Ken Borland

PORT EDWARD (KwaZulu-Natal) – Given his lack of joy with his putter recently, Jaco Ahlers made sure he was sinking birdie putts with rapacious intent when the short stick joined the party on the back nine on Wednesday as he soared to the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the SunBet Challenge hosted by Wild Coast Sun with a six-under-par 64.

Ahlers came home in a tremendous 30 strokes, making five birdies on the back nine. He leads Trevor Mahoney, who came home in 31 shots to post a 65, by one stroke, with Keegan McLachlan a shot further back after a 66 that included an eagle-two on the short, 315m par-four second hole.

The 41-year-old Ahlers has been playing solidly recently, but has not been getting reward on the greens. His last four finishes have been ties for 13^th, fifth, 23^rd and 10^th.

“I finally made some putts today. The putter was the catalyst for my 64. Not so much on the front nine, where I had 16 putts, including sinking one from off the green for birdie on the fifth. But on the back nine I had just 12 putts, so I capitalised on some pretty good golf and sank nice putts on the 13^th and 17^th holes,” Ahlers said.

“I played two weeks ago in Morocco on the Asian Tour, and the putter was very cold, that probably cost me the win. But I’ve been playing decent golf lately and in the last few months my acceptance of things on the course has been a bit better.

“That’s a big thing at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club where conditions are always different one day to the other. The greens can be bumpy and there are normally strong winds, you just have to not get too agitated. The wind was up today but it was just experience, having played here and done well many times before, that allowed me to manage it well,” Ahlers, who won the 2016 Wild Coast Sun Challenge and lost in a playoff in the 2014 Vodacom Origins Wild Coast event, said.

Mahoney, a former South African amateur star, was level-par after eight holes, but then collected back-to-back birdies on the ninth and 10^th holes. He was then able to further massage his score with a strong finish, picking up further strokes on the 15^th, 16^th and 18^th holes.

McLachlan, from Silver Lakes Country Club, started his round on the 10^th and went out in level-par. But the 25-year-old was excellent on the front nine, birdieing the first and fourth holes to add to his eagle on the second.

Jacques P. de Villiers, Gerhard Pepler, Pieter Moolman, Jaco van Zyl, Matthew Spacey and Leon Vorster were all tied in fourth place after shooting three-under-par 67s.

If Saturday’s SA20 final at the Wanderers is like the wedding feast to celebrate the successful conclusion of the third edition of the tournament that has changed South African cricket, then Thursday night was a wonderful bachelor party for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape as they romped to an eight-wicket win over the Paarl Royals in Qualifier 2 at Centurion.

The comfortable victory, with four balls to spare, puts Sunrisers into their third successive final and the two-time champions will be taking on MI Cape Town in a mouthwatering final clash.

It was 23-year-old Jordan Hermann who took the Eastern Cape side to their target of 176 with his marvellous 69 not out off 48 balls. But it was another left-hander who set up the victory, Tony de Zorzi opening the batting and stroking a beautiful 78 off just 49 deliveries, with 11 fours and two sixes. His play through the off-side was particularly elegant and he reminded everyone what a serious player he is.

Kwena Maphaka snatched up the wicket of David Bedingham (9) for Paarl Royals in the fourth over, but De Zorzi and Hermann then feasted, adding 111 off 73 deliveries for the second wicket.

Jordan Hermann’s older brother Rubin was also involved in a wonderful second-wicket partnership for the Royals, adding 99 off 65 balls with Lhuan-dre Pretorius, whose time in the limelight will surely come.

Rubin Hermann was also unbeaten, scoring 81 not out off 53 deliveries to take Paarl to a competitive 175 for four in their 20 overs, after electing to bat first. Opener Pretorius batted with great maturity, scoring 59 off 41 balls, to show he is ready for bigger things.

They ensured that the Royals started well, while Hermann and Andile Phehlukwayo (22* off 11) provided the big finish they needed. But it was in the middle overs that they faltered, as the admirable Sunrisers attack gobbled up three wickets in four overs, Paarl slipping from 105 for one in the 13^th to 126 for four after 16 overs.

The key breakthroughs were by English paceman Craig Overton, who had Pretorius caught behind, and captain Aiden Markram, who trapped opposite number David Miller lbw, missing a sweep, for just 6. They both ended with excellent figures of one for 24 in four overs.

The Paarl Royals were the form team in the competition, being the first to qualify for the playoffs, but Sunrisers Eastern Cape have been able to supplant them with a trademark surge in the final week.

“The Sunrisers always seem to be slow starters, but the most important thing is that they catch up in the end,” Miller said after another playoffs disappointment for the Royals. “Once you develop a winning squad like they have, then there’s a lot of trust and they really back each other.

“They are clever and gutsy cricketers, they never say die and that goes a long way in T20. They give everything in the field, they have amazing bowlers, especially the three-metre guys with height and pace in these conditions, and the batsmen have stepped up at certain stages when needed,” Miller graciously said.

De Zorzi thanked Markram for his backing, but in truth the 27-year-old deserves credit for his tenacity in smashing down the door once it was left ajar.

“I’m really grateful for the chance and to Aiden for showing faith in me, even though it’s not really warranted in this format. I haven’t played that many T20 games and you need to play more to find your rhythm and blueprint. Sometimes you have doubts, but I am still relatively young and I need to keep believing. I was glad to do it tonight because it gives me hope and this is an unforgiving format,” De Zorzi said.

The ODI series between South Africa and England is set to be cancelled later today after the first ODI in Paarl was called off shortly before the toss due to the two positive Covid tests returned by the English touring party.

The first ODI was originally meant to be played on Friday, but it was postponed at short notice after a Proteas player (believed to be Heinrich Klaasen, who missed the third T20 because he was “sick”) tested positive.

Sunday’s match looked good to go when the rest of the Proteas squad all returned negative tests on Saturday, but then two members of The Vineyard hotel staff tested positive that evening. The England squad, already perturbed over the positive test in the Proteas camp, all went for testing that night as well, and on Sunday it was confirmed two of them were positive for the virus.

The future of the series, which comprises two more matches at Newlands on Monday and Wednesday, now depends on those two positive results in the England touring party being ratified by independent medical experts. The chances of the original results being wrong would appear to be slim and with the England players not wanting any form of forced isolation to jeopardise their departure date from South Africa on Thursday, it is likely they will call off the series. Some of the players have lucrative Big Bash contracts in Australia to fulfil, while others just want to get home for Christmas.

It would appear there must have been some sort of breach to the bio-secure bubble both squads are in at The Vineyard in Cape Town, leading to plenty of questions as to how this could have happened but pretty much only vacant stares in response.

“At this stage, it is not clear how the staff members became infected as neither have left the bio-secure area since November 16 and they do not work on the same team or in the same area. Our Covid response team is endeavouring to establish all the facts and contact tracing is underway. We have placed all our resources and efforts into investigating and resolving the situation,” Roy Davies, the general manager of The Vineyard, said in a statement.

Cricket South Africa’s chief medical officer, Dr Shuaib Manjra, was equally mystified.

“There has been some kind of breach and we have gone into great detail in our investigations. We have spoken to the player and looked at the footage from security cameras, but come up with nothing yet. Ninety-nine percent of this environment works, but there may be an unknown breach.

“But I can categorically say that no player has been able to leave the bio-bubble, security would not allow it, nobody can leave unless they’re in an official vehicle with an official driver. The command centre is led by the colonel of the Claremont police station and he would not allow anyone to leave. Even the guys going across the road to train at the Oval where a concern for him,” Manjra said.

It’s hard to describe for non-sports lovers what A World Without Sport is like, but I guess an office without coffee or a party without any music could mimic the same feelings of emptiness and loss myself and millions of others are feeling right now in these times of Covid-19.

It is, of course, a small, hopefully shortlived price to pay for our health and ensuring that society itself does not break down. As one government minister put it, every life saved now is a potential sports fan in the future.

But it is hard not to feel sad that, as summer fades into autumn, there will be no more bat on ball, no nervewracking SuperRugby clashes, no more peaceful hours on the couch watching the best golfers in the world strut their stuff on beautiful courses. The hockey astroturfs, usually so full of joie de vivre on the weekends, are quiet. There is no more gloating from Liverpool fans on social media, or the angst of long-suffering Arsenal supporters.

Sport provides a thrill, a shot of inspiration watching real-life superheroes overcoming the odds and, for many people, gives them a reason to slog through the week and make it to the weekend. As if to rub it in, the weather in Johannesburg has been glorious the last couple of days, sunny and warm, perfect for a day at the Wanderers or SuperSport Park.

But when the governing bodies of the various sports sift through the wreckage of 2020 once this pandemic has passed, they will have the opportunity to perhaps ‘reboot’ several aspects of their product.

It seems inevitable, given the financial damage Covid-19 will do to the coffers of sport across the board, that the sporting landscape will change once the world returns to ‘normal’ again. Sadly, some cherished things might fall by the wayside; happily, some blights might disappear.

Writing in The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2020/mar/16/beware-sporting-disaster-capitalists-crisis-go-to-waste), the excellent Jonathan Liew speaks about the Covid-19 crisis causing financial turmoil and then warns of “greedy disaster capitalists” taking advantage. Sporting bodies could be forced into some unpalatable decisions simply due to financial pressures.

The column ends with the warning – “For the next few weeks, perhaps even months, the power-brokers of sport – administrators and executives, sponsors and speculators, agents and marketers – will be at a loose end. Nothing to do but plot and strategise and kick around ideas. And then ask yourself a question: how far do you trust these people to act in the best interests of the sport you love?”

The South African situation is further complicated by Icasa, the broadcast and telecoms regulator, drawing up the new legislation governing the coverage of sport in the country. The amendments are due to be published by the end of September and Icasa have already said the goal is to ensure more free-to-air coverage of sporting events that are “in the national interest”.

The problem is the free-to-air broadcasters do not have the means to do this properly; the national broadcaster is all but bankrupt and e.tv are far from the forefront of the sports business game.

The loss of income from the exclusive television rights SuperSport pays will only add to the burden of our sports bodies after the Covid-19 pandemic.

SA Rugby seem to be one of the earliest movers in terms of strategising for what happens next. There have been strong suggestions that once it is safe to start playing rugby again, SuperRugby 2020 will be rebooted with the South African franchises (and possibly the Free State Cheetahs) playing each other in a series of local derbies.

This is a fantastic idea and hopefully crowd attendances will be much greater than they have been for SuperRugby in recent years.

And the icing on the cake would be if this spurs major change in our competition structures and the Currie Cup is restored to its rightful place as a major tournament and not just an afterthought.

With enthusiasm waning for the 25-year-old SuperRugby concept, change, accompanied by a move towards Europe, could be good.

https://citizen.co.za/sport/sport-columnists/2258834/post-pandemic-days-a-chance-for-sport-to-reboot/