Ken Borland

The members of the Pride who put in an enormous amount of work to make the 2023/24 season such a success for the DP World Lions were rewarded at the glittering Lions Cricket Awards Dinner in Sandton on Saturday night, with Bjorn Fortuin emerging as the big winner.

The DP World Lions’ triumphant men’s T20 captain was named both the DP World Player of the Season and the McDonald’s Players’ Player of the Season.

The evergreen Kirstie Thomson won the DP World Player of the Season award for the DP World Lions women’s team, while highly-respected captain Kgomotso Rapoo was the McDonald’s Players’ Player of the Season. It was also a special evening for left-arm seamer Relebohile Mkhize, whose exciting talent was recognised with the McDonald’s Fans’ Player of the Season and BAS Newcomer of the Season crowns.

Exciting spinner Nqaba Peter also did the double of the McDonald’s Fans’ Player of the Season and BAS Newcomer of the Season awards for the DP World Lions men’s team.

Left-arm spinner Fortuin was in divine form throughout the season with the ball, taking 60 wickets across the three competitions. He was the leading wicket-taker in the CSA 4-Day Series, claiming 35 wickets at an average of 26.11 as he spearheaded the DP World Lions’ title-winning campaign. Fortuin also averaged 26 with the bat, including an unbeaten century against the Dolphins.

He bowled with exceptional control and guile in the white-ball competitions. Fortuin took 18 wickets (4^th best) and conceded just 5.85 runs-per-over (3^rd best) as the DP World Lions stormed to the T20 Challenge title, and he was also the team’s joint leading wicket-taker in the CSA 1-Day Cup, as well as being one of the most economical bowlers in the competition.

The 35-year-old Thomson put to bed any thoughts of impending retirement as she topped the DP World Lions’ batting averages in both the One-Day Cup and the T20 competition. She averaged 51.66 at a strike-rate of 90 in the 50-over tournament and 42.16 at a strike-rate of 117 in the T20s.

Mkhize was thrown into the deep end in her debut season and successfully crossed over from being a rookie to an integral part of the #PrideOfJozi. She was outstanding in the T20 Cup, taking eight wickets in eight matches, the most for the DP World Lions, and conceding just 3.93 runs-per-over. Mkhize also took seven wickets in four One-Day matches, with an economy rate of just 4.50.

There was a touch of the magical about Peter’s introduction to the DP World Lions family as well as he bowled himself into the Proteas team with a glorious T20 campaign. The 21-year-old leg-spinner claimed 20 wickets, the second-most in the competition, at an average of just 9.50 and he conceded only 5.84 runs-per-over.

Rapoo has successfully embedded herself as the undisputed leader of the Lions Ladies pride, having taken over the captaincy at the start of the season.

Her canny spin saw her take 13 One-Day Cup wickets, the top-five nationally, and she only conceded 3.72 runs-per-over. In the T20 competition, Rapoo took seven wickets and went for only 6.00 runs-per-over. The opposition could also never afford to underestimate her hard-hitting batting, as Rapoo averaged 25.25 in the 50-over competition.

Delano Potgieter entranced viewers of the CSA 4-Day Series final with his muscular batting that led the DP World Lions to a victory that defied belief, and he was named the Masana Most Improved Player of the Season for the men’s team.

Nonkululeko Thabethe won the equivalent Afripure Most Improved Player of the Season award for the women’s side for the very pleasing growth in her batting.

Proteas captain Dean Elgar has spent much of the series pumping up the tyres of his team-mates, telling them how good they are, but now that Australia have won the rubber, he said on Tuesday, on the eve of the third and final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, that it was time for the team to make amends.

Well-beaten in both Brisbane and Melbourne, Elgar has made it clear that there is still much to play for and he expects his team to do everything in their power to restore some pride.

“There’s nowhere to hide in Test cricket and the top five need to find a way to execute their batting disciplines,” Elgar said. “Whatever we do in terms of selection, hopefully we provide a better spectacle than in the first two games.

“There’s also a lot for us still to play for – the World Test Championship final is a massive incentive – and we should be playing every Test like it is our last.

“But talk is cheap, we need to go out and perform and really make amends. It’s very frustrating because these are really talented players, but it just hasn’t gone our way.

“We want to go home with a lot of pride restored and so there’s still a lot to play for, as well as our position in the World Test Championship. It’s about how we rise up to the challenge and grasp the opportunity,” Elgar said.

Cynics would say whatever changes South Africa make to their XI will be like putting mag wheels on a skedonk. But the Proteas have to make at least one change due to Theunis de Bruyn returning home for the birth of his daughter.

“The only options in our squad in terms of batsmen are Rassie van der Dussen and Heinrich Klaasen,” Elgar confirmed. “Rassie has played for an extended period at Test level so he’s more experienced, while Heinrich is immensely talented and maybe deserves an extended chance.”

South Africa could well make a second change, bringing in a second spinner – Simon Harmer – but Elgar intimated that the off-spinner would have to replace another bowler.

“We need to have another look at the pitch, but Simon is definitely in the mix because Sydney has been low and slow, with a bit or turn, recently, so that might force our hand,” the captain said.

“But Keshav Maharaj is still our number one spinner and I’m still a 6/5 fan, that’s what I’m thinking. But all options are on the table, although playing seven batsmen makes it a massive ask for the bowlers.

“They’ve had a big workload, especially in the last Test when they racked up big numbers of overs. So it’s a big ask to have just four bowlers, especially only three seamers,” Elgar said.

Proteas coach Mark Boucher said it is the officials who make the decisions and the teams have to live with them after their opening T20 World Cup match against Zimbabwe was called off with South Africa on the brink of victory at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Monday.

South Africa, inspired by an extraordinary Quinton de Kock innings, were 51/0 after just three overs, needing only 13 more runs in four overs to win the match. Rain after the toss had seen the match reduced to nine overs a side, Zimbabwe electing to bat first and scoring 79/5, with the game being reduced by two more overs in the second over of the Proteas chase after the rain returned.

Much of the match was played in a steady drizzle, but the umpires eventually ended the contest when the rain became harder and Zimbabwe were starting to voice their displeasure about slipping around on the field. Bowler Richard Ngarava had already left the field with what looked like a twisted ankle, and Zimbabwe coach David Houghton said he didn’t believe a ball should have been bowled.

“They were tough conditions, but we are here to play in the World Cup, we wanted to play and it seemed both captains did,” Boucher said after the No Result.

“The officials are there though to make those decisions and we have to live with it. We bowled with a ball that was quite wet as well.

“We were in a very good position, so we can walk away thinking we were hard done by. If Zimbabwe had been in our position, they would have wanted to play on.

“The positive is that it wasn’t a do-or-die game, we are still in control of our destiny. We’re in a tough group, but it is still very early in the competition. We’ve possibly got to win every game now,” Boucher said.

While the Proteas will mourn the loss of a point, Boucher was delighted by the positive, energetic start his team made to the tournament. None more so than De Kock, who blazed 47 not out off just 18 balls, with eight fours and a six.

“It’s disappointing to get four-fifths of the way through the game and then have to go off,” Boucher said. “To get so close and have it taken away from you, that’s the most frustrating part.

“But rather now than later and I’m just happy with the intensity they showed in the field and Quinny played some special shots, which I think sends a message as well.

“He showed that he is one of the most dangerous batsmen in the world and to see him play with that freedom was really good. Sometimes guys tense up at a World Cup, but he seized the moment.

“There’s not much more we could have done, we maximised what we could. So we have no regrets over what we did, we just needed ten more balls to finish it off,” Boucher said.

South Africa lost the plot in the afternoon and found themselves in desperate trouble after the second day of the second Test against England at Old Trafford on Friday, needing 241 more runs just to make the hosts bat again.

Openers Sarel Erwee (12*) and Dean Elgar (11*) will resume in the morning on 23 without loss but the skipper will not only be contemplating the massive mountain in front of his team, but also his own decision-making in the field.

England amassed 415/9 declared in their first innings thanks to inspired centuries by captain Ben Stokes and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes, who added a match-defining 173 for the sixth wicket.

They came together in an intriguing morning session in which fast bowler Anrich Nortje made two early inroads into the England batting by dismissing Jonny Bairstow (49) and Zak Crawley (38), both edging excellent deliveries that angled in and then nipped away to be caught behind the wicket.

That left England on 147/5 and South Africa were still four runs ahead. But Stokes and Foakes batted with great clarity and composure, digging in until the hosts went into lunch on 212/5.

With the lead now already 61, one imagined the talk in the South African dressingroom over lunch would have been all about hitting England hard straight after the break to try and get the tail in to bat as soon as possible.

But incredibly, the on-fire Nortje was not brought on until after spinners Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj had bowled for 35 minutes, allowing Stokes and Foakes to get themselves properly in at the crease.

Having established control, Stokes and Foakes then batted with more freedom as the Proteas became more and more desperate shopping for a breakthrough, four reviews not going their way.

Stokes went to his fourth century in 14 Tests against South Africa, but fell for 103 as he tried to slog Kagiso Rabada. One of the most competitive cricketers in the world had produced a masterclass in playing the situation, his judgement of when to attack and when to defend solidly being well-nigh perfect.

Foakes batted on for his second Test century and ended with a career-best 113 not out, a determined innings of great value for his team, in which he targeted his favoured leg-side with nifty footwork and fine shots, collecting nine fours.

Nortje’s bowling – he finished with 3/82 in 20 overs – and the fact that England were unable to buy a wicket in the nine overs they bowled at South Africa before stumps, were about the only positives for the Proteas on a second day that somehow managed to be worse than their opening day woes.