Ken Borland

It may take a long time for the whole procession of winners to come up for their trophies and certificates, but they are like precious treasure for them,  and the fact that awards dinners usually focus on the club levels that are so crucial to any sport means I like them.

One of my favourites is the Gauteng Cricket Board awards banquet, which was held this week at the Wanderers Club, because, for me, it mirrors what I imagine transformed cricket in South Africa should look like.

This is a union that, a few years ago, was suffering from such internal strife and mistrust that the different clubs across the colour divides could barely sit in the same room together. And yet, there they all were, clubs from Soweto, Greenside, Lenasia, Riverlea, Jeppe, Azaadville, Thokoza and Florida, all enjoying a festive, celebratory evening together, all driven by MC Joey Rasdien’s wonderful mix of wicked humour and stern admonitions to keep focused on the prizegiving.

The current leadership of the GCB, from president Thabang Moroe, to the board, CEO Greg Fredericks and the staff, deserve credit for how they have dug Gauteng cricket out of their off-field hole.

Their professional teams, the Gauteng Strikers and the Highveld Lions, continue to win trophies on the field, and the Lions’ victory in the Momentum One-Day Cup means they have now won all the domestic trophies (four in total) in the four seasons that Geoff Toyana has been coach.

I would like to pay special tribute to Toyana (and senior players like Stephen Cook and Neil McKenzie) because it would have been easy for the Lions to find themselves in a hole on the playing field.

Toyana has managed to keep an often fractious dressing room – the outer veneer of a happy team is misleading because there are some difficult personalities that rub each other up in the changeroom – focused and winning, which is no mean feat and speaks volumes for his man-management.

The awful cloud of matchfixing has also hung heavily over the team and seeing a handful of his players being investigated for corruption has been like a kick in the solar plexus for Toyana.

National call-ups and SA A duties have also taken key players in and out of the team, but Toyana has handled this as well and the Lions have remained a force to be reckoned with.

In roughly the same time period Russell Domingo has taken the Proteas from the top two in all three formats to sixth in Tests, third in ODIs and fourth in T20s.

Steps have to be taken to arrest this slide. I certainly believe South Africa has the players to return to the heights of 2012, so the issue has to be related to the leadership and management of the side.

Cricket South Africa could do worse than to think seriously about elevating Toyana to the national coaching job. I believe he is one of those rare coaches able to both groom young talent – think of how Temba Bavuma, Aaron Phangiso, Eddie Leie, Hardus Viljoen, Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada have all made it into the national squad – and also to get the best out of wise old experienced players such as Cook, who is batting better and better, Alviro Petersen and McKenzie before he retired.

A player like Dwaine Pretorius has also blossomed under Toyana and the all-rounder, named the most valuable domestic player of last season by the SA Cricketers’ Association, is going to be knocking on the door for national honours as well.

A promotion for Toyana would allow Gauteng cricket to reflect on great success at both the upper and lower levels of the game, and they are certainly going to continue pushing the Titans hard for the honour of being South Africa’s premier franchise.

The Blue Bulls played like an old man stumbling around without his glasses in the dark as they succumbed to a 23-18 defeat at the hands of Western Province in their Currie Cup semi-final at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

Western Province scored the only two tries of the game and were much more clinical than a Bulls team that piled error upon error and lacked the usual spark and tempo to their game.

The most inexplicable of these errors were the two times right wing Travis Ismaiel gifted the ball to predatory Western Province fullback Cheslin Kolbe, leading to the two tries which gave the visitors the breathing space they needed after the Bulls dominated possession in the opening stages of the second half.

The Bulls were leading 12-9, flyhalf Tian Schoeman having broken the 9-9 halftime deadlock with his fourth penalty, when loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff, who had a big impact on the game, won a turnover deep inside Western Province territory. The visitors predictably counter-attacked and outside centre Johnny Kotze put the grubber through for Kolbe. Ismaiel was chasing back but, seeing fullback Warrick Gelant coming across, he held back, allowing Kolbe to steal the ball with the sublime hands of a pickpocket and race over for the try.

While that may just have been a misunderstanding, the mistake Ismaiel made in the 71^st minute was unforgivable, as was the fact that the Bulls had just lost an attacking lineout five metres from the Western Province line.

Kolbe kicked ahead and caught the sluggish Ismaiel, who was forced to run into touch. But instead of getting rid of the ball, he allowed Kolbe to grab it and throw a quick lineout to flank Sikhumbuzo Notshe, with replacement flyhalf Kurt Coleman then flinging a pass out wide for substitute scrumhalf Jano Vermaak to finish in lots of space.

Ismaiel’s bloopers may have been the most obvious, but there were plenty of villains on the night for the Bulls. Francois Hougaard was hesitant with his service at scrumhalf and often kicked when he shouldn’t have, as well as kicking three balls directly out that cost the home side valuable territory.

Territory was a problem for the Bulls for almost the whole game and their scrums were also wobbly, giving away penalties, but improved when Werner Kruger came on off the bench.

Western Province dominated possession but also made plenty of mistakes in a nervy semi-final. But their greater experience was perhaps the telling factor as they made the hard work of their pack count enough times to win the game.

Flyhalf Robert du Preez added three penalties and a conversion to the tries and Coleman’s solitary conversion.

Scorers

Blue Bulls – Penalties: Tian Schoeman (6).

Western Province – Tries: Cheslin Kolbe, Jano Vermaak. Conversions: Robert du Preez, Kurt Coleman. Penalties: Du Preez (3).