for quality writing

Ken Borland



Proteas selectors not being helped by the players 0

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Ken

The poor old national selectors are not being helped by the players at the moment as they look to pick up the pieces following the Proteas’ humiliating T20 World Cup exit at the hands of the Netherlands, their next foes being arguably the meanest of the lot – Australia in Australia.

Even without the T20 turmoil and the nagging feeling that Test cricket – where South Africa are in strong contention to make the World Championship final – is being neglected more and more by the powers-that-be in this country, taking on the Aussies in their backyard over Christmas has always been the benchmark for the Proteas. Their victories there have been amongst the most memorable and impressive of their achievements.

I still believe the greatness of a cricketing nation is measured by their Test results, and seeing how the likes of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri prioritised making India the No.1 Test side in the world, or the hype around the Ashes, I am sure there are millions who agree with me.
For such a high-intensity series, selection is always going to be under the microscope by the fans, and the selection panel are certainly being given a hard time by the ‘cognoscenti’ for the composition of the 16-man squad that will leave on December 1.

Cricket being such a statistics-based game, there will always be runs and wickets with which to put forward one’s case, but it is very difficult to argue with miraculous acts. Ryan Rickelton, ruled out of the tour by the CSA medical committee due to an ankle condition they believe will need surgery some time soon, scored his second successive century for the Central Gauteng Lions on Friday, and then kept wicket, seemingly untroubled by an injury that has been described as “very serious”.
By not being willing to risk Rickelton, who would be back-up wicketkeeper to Kyle Verreynne, due to the time and distance required to replace him if his ankle does suddenly implode, the selectors have opened the door for Heinrich Klaasen to return to the squad. He celebrated by smashing an extraordinary 292 off just 240 balls against the Free State Knights.

But it his Titans team-mate Theunis de Bruyn whose return to the Test squad has raised even more eyebrows. His last Test was three years ago in India and his domestic form hasn’t exactly screamed ‘RECALL!’ since then – he has made just three centuries and one fifty in the last three seasons.

Perhaps De Bruyn owes his selection to two things: He is a specialist No.3 and the Proteas need someone to fill the gap left by the injured Keegan Petersen, and new interim coach Malibongwe Maketa has seen the 30-year-old at his best for the SA A team he has been coaching – De Bruyn averages 69.70 in 14 innings for the national second-stringers.

What Maketa won’t be seeing before they arrive in Australia though is Temba Bavuma, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje preparing for such an important tour for South Africa’s hopes of appearing in next year’s World Test Championship final.

Bavuma and Rabada have both declined to play for the Lions. Given that they were two of the most under-performing players in the T20 World Cup, one would think they could do with getting some confidence back by bossing matters at domestic level, especially Bavuma, whose morale is low and will be targeted by the Australian media.

Meanwhile Nortje is playing T10 cricket in Abu Dhabi, would you believe. There were other Proteas players who reluctantly donned their whites this week ahead of the vital Australia series.

It really is time that Cricket South Africa started to lay down the law with the Proteas who complain about not having enough red-ball cricket to hone their longer-form skills, but then would rather not play for their provinces when the opportunity presents itself.

They will now have one warm-up match in Australia to prepare themselves and will then no doubt be surprised when they begin the Test series in rusty fashion.

Bavuma: SA 75-80% of where they need to be for World Cup 0

Posted on August 23, 2021 by Ken

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma said although his team are only 75-80% of where they need to be for the T20 World Cup, it is a positive that they are still winning series as they look to sort out their best squad for the showpiece event in the United Arab Emirates in October.

South Africa have now won back-to-back T20 series in the West Indies and Ireland and they used 18 different players in doing that.

“It’s a good sign for us a team that we have not played our best cricket but we have still managed to win. Winning becomes a habit and we can take a lot of confidence after being battered a bit by being on the losing side for a while. We must not downplay the magnitude of the number of steps we have taken.

“And we have a clearer understanding of the guys to take forward and their roles. We have 70-80% of our World Cup squad and we still have to go to Sri Lanka and see who can dominate in spin-friendly conditions. We’re definitely not the finished product, we’re playing at 75-80% and there are areas to iron out, especially in the batting,” Bavuma said.

Playing Sri Lanka on the subcontinent will be good preparation for the World Cup, with conditions expected to be similar. It is obviously going to be difficult at this late stage, in the South African off-season, for new players to be introduced to the Proteas squad, but coach Mark Boucher hinted that all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius could return.

The 32-year-old missed the home T20s against Pakistan due to injury and then tested positive for Covid before the West Indies tour, from which the Proteas flew directly to Ireland to quarantine.

“There are still one or two positions we need to look at before the World Cup. We wanted to give Janneman Malan a go in the top-order because he was in such good form in the ODIs, but it didn’t quite work out. We also have Dwaine Pretorius to come back. We haven’t really played an all-rounder as the sixth bowling option, but I think we will have that covered.

“We need to look at the conditions and what we need bowling-wise at the World Cup. George Linde bowled well, but unfortunately he was a bit short of runs. Bjorn Fortuin has not had a lot of cricket, so I was very happy with the way he performed. He’s a tough character, he wants the ball. We tried to mix up selection a bit to give guys opportunity,” Boucher said.

Bosch providing direction & matchwinning performance for the Sharks 0

Posted on November 11, 2020 by Ken

The Sharks team look to flyhalf Curwin Bosch for direction and on Friday night against the Free State Cheetahs at Kings Park they also received a matchwinning performance from the Springbok, according to coach Sean Everitt.

The Sharks bumbled their way to a 19-13 win in a Super Rugby Unlocked match that was strewn with errors from both sides, and it was Bosch who hauled the home team over the line by slotting all five of his kicks at goal, bombarding the Cheetahs with towering up-and-unders and also providing the pinpoint crosskick for the decisive try by replacement wing Madosh Tambwe.

“When you have a flyhalf like Curwin then the team look to him for direction and he did an excellent job. His kicking was pinpoint and the chasers did very well too. Curwin is playing with a lot of confidence at the moment and if we get the contestable kicking right then we are a very difficult team to play against.

“We like to play what’s in front of us and Curwin is vital for that. The Cheetahs had good line-speed and they put him under pressure, but he won that battle and with his kicking game he’s able to counteract that rush defence,” Everitt said after the hard-fought win.

While the television broadcaster’s staff gave the impression that conditions in Durban were ideal, Everitt confirmed that it was in fact a typically humid summer’s evening on the sub-tropical east coast, which partly explained the multitude of basic errors made by both teams.

“They were difficult conditions and it was a very physical contest. In order to combat the humidity, we went for contestable kicks and they were extremely difficult to handle. The conditions were very similar to the early rounds of Super Rugby at the start of the year and it was very difficult to hold on to the ball,” Everitt explained.

Immelman banking on Els’ foundation & injection of youth to make Internationals more of a threat 0

Posted on April 09, 2020 by Ken

New Presidents Cup Internationals team captain Trevor Immelman is keen to build on the foundation laid by Ernie Els and has warned that his side will have a lot of exciting youngsters providing great depth as they look to end the eight-match winning streak of the United States.

Els led the Internationals to one of their best ever showings in December as they were edged out 16-14 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club by the Americans, captained by Tiger Woods. Immelman is the youngest ever captain to be appointed – he will be 41 when the Presidents Cup is played again in September 2021 at Quail Hollow, beating the mark set by Woods, who was coming to the end of his 44th year in December.

And Immelman is banking on an injection of youth to make the International team even more competitive next year.

“I was part of Ernie’s team for the last Presidents Cup and I will try and continue his legacy and I really look forward to building on the platform he created. It’s an amazing honour to follow in the footsteps of Ernie Els and Gary Player as the Internationals captain. They have both been mentors and great friends of mine, whose advice I have relied on through my life.

“In the last two years we’ve had a number of youngsters step up as some of the best golfers in the world. We have a lot of different players starting to play really well, guys who were on the fringes of the team last time around. We had a group of 12 in Melbourne and now I can cast a bigger net and create a group of 30 to 40 golfers, and start to get the camaraderie going,” Immelman told OFM radio’s Morgan Piek this week.

The 2008 Masters (again beating Woods) and two-time SA Open champion mentioned players such as Koreans Sungjae Im and Byeong Hun-An, Cameron Smith, Jazz Janewattananond, Pebble Beach winner Nick Taylor and Corey Conners as being amongst the young talent that is making him excited about being the seventh Internationals captain.

Not that the Cape Town-born Immelman is discounting a healthy contingent of his countrymen making the cut in 2021.

“There are the more experienced guys I grew up with like Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen, but South Africa has such a rich history of golfers performing at the highest level and winning the biggest championships – guys like Charl Schwartzel, who is coming back from injury and showing good form, and Branden Grace, who won the SA Open recently.

“Plus there’s someone like Erik van Rooyen, who has been playing some beautiful golf on the PGA Tour, and Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who is competing against the best in the world and showing what he can do,” Immelman said.

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Thought of the Day

    1 John 3:2 – “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him.”

    The desire of every Christian should be to become like Jesus Christ.

    Unconditionally accepting the Lordship of Christ is the beginning of that way of life. You should be focused on becoming like him.

    But trying to do this in your own strength will only lead to frustration and disappointment. When you are united with the Holy Spirit, your faith will come alive.

    Total obedience to Jesus is also needed to develop a Christlike character.

    This means just loving and serving God and others! No hypocrisy, nor false pride, nor trying to impress your fellow man.

     



↑ Top