Ken Borland

“We have so many different options that we have guys who can bowl anything, in any situation, on any pitch,” Chris Morris, the RamSlam T20 Challenge’s leading wicket-taker, said on Wednesday as he discussed the Titans’ bowling attack ahead of the final in Centurion on Saturday.

The Titans won an astonishing eight games in a row to comfortably top the log by 13 points and their bowlers have led the way with six in the top-20 of the averages, all-rounders David Wiese, Albie Morkel and Morris all being in the top four. Fast bowler Junior Dala and wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi have also excelled, and the Titans have other options in Lungi Ngidi, off-spinner Henry Davids and slow left-armer Graeme van Buuren.

“It’s gone pretty well for us as a unit and it has made it a lot easier for me knowing that there are a lot of other bowlers who can step up. The new guys have done very well and there’s a lot of back-up. I’ve never been in a team before that has every base so well covered,” Morris, who has taken 18 wickets, said.

The former Highveld Lions star said the Titans will go into the final eager just to keep enjoying themselves.

“The way Albie has captained the side has been aggressive and solid and we’re always looking to take wickets. We’re looking at Albie and Farhaan Behardien to see how they handle themselves before the final, it’s finals week, it doesn’t happen often, especially at home. We must just enjoy it – my theory is that you see the best catches in garden cricket because the guys are just having fun. So it’s vital for us to enjoy the final and it’s much more difficult to play against a happy team,” Morris said.

Englishman Matt Ford and Spaniard Edoardo de la Riva are leading the way after the second round of the Africa Open at East London Golf Club on Friday, but four South Africans are just below them, well-positioned to continue the history of local success in the co-sanctioned Sunshine/European Tour event.

Ford, who held a share of the overnight lead with Kevin Phelan, shot a brilliant six-under-par 66 on Friday to go to 11-under-par, one stroke ahead of De la Riva, who also fired a 66 to move to 10-under.

But the South African presence is strong with Jaco van Zyl and Erik van Rooyen in a tie for third with Frenchman Gregory Havret on eight-under, and Trevor Fisher Junior and Neil Schietekat in a tie for sixth on seven-under-par with Germany’s Maximilian Kieffer, Mark Tullo of Chile and Englishmen David Howell and John Parry.

One of the many attractions of East London Golf Club is the multitude of different challenges it can present depending on the weather conditions, and golf here is never boring.

After a blustery first day, the wind switched direction on Friday and calmed down, before regaining strength again in the afternoon.

As Ford pointed out, on the 12^th hole on Thursday he hit a driver and four-iron to reach the green, whereas on Friday he hit a driver and then holed a 50 degree wedge for an eagle.

“The wind was just starting to pick up, but the course was very different today and very scorable because conditions were slightly easier. I just wanted to hit good shots and take advantage, and I gave myself lots of opportunities – I was inside 15 feet 11 times but I had a couple of missed putts,” Ford said.

Van Zyl, who has a tremendous record at East London Golf Club, said the course keeps you honest, as shown by his first round when he was three-over on the front nine, before fighting back brilliantly to post a 70.

“This is a very difficult golf course because there are so many different elements. I wasn’t too shocked by my start because the smallest mistake gets magnified a hundred times by this course. But it was really nice to bring it back and today it was much easier in the morning and I was able to capitalise on quite a few holes,” Van Zyl said.

Of all the men in the top-10, Van Zyl has the most experience of winning, except for former world top-10 golfer Howell, and the 13-time Sunshine Tour winner is determined to keep knocking on the door.

“I’ve got to take it one shot at a time and not get ahead of myself. But if I give myself as many opportunities as I can to win, then it has to happen some time. But you’ve obviously got to play nicely and being in contention brings different pressures and expectations. But life will become a lot easier once I get a co-sanctioned win under the belt,” Van Zyl said.

The 36-year-old said it was far from his best ball-striking day, but improved form with the putter means he is strongly in contention midway through the R14.5 million event.

“I’m probably at about 70% of how well I can drive, but now I’m making the putts. I had 27 yesterday and 25 today. Yesterday was really tough though and I was very chuffed I managed to shoot two-under. It was a lot easier this morning, it was totally different today, a lot of the holes were into a little breeze but there were still quite a few holes to capitalise on,” Van Zyl said.

Phelan slipped far down the leaderboard with a level-par 72 and now trails Ford by six shots, while Richard Bland, tied third overnight, also could not break par.

If Van Zyl falters, then Schietekat and Van Rooyen are a pair of younger South Africans for whom there are high hopes and they could get the job done to ensure the trophy stays at home for an eighth year.

“It was quite nice to have some calm weather this morning but I’m not hitting the ball exactly the way I want to. But my putting got me out of trouble and the draw worked nicely for me. Maybe something will happen this weekend … ” Schietekat said.

“I played well at Joburg Open last week and I’m putting really nicely. I couldn’t have asked for a better result today and I’m right in there,” a delighted Van Rooyen said after his 66.

http://citizen.co.za/339531/ford-leads-africa-open/

Pierre Spies, who was named as the captain for the season, will start the Vodacom Bulls’ SuperRugby campaign on the bench but someone with even more experience will be leading the team as they take on the Stormers in a crunch opener at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Victor Matfield, starting in his beloved number five jersey, will captain the Bulls for a competition-record 83^rd time, while also extending his appearance record for the franchise to 139, as he starts a 16^th season of SuperRugby.

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke said on Wednesday that the decision had been made to ease Spies back into action off the bench, with Arno Botha starting at eighthman, after both Springbok loose forwards were asked how they preferred to manage their comebacks from lengthy injury problems.

“We want the best way for them to come back so we asked them how they felt and we believe the best option is for Pierre to be eased back into action and make a huge impact this weekend in the second half. Starting with Arno is horses-for-courses in a way, there’s no specific reason but Pierre has been out for a while and Arno had no issues in the warm-up games. We believe another week coming off the bench will be the perfect start to the season for Pierre and we’ll take it week-by-week after that,” Ludeke said at the team announcement at Loftus Versveld on Wednesday.

Matfield, who is a strong contender to captain the Springboks at the World Cup if Jean de Villiers does not recover from knee surgery, said for him the appointment was only a temporary one.

“I’m just a stand-in and hopefully Pierre will be ready next week. There’s also Adriaan Strauss who can lead the side, but it’s his first game for the Bulls since 2006, maybe that’s why the coach didn’t pick him, Deon Stegmann did an outstanding job in the warm-ups and in the backs there’s Handre Pollard,” Matfield said.

Hooker Strauss, who played eight games for the Bulls as an U21 star, will start together with fellow Cheetahs imports Trevor Nyakane and Lappies Labuschagne, while the other interesting selections see Piet van Zyl starting at scrumhalf and Francois Hougaard on the left wing. With Pollard as the starting flyhalf there are high hopes the Bulls will sparkle on attack.

“Akona Ndungane and Travis Ismaiel are both not fit and Francois played really well against Saracens on the wing, you can see he enjoys playing there, so that contributed to the decision at scrumhalf. But Piet played especially well in the warm-ups, he makes an impact on front-foot ball and his decision-making was sharp, while Rudy Paige [on the bench] has a good kicking game and game-management skills,” Ludeke explained.

Jacques du Plessis, who will no longer be calling Loftus Versfeld home after this SuperRugby season and is another player who impressed in pre-season, will partner Matfield in the second row, while Jan Serfontein and JJ Engelbrecht will be the centres in a combination that has worked very well before.

Perhaps the most crucial selection, however, is that of the experienced Werner Kruger at tighthead prop and he will have plenty of work to do in giving the Bulls a stable foundation at scrum time.

Bulls team: 15-Jurgen Visser, 14-Bjorn Basson, 13-JJ Engelbrecht, 12-Jan Serfontein, 11-Francois Hougaard, 10-Handre Pollard, 9-Piet van Zyl, 8-Arno Botha, 7-Lappies Labuschagne, 6-Deon Stegmann, 5-Victor Matfield, 4-Jacques du Plessis, 3-Werner Kruger, 2-Adriaan Strauss, 1-Trevor Nyakane. Reserves – 16-Callie Visagie, 17-Morne Mellet, 18-Grant Hattingh, 19-Pierre Spies, 20-Rudy Paige, 21-Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 22-Jesse Kriel, 23-Dayan van der Westhuizen/Neethling Fouche.

Hardus Viljoen, the leading wicket-taker over the last three seasons of Sunfoil Series cricket, will not be lost to the South African game and has signed a fresh two-year contract with the Highveld Lions, the fast bowler confirmed on Thursday.

Viljoen has not yet been capped by the Proteas, despite taking 103 wickets in the last three seasons at a superb average of 23.95, and was considering overtures from the Central Districts franchise in New Zealand, the idea being to qualify for the Black Caps after four years and thereby open the door to a lucrative English county contract because he would then be an international player.

“I’m not going to New Zealand, I’ve decided to stay and work within the system here. My time with the Lions franchise has been very rewarding and I still need to do a lot more to get to where I want to be. Everything happens at the right time for the right reasons and God’s timing is perfect. I believe my future is here in South Africa and I’m very excited that I’m going to be with the Lions for another couple of years,” Viljoen told The Citizen on Thursday.

At 26, Viljoen is still relatively young and, as the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel cut back on their international commitments, he can surely expect a call-up to the national team in the next couple of years, having already played nine games, in both four-day and 50-over cricket, for representative A sides.

In the meantime, with Chris Morris having moved from the Lions to the Titans, Viljoen will be the leader of the Sunfoil Series champions’ attack.

“We are absolutely delighted that Hardus has signed a two-year contract [the maximum allowed] because not having Chris is a big loss. Hardus is experienced, so it’s a comforting feeling having him and Kagiso Rabada is coming through strongly as well,” Lions CEO Greg Fredericks said.

The Lions have given new contracts to pace bowlers Sean Jamison and Nono Pongolo, who burst on to the scene last season with 43 wickets at 16.30 for the Gauteng team.