Ken Borland

Any minute now Cricket South Africa are set to announce their winter tours with director of cricket Graeme Smith saying on Monday morning that he was hoping for a “very busy” year of international action. But he also called on the International Cricket Council (ICC) to show more leadership to ensure teams outside of the Big Three continue to have decent fixtures lined up.

While Australia pulling out of the Test tour scheduled for next month clearly still hurts CSA, Pakistan will help fill the void by coming over for a white-ball series in April, and CSA are expected to announce tours to the West Indies and Sri Lanka over our winter, as well as a series in India before the T20 World Cup in October/November.

“Our relationship with Cricket Australia is definitely now strained and the ICC needs strong leadership because Covid is just amplifying the Haves and the Have-Nots. The FTP [Future Tours Programme] is going to be hugely challenging with eight ICC events in the next eight years, an extended IPL and the calendar being dominated by England, Australia and India [the Big Three]. That just amplifies the stress on us and the other countries looking for good content.

“Fortunately there has been the opportunity to manoeuvre a bit in the FTP and add some tours. This Pakistan tour coming up was meant to happen last October and we were meant to go to the West Indies last year, there’s also a Sri Lanka tour, India before the World Cup and they’re also meant to be coming here at the end of the year. But it takes time to finalise these – it’s a bit of a bun fight because every nation is trying to fill gaps,” Smith said on Monday.

“So I think the men’s team is going to be very busy. But the game as a whole needs leadership right now because I don’t think we want to see only three teams competing at the top in 10 years time. Their leagues are just getting bigger and bigger and the rest will be left with no content. Covid has really fast-tracked this issue and I think the ICC has been caught a bit off-guard,” the former Proteas captain added.

Because of the uncertain global stage at the moment, Smith announced a new drive by CSA to uplift the domestic game. The T20 Challenge will start on Friday and is being played in a bio-bubble in Durban, with all the Proteas being obliged to play. The conclusion of the four-day competition will then happen in March and Smith is hopeful the national team players will also feature in that.

“Because Australia are no longer coming in March, we’ve decided it is important to invest in our domestic competitions and we are making all the national players available. Those guys coming from Pakistan will go straight into the bubble in Durban. We’re also trying to make sure the four-day competition will be televised and there will be national player involved too.

“South African cricket needs to come first and it is open season now in terms of national contracts. There have been some good performances by the Proteas, but there are a lot of places up for grabs and we want to see a lot of competition and people performing domestically. The goal is to see all our players stepping up because it is now contracting season. Everyone in the Proteas has been really positive and they want to play,” Smith said.

The mental well-being of players will need to be carefully managed though especially as some of the Proteas were already showing signs of bubble fatigue in Pakistan.

“It is a challenging space being in these bubbles, but some of the Proteas have only played seven games the whole season so the workload issues are not there. Being in Pakistan, with security around you all the time, may have caused some additional stress, but all the players were extremely happy with how they were looked after by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

“We are trying our best to manage the mental health of the players, there is a psychologist involved and SACA [the players’ union] are also helping. For the IPL the players will have to spend two months in a bubble and I don’t see our four-day competition happening in a bubble. We want to do as much as we can for the local competitions and we want to see players putting their hands up there,” Smith said.

A new year brings new challenges for the Interim Board of Cricket South Africa with arrangements for the Australian Test tour needing to be made and a new structure for the organisation now being considered by the directors.

Judge Zak Yacoob, the chairman of the Interim Board, said on Thursday that he was confident the incoming tour by Australia would take place, although he did let slip that it is now expected to take place only in April.

“The Australia tour will go ahead at this stage. A week ago I had a chat with the head of Cricket Australia and we agreed that we would make sure the facilities are as good as necessary. Not that we did anything wrong when England were here because none of their players were affected by Covid. But our learnings on this virus changes all the time, it is unpredictable.

“But we both have doctors and other experts who will lead us through and if they say our facilities are fine then I have no doubt that the tour will go ahead, unless things take a real turn for the worse. But cricket fans must know that if they comply with all the precautions then they are not only doing it for themselves but doing it in the interests of cricket. I know we are looking at April,” Yacoob said.

The Interim Board’s term of office expires on February 15 and Yacoob said their focus in the next three weeks would be on formulating a new structure for the board.

“Our most important consideration now is how to change the structure of CSA to ensure it works better, and that is an independent process because we have no intention of being on any future CSA board. The main objective is to ensure that the Memorandum of Incorporation (MoI) and the Board Charter are changed in accordance with the Nicholson recommendations i.e. the need for an independent board.

“We are trying to work through what the power of the Members Council should be and the one conclusion is that we cannot have two centres of power. We have decided it would be preferable for the Board to be in control of day-to-day operational matters. If the directors are independent then they will have no personal interest in the decisions taken,” Yacoob said.

While one former director – Omphile Ramela, the previous president of the players’ union – has launched court action to overturn his removal from the Board, another – former Easterns president Xolani Vonya – has been reinstated as a director.

The move seems part of a more conciliatory tone towards the Members Council.

“Mr Vonya is back, because the Board decided that may be better. Some of the reasons for his removal were not fully justified, Easterns did not fully justify their very serious allegations against him. On balance, we had a rethink and decided to be more generous towards him.

“We have not yet really engaged the Members Council on the new MoI and I suspect there will be a difference of opinion, which is justifiable. An independent Board does reduce the power of the Members Council but I am certain they will operate in good faith. There will be genuine and bona fide debate over how independent the Board should be.

“One can get carried away and get people who know nothing about the game and you obviously need to avoid that. The Members Council have to appoint us again and if they don’t approve us again then off we go on February 15 unless the Minister of Sport does something. We would have to tell the Minister that we have not finished our work, but I personally would not implore him to intervene, he must make an objective decision,” Yacoob said.

Veteran flyhalf Morne Steyn says the circle is now complete as he contemplates leading the Bulls into another Currie Cup final as they prepare to take on the Lions in the semi-finals at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The 36-year-old returned to the Bulls last year, having appeared in four previous Currie Cup finals for them and winning in 2006 and 2009, before joining Stade Francais in 2013.

“I never really thought that I would finish my career at the Bulls, but I guess the circle is now closed nicely and I’m looking forward to the semi-final. It feels like my younger days, but a lot of the guys haven’t played in a semi-final before or even in the Currie Cup, so it’s going to be a big day. The big goal is to win on Saturday and all that’s happened before or what comes after, we will sit aside.

“For me it’s just another game and I will take it as that and enjoy every moment. Everyone is ready and it would be stupid for us to change a lot of stuff, we’ve got to do what we did to get into the semi-final, you don’t want to be trying to do what you’re not used to. Otherwise I’ll be trying to keep the other guys calm and will just tell them to enjoy every moment and embrace the pressure of a semi-final,” Steyn said.

As far as the Lions are concerned, Steyn said they are strong up front and have flair in the backs, and can play both a free-flowing game and a more strategic one. And he is particularly looking forward to the flyhalf battle with Elton Jantjies, which could have an influence on Springbok selection later this year.

“The Lions have a good pack, exciting backs and a good No.10 who controls the game. We are ready for them to play a running game or a kicking game. Elton controls the game well, he has a good tactical game at flyhalf and I’m looking forward to a lekker challenge against him. If you don’t want to be the best then you should rather stop playing rugby, and obviously I want to be better than my opponent.

“If you’re playing in South Africa then you always dream of playing for the Springboks and every game is a chance to show what I can do. You always want to add to your Tests. But my game-plan is not to try and bring magic, there are guys around me who can do that. Discipline is going to be a big focus for both teams, but we have showed our character – until the final whistle, the game is not over for us,” Steyn, who has played 66 Tests for the Springboks, said.

It’s been a tough year for Western Province rugby and they have now come to the point of the season when they can either mount a strong challenge for the Currie Cup title or finish among the also-rans.

It is certainly squeaky-bum time and Saturday’s match against the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein is probably the one that will determine whether they can remember the last 12 months with at least some fondness. Win with a bonus point and they go top of the log heading into the last round of fixtures; lose and they could find themselves struggling just to make the semi-finals.

Western Province coach John Dobson is not satisfied, however, just to be in contention; their extraordinary defeats to the Bulls and Lions on successive weekends and recent growth in the number of penalties his team is conceding are weighing on his mind.

“We’re in the curious position of finishing anywhere from first to fifth, which is great for the competition. We always knew one of the so-called bigger franchises would lose out on the semi-finals, but I’m not thrilled that it might still be us. Those 22-20 and 22-19 losses to the Bulls and Lions in successive weeks have been a real knock for us.

“We don’t want to have to win next week against the Sharks so this weekend against the Cheetahs is an opportunity for us to wrap up a semi-final place, then we can talk about where we want to be playing that semi-final. So Saturday in Bloem is not quite a quarterfinal but it is still a game of massive importance for us,” Dobson said on Wednesday.

Those selfsame Sharks, who just a couple of weeks ago were the pacesetters after their impressive win over the Bulls, are now the big city team most in danger of missing out on the semi-finals as they are currently in fourth place, just two points ahead of Free State.

They host Griquas in Durban on Saturday and while they would normally be expected to easily overcome the team from Kimberley, the Sharks are currently sitting with Covid problems and have suffered heavy defeats in their last two matches against the Lions and Cheetahs.

Assistant coach Brent Janse van Rensburg said he was not willing to use the health problems as an excuse.

“The Covid disruptions aren’t ideal, it affects your training programme in the week and then affects the availability of players. But it doesn’t help to make excuses, we don’t have an excuses mentality. We embrace the challenges as they come and how you apply your mind to those challenges will determine how you come out on the other end,” Janse van Rensburg said.

The Lions, third on the log, two points behind Western Province, travel to Nelspruit on Saturday to take on neighbours the Pumas. Their big Boxing Day clash with their other neighbours, the Bulls, was postponed, so they will be hoping to carry on the momentum that saw them beat Western Province, Free State and the Sharks on successive weekends.