Ken Borland

EDENVALE, Gauteng – Norway’s Maiken Bing Paulsen produced a second consecutive top-class round of golf, including a pair of chip-ins for eagle, on Thursday as she gave herself a handy two-shot lead going into the final round of the Jabra Ladies Classic at Glendower Golf Club.

Paulsen shot a four-under-par 68 in the second round on Thursday to climb to 10-under-par for the tournament, doing extremely well to back up her 66 on the first day on a day when the scoring was higher and no-one managed to shoot lower than her.

South Africa’s Cara Gorlei also fired a 68 on Thursday and lies second on eight-under-par, while Elena Hualde (Spain) and the Swedish duo of Lisa Pettersson and Moa Folke were also four-under for the second round and shared third place with England’s Gabriella Cowley (71) on six-under-par.

The 27-year-old Paulsen was level-par through the first seven holes, but then chipped in for eagle on the par-five eighth. She dropped her second shot on the par-four 11^th, but Paulsen caught fire in the middle of the back nine as she birdied the 13^th, chipped in again for eagle on the 15^th and birdied the 16^th.

Unfortunately she bogeyed the par-three 17^th, but Paulsen was still understandably delighted with her round.

“It was a good day even though my putting didn’t get the ball in the hole as much as the first day. But I had three chip-ins, for both of my eagles and to birdie the fourth, and I was really steady off the tee,” she said.

A small struggle with her iron play was the only worry for Paulsen, but she handled it with aplomb thanks to her excellent short game.

“My irons were a bit of a struggle, so hopefully I figure that out for the final round. I only gave myself a few good opportunities on the front nine and I almost lost my ball when I bogeyed the seventh. So it was an interesting front nine, but I just tried to keep going and stay positive.

“There were some interesting pins and because the course is still wet it was playing quite long. But there was a little less wind today, which was nice. I didn’t find a big difference in difficulty today, but then I was hitting the ball so well on to the fairways, I am quite long off the tee, so that advantage meant maybe I didn’t notice.

“I’ve been trying to work on my swing and I’ve changed a lot, so that’s why my irons are still a bit flaky. Mistakes will happen in this transition period, but in the final round I’m just going to keep doing what I do. It’s the boring answer, but I just want to give myself chances, be in the fairways, try and make sure my irons are decent and hopefully the putts go in and it’s a happy day,” Paulsen said.

It was also a happy day for Gorlei, who scorched through the back nine in four-under 32.

Russia’s Nina Pegova, who shared the first-round lead with Paulsen, started her second round on the back nine and reached the turn in one-under, but then had a nightmare start to the front nine as she bogeyed the second and double-bogeyed the fourth hole. She finished with a 73 to drop back to five-under-par, sharing seventh place with South Africa’s Stacy Bregman, who was also part of the impressive 68-Club.

Proteas captain Dean Elgar said he was okay with a lot on the eve of the first Test against Australia, including the home team’s incredible record in Brisbane and what looks likely to be a paceman-friendly pitch for his struggling batsmen to contend with against a powerful attack.

Australia have lost just one Test – versus India in January 2021 – at the Gabba in 33 matches dating back to December 1989. Surprisingly, South Africa have only played one Test in Queensland in that time, the draw in 2012 when Michael Clarke scored 259 not out after centuries by Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis.

“History is not in our favour in Brisbane, but that’s okay,” Elgar said on Friday. “This group of players doesn’t have any dirty laundry at the Gabba, we haven’t played here as a group so there have been no failures.

“We are looking forward to the opportunity, in fact for the last two weeks here we have been salivating for this moment. Australia is a really tough place to play, but so rewarding if you get it right.

“The pitch looks the same colour as the grass I’m standing on in the outfield, but green doesn’t scare us, we’re used to pretty green and juicy pitches in South Africa.

“The ball nips around a bit here, but that’s okay. The pitches are fair and the batsmen know that if they get in then they can really capitalise. And it looks like it will suit our bowling unit,” Elgar said.

Elgar acknowledged the whispers around the South African batting line-up and the opening batsman was quick to say he needs to lead from the front with big runs.

“All our batsmen must stand up, our batting unit has been a talking point of late. We’re not shying away from that and it’s time for us to rise up and shine.

“It’s time for me personally to put in a massive performance. As the senior batsman, you always carry the weight of responsibility and as captain I’m very aware of my burden.

“I’ve got to lead from the front, but that’s something I thrive on, I believe it brings out the best in me.

“The rest of our batsmen are just a bit inexperienced in Test cricket, but that also means they don’t have any baggage,” Elgar said.

Australia’s strong attack will no doubt be looking to hit hard and early in order to undermine that confidence.

Rain washed out the second day’s play of last year’s Boxing Day Test against India at Centurion and, while the tourists enjoyed a lunchtime feast including broccoli soup, Chicken Chettinad and lamb chops, Proteas captain Dean Elgar was giving his team some of his famous tough love after a poor first day.

Having allowed India to rattle up 273-3 on the first day on a pitch that assisted the pacemen, Elgar told his team to “toughen up mentally, take responsibility and wear your big-boy pants”.

South Africa did fight back, but that first day had ultimately done too much damage. Their determination did, however, make them the most tenacious of opponents in the rest of the series and they pulled off a thoroughly unexpected series triumph.

It’s the sort of inspirational captaincy Elgar has now become famous for and he believes England’s newly-appointed skipper Ben Stokes will lead in similar vein when they host the Proteas in a Test series in August.

“I wouldn’t call it ‘stubborn’ captaincy but I’d say we are both f****** tough cricketers,” Elgar told The Citizen on Wednesday.

“It’s going to be a battle of feisty characters and Stokes is a world-class cricketer, and we know what he’s capable of because he’s done pretty well against us, albeit just as player.

“But as captain you need to get the best out of your players and it’s going to be interesting to see how he goes with the added responsibility.

“We play with our hearts on our sleeves because we always want to push for the win, but Test cricket comes down to who controls their emotions best. If you let them get the better of you, then the results generally don’t go your way,” Elgar said.

Elgar and Stokes are both left-handed batsmen, but their contrasting styles are very much the yin and yang of Test cricket.

Stokes is immensely strong and provides much attacking thrust to England’s middle-order, while Elgar, as an opening batsman, does not play with the same freedom but the time he spends at the crease can be equally draining for the opposition.

Both Stokes and Elgar have played 12 Tests since the start of 2021, with England’s new captain scoring just 633 runs at an average of 26.37.

Elgar, on the other hand, has been leading from the front since his appointment, with 881 runs at an average of 41.95.

“I don’t dwell too much on individual battles, my focus is on us as a team,” Elgar said. “And I haven’t had a lot of personal interaction with Ben, even though we have played against each other numerous times since an SA A series against the England Lions in 2015.”

The last remaining players coming out of Covid isolation, including Siya Kolisi and Makazole Mapimpi, will undergo testing and get their results on Monday evening, but assistant coach Mzwandile Stick said on Monday he is not worried about any Springboks having suddenly become unfit while in quarantine because it’s not as if they’ve been sitting on the beach for the last six weeks.

“We’re in a good space, we’ve got almost everyone back and the last guys should be joining us today. So we are almost 100% back to the way we wanted things. Siya and Makazole still have to go see the specialist and will have their final tests and results today. But all the players have had two to three weeks of conditioning camp so we are in a good space, you don’t get unfit in one week.

“By tonight we will know who will be fit to play in the first Test and the team announced on Wednesday will be the final squad. But we won’t do anything stupid and rush players back, we hope it’s good news for them later today, but we have great players in the squad who we trust can do the job. If Siya is not fit then we have Rynhardt Elstadt who has been winning everything, Marco van Staden was very solid for SA A and there’s Jasper Wiese,” Stick said on Monday.

And because physically dominating the British and Irish Lions is going to be such an important part of the Test series, the Springboks need their big breakers up front to be in peak conditioning.

“We’re coming up against the very best of the best in the Northern Hemisphere, so we have to be at our best in all departments. Credit to the Bulls because they were well-prepared and they gave us a big challenge in the set-pieces, they really climbed into us physically. That match showed us what will happen if we don’t pitch up, and we expect the Lions to come hard at us at the wide breakdowns.

“So we have to make sure that we are prepared for it. We are grateful for the experience of Eben Etzebeth, Bongi Mbonambi and Steven Kitshoff up front, so we are not worried at all, we have got the players to do the job. That’s the honest truth, even if one or two players are not cleared, that’s the trust we have in the other players, I have no doubt they have what it takes to win the series,” Stick said.