Ken Borland

The Proteas were meant to make their return from the Covid-19 Lockdown with a tour to the West Indies in the southern hemisphere winter, but it seems it will be England touring South Africa that will provide them with their first taste of international action.

England are keen to play three ODIs and three T20 internationals from mid-November to early December, with domestic action kicking off in South Africa on November 2. While British media have speculated that the series will take place in a bio-bubble in Cape Town, it is known that Highveld venues have also been told to prepare to host the 50-over world champions.

The series against one of the Big Three provides an opportunity too good to waste for CSA to start generating some much-needed income after all cricket came to a standstill in March.

Despite this week’s series loss to Australia, England remain a powerhouse white-ball outfit and their tour could be one of the highlights of the summer, particularly since Sri Lanka will be the Test opposition over the traditional festive season schedule.

Then again, the Proteas have a score to settle with Sri Lanka, who became the first sub-continent team to win a series in South Africa with their shock 2-0 triumph in 2018/19.

South Africa’s cricketers will have four-day cricket in November and December in which to get up to full power, with the Momentum One-Day Cup scheduled for early next year. While the Mzansi Super League has reportedly been scrapped for this season due to the constraints of Lockdown, it is possible that a franchise T20 competition will be played to end the summer.

As if the global Covid-19 pandemic has not disrupted the international cricket calendar enough, the Indian Premier League has now moved to September, which Cricket South Africa Director of Cricket Graeme Smith said has put paid to any hopes of the Proteas being in action before November.

South Africa were scheduled to play series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka before summer, but Smith admitted at the weekend that those commitments were now on the back burner. The IPL, meanwhile, has taken advantage of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia being postponed until next year, and will be held in the UAE, starting on September 19.

South Africans scheduled to play in the IPL include Imran Tahir, Faf du Plessis and Lungi Ngidi for Chennai Super Kings, AB de Villiers, Chris Morris and Dale Steyn are in the Bangalore Royal Challengers squad, while Kagiso Rabada is contracted by the Delhi Capitals and Quinton de Kock is on the Mumbai Indians roster.

“The West Indies tour has been postponed indefinitely because now we’re struggling with the IPL – it looks like our players will be needed there at the beginning of September. We also don’t know when the Sri Lanka tour will be able to take place and in terms of the national women’s team, we are working on getting government permission for their tour to England next month.

“Hopefully November is going to be a very busy time for the national team, hopefully we can cram in all the tours we’ve missed out on, if all goes well and we get things up and running by then,” Smith said.

Faced by a barrage of criticism from certain sectors of the Black Lives Matter movement, Smith said he accepted the position of director of cricket in December in order to restore the reputation of the Proteas, who he previously led to the number one ranking in all formats. The 39-year-old reaffirmed his commitment to seeing that through.

“I was sad to see South African cricket fall from its perch, that’s why I got involved. Back in December it was absolute chaos in South African cricket, there was zero trust between anyone. I wanted to be part of the solution and now that it’s feeling chaotic again, you keep revisiting that. The narrative that a clique has taken over is really unfair and I did not appoint myself.

“I went through a rigorous interview process, led by mainly Black African people, and then I made a number of appointments in December – Volvo Masubelele as manager, Justin Ontong, Charl Langeveldt, Mark Boucher, Enoch Nkwe and the medical staff. The appointment of Paul Harris as a consultant was made around Keshav Maharaj’s request and Jacques Kallis was an interim consultant, he has not been on CSA’’s payroll for many months. But we would be stupid not to involve one of the most successful batsmen in the world,” Smith said.

Smith said he was not invited to the inaugural Social Justice and Nation-Building meeting that arose from the BLM movement, but he hoped to be involved going forward. He said it was crucial to co-operate with Black players in order to ensure they could be comfortable in the Proteas environment.

“We want to create a better environment going forward, we’ve got to create a culture in which everyone feels safe to talk. I was most surprised that the players did not feel they had a voice in the past. Hopefully CSA will involve us in the Social Justice project now after the Board asked us not to be part of the first one. We should all want to be part of the solution. “I was very taken aback by the Makhaya Ntini stuff. I never thought of him as being the silent type when I first came into the Proteas team, he was one of the senior players, and he gave me a different explanation for running to the ground and not coming on the bus. But as the only Black African it must have been tough for him and it’s important that nobody else feels that way,” Smith said.

The country’s rugby players may have returned to training this week but planning for them to actually play competitive matches is not getting any easier with Jurie Roux, the CEO of SA Rugby, confirming on Tuesday that there is “about zero chance” of South Africa hosting any international rugby this year.

And the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are likely to deeply affect the 2021 rugby calendar as well, necessitating major changes in local rugby. Roux did reiterate though that SA Rugby are still hopeful that they will be able to return to play at least by mid-September with local competitions.

“It is still a very fluid situation and there are multiple factors feeding into our daily decisions. But if anyone thinks we are going to return to a format that is close to what existed before this pandemic then they are making a big mistake. The market has corrected itself, it was due a change and it has been brought on by Covid. Rugby will be significantly different, we are trying to prepare for 2020/21 but everything else is in flux.

“There are no plans to host any international games this year because there is about zero chance of entrance into South Africa with our borders closed. The only chance of playing international rugby is in the New Zealand bubble in the Rugby Championship. The broadcast revenue from the Rugby Championship is significant and international rugby will hopefully resume towards the end of October, whatever we can fit in before mid-December,” Roux told an online media conference on Tuesday. a

International travel is not expected to return to normal until midway through next year and quarantine requirements are also squeezing the calendar, and while Roux said SuperRugby was not dead after New Zealand expressed their preference for a trans-Tasman competition with Australia, SA Rugby are hard-pressed to find space for a cross-conference competition before the British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa kicks off in early July.

“They stated their preferred structure due to restrictions and the costs of travel with fewer flights to New Zealand, and there is every indication that ourselves and Argentina will not be able to go there without spending two weeks in quarantine until the end of May, so the previous format of SuperRugby is just not viable. So New Zealand will play domestically first and then hopefully we can have some sort of crossover SuperRugby.

“So the plan is for us to play domestically from February to April and if the borders are opened then we can have some sort of format across conferences, with Argentina most likely with us. But it all needs to finish by the time the British & Irish Lions tour starts in the first week of July. We are all part of the Sanzaar joint venture and there are legal agreements in place,” Roux said.

AB de Villiers got the newest cricket format off to a thoroughly entertaining start as he led the Eagles to victory in the inaugural 3TCricket match at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Saturday, but he also got tongues wagging yet again about a potential international comeback.

De Villiers blazed a typically imperious 61 off 24 balls to lead the Eagles to 160-4 in their 12 overs against the Kingfishers (113-5) and Kites (138-3). With Aiden Markram reminding everyone of his abilities with a dazzling 70 off 33 deliveries at the other end, the Eagles were always going to be tough to catch. De Villiers and Markram shared a stunning partnership of 100 off just 43 balls.

Markram set the tone up front as the Eagles posted 66-1 against the Kingfishers in their first six overs, scoring 47 not out off 23 balls. But they were under pressure early on as the economical Glenton Stuurman bowled Rassie van der Dussen for 8 and the score was only 23-1 after 2.5 overs when wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen dropped De Villiers on just one off wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi’s sixth delivery.

Shamsi’s day grew progressively worse as he ended up conceding 56 runs in his three overs.

The Eagles’ total was the best after the first half of the match, better than the 58-1 posted by the Kites against them and the 56-2 scored by the Kingfishers against a Kites attack led by Anrich Nortje. So they batted first in the second half and De Villiers immediately got the momentum going with successive sixes and 19 runs off spinner Jon-Jon Smuts’s first over.

De Villiers was eventually dismissed in the penultimate over, skying the excellent Nortje (3-27-2) to long-on, but the Eagles had already scored enough to secure first place.

The Eagles bowlers also did their bit in limiting their opposition with left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin (3-20-1) and Andile Phehlukwayo (3-24-2) being particularly outstanding. Fast bowler Junior Dala was tidy, conceding just 18 runs in his two overs.

The return to cricket in these days of Covid-19 got off to a heartwarming start as all the players, officials and commentators took a knee in support of Black Lives Matter before the first ball was bowled. All the players wore black armbands with Black Lives Matter on them and, after a fractious week in South African cricket, there was a pleasing air of unity and reconciliation, with Graeme Smith and Makhaya Ntini taking a knee next to each other with their right fists raised. They then commentated together with Smith saying he “could feel the emotion” and Ntini replying, “We stand together”.

The Kites finished second after Smuts provided a solid platform with his 48 off 26 deliveries and all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius added to their halfway total of 58-1 with a ferocious 17-ball 50 not out.

The Kingfishers were the first team to bat and battled to get going even though captain Reeza Hendricks (20) and Janneman Malan (31) shared the biggest opening partnership of the day – 51.

Batting for the second time, Faf du Plessis gave the Kingfishers some momentum with his 28 off 12 deliveries, before he was beaten in the flight and bowled by Fortuin.

Young all-rounder Gerald Coetzee, who bowled with good pace and skill, scored 24 not out off 15 balls, but he could not prevent the Kingfishers from finishing last. But their paceman Stuurman took two for 26 in his three overs and was the most impressive bowler of the day.

But it was the veteran De Villiers who showed once again that he remains South Africa’s most destructive batsman. With a T20 World Cup still hovering somewhere on the horizon, it was clear the Proteas could certainly use him in the shortest international format.