I always feel pressure because I am always trying to do well for the team. I actually enjoy it, it’s a part of the game and it helps a lot that in the UK, you are also always under pressure,” Olivier said on the eve of his Lions debut.

“This is a different structure now in South African cricket, which means there is different pressure, and I will embrace that. Every year is a challenge, with different ups and downs, and every year I just understand my game a bit better.

“Obviously cricket is performance-based and if you take wickets then it looks like you’re making an impact, but for me it’s about the process and how well I have bowled.

“It’s always nice in Johannesburg because it’s more suited to fast bowling. But I will just try to keep it as simple as possible. What I’ve achieved before is irrelevant, it’s three or four years since I last played at the Wanderers, and it’s a fresh challenge,” Olivier said.

Quinton de Kock’s decision to withdraw from the Proteas team playing in a crucial T20 World Cup match in Dubai rather than obey a directive from the CSA Board that all players must take a knee in support of the BLM initiative had South African cricket in shock on Tuesday.

Fortunately the Proteas managed to regain their focus in time to beat the West Indies in impressive fashion on Tuesday and stay in contention for the semi-finals, but whether De Kock will play any further part in the tournament now depends on what the CSA Board make of whatever report is sent to them by team management.

While issuing an edict on the morning of a crucial match, when the topic of how the Proteas should show their support for BLM has been in the public discourse for more than a year now, was incredibly poor management by CSA, De Kock also left his team in the lurch by putting his own convictions, which have not been explained, above the needs of the team.

In the inflammatory environment of South African cricket, De Kock’s refusal to support BLM has caused outrage. But former Highveld Lions coach Geoff Toyana, who has a close bond with the 28-year-old, having mentored him in his formative years, said he is sure De Kock is not a racist.

“Quinny was brought up by Black coaches, there’s no way he is a racist. But to pull out of the team, at a world cup, I just don’t know what was in his mind … “ Toyana told The Citizen on Tuesday.

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma was also in a more forgiving mood after his team won, although he stressed De Kock will have to live with the consequences of his decision.

“The team heard about the directive in the morning when we were on the bus to Dubai,” Bavuma said. “It’s about a two-hour trip and I guess Quinny made his decision then, because I only found out he was not playing when we got in the changeroom.

“As a team we did not have a great deal of time to discuss things, we just had to digest what we were told. South Africa is governed by a constitution that allows guys to express their choices.

“But as much as there is freedom of choice, you can’t escape the consequences of those decisions. But he is still one of the boys and whatever shoulder or support he needs, we are there for him,” Bavuma said.

While the CSA Board directive came out of the blue given how long they have prevaricated over the BLM issue, Bavuma said the Proteas team has made peace with the fact that there are different views within the team.

“We live in a country with diverse views, the things we support are based on our own convictions and we live different lives. I’ve learnt to appreciate that a lot more.

“It has widened my perspective and I don’t expect people to see things the way I do. Which is why we have had the hard conversations, it’s through those that we learn to accept other people’s actions,” Bavuma said.

In a week in which they returned to normal, non-bubble life and played in front of a crowd for the first time since the World Cup, the Springboks seemed to have stage-fright as they slid to a 28-26 defeat at the hands of the Wallabies on the Gold Coast on Sunday.

Flyhalf Quade Cooper, playing his first Test in four years, was the hero with a 100% kicking record of  seven penalties and a conversion, including a long-range, angled penalty after the final hooter to snatch the victory.

But it was an unfocused performance by the world champions, who made basic mistakes and conceded too many penalties against a Wallabies side who were far from the weak pushovers they seemed to be against the All Blacks. They were crafty as ever in the scrums and avoided many of the physical battles by shifting the ball quickly away from the contact points.

The lineout was the only area where the Springboks enjoyed a clear advantage, and all three of South Africa’s tries, scored by hookers Bongi Mbonambi in the first half and two by Malcolm Marx in the second, came from the rolling maul.

The visitors started well, using an aerial bombardment and their lineout prowess to win two penalties for flyhalf Handre Pollard, but the Wallabies began to find weaknesses in their defence as they came on strong at the breakdowns and the Springboks started to make soft mistakes to put themselves under pressure.

One minute after captain Siya Kolisi was yellow-carded for a tip-tackle, Australia took control of the game with the opening try. There was no danger involved in Kolisi’s tackle, but referee Luke Pearce was strict when it came to sending players to the cooler, dishing out four yellow-cards in all, two to each team.

The try came when Faf de Klerk rushed up in defence as usual, but missed the tackle and excellent centre Samu Kerevi sidestepped him, creating space out wide which was quickly spotted by the Wallabies, wing Andrew Kelleway then cutting back inside to finish well.

The Springboks struck back with Mbonambi’s maul try after Australian lock Matt Philip had been yellow-carded for collapsing the drive, but Pollard had a poor night with the boot, missing three kicks either side of halftime.

Pollard knocked his second penalty of the second half over to close the gap to 14-19 as the Springboks came out energised after the break. But the Wallabies continued to play the smarter rugby and replacement scrumhalf Nic White’s brilliant kick, making use of the new 50/22 trial law, put them on attack. From there, fullback Willie le Roux’s yellow card for a deliberate knock-on stalled the visitors’ momentum and cost three points as Quade Cooper slotted his sixth successive kick at goal.

Fortunately, Australia hooker Folau Fainga’a was yellow-carded six minutes later for a no-arms tackle and the Springboks were able to maul Marx over for their second try, getting them to within one point.

And with eight minutes left Marx went over from the lineout drive again. But Damian Willemse, on for Pollard, pushed the conversion well wide to complete a miserable night from the tee for South Africa – 10 points in all being wasted.

There were a couple of crucial scrums towards the end in which the Springboks clearly dominated but were not rewarded by the referee, and then Australia wheeled the last scrum of the game, isolating replacement eighthman Jasper Wiese, who conceded the turnover penalty.

Cooper did exactly what he was brought in to do, showing the coolest of heads as he knocked the tricky penalty straight over.

Scorers

Australia – Try: Andrew Kellaway. Conversion: Quade Cooper. Penalties: Cooper (7).

South Africa – Tries: Bongi Mbonambi, Malcolm Marx (2). Conversion: Handre Pollard. Penalties: Pollard (3).

Faf de Klerk would be in the conversation when it comes to a World XV but the Springbok scrumhalf certainly rates the credentials of the Australian number nines that he will be up against in their Rugby Championship Test on the Gold Coast on Sunday.

Tate McDermott is the starting scrumhalf and comes from a Sevens background, so he is a lively ball-runner who definitely adds another dimension to the Wallabies attack. Reserve No.9 Nic White is more of a kicker, but also knows exactly where the tryline is, as well as being a deft off-loader in the close channels. He is also quite physical and combative.

“Tate McDermott is an exciting youngster and he will definitely threaten us around the rucks, plus Nic White is there as back-up. So it’s going to be a massive challenge for us on defence. The Wallabies are going to try and run us off our feet, so it’s going to be a huge challenge defensively.

“If you look at their recent scores, they haven’t been so good. But the way they have played has shown that if you switch off against them, then you can quickly be 14 or 21 points down. If we’re not mentally right then we’re going to come badly second. So we’re under no impression that it’s going to be easy. Defence is going to be very important and who can manage the game best,” De Klerk said.

Meanwhile, former Springbok coach Jake White, now director of rugby at the high-flying Bulls, has said playing in front of a hostile crowd is going to be an obvious hurdle for the tourists to overcome. Rugby in South Africa has not had spectators since the arrival of Covid 18 months ago.

“The one significant thing that is going to be completely different in Australia is that there’s going to be a crowd. Our guys would have forgotten what that’s like. When we got to Treviso for the Rainbow Cup final, having the home crowd in was incredibly different to what we were used to because we hadn’t done it for so long,” White said on Friday.