Ken Borland

Following the outstanding support given to the bowlers in the field – especially in terms of slip-catching – in South Africa’s innings win over the West Indies in the first Test, one could excuse Proteas fielding coach Justin Ontong for feeling quite peaceful that all is well in his area of focus.

But that is not the case, Ontong insisted on Tuesday, as he stated the Proteas’ desire is to set even higher benchmarks for their catching and fielding. Much like their great rivals residing in the Pacific Ocean who dominated international cricket while Ontong was playing, South Africa have almost always relied on pace and seam bowling for their successes. And having quality slip fielding to back that up is crucial, just as Australia did with the likes of Mark Waugh, Mark Taylor, Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting in the cordon.

The Proteas were faultless in the slips in the first Test, with Wiaan Mulder (4) and Aiden Markram (3) taking seven catches between them.

“The fielding has come under criticism and there has been a big emphasis on getting it right. The guys delivered what we asked for and the slip-catching was outstanding. We’ve lost Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla, who played a huge part in the slips, so there was some new personnel in there and on a pitch that was assisting the seamers we knew the catching behind the wicket was going to be a crucial aspect.

“It’s about getting the right guys in the right positions and Aiden and Wiaan were exceptional at second and third and then we have Dean Elgar at first slip. We have set very high standards and hopefully we can maintain those. We’re trying to sharpen the slip-catching again for the second Test. It’s a big emphasis because Test cricket is about taking 20 wickets and to do that you have to hold your catches,” Ontong said.

It seems almost a lifetime ago since South Africa, once the leaders in winning away from home, won a Test series on the road. Should the Proteas win or draw the second Test, they will have their first away series win since triumphing in New Zealand in March 2017.

“The team is longing for a series win, that would be huge because we want to make people back home proud, and we especially want to get some wins away from home. That’s massive for a young team. We are in a very good space at the moment, but we need to keep doing the small things that will make us world-class. The last Test was a big relief.

“What a win it was and we were brilliant in all three departments. It’s quite difficult to follow that but the standards have now been set. We know it will not be so easy from Friday, so even harder work is being done by us this week,” Ontong added.

 

The open country around the Mankwe Dam is bordered by the Tshwene and Kubu drives, two of the four tar roads in the Pilanesberg National Park. I normally try to avoid the tar roads when I’m in the bush, but this area is so peaceful and tranquil, and being the main water source in the reserve, there is also usually lots of game in the vicinity.

But as a very warm afternoon clouded over and a typical Highveld thunderstorm approached, there came a stark reminder that this is wild Africa, red in tooth and claw.

Between the Mankwe and Motlobo drive turnoffs from Tshwene Drive, less than 20 metres from the tar and at the edge of a little bank, an unfortunate Impala took its last breaths. Two Cheetah, still panting hard from the exertions of the chase, soon had blood-stained faces as they tucked into their hard-won meal.

This is Lion and Leopard country as well so the Cheetah, the most lightweight of the big cats, needs to eat quick because there’s nothing like a kill to attract other meat-eaters. While the Cheetahs ripped at the carcass, a sly Blackbacked Jackal was already hanging around waiting for scraps.

Seeing one of the cats on a kill is always a special sighting, but to see Cheetah in the Pilanesberg is an exceptional occurrence because there are only five in the entire 572 square-kilometre park. The open country around Mankwe Dam is probably the best area for them because it allows them the space for their sprint, which is what sets them apart from other predators.

The adrenaline was still flowing from my first Cheetah sighting in the Pilanesberg when my buzz was shattered by an extremely loud, piercing call right next to the car. I was startled and momentarily baffled by what it could be – it was such a high-pitched, pure sound that I thought some sort of emergency alarm had gone off and was wondering if my windshield would crack!

Having regained my senses enough to realise that it was coming from the bushes next to the road, I scanned the vegetation and there the source was, with colours as bright as its song was loud – a beautiful Crimsonbreasted Shrike sitting in an open gap in the bushes.

The Crimsonbreasted is certainly the most brightly coloured of the Laniarius (Boubou) Shrikes and its underparts are a brilliant scarlet colour, heading towards crimson.

 

It provides a real flash of colour particularly when contrasted with the muted tones of the thorny scrub it likes to inhabit.

 

 

This is where the Mankwe River flows out of the dam and Mankwe Way crosses the river just north of the Fish Eagle turnoff. It’s a good spot to stop and scan for birds and, having seen one in the exact same dead tree on a previous trip, it was great to see an Osprey once again sitting up in the highest branches. It was joined by a Hamerkop that came to share its lofty perch and there were Pearlbreasted Swallows flying around and landing nearby as well.

Mankwe Way takes one into an area of open grassland, dotted with termite mounds and boulders as it heads west, past the old farm of General Jan Smuts, Buffelsdrift. Transitional zones where dry plains with short grass meet the longer grasses of the rugged upland areas are excellent for birding as well.

Apart from the White Rhinoceros in the vicinity, there were also Scalyfeathered Finches hopping on the ground and then flying quickly into the small trees when disturbed; Sabota Lark, Crowned Plover, Cinnamonbreasted Rock Bunting and Blackthroated Canary.

But a pair of birds had me a bit confused as they hopped around on the low bushes, behaving much like Capped Wheatears. But the adults of that plains specialist are distinctively marked and these birds were also making some strange, Lark-like calls. With their mottled bands of brown, buff and yellowish colours, they had me thinking of similar-looking rarities.

But discretion won the day and, considering that Capped Wheatears are well-known mimics, I went the most likely route and decided they were, in fact, a pair of immature Capped Wheatears.

Pilanesberg holds good numbers of both the Kalahari and Whitebrowed Scrub Robins and the central part of the

park has both these twitching, insectivorous lovers of thicket and low bushes in close proximity to each other.

Mankwe Dam is by no means the only productive body of water in the park, and if one enters through the south-western gate of Bakubung, after two-and-a-half kilometres on the tarred Kubu Drive, or a bit further if one turns left and takes the more meandering dirt road known as Kgama Drive, one comes to the Lengau Dam.

There are usually large numbers of birds here and on this occasion it was good to see African Darter, Whitefaced Duck, Pied Kingfisher, Greenshank, Marsh Sandpiper and Threebanded Plover. There are usually animals about as well, but this time there was just a solitary Warthog snuffling around.

Even the smallest bodies of water can provide something of interest though and as I was exiting through the easternmost gate – Manyane – four Redbilled Oxpeckers were drinking water from a puddle in the road.

Life can be very tough in the beautiful African bush and to survive the residents need to take advantage of every little windfall they can get.

 

Sightings List

Blue Wildebeest

Plains Zebra

Sacred Ibis

Warthog

Egyptian Goose

African Darter

Whitefaced Duck

Laughing Dove

Little Swift

Pied Kingfisher

Greenshank

Blacksmith Plover

Marsh Sandpiper

Threebanded Plover

Waterbuck

Jackal Buzzard

Impala

Greater Kudu

Rufousnaped Lark

Palm Swift

Marico Flycatcher

Greater Striped Swallow

Giraffe

Crested Francolin

Streakyheaded Canary

Great White Egret

Southern Masked Weaver

Pintailed Whydah

Blackeyed Bulbul

Whitebrowed Scrub Robin

Blackchested Prinia

Kalahari Scrub Robin

White Rhinoceros

Scalyfeathered Finch

Sabota Lark

Capped Wheatear

Crowned Plover

Cinnamonbreasted Rock Bunting

Blackthroated Canary

Hamerkop

Osprey

Pearlbreasted Swallow

Natal Francolin

Cape Turtle Dove

Grey Lourie

Glossy Starling

Cheetah

Blackbacked Jackal

Helmeted Guineafowl

Rattling Cisticola

Crimsonbreasted Shrike

African Elephant

Forktailed Drongo

Common Myna

Redbilled Oxpecker

 

AB de Villiers slamming six after six at the Wanderers and the peaceful surrounds of the Kruger National Park may not have much in common, but seeing as though I was at the Bullring last weekend and I am now in South Africa’s corner of paradise up north, I’m going to link them anyway.

I say the peaceful surrounds of Kruger because it certainly brings a wonderful feeling of wellbeing and there is a sense of the universe being in harmony as you watch the swallows cruising in the sky and zebra and elephant feeding contentedly.

Of course, as children we have this idyllic image of nature, but the truth is that there is a battle for survival going on in the great outdoors every moment, and it’s generally a case of eat or be eaten.

Watching this great show unfold on the plains north of Punda Maria, I was reminded of De Villiers, cricket tragic that I am.

It’s been many years – probably back to 2005/06 when Herschelle Gibbs annihilated the Australians at the same venue – since I have seen an innings at international level in which a batsman so ruthlessly dominated the opposition bowlers.

Much like the peaceful façade going on in Kruger Park, De Villiers made batting look like child’s play on the surface. He seemed to be toying with the bowlers: If he wanted to score on the leg-side, he was able to even if they bowled a metre outside off stump; if he wanted to score on the off-side, there was precious little the West Indians could do about it; on any length, De Villiers was able to hit straight back down the ground.

It may have looked easy, but it most certainly isn’t; it took hours and hours of work in the nets and mastering the mental side of the game, plus an extraordinary talent switched on to close to full power for that innings to happen.

International sport relies on the competition being fierce; these are the top athletes in their chosen sports competing with each other and there needs to be the thrill of the hunt.

Mixed in with the feelings of awe at watching De Villiers bat were pangs of regret that he was making batting look as easy as a hit-about on the beach.

But the fact that De Villiers was so utterly dominant should not detract from his innings – that is his genius, to create another level for himself above the ‘mediocrity’ of international sport. To find or clear the boundary 25 times from 44 balls is an almost super-human feat, but by his own admission, De Villiers has not yet fully explored his talent – there were a handful of dot balls (oh, the horror!) in his innings and some of his fours would have been sixes if they had come entirely out of the meat of the bat.

I was wearing a Proteas shirt driving up to Kruger Park the day after the Wanderers ODI and received several very positive comments from locals living in rural Limpopo which suggests Cricket South Africa, after some acrimonious years of discontent, are doing a great job in spreading the game.

It helps, of course, to have young men like De Villiers providing such incredible entertainment.