Ken Borland

Kagiso Rabada is the one bowler you would expect to lead the South African attack in the series against England and he duly put himself in the forefront of a wonderful first session for the Proteas as they reduced the hosts to 100/5 at lunch on the first day of the first Test at Lord’s.

After Dean Elgar had won the toss and elected to bowl first in partly-cloudy, humid conditions in London, Rabada removed both openers as he and Lungi Ngidi (5-1-12-0) began brilliantly with the new ball.

Rabada was on the money from the outset and struck in his second over as Alex Lees (5) wafted loosely outside off-stump, trying to drive a delivery that was far too short, a ball with zip and bounce drawing the edge to wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne.

The other opening batsman, Zak Crawley, lasted twice as long but received a thorough working over, and eventually fell for just 9 as he was well-taken at second slip by Aiden Markram off Rabada (9-1-26-2).

England were 25/2 inside the first nine overs, and their situation became deeply troubling when their batting talisman, Joe Root (8), was trapped lbw by a big inswinger from left-arm quick Marco Jansen, on the stroke of the opening hour.

Anrich Nortje initially battled to find his radar, but in his third over he produced a thunderbolt that would have sent resounding tremors through the England camp, bowling the in-form Jonny Bairstow for a duck. Delivered at almost 150kp/h, it was full and angled in, and one of England’s key batsmen was comprehensively castled as the home team sank to 55/4.

Ollie Pope, having come in after the fall of the first wicket, resisted stoutly as he reached a determined 51 not out off 70 balls by lunch. Busy and compact, he had struck four fours in a fine display of positive batting.

He and captain Ben Stokes had fought back with a fifth-wicket stand of 45, but England were cut deeply by the loss of Stokes to the final ball of the session. Nortje struck the massive blow, moving the ball away late from the left-hander and finding a leading edge that went to fourth slip. Stokes had played some thumping drives straight down the ground and was looking ominous.

CENTURION, Gauteng – Merrick Bremner is one of the longest hitters on the Sunshine Tour – Denis Hutchinson’s comment that the ball says “Ouch!” whenever he hits it will be long remembered – and his playing partner Martin Rohwer was delighted to be on his team as they surged into the lead in the Bain’s Whisky Ubunye Championship at Blue Valley Golf Estate on Friday.

Rohwer and Bremner dominated the foursomes in the second round of the R1.2 million event, shooting a six-under-par 66, the low round of the day. That left them on 18-under-par overall going into Saturday’s final round, when the format returns to betterball.

The pair of Durbanites are four shots ahead of Danie van Tonder and M.J. Viljoen (67) and Jaco Prinsloo and Clinton Grobler (69) on 14-under, while Luke Brown and Hayden Griffiths, and Luka Filippi and Ryan van Velsen, are on 13-under-par. The seasoned duo of George Coetzee and Darren Fichardt are a further stroke back.

“Merrick is awesome to play with,” Rohwer said after their round of seven birdies and just one bogey, on their penultimate hole, the par-three eighth. “He has a cool head on his shoulders and is very chill.

“He makes it easy for me to relax and play my own game. And of course he hits it miles!

“I can’t remember how many lob-wedges or sand-wedges I had going into the green, but that obviously makes a big difference,” Rohwer said.

The 28-year-old Rohwer said he and Bremner had decided to use the same strategy for the foursomes as they did in the first-round betterball, in which they shot 60 to finish three behind leaders Estiaan Conradie and Fredrick From, who slipped down the leaderboard on Friday with a three-over 75 leaving them with Coetzee and Fichardt on 12-under-par.

And there will be no change of plan for Rohwer and Bremner in Saturday’s final round.

“It was a great day and we both played really well,” Rohwer said. “We took the same mindset we had yesterday [Thursday] into today [Friday] and that was just to try and birdie every single hole.

“Keeping our foot on the gas for the whole round really helped us for shooting 66. On the holes where there is risk-and-reward, it meant the first one off would go for it and if they pulled off the shot, then there was licence for the second shot to be aggressive as well.

“Even though you tend to play a little safer in foursomes because you can end up with only one chance, being pretty aggressive helped us.

“So we’ll have pretty much the same game-plan for the final round. You’ve got to play well whenever you’re in with a shout in the final round, you can’t expect average golf to get the job done.

“So we will stick to the same game-plan as the first day betterball and try and give ourselves as many opportunities as we can, as many looks as we can. If we give ourselves two chances on every hole then anything can happen,” Rohwer said.

KHOLWANE, Eswatini – Eleven successive pars and then two birdies coming in were enough for Jaco Prinsloo to retain his lead after the second round of the FNB Eswatini Nkonyeni Challenge at the Nkonyeni Lodge and Golf Estate on Friday, and the 32-year-old will take a two-shot lead into Saturday’s final round.

Following his brilliant 65 on the opening day, Prinsloo did not find the going as easy on Friday as his ball-striking was not as good and he battled to get the ball close to the hole. He showed wonderful patience, however, and kept grinding away, starting his round on the 10^th and registering nine pars before also playing the first and second holes in regulation.

All that determination finally paid off on the par-four third with his first birdie, and he picked up another shot on the par-five eighth.

“It was definitely harder for me today and I just did not hit the ball as close to the hole as I did on the first day, so I didn’t have as many birdie opportunities,” Prinsloo said after his 70 took him to nine-under-par.

“It was good to be bogey-free though because this is not the easiest course. But it’s still a weird place to be with 11 pars in a row. It’s good but not so good.

“It meant I was still playing solid golf and in control of the ball, and I’m definitely happy to still be in front,” Prinsloo said.

Herman Loubser was two behind Prinsloo after the first round, but he could sadly only shoot a level-par 72 on Friday and has been overtaken by CJ du Plessis, who roared into second place with a 68 that took him to seven-under-par overall.

Loubser has slipped into a tie for third on five-under with Jean Hugo (68), Rhys West (69), Martin Rohwer (68) and Ricky Hendler (71).

“I’m not going to change anything,” Prinsloo said of his approach to the final round of the R1 million event. “I’m going to take it as just another round and the game-plan will stay the same.

“You just have to keep your head down and see where you land up.”

The relationship between new CSA Director of Cricket Enoch Nkwe and Proteas head coach Mark Boucher has been an obvious point of discussion since the former national team assistant coach’s ascension to the lead administrative role, but Nkwe himself assured on Friday that they are eager to get “the best out of each other”.

Nkwe resigned as South Africa’s assistant coach last August, stating concerns over the team culture, and said he had not seen Boucher since then. During the period when Boucher was under disciplinary investigation by CSA, much was made of Nkwe’s departure from the Proteas and he was expected to testify against his former boss.

Nkwe declined to do so and the roles are now reversed with Boucher reporting to him. The new Director of Cricket said he had the pleasure of a clear-the-air meeting with Boucher and the Proteas team on Thursday, on the eve of their departure for England.

“It was a bit strange at first because we have not engaged in person since August, but it ended up being a great meeting,” Nkwe said at his introductory press conference at CSA headquarters on Friday.

“I know a whole lot has been spoken about there being deeper-level issues, but it was nothing personal and Mark and I do have a good relationship. The meeting ended with us laughing and I know he is excited to work with me too.

“We now feel that we are in the best positions to get the best out of each other. I’m glad we were able to meet in person before they left for England and we all walked away with smiles after 40 minutes.

“There’s a lot more clarity between us now and being Director of Cricket does not mean I am director of the Proteas. I am director of cricket in totality. Mark and the team leadership are in a very good space,” Nkwe said.

Apart from finding the squad in good humour, Nkwe said he was also impressed by the vibe, which had improved since he was last with the Proteas.

“I could feel the positive energy and also in the way the team engaged with the Board as well. It’s actually been a great week for South African cricket and it’s important that we restore our positive image.

“That’s a part of my 18-month plan and I will be giving as much support as possible to the national coaches, to allow the head coach to focus on his role because his hands are quite full.

“It was quite an emotional moment at the start of the meeting with the team yesterday [Thursday]. This role is very close to my heart, it’s what I have strived for. It’s a massive honour and privilege.

“It’s a position in which I can actually make a difference to South African cricket, which I am very passionate about. There will be a lot of pressure, but pressure is a privilege,” Nkwe said.