Ken Borland

In any Currie Cup final, there are going to be a number of key match-ups, but rugby writer Ken Borland looks at the three key ones that could decide the outcome of the match between the Bulls and Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday:

The battle of the flyhalves

Through the history of the Currie Cup, teams have consistently looked to the man with the number 10 on his back to steer them to the famous trophy. The Bulls relied on the legendary Naas Botha to win them seven titles, while Derick Hougaard was their liefling in the 2000s. Henry Honiball and Pat Lambie have been matchwinners for the Sharks.

On Saturday it will be the man who has seen it all before up against the young, rising star.

Veteran Morne Steyn has an enviable record when it comes to winning crunch matches with his accurate boot, but in his four Currie Cup finals for the Bulls he was lost twice and drawn once. The 36-year-old knows he won’t get too many other chances to lift the famous trophy again, so expect Steyn to be cool, calm, collected and very determined.

Curwin Bosch was at fullback when the Sharks won in 2018, but now he is his team’s undisputed general, racking up the points in ruthless fashion, even from his own half. With ball-in-hand, he is also capable of the sort of magic that wins finals.

The battle of the front rows

It is obvious that to have a chance of winning, the Sharks will need to match the physicality and brute strength of the Bulls up front. It will start in the scrums where tighthead Thomas du Toit is rapidly becoming the talisman of the Sharks. He is up against the power of Lizo Gqoboka, and the athleticism of the Bulls loosehead is also something to watch out for in open play.

Ox Nche, who played a key role in the triumph of the Free State Cheetahs in the 2019 Currie Cup, will come up against Trevor Nyakane, the rock of the Bulls scrum.

The breakdown battle

Quick possession is going to be at a premium and the Bulls have two jackalling loose forwards in Marco van Staden and Duane Vermeulen who are always eager to get their hands on the ball. The Sharks’ cleaners are going to have to be at their sharpest to nullify that threat.

But the Sharks have been effective when it comes to turnovers as well and Dylan Richardson made an absolute nuisance of himself at the breakdowns when they beat the Bulls in Durban last month. Referee Jaco Peyper will have his hands full policing this fiercely contested part of the game.

The number of South Africans playing or coaching in New Zealand has been an interesting angle for critics of the local system to pursue in recent years, and former Highveld Lions batsman Devon Conway looks set to become the latest immigrant to don the Black Cap.

Conway has transformed himself since his move to New Zealand in 2017, from a workaday batsman who just could not nail down a regular place in South African franchise cricket, to a prolific run-scorer for Wellington.

And according to former Titans and current Otago coach Rob Walter, another former South African who moved to New Zealand, the dramatic change in Conway’s fortunes is because he now gets to routinely test himself at the top level of domestic cricket.

Born in Johannesburg and educated at St John’s College, Conway played for Gauteng Schools for three years from 2007. He made his first-class debut for Gauteng aged just 17 years old. Clearly he was considered a top-class talent.

The following season he averaged 59 for Gauteng, but made a move to Pietermaritzburg for the 2010/11 season. He was quickly moved into the Dolphins franchise team, but in nine games only scored two half-centuries and averaged just 21.28.

He was back in Johannesburg for the 2012/13 season and became a prolific run-scorer for the Gauteng Strikers side – averaging 53.57 as he scored 12 centuries in 52 matches.

But he had to wait until February 2014 to be promoted to the Highveld Lions team. He was given five matches that season, but only averaged 22.85 with a highest score of 38 in 10 innings.

He could only score 54 runs in five innings in 2014/15 and his appearances were sporadic thereafter. When he emigrated, Conway had made 12 appearances in all for the Highveld Lions, averaging just 21.29 with only one half-century.

It seemed he was one of those cricketers who were brilliant at the level below but just couldn’t make the step up when given decent opportunity in franchise cricket.

But it has been all change since he moved to Wellington.

Conway was the leading run-scorer in both the first-class and T20 competitions in 2018/19 and was named New Zealand’s men’s domestic player of the year.

Last season he fared even better, being the leading run-scorer in all three formats. His spectacular exploits included an epic 327 not out against Canterbury, just the ninth triple-century in NZ history, and a 49-ball century in the Super Smash.

So how did he go from being a struggling journeyman in South Africa to a star who New Zealand can’t wait to rush into their national team?

“He’s played unbelievably well and has ridiculous stats in all three formats. He’s unstoppable at the moment, he’s made a double-hundred and hundreds against us, so even though I didn’t see much of him in South Africa, I’ve seen enough of him now!

“The difference is he’s found his game a bit and he got regular opportunity. Now he’s playing consistently, week in, week out, every game for Wellington. It’s what some guys just need and I hope to see him do as well at the next level,” Walter, who left the Titans in 2016 after winning four trophies in three seasons, told kenborland.com

If New Zealand do go to Bangladesh in August then Conway, who will be 29, looks certain to go with them, having been cleared to play for his adopted country by the ICC last week. He will join fellow South African-born cricketer Neil Wagner, the left-arm fast bowler who has won the hearts of his new country with his determined displays. Other Saffer emigrants to play for New Zealand have been Grant Elliott and current Tuks coach Kruger van Wyk.

Conway has already been part of Black Caps training squads but will be competing with the likes of Tom Latham, Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor for a place in the NZ batting line-up.

But Wellington coach Glenn Pocknall said he would certainly co-sign Conway’s selection.

“He’s consistently out-performed all the players he’s competing with for the next level, and in some cases he’s out-performed guys who are incumbents in the Black Caps team. It’s pretty hard to ignore his sheer weight of runs.

“He’s pretty experienced for a guy who’s 28; he’s played 100 first-class games in New Zealand and South Africa. He’s played a heap of cricket and he’s such a cool customer regardless of the scenario.

“We played a final the other day and he produced again. He consistently steps up in those big matches and scores runs against very good bowlers. Going into an international set-up he wouldn’t be changing anything, he’d take it all in his stride and perform really well,” Pocknall told the stuff.co.nz website.

Dylan Frittelli is South Africa’s fastest rising golf star and a stellar 2017 has seen him zoom up the world golf rankings from number 152 at the start of the year to 55^th when he teed it up at the Joburg Open at Randpark Golf Club this week.

The 27-year-old can certainly hit a little white dimpled ball as cleanly and powerfully as anyone else in the country, courtesy of the natural ball skills that saw him earn junior provincial colours in baseball, soccer, hockey and golf, but Frittelli clearly has another great strength, one that is as priceless as a ming vase when it comes to a sport as mentally taxing as golf.

Frittelli is clearly a deep thinker on the game and much of that thinking can be classified as lateral judging by the unusual decisions he has made.

Golf started as a Sunday driving range occupation with his provincial hockey-playing father, with a few rounds with friends over the holidays, but at the age of 11, Frittelli went to a World of Golf camp where his considerable talent was first spotted by a coach.

“From then I took things seriously, but I still played a bunch of sports until I was 15,” Frittelli said.

It was when the Johannesburg-born youngster went to St Albans boarding school in Pretoria that he made his first eccentric decision that worked out wonderfully.

“At St Albans, I asked the headmaster if I could just play golf and he said no, because they needed me in the cricket and hockey teams. So I did home-schooling instead, it was a bit of a mad scientist idea and I just said ‘let’s see what happens’. I started matric in Grade 10 and was done a year earlier than if I’d stayed in school,” Frittelli explained.

The tall, dark-haired Frittelli continues to do things differently to this day, foregoing time-consuming and often energy-draining practice rounds on courses he has played before, and even taking a compass on to the tee with him to ensure he gets his angles dead right.

The extra year he gained through home-schooling allowed Frittelli to not only play more golf but also seriously consider trying to get into the American college golf programme.

“I had it in mind that I really wanted to go to the United States and when I won the Junior World Championships in San Diego when I was 17, that opened doors for me. It was between the University of Texas and Arkansas, and Texas offered me a full scholarship,” he said.

And, by a quirk of fate, a young Jordan Spieth soon also arrived at the University of Texas and he and Frittelli would earn the Longhorns their first national championship title in 40 years in 2012, the South African sinking a 30-foot putt on the 18^th to claim the win.

“Jordan was still a junior then, but I stayed in the same dorm as him at the Spirit International and helped persuade him to come to Texas. We were pretty much playing at the same level back then and to make the putt to win Nationals was huge, especially since we hadn’t won for so long,” Frittelli said.

Frittelli has won twice on the European Tour this year and, although his chances of adding to that tally at the Joburg Open are slim as he ended his second round 10 shots off the pace, he looks set to break into the top-50 in the world rankings in the near future.

And then he will be going to the majors, from which he hopes to get into the U.S. PGA Tour, especially since he still has a house in Austin, Texas.

He also badly wants to win in South Africa, to show local fans, who have not had much chance to get to know him, what he’s made of.

“I’ve only gained spots through qualifying school on the European and Sunshine tours but I would love to play in the U.S. as well. I also haven’t had any big victories in South Africa, which I would love to do because that would definitely cement my standing here.

“But I pride myself on being able to play well away from home and I won in Canada, the U.S. and Puerto Rico as an amateur, and now in Europe and Mauritius as a pro. Every good result you get breeds confidence and I felt really calm winning in Mauritius last week, which is how you want to be. No stress,” the laid-back surfing fan said.

https://citizen.co.za/sport/1753864/sas-fastest-rising-golf-star/

Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat explained on Tuesday that Cricket South Africa have said no to the idea of increasing the number of franchises because they want to give more attention to the semi-professional level that is the second tier of domestic cricket.

There has been speculation over the last couple of years that the number of franchises would be increased from six to either seven or eight. But Lorgat said this has now been put on the backburner, with CSA deciding instead to focus on the next level down.

“The decision actually came out of our domestic review, which was a very detailed report and indicated that there is work to be done at the semi-professional level. We are open-minded about it and there might come a day when we move from six franchises.

“But extra franchises have got to be sustainable and we’re only now at the point where each franchise is, at the very worst, breaking even, although I expect them all to announce surpluses at the end of this financial year at the end of the month. But now we want to grow the base and what we now call semi-professional, we want to make that professional.

“At the moment there are only seven full-time contracts per provincial team in the system and it’s arguable whether players are able to sustain themselves on those contracts. So we want to lift that up and we will take the same money we would have used for a seventh franchise to uplift semi-pro cricket,” Lorgat said at the launch of the Africa Cup 2017 at the Wanderers on Tuesday.

An exodus of players to earn pounds in English cricket has taken its toll on the South African game, and Lorgat said CSA hoped raising the standard and lucrativeness of cricket below franchise level would encourage players to stay.

“If we can raise the competitive nature of that cricket then we can use that tier to hopefully sustain guys until they get a crack at franchise level. The Africa Cup has brought more names to the fore and I know the coaches are excited about the opportunity it gives players to shine. We’ve identified the second tier as being an area where we need to widen opportunity,” Lorgat said.

The Africa Cup is the T20 competition that has kicked off the last two seasons and is considered the bridge between senior provincial and franchise cricket, with the 12 CSA provinces plus KZN Inland and Zimbabwe, Namibia and Kenya playing in a tournament that mixes fully professional cricketers with those from the semi-pro ranks.

The Africa Cup has been the gateway to success for players like Heinrich Klaasen, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi and Andile Phehlukwayo, who are all now part of the Proteas’ plans.

Lorgat confirmed that following the Africa Cup in August/September and the introduction of the new showpiece global T20 league in November/December, the existing franchises’ CSA T2O Challenge will now shift to late summer, probably in April 2018.

“There is a risk of too much T20 cricket, but access of opportunity is really the driver and it also brings more transformation players to the fore. We have to develop players and give them opportunities to aspire towards developing into something more. We have the Africa Cup and the T20 global league and we’ve got to have something in between.

“First-class and 50-over cricket are acknowledged as being crucial in the development of players, whether there are supporters watching or not, so it will be the same for the CSA T2O Challenge at the end of the season,” Lorgat said.

The draw for the Africa Cup, which starts on August 25 and will be hosted on successive weekends by Benoni, Potchefstroom, Bloemfontein and Kimberley, was made on Tuesday and defending champions Eastern Province find themselves in the same pool as hosts North-West, dominant provincial side Northerns and Gauteng.

Draw

Pool A   (Willowmoore Park, 25-27 August): Easterns, Western Province, South-Western Districts, Namibia.

Pool B   (Senwes Park, 1-3 September): North-West, Northerns, Gauteng, Eastern Province.

Pool C   (Mangaung Oval, 9-11 September): Free State, KZN Inland, Zimbabwe, Boland.

Pool D   (Diamond Oval, 15-17 September): Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Kenya, Border.

http://citizen.co.za/sport/sport-cricket/1484582/domestic-cricket-isnt-going-to-get-bigger-anytime-soon-says-csa/