Ken Borland

There was once again precious little to cheer about for Bulls fans at Loftus Versfeld over the weekend as they went down 13-17 to the Hurricanes, but captain Pierre Spies still believes they are on the right track.

“We believe what we are doing is right, we’re just not executing it well enough. We believe we’re on the right track, although we’re not getting there at the moment,” Spies said after the Bulls’ second successive loss at Loftus Versfeld, where they were unbeaten last season.

For all the big names in the squad, the aura of home invincibility has gone as first a young Stormers pack and now a journeymen Hurricanes eight bossed them around, but Spies is talking as if there are only minor problems to fix.

“You need the bounce of the ball to go your way, although you mustn’t depend on it. I’m hopeful that next week things will fall our way. But we first need to look at ourselves and be more clinical.

“These defeats can still pull the team together, you only learn in tough times, and in 2007 we started with two losses but still had a good season. We’ve worked hard, so I know it will come together,” Spies said.

Spies’s memory of the Bulls’ first SuperRugby title in 2007 is not quite accurate, because they only lost two of their first three games, and only one of those was at home. The Bulls seem to have forgotten the art of winning rugby games when you’re not playing well and coach Frans Ludeke, no doubt feeling the pressure to keep his job, did not tip-toe around their performances in the first fortnight of SuperRugby.

“After two performances like that, you just have to keep quiet and fix it. There are no grey areas, we know what cost us. We have to be more accurate, we have to play with more urgency – we lost a lot of ball at the breakdowns simply because we didn’t have numbers there,” Ludeke said.

The weak refereeing of Andrew Lees at the breakdown certainly had a detrimental effect on the Bulls’ chances, but even there they have only themselves to blame.

Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd said they had “detected” that Lees “lets the contest go on much longer than most” at the breakdown, while the lack of urgency and support play the Bulls showed in getting to the rucks made their one-off ball-carriers easy prey.

The only positives for the Bulls were that flyhalf Handre Pollard had a threatening game with ball in hand and kicked well, Jesse Kriel had some nice runs from fullback, and Trevor Nyakane was solid at tighthead prop.

But it’s been two dismal weeks for the Bulls; the fire has just not been there. One would have expected there to have been a big step up in intensity after the Stormers upstaged them, but if anything, the Bulls were even worse against the Hurricanes.

http://citizen.co.za/331534/bulls-upbeat-despite-two-defeats/

Kagiso Rabada showed once again why he is one of the most exciting teenagers in world cricket as he spearheaded a strong first day for the bizhub Highveld Lions against the Dolphins in their Sunfoil Series match at the Wanderers on Thursday.

Rabada dismissed three of the Dolphins’ top four batsmen and with Hardus Viljoen running through the lower-order with the second new ball, the Lions had reduced the Dolphins to 289 for eight when bad light stopped play with one over remaining to be bowled.

The 19-year-old junior world cup winner is not only a wonderfully athletic quick bowler, but is also mastering the important art of control and adapting to different surfaces. On a Wanderers pitch that certainly provided assistance with the new ball but was otherwise pretty flat, Rabada maintained an excellent length and was rewarded with fine figures of four for 65 in 23 overs.

The one top-order batsman not to fall to Rabada was opener Imraan Khan, who scored 29 before being dismissed in highly unusual fashion.

Pumelela Matshikwe forced Khan back into the crease with a delivery that spat back at the left-handed batsman and, as the ball went behind Khan from his defensive bat, it hit the glove on the hand that he had taken off the bat.

The senior Lions players were alert to the handled the ball rule and Khan became the first South African since Free State wicketkeeper/batsman Lefa Mosena, against Limpopo in 2007/8, to be dismissed in that way.

The unlikely wicket left the Dolphins, who had won the toss and elected to bat first, on 53 for three, but the momentum then shifted the way of the visitors as the pitch settled down against the softer ball.

The wristy Cody Chetty and the determined, experienced Daryn Smit dominated the second session as they took the Dolphins to 156 for three at the tea break.

Smit had scored a dogged 60, the tenacity he showed in handling the aggressive short-pitched mode of attack from around the wicket by the fiery Chris Morris being one of the highlights of the day.

But the resistance came at a cost and the blow Smit took behind the ear from Morris in the fifth over before the interval eventually caused him to retire hurt in the second over after the break.

Chetty and Smit had added 107 for the fourth wicket off 231 balls, but the unfortunate departure of Smit did not stop the runs from flowing as captain Morne van Wyk came to the crease and the fifty partnership came up at a run-a-minute.

There was little inkling of the carnage to come when Australian exchange umpire Gerard Abood waved the second new ball around at the start of the 82^nd over with the Dolphins cruising on 238 for three.

A couple of half-volleys from Rabada in the fourth over with the new ball gave Chetty (106) the opportunity to register his fourth Sunfoil Series century, a gritty effort that saw some fine strokes for his 16 boundaries off 192 balls, but some equally impressive defence and the ability to pick up singles all over the field.

But that was the high point of the day for the Dolphins: from 253 for three when Chetty reached three figures, they lost five wickets for 26 runs.

Three balls after his century celebrations, Chetty’s stay of 312 minutes was ended by Rabada nipping a delivery back into him and just clipping the bails; there were more high-fives for the Lions soon thereafter as Viljoen trapped Van Wyk lbw for 44 with the next delivery and four balls later also had Graham Hume adjudged leg-before for a duck.

Both decisions by Abood were contentious – Van Wyk was well forward while the left-handed Hume seemed to have been struck outside the line of off-stump – and they wrested control of the day away from the Dolphins.

Rabada then had Mathew Pillans (2) caught behind and Viljoen removed Keshav Maharaj (13), Neil McKenzie tumbling backwards and taking a spectacular catch at first slip, before Tshepo Moreki (2*) and Daryn Dupavillon (8*) battled through to stumps and lived to fight another day.

http://citizen.co.za/330233/rabada-leads-example/

The Tshwane Open will once again attract many of the European Tour’s rising stars when it is held from March 12-15, but this year, it will be hosted by the Pretoria Country Club in Waterkloof, the Sunshine Tour announced on Thursday.

Defending champion, Ross Fisher, currently second in the Race to Dubai order of merit, is expected to enter again, while the bulk of South Africa’s European Tour campaigners should also be there because there is no other tournament on their schedule that week.

Pretoria Country Club is a parklands course, a Gary Player design since 2004/5, set in scenic woodland in a pristine environment that attracts such notable bird species as Rose-ringed Parakeet, Black Cuckoo, Burchell’s Coucal, Crested Barbet, Gymnogene, Ovambo Sparrowhawk and Spotted Eagle Owl.

Sunshine Tour commissioner, Selwyn Nathan, stressed the importance of the event in providing a platform for up-and-coming stars, saying both the previous champions, Dawie van der Walt and Fisher, rose to prominence on the European Tour after their victories at Copperleaf, where the first two editions of the Tshwane Open were held.

The Tshwane Open is the last co-sanctioned event of the season in South Africa, signalling the end of the Summer Swing, which will pick up again in November when the beautiful pink petals of the Cape Chestnut trees will be making Pretoria Country Club even more beautiful than it already is.

Subesh Pillay, the MMC responsible for economic development and planning, said the Tshwane Metro were delighted to reinvest in the tournament because of the benefits it brought to the city.

“We took a bit of flak initially because many people asked why we are spending money on golf when there are backlogs in housing, electricity and water. But the decision was not taken lightly and we did it because of what the tournament meant for the city, because it added value.”

“Tourism is the biggest contributor to our economy and the Tshwane Open received coverage in 47 countries last year and it reached 217 million households. The global media coverage we received was worth $67 million and the direct impact to the city was R44.5 million. Plus, 202 temporary jobs were created by the tournament in 2014,” Pillay revealed at the launch at Pretoria Country Club.

Van der Walt, in particular, used the Tshwane Open to progress from a journeymen pro who had never won a tournament before to someone who now has two victories, plays in both Europe and the United States and has even made two appearances at the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City, courtesy of winning the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit in 2013.

Even for those who don’t end up winning the co-sanctioned event and the European Tour exemption that comes with it, there is prize money of 1.5 million euro – about R18 million – for them to fight over.

http://citizen.co.za/321173/tshwane-open-moves-to-pretoria-country-club/

Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers were once again earning themselves gold stars as they steadied South Africa after the loss of three wickets without a run being scored, taking the hosts to 102 for three at lunch on the first day of the first Test against the West Indies at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday.

Amla and De Villiers came together after an amazing collapse saw South Africa slump from 57 without loss to 57 for three, a previously-toothless West Indian attack suddenly taking wickets in three successive overs.

It was an extraordinary turnaround given how poorly the visitors had bowled in the first hour, producing assorted lengths and lines as openers Alviro Petersen and Dean Elgar brought up their 50 partnership in just the 10th over.

Petersen was the first to go, getting a start but only making 27 before he pushed at a regulation shortish delivery from Kemar Roach and edged it to first slip.

Just seven balls later, Elgar edged a loose drive at a short, wide delivery from Sheldon Cottrell and was caught by Marlon Samuels in the gully for 28.

It was not smart batting by the South African openers, letting an ill-disciplined West Indies side back into the game and worse was to follow another seven balls later when Faf du Plessis fell for a duck.

Du Plessis just couldn’t resist sparring at a fine delivery from Roach that just shaped away a bit and bounced more than expected, the edge safely taken by wicketkeeper and captain Denesh Ramdin.

South Africa were shaky at 57 for three after being sent in to bat, but Amla and De Villiers are both well-versed in saving the Proteas.

Amla swiped three fours through the off-side off Jerome Taylor on his way to 25 not out, while De Villiers played himself in, playing straight and reaching 16 not out at the interval.

Their partnership is currently worth 45 and, with debutant Stiaan van Zyl and young Quinton de Kock next to bat, South Africa’s hopes of a good total probably rest on their two best batsmen putting together a sizeable partnership.

Roach was the pick of the West Indian bowlers, featuring twice on the scorecard as he claimed two for 16 in six tidy overs.

 http://citizen.co.za/295185/south-africa-102-three-lunch/