Ken Borland

Victory for the Imperial Lions in their Momentum One-Day Cup game against the Warriors in Potchefstroom on Thursday will ensure they end at the top of Pool B, but for captain Aaron Phangiso, the focus is on ensuring they maintain the momentum from their opening two bonus-point wins.

The Warriors themselves claimed a bonus-point triumph in their 81-run hammering of the Cape Cobras on Wednesday, rebounding from the 42-run defeat the Lions inflicted on them last weekend. And while it would take some extraordinary results now for the Lions to miss out on the semi-finals and they are considering tinkering with their line-up, Phangiso said there would be no let-up in their intensity.

“Any team would like the start we’ve had and it gives us the opportunity to maybe play around with our batting line-up and there’s always room for improvement. So it’s a nice position to be in, but we’re definitely not going to sit back and relax. We want to play good cricket every game so that if we get into the semi-finals then we are still playing well.

“There is a bit less pressure on us so we are more at ease, but every game is important and the guys pride themselves on their performance so we will still be putting our foot down. The last thing we want is to lose the momentum we’ve gained,” Phangiso said.

It has been the outstanding bowling attack of the Lions that has led the way for them, and Phangiso said he believes the national team should be looking closely at their performances.

“I hope the Proteas are looking at our games because that combination of Sisanda Magala and Eldred Hawken up front has been great. Sisanda is definitely Proteas material and Eldred is shining again, showing last season’s success didn’t happen by chance. Malusi Siboto has played franchise cricket for years and Bjorn Fortuin is also doing a great job.

“The guys know the plans and are sticking to them, they’re just focusing on getting the basics right. As a captain, it makes my job so much easier,” Phangiso said.

The slow left-armer has himself led from the front with the ball, conceding just 62 runs in his 17 overs and has taken three wickets.

The Warriors’ orthodox left-arm spinner Jon-Jon Smuts has also been outstanding, taking three wickets against both the Lions and the Cobras to be the most successful bowler. How the batsmen of the Lions and Warriors handle the spin threat will be the key factor in Thursday’s game as the Senwes Park pitch has been decidedly sub-continental in nature.

It was never going to be easy for the Interim Board of Cricket South Africa to fulfil their mandate from Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa to reform the game in this country, but on Wednesday they lost their chairman, Judge Zak Yacoob, who stepped down following his abusive telephone call with a journalist.

Mthethwa issued a statement saying Yacoob had recused himself by “mutual agreement” and “this decision was made out of an abundance of caution to safeguard the tremendous work done by the Interim Board under his stewardship. The judge has shown remorse and apologised.”

The minister added that he hoped the Interim Board will be able to convene CSA’s delayed AGM soon, where a new, permanent board will be appointed. But the current directors have many obstacles to overcome, including the difficulties associated with winning over many on the Members Council, and the legal challenges emanating from the dismissal of director Omphile Ramela and the suspension of CSA executive staff.

Interim Board spokesperson Judith February cast a positive note on Wednesday however.

“We don’t foresee the departure of Judge Yacoob affecting any work we have done so far, because all our decisions have been taken together, they’re not just the decisions of the chairman. We are all quite clear in our minds about the proceedings against Mr Ramela and all the other legal actions we are involved in. So we are forging ahead, even though it is an unfortunate but unavoidable turn of events,” February told The Citizen on Wednesday afternoon.

Dr Stavros Nicolaou will now take over as chairman of the interim board and February said they are making good progress towards finalising a date for the AGM. But because the organisation’s whole Memorandum of Incorporation (MoI) has to be changed to comply with the Nicholson recommendations (as per Mthethwa’s mandate), there has to first be full consultation with the Members Council on the amendments.

“We have a meeting with the Members Council this evening [Wednesday night] to discuss certain requirements that are needed in the MoI and need to be finalised with the Members Council. We will update them on the work we’ve done on the roadmap to the AGM, which is one of the most important parts of the work of this board.

“The Nicholson recommendations have to be implemented, but through a process of consultation as to how we do that, there are numerous nuances to consider like the number of directors. But there will be an independent board and the Members Council’s powers will change, we can’t get away from that,” February said.

It was a messy, messy day for South Africa in the field on the second day of the first Test against Pakistan in Karachi on Wednesday as they not only dropped catches and misfielded too often to maintain pressure, but they also wasted their three reviews and lost their way with the second new ball.

Having been bowled out for a disappointing 220 on the first day, the Proteas reduced Pakistan to 33 for four overnight and there were high hopes they would be able to bowl the home side out on Wednesday and get a handy lead.

Instead Pakistan, led by a superbly tenacious century by Fawad Alam, scored 275 runs in the day and lost just four wickets to reach 308 for eight at stumps, already leading by 88 – a sizeable lead.

The bowling effort, once again led by an unfortunate Kagiso Rabada, could not be faulted for much of the day, but they were not backed up by their fielders. Fawad, who was eventually dismissed for 109, was dropped on 37 at slip by Dean Elgar off Keshav Maharaj, a sharp chance that hit his boot because he could not get his hands down in time. Faheem Ashraf, who belted a belligerent 64 off 84 and shared the match-defining partnership thus far of 102 for the seventh wicket with Fawad, was dropped on 21 by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock off Rabada. It was a tough, low chance diving to his left, but South Africa’s captain has taken those more often than not.

Another anomaly occurred late in the day when Hasan Ali, on 6, skied Maharaj over mid-on and Faf du Plessis, running back, could not get a hand on it. The hard-hitting Hasan has the ability to hurt South Africa further on the third day as he is 11 not out at stumps.

Skipper De Kock was also not at his best when using South Africa’s reviews, gambling and losing all three of them.

While South Africa have lost many great cricketers in recent years in both the batting and bowling departments, they also seem to have lost much of the fielding prowess that used to make them the benchmark. There were several intense spells by the bowlers, but too often the pressure was released by a fielding error which allowed the strike to be rotated.

South Africa were still eyeing a lead when Pakistan were 176 for six, and they took the second new ball three overs late when Fawad and Faheem had already lifted the score to 214 for six. Maharaj surprisingly kept bowling, even part-time offie Aiden Markram had a go, and within 10 overs the home side had raced to 259 for six.

Nevertheless, Maharaj, who also bowled Hasan late in the day but had delivered a no-ball, said it was still within South Africa’s capability to win the game.

“The pitch still looks pretty good, there are some footmarks but it’s just the usual wear and tear, and we will just try and bat for as long as possible. I don’t know how much the pitch will deteriorate by the end of the third day, but Fawad showed that if you apply yourself you can get runs. There was not as much turn today as you might have expected seeing Yasir Shah on the first day, but he is a wrist-spinner.

“So it was a decent day for us, we controlled the run-rate really well, we did not let it get out of hand and it’s still less than three. So the bowling unit really did a good job and I thought we fielded pretty well. Yes, there were some slumps, and some catches were dropped, but that’s expected, there are always going to be a few half-chances,” Maharaj said.

Bulls scrumhalf Ivan van Zyl has warned that their brilliant victory over the Sharks is worth nothing unless they build on it and maintain that momentum in their huge games coming up against the Stormers in Pretoria on Saturday and versus the Lions at Ellis Park the following weekend.

Top spot on the log is their’s at the moment, but the Bulls will need to keep winning to hold off the thus far unbeaten Free State Cheetahs and Stormers, who have won both their matches, because Jake White’s team then have a bye.

“As a team we took a lot of confidence from the Sharks game and that performance couldn’t have come at a better time. Before that we had been a bit stop-start, we didn’t have much flow in our first two games. Every game is important but now it’s really important that we build on that display and move forward, otherwise that win won’t help us.

“We have a couple of massive games coming up, but at least we were more clinical at the right times, there was better decision-making and we identified space better. Better decisions lead to better play, and this time we rounded off our chances. Coach Jake is very good at making sure that it is all about getting the team to win and we all understand our roles every week,” Van Zyl said.

While the Bulls were much more accurate with ball in hand, and also off the boot, their defence was also highly impressive against the Sharks as they conceded just one try.

“We’re very happy with our defence and the combination of scoring six tries and just conceding one is massive for us. The more consistent we are in our defence, the more opportunities we’ll have to win, so it’s something we continue to work on and against the Stormers we’ll come up against different players with different skill-sets. But we take a lot of confidence from the defensive effort against the Sharks.

“Joey Mongalo has been great for us as defence coach, he has great energy and clearly loves what he does, he’s passionate about defence and that rubs off on the team. We are eager to get better every week. The basics of our defensive system haven’t changed that much, but there’s a new energy,” Van Zyl said.