Ken Borland

South Africa are hosting the FIH Hockey Pro League in Potchefstroom over the next fortnight with high hopes of being competitive, but the multitude of unforced errors they made caused a most adverse outcome in their opening match against the Netherlands on Tuesday night as they were hammered 11-1.

The Netherlands scored first, in the seventh minute, through a penalty stroke by Tim Swaen after an early defensive mistake by the hosts.

And the third-ranked Dutch side stamped their dominance on the game from the second quarter as they went into halftime 4-1 up.

The floodgates really opened in the final quarter as the Netherlands more than doubled a 5-1 lead, scoring four goals in the first six minutes.

South Africa, ranked 14^th in the world, equalised at 1-1 in the 20^th minute through Bili Ntuli’s excellent deflection of a reverse-sticks cross from Mustapha Cassiem, but they didn’t have a prayer thereafter.

Their main failing was their inability to hold on to the ball, basic mistakes gifting possession to the Dutch, and there was also some naïve defending.

Jip Janssen, with two set-piece goals, Swaen, Thierry Brinkman and Thijs van Dam, with two goals apiece, were South Africa’s chief tormentors.

“We played badly against a good team,” South Africa coach Garreth Ewing summed up succinctly. “We lost our shape completely in the last 30 minutes. But hopefully we have all learnt a lot.

“There’s a lot to take on board. This was a reminder of where we are in world hockey. We will have to come out with the right attitude tomorrow night against India.”

India beat France 5-0 in Tuesday’s other game.

George Linde has obviously found married life to be to his liking as he led Western Province to victory over the Boland Rocks with a fine display with both bat and ball on the opening day of the CSA T20 Challenge at St George’s Park on Monday.

Linde, who pulled out of the Proteas tour to New Zealand due to his wedding last weekend, was outstanding with the ball as he took 2/13 in four overs as Boland were restricted to 142/6 after electing to bat first.

They got that far thanks to a partnership of 79 between Christiaan Jonker (46) and Ferisco Adams (34), both of whom were dismissed in the space of three balls by the orthodox left-armer.

Fellow spinner Junaid Dawood (4-0-20-1) and left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks (4-0-28-2) were also impressive for Western Province.

The Western Province chase was given a superb start by returning opening batsman Richard Levi, who slammed 67 off 39 balls, despite another former international, fast bowler Hardus Viljoen, taking 3/16 in three overs.

But Levi was dismissed in the 13^th over with 42 runs required, giving Boland a chance of getting back in the game.

But Linde then scored 20 not out and, with Aviwe Mgijima (26*) steered Western Province home with three overs to spare.

The Northerns Titans, with Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen and Theunis de Bruyn providing plenty of batting power, and spinners Tabraiz Shamsi and Aaron Phangiso dominating the middle overs, have been installed as one of the favourites for the competition.

But they were beaten by 8 runs by the Eastern Province Warriors as their batting failed to fire and poor bowling with the new ball and in the closing overs undid their good work in the middle.

Sent in to bat, Matthew Breetzke (36 off 21) and Wihan Lubbe raced to 65 inside the first seven overs.

The Northerns spinners, led by slow left-armer Phangiso’s 1/24 in four overs, then fought back, but Lubbe batted through to the 17^th over for his well-controlled 56 off 46 balls and Tristan Stubbs provided a matchwinning boost by lashing an outstanding 51 off 27 deliveries to take EP to 163/8.

Lizaad Williams dismissed them both to finish with 2/29 in his four overs.

Lubbe then claimed the key wicket of De Kock for a two-ball duck in the opening over and Gihahn Cloete (23), De Bruyn (17) and Klaasen (20) were all unable to build on starts.

The talented Donovan Ferreira belted 60 not out off 40 balls but did not have enough support as Northerns closed on 155/8.

Lubbe took 2/15 in two overs, but the best Warriors bowler was the experienced Jon-Jon Smuts, who conceded just 12 runs in his four overs and claimed the key wicket of Klaasen.

The brave captaincy of Nicky van den Bergh and the outstanding bowling of his spinners led the North-West Dragons to a surprise 11-run win over the Central Gauteng Lions, the winners of the CSA T20 Challenge in the previous season.

Sent in to bat at St George’s Park, the Dragons could only muster 136/6, and that was thanks to the heroics of the seventh-wicket pair of Nono Pongolo (27* off 21) and Duan Jansen (32* off 18), who shared an unbeaten partnership of 57 off just 37 balls.

Seamer Codi Yusuf was the best of the tidy Lions attack with 2/21 in his four overs.

Left-arm spinner Johannes Diseko was then the star of the superb North-West bowling performance.

Opening the bowling, Diseko removed both Dominic (4) and Reeza Hendricks (0) with successive balls of his second over to immediately rock the Lions chase.

Josh Richards (23) and Mitchell van Buuren then added 50 for the third wicket, before 19-year-old leg-spinner Caleb Seleka removed Richards.

Van den Bergh backed his unheralded spinners to bowl at the death, with the Lions needing 45 runs in the last five overs with seven wickets in hand and Van Buuren set.

And it was a masterstroke as Seleka (4-0-23-2) conceded just seven runs and took a wicket in the 18^th over, and Diseko (4-0-17-2), darting the ball into the blockhole, also gave away just seven runs in the final over.

Van Buuren finished with a fine 65 not out off 56 deliveries, but he got a little stuck towards the end against the spinners and the left-arm angle of paceman Duan Jansen (4-0-24-0).

Left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy also bowled well, conceding just 19 runs in three overs.

The KZN Dolphins showed they are going to be a force on the slowish St George’s Park pitch as they hammered the Free State Knights, winners of the CSA Provincial T20 Cup at the start of the season, by eight wickets with two overs to spare.

The Dolphins spinners restricted the Knights, who had chosen to bat first, to 128/5, with off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen’s 1/13 in four overs a particularly telling effort.

Raynard van Tonder’s 38 and Farhaan Behardien’s 36 not out were the main contributions for Free State.

Keegan Petersen then stroked a confident 45 off 37 balls to set up a comfortable KZN chase, adding 74 for the first wicket with Grant Roelofsen (27).

David Miller then finished the game off with a quickfire 34 not out off 22 deliveries.

South Africa’s stunning 3-0 whitewash of India has answered many questions surrounding the ODI squad as the heavily-favoured tourists lacked the composure or the skills under pressure to register a single victory over the Proteas, even in conditions that suited them.

Five batting places are secure with Quinton de Kock and Janneman Malan entrenched as the opening pair, Temba Bavuma averaging 51 in the No.3 position, Rassie van der Dussen being the master of the middle-order and David Miller showing the value of his finishing experience in the nailbiting final ODI.

In terms of the bowling, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi remain crucial in the middle-overs and seamers Lungi Ngidi and Andile Phehlukwayo both had fine series with the ball, keeping the batsmen guessing with their range of skills.

Bavuma has also unequivocally shown he is the right man to lead the team.

So what questions remain for the Proteas ODI side?

• Has Aiden Markram done enough to stay in the starting XI or do South Africa sacrifice the sixth bowler for another batsman?

There is no other obvious candidate for the ‘JP Duminy role’ of batting in the top six and being able to bowl a few tidy overs of spin, so it’s a straight choice – keep Markram and have that sixth bowler, or drop him and have just five bowlers and possibly a more consistent batsman.

But Markram did a fine job with the ball, conceding just 5.00 runs per over in 17 overs and taking a couple of wickets. There were also encouraging signs with the bat in the way he stayed with Van der Dussen to help steer the Proteas to victory in the second ODI with a confident 37 not out. He was batting with good positive intent in the last game as well, before being caught on the boundary.

• Should Marco Jansen be a regular part of the starting XI?

The left-arm quick enjoyed a brilliant maiden Test series and was immediately thrown into the first ODI, where he bowled nine wicketless overs for 49 runs, lacking the consistency he had shown with the red ball. The 21-year-old is clearly an outstanding talent, but maybe we should all take a breath and not burden him with a big workload right now in white-ball cricket as well. While he brings useful variety to the seam attack, the Proteas still have Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Ngidi in that department.

• What is Sisanda Magala’s future?

Captain Bavuma made a plea after the series that Magala does not receive half-hearted backing but that the selectors “suck everything they can out of what he offers”. A perennial poor starter – those nerves need to be managed somehow – Magala however showed promise when he bowled in the middle overs and at the death. He fairly thuds the ball into the pitch, hitting the bat hard with steep bounce, and he can also go full blockhole when required. The Proteas may have found the sort of skilful old-ball bowler they have been looking for.

• Will the CSA board listen to the players or decide to derail the team despite their progress and success versus India?

South Africa’s next ODI engagement is in March when they host Bangladesh. By then the fate of coach Mark Boucher should be known. As much as they are able to as contracted employees, the players have made clear how happy they are with their current management, and the results show that.  But will the CSA board ignore the clear growth and improvement in the team and instead only have ears for the tom-toms beating and the cries for one particular head to roll for things that happened twenty years ago?