Ken Borland

Cricket South Africa’s announcement this week that they had chosen a high performance squad of 45 players to resume training in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic gave an interesting insight into the players that the current Proteas management believe are going to take the national cricket team forward into a new era.

While the likes of Dean Elgar, Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, Imran Tahir, David Miller and Dwaine Pretorius were all included because they still have important roles to play for the Proteas in the near future, it is also irresistible to not cast our minds forwards to five years’ time and consider what the South African team would look like then.

There is no doubt head coach Mark Boucher and director of cricket Graeme Smith, in the middle of a rebuilding process following the retirement of greats such as Dale Steyn, AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel and JP Duminy, are also thinking ahead to a time when another half-dozen players call quits on their careers. Their goal will be to ensure the next overhaul of the national team is not as painful as the one we are currently going through.

Let’s hope that in five years’ time, a 30-year-old Kagiso Rabada and a 29-year-old Lungi Ngidi are able to share the new ball and have developed into a partnership to rival the great South African fast bowling duos of Neil Adcock and Peter Heine, Peter Pollock and Mike Procter, Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock, Pollock and Makhaya Ntini, and Steyn and Morkel.

Rabada, if he continues in the same vein that has seen him take 197 wickets in just 43 Tests since 2015, should be challenging Steyn’s record of 439 Test wickets and should be established as one of the greats of the game. His current bowling average is just 22.95 and only Curtly Ambrose, Richard Hadlee, Glenn McGrath and Muttiah Muralitharan have taken 400 wickets at a lower average. Amazingly, Steyn has finished his Test career with the exact same average of 22.95.

Let’s also hope that Rabada fulfils his potential with the bat and can slot in at number eight in the batting order, contributing valuable runs.

With Anrich Nortje and Lutho Sipamla as back-up quicks, the Proteas could field a ferocious pace attack. The best South African teams have always hit their opposition with an unrelenting pace barrage.

Current first-choice spinner Keshav Maharaj will be 35 in five years’ time, which is certainly not too old for a slow bowler to be playing Test cricket. But I fancy George Linde, a tall left-arm spinner who has already had a taste of Test cricket, taking four wickets in India in the only innings he bowled in, may well have forced his way into a regular starting place by then, not least of all due to his prowess with the bat, which has already seen him score three first-class centuries.

In terms of the batting order, much depends on whether Quinton de Kock is still as keen on playing with the gloves as he is now. If he is no longer the wicketkeeper, playing as a specialist batsman, then there is an excellent replacement behind the stumps in Kyle Verreynne, with the likes of Heinrich Klaasen, Wandile Makwetu and Sinethemba Qeshile waiting in the wings.

One hopes that top-class talents like Aiden Markram, Zubayr Hamza and Temba Bavuma have by then built a formidable reputation in Test cricket, a trio of batsmen all averaging over 40 and allowing De Kock to do what he does best, taking a long handle to opposition attacks.

As a great fan of Markram, having followed his career closely since those glorious U19 days, I would also hope that by then he has become established enough to be the national captain. He has the most natural leadership qualities, is respected by friend and foe alike, and that would allow the likes of De Kock and Bavuma to play with the freedom that makes them most dangerous.

In terms of Markram’s opening partner, the tremendously determined Elgar’s Test career might not yet be over but he will be 38. Chances are that he would have moved on, likewise a 36-year-old Van der Dussen. Current Warriors opener Ed Moore should be at his peak at 32 years old and I have chosen him over Janneman Malan simply based on a technique that is probably better suited to Test cricket.

Malan should be a key figure though in South Africa’s white-ball sides, along with current stars like Tabraiz Shamsi and Andile Phehlukwayo.

Raynard van Tonder, who topped last season’s run-scoring chart with 843 at 70.25 for the Knights, is currently at the front of the queue of uncapped young batsmen looking to be Proteas regulars by 2025, but over the course of five years, new talents will certainly emerge, so who knows?

Somewhere out there right now there could be a 15-year-old who is the next AB de Villiers, Steyn, Jacques Kallis or Paul Adams. Although overlooked for my potential starting XI, there are also players in this week’s 45-man training squad like Wiaan Mulder, Gerald Coetzee, Bjorn Fortuin and Senuran Muthusamy who could also develop into world-class Proteas.

Proteas coach Mark Boucher on Wednesday admitted to being disappointed with how the national team performed in his first four months in charge, but like a chef cooking up a new dish, he now believes he has the right ingredients to ensure the South African cricket side meet expectations once they resume playing.

Boucher took over the reins in December and although the Proteas won his first Test in charge against England at Centurion in stirring fashion, they went on to be thumped 3-1 in the series. They shared the ODI series and lost the T20s 2-1, in both cases again wasting a 1-0 lead.

They lost the T20 rubber against Australia 2-1, but then produced the highlight of the summer with a 3-0 whitewashing of the strong tourists.

“Now that I’ve had time to reflect on the season, our performances were quite disappointing to be honest, especially against England. We didn’t perform the way we ought to or the way we wanted to. But as a new coaching staff, we asked some questions and we got some answers, some of them good, some of them bad.

“But the nice thing is there was light at the end of the tunnel, especially in the short formats, the performance against Australia. A lot of work still needs to be done on Test cricket, that side needs a lot of rebuilding and a couple of injuries didn’t help either.

“But it was exciting to see the players grow as we gave opportunities to a couple of youngsters. We were no longer relying on just one individual guy. But there’s still a helluva lot of work to be done before we are the finished product,” Boucher said on Wednesday.

For someone who was criticised in some quarters for not having done enough coaching courses, Boucher, who brought sheer competitiveness to the 147 Tests and 295 ODIs he played, also seems to have handled the man-management aspects of his new job well.

“It’s always difficult but we gave some opportunities to youngsters when we could rest senior guys and I was pleased with quite a few of them. They were thrown into the deep end a bit but I was pleasantly surprised by how they went.

“It meant that towards the end of the season we had a lot of guys in good form and with a lot of confidence, which meant we were selecting from a pool of about 20 players. That’s good for South African cricket, we were in a strong position, and although it causes a couple of headaches it’s better than just having 11 definites.

“Communication is important in that situation and I think I did fairly well. We made it clear that it didn’t matter what performances were put in, the senior player rightfully holds on to his position. But if people don’t perform then they have to go to the back of the queue, it is what it is unfortunately,” Boucher said.

The 43-year-old, who won five trophies in three seasons with the Titans, said his relationship with assistant coach Enoch Nkwe, who he ostensibly replaced at the helm of the Proteas, was also growing.

“Enoch and I have had some great conversations and I think we understand each other. We certainly have the same ideas and agree on how to do things, we know there are going to be hard calls to make but we’re not scared to make them.

“Enoch has a good relationship with some of the youngsters I don’t know properly yet and he takes a load off my hands, which I appreciate. We’ve just got to keep working hard together and drive our vision together,” Boucher said.

While Boucher praised assistants Charl Langeveldt, Justin Ontong and strength and conditioning coach Tumi Masekela for all adding value, he said he hoped consultants Jacques Kallis and Paul Harris could be retained on a contractual basis by the Proteas.

The lure of 200 Test caps was strong, but with the excitement of getting engaged, the approach of her 30^th birthday and the new teaching job she has started, South African women’s hockey star Sulette Damons decided to call time on her illustrious career last week after making 198 appearances for the national team.

Robin van Ginkel, the new coach, recently held the second training camp of the year and the women’s national team is going to be a different, less exuberant environment without Damons, who was as loved off the field for her personality as she was respected on it, being one of the co-captains for last year’s World Cup, the most recent action the team saw.

“It would have been nice to reach 200, but I reached what I needed to and I played in three Commonwealth Games, three World Cups and an Olympic Games, so I feel like I’ve done all I could. I am getting older and I feel it’s the right time to concentrate on my career as a teacher and I’ve just got engaged as well,” Damons told Saturday Citizen.

Blessed with terrific pace and ball-skills, Damons played on the wing and scored and set up many goals for South Africa. The child of a domestic worker, Damons feasted on every opportunity that came her way and is truly an inspirational transformation success story.

Raised in the Umasizakhe township in Graaff-Reinet, Damons’ life changed when the family who employed her mother, Frances Buffels, funded her schooling at Union primary and high schools. The brilliance that lay within her DNA was soon recognised and she captained both her school and the Eastern Province hockey teams.

Damons then won a bursary to the University of Potchefstroom (Pukke) and was chosen for the SA U21 team in 2008, before making her debut for South Africa in 2010, at the World Cup in Rosario, Argentina.

She made the most dramatic of entrances into international hockey as well, scoring the winner against Spain.

“My favourite goal was most definitely the one on debut in the 2010 World Cup, my first international goal, against Spain. It was the winner and it was South Africa’s first win at the World Cup in a long time, so it was my best goal ever.

“Captain Marsha Marescia was at halfway and I just saw a gap so I started sprinting and she hit a backsticks aerial pass over everyone, and it was just me and the goalkeeper in the circle. I put my stick out and I don’t know how, but by the grace of God the ball hit it and went in!” Damons recalled.

She tended to do well in World Cups and another of her favourite memories is scoring in the 4-2 win over England in the 2014 World Cup at the Hague, in her 150^th game for South Africa.

Having qualified with a B.Ed, Damons is now teaching Grade IIIs in Bloemfontein, where her fiancé lives, at St Michaels School for Girls. Obviously they have got her involved in hockey as well, and she coaches the U13A side. A career in coaching might just lay ahead.

“Once I find my feet in coaching, maybe I’ll look to take it further. For now I still want to play a bit, for both my club and province, and hopefully I can play in the Premier Hockey League [PHL] as well,” Damons said.

Never mind her coaching expertise, Damons’ life story is enough to inspire and she says her success was all about exposure, and believes that is the answer to the all-important transformation questions facing South African hockey.

“Transformation is important because there is a lot of talent in this country and a lot of players are talented enough to reach what I did. The potential is there but it’s all about exposure, which is why the PHL is great, it allows the up-and-coming prospects to play with experienced players. We just need to make sure there are enough tournaments for these players,” Damons said.

And while the national team bombed out at the first stage of last year’s World Cup, finishing 15^th out of 16 teams, Damons said all is not doom and gloom in that department, with change afoot.

“The change of coach was good and they’ve had a good start to the year under Robin, plus there’s more staff and a bigger squad now, it’s not just the same people over and over. There’s a lot of youth in that squad so that’s very healthy, it ensures the senior players don’t feel too comfortable because now there’s more competition.

“The youngsters are hungry and want experience. The biggest issue though is finances and if you don’t have that you can’t compete and we’ll still be behind the other teams. But if they can fix that and have more training camps and tours then they will be okay. The difficulty is hockey is an amateur sport in South Africa and we need players who are willing to take unpaid leave or put their studies on hold,” Damons said.

But if stories like Damons’ – a life transformed and now she is busy transforming other lives – don’t inspire support for hockey then it is difficult to know what will.

https://citizen.co.za/sport/south-african-sport/2093593/women-in-sport-sulette-damons-transformed-hockey-now-shes-transforming-lives/

Warren Whiteley has come in from the cold in terms of his return to rugby but, as brilliant as he thinks the inspirational Lions leader is, former Springbok eighthman and skipper Morne du Plessis believes he should not resume the captaincy of the national team just yet.

Whiteley was the first-choice Springbok captain last year, leading the team in the first two Tests against France before tearing his groin and being ruled out of action for the rest of 2017. He has only recently returned to SuperRugby action due to a knee injury.

In his absence, and that of Eben Etzebeth, who took over the reins from Whiteley last year, new Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus appointed Siya Kolisi as the 61st national rugby captain, to tremendous acclaim and immediate success with the series win over England.

“There’s no need for me to tell Rassie Erasmus what to do, but I believe consistency is very important. It’s tough on Warren, but he has been injured. There’s no question Siya is the right captain, it’s the right time and right place for him. Warren’s time will come again, but he needs to get back into the team first.

“Siya has really put a marker down now and he’s captain, that’s it for me. I’ve been very impressed with his caring nature, he looks after a lot of his family and every time we have worked with him at the Chris Burger/Petro Jackson Fund he has always gone beyond the call of duty,” Du Plessis, who captained South Africa 15 times between 1975 and 1980, said at a Laureus Sport for Good Foundation breakfast this week.

Du Plessis carries the letters ‘OIS’ after his name these days, which indicate he has been awarded the Order of Ikhamanga Silver Class by the president for excellent achievement in sport, so he is well-placed to comment on the leadership abilities of Kolisi.

“You don’t have to know Siya intimately to know he is obviously a special human being. The whole question of whether you are born or raised a leader is still being debated, whether those skills are natural or groomed, but I would say Siya is a bit of both. He has inherent talents and characteristics, but these have been nurtured by hard times, mentorship and support,” Du Plessis said.

https://citizen.co.za/sport/south-africa-sport/sa-rugby-sport/1984354/theres-only-one-guy-right-for-the-springbok-captaincy/