Ken Borland

It’s been the saddest of weeks for the cricketing world with the tragic passing of Phil Hughes in what can only be described as the freakiest of accidents dominating all discussions.

So many batsmen are hit on the head these days (I’m of the school of thought that says helmets encourage them to take their eye off the ball), but Hughes had the awful misfortune of being struck on the side of the neck, just below his helmet’s grille, flush on the vertebral artery, which split and caused the fatal brain haemorrhage.

South Africans have also been mourning the 25-year-old Australian, not least of all because he greatly impressed everyone on these shores with his grit and unorthodox talent as he averaged 53 against the Proteas in five Tests, scoring two centuries and two half-centuries.

The national team has, of course, just returned from Australia, where their 4-1 ODI series hammering caused much soul-searching and anguish amongst their fans, before being overshadowed by the real tragedy that unfolded in Sydney.

Whatever AB de Villiers so brashly said upon his return home about being the better side and South Africa’s World Cup plans being on track, serious questions have been raised about the Proteas’ ability to seriously contend at the global showpiece tournament starting in 11 weeks’ time.

Most worryingly, there is no further ODI cricket scheduled for them before they have to announce their final 15-man squad for the World Cup on January 7. So the five-match series against the West Indies will not provide the selectors with the opportunity to find someone who can bale them out of their current problems in terms of balance and form, because it starts on January 16. Neither is there any franchise 50-over cricket before then.

The squad that plays against the West Indies will be the World Cup squad and those 15 players will have dress rehearsals on five days in which they have to regain form and convince their fans that they are the strong contenders they perceive themselves to be.

South Africa’s most pressing need would seem to be to fill the number seven position with someone who can genuinely contribute with bat and ball. Ryan McLaren, with his mediocre bowling and his weakness against the short ball when batting, has done little lately to suggest he could be a match-winner in that vital position. Sadly, the schedule has dictated that the selectors are not going to be able to see what David Wiese can do.

I would back the Titans all-rounder because he brings power-hitting and a proven ability at the death, as well as the sort of bowling skills the South African attack desperately needs to master on what should be good batting pitches in Australasia.

In terms of cover, the 15-man squad will need to include two extra pace bowlers – perhaps one containing and one more attacking – an extra batsman who can bowl a bit and either an extra spinner or a top-order batsman.

This means Kyle Abbott must surely have secured his ticket, while I would choose Lonwabo Tsotsobe, in great form since returning from injury, ahead of Wayne Parnell. This would also reduce the pressure on the selectors in terms of Black African representation; although Aaron Phangiso deserves to go to the World Cup, his ill-timed injury and the need for top-order batting cover could count against him.

The selection of both Rilee Rossouw and Farhaan Behardien would facilitate cover for both the top three and the middle-order, with Behardien able to fulfil the crucial role of a sixth bowler that was vital in JP Duminy’s absence.

The presence of a genuine all-rounder like Wiese at seven would enable the Proteas to avoid the problem of either having to go into games a batsman or a bowler short, but the other issue they need to solve is not one of personnel but one of skills.

The bowling in the death overs was generally poor and the failure to consistently execute yorkers, slower-ball bouncers and changes of pace means the South Africans lack the weapons the other top teams enjoy.

My World Cup squad: Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, David Miller, David Wiese, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir, Kyle Abbott, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Farhaan Behardien, Rilee Rossouw.

The Chevrolet Knights travel to Centurion today to take on the Unlimited Titans, whose key batsman Dean Elgar says he is not going to give a second thought to what plans his former team-mates might have for him when they visit SuperSport Park for their RamSlam T20 Challenge match.

That’s because the left-hander is comfortable that he has his plans in place and that was shown clearly last weekend when he opened the competition with a superb 72 off 48 balls against the Cape Cobras in the triple-header at the Wanderers. Elgar struck just two fours but cleared the boundary five times to prove what a versatile batsman he is, coach Rob Walter describing it as “a quality innings that might have surprised a few people”.

The incumbent Test opener told The Citizen yesterday though that whatever work he has done on his batting has been more mental and strategic than anything else.

“Playing the Knights is just another game for me, the Titans are my team now although I’m still friends with guys from the Knights. I don’t care about their plans against me because I’ve worked on my options and what I have in the bag should be sufficient. SuperSport Park is also usually a great batting ground, so I’m looking forward to it.

“I’m now a lot more specific with my batting in a game, I know better what is required in the different situations and I have proper game plans against the various types of bowlers. People don’t always expect me to bat like I did, because they see me as a one-format player which ticks me off,” Elgar said.

Elgar, who was the Titans’ best bowler as well with three for 20 in four overs, and fellow opener Henry Davids gave the Titans the perfect start in pursuit of a daunting 208 against the Cobras, adding 151 off just 96 balls, but they still ended up losing by 14 runs. Beating the Knights is all that matters for Elgar whatever his personal contribution.

“It’s going to be a very tough task against them, obviously, but we’ve put in a lot of hard work and talked about a few areas of our game. Those words now have to be put into practice and we have to start winning because the Titans are a brand that has always led South African cricket.

“It was nice to do well personally against the Cobras, but it didn’t mean anything because we lost, especially from the position we were in. I’d rather not perform and the team still wins,” Elgar said.

While the Titans batsmen are largely doing their bit, the bowling has been messy and they may turn to the unorthodox spin of Tabraiz Shamsi in tonight’s game.

There is a vacancy in the attack with Rowan Richards unavailable as he attends a family funeral and former SA U19 star Corbin Bosch has been added to the squad. It’s only prim and proper that he gets a look-in given the excellence of his limited-overs bowling skills.

“The bowling has been frustrating. We were poor against the Cobras despite our preparation being so specific and we had clear plans. A lot depends on the balance of the team and the surface, but there’s definitely space for the sort of bowler who can turn the ball both ways, so Shamsi is certainly in our plans,” Walter said.

The inclusion of the 24-year-old would give the Titans a powerful spin attack of Roelof van der Merwe, Elgar, Shamsi, Henry Davids and Graeme van Buuren, as well as three seamers in Ethy Mbhalati, JP de Villiers and Darren Sammy.

Just as Elgar would prefer not to be pigeon-holed as a one-dimensional batsman, he would also prefer to be considered as a package cricketer with his under-rated left-arm spin. His economy rate in 45 T20 matches is just 6.53.

“I actually think that Dean is a highly under-rated bowler, the stats show that he is a serious short-form spinner. That was a game-changing four overs from him against the Cobras and Roelof is also a master of his art, seriously skilful,” Walter said.

Left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso will be heading Down Under next week with the South African team confident that he now has an important part to play in their World Cup plans and that he can perform against the best in the world.

Tours to our Southern African neighbours Zimbabwe seldom produce much of huge significance for the Proteas, but this year it was different because they managed to freeze out great rivals Australia in the final of a hard-fought triangular series. That can only mean the ODI outfit is heading in the right direction and Phangiso got stuck in in the final and was South Africa’s most economical bowler in the tournament.

“It was a very important confidence-booster for me because I hadn’t got a lot of opportunity before that, although I did travel a lot. To do well against Australia, to play a role in beating them in the final was superb,” Phangiso said at the Wanderers yesterday, where he was attending the breakfast announcement of Rolux as new suppliers for Cricket South Africa.

The Garankuwa-born, Soshanguve-raised cricketer has toured Australia twice before, with the SA Emerging Players and SA A teams, but on both occasions it was in winter. Conditions could well be tougher for a spinner at the height of summer.

“Australia is the country of pace bowling, but watching previous games there on TV, there’s always bounce, which will be important for me as a spinner if there’s not much turn. I will try and contain as much as possible and give the other bowlers the chance to take wickets,” Phangiso said.

The Highveld Lions star is looking forward to the possibility of bowling in tandem with his former team-mate Imran Tahir, the attacking leg-spinner.

“It will depend on conditions, but I would like to see us bowl in tandem, one of us can attack and the other contain. You never know who will take the wickets in that situation. I like to think we will all get lots of opportunity before the World Cup, some game time before the tournament in pressure situations,” Phangiso said.

If the 30-year-old can produce the goods again against two of the favourites to win the World Cup (playing on their home turf) then the confidence levels will rise even higher. Which is what Dale Steyn, the leader of the South African attack, said was probably the most important thing the team want to gain from the tour.

If multi-tasking is one of the greatest attributes of a woman then SuperSport Park should forthwith be referred to as a “she” given the plans Northerns Cricket Union president and Easterns Titans chairman John Wright has for her in the second year of his term.

The feminine touch dominated SuperSport Park last weekend when more than 26 000 runners took part in the Pretoria leg of the Spar Women’s 10km Challenge which started and ended at the venue, but the fairer sex have been taking pride of place at the ground since Elise Lombard, the efficient, much-loved former CEO, oversaw the move there from Berea Park in 1986. Lombard’s sad passing in August 2012 has seen Jacques Faul replace her as chief executive, but Patricia Kambarami has been promoted to chief operating officer to continue the tradition of female leaders in Northerns cricket.

Wright is adamant that events such as the Spar Women’s 10km Challenge and promotions such as Kambarami’s are crucial to the future well-being of Titans cricket.

“Titans cricket cannot sustain itself with only cricketing content, we have to make our assets work for us. One of those is our world-class stadium, but we can’t rely on just 14 days of profitable cricket every year. We need other streams of income and this is where Jacques Faul has been so good and he’s way ahead of the rest in terms of innovations.

“The Franchise and Africa Sixes and the Northerns Bash are all his initiatives and he’s making the stadium work for us in enhancing the Titans brand. It’s been set back a bit recently, but we’re busy getting proposals from developers and there’s a fair amount of interest that shows that SuperSport Park is not just seen as a cricket-only ground.

“We need other revenue sources and we want to attract more people to SuperSport Park. Things like the Spar Women’s Race, which markets and promotes the ground as more of a community centre. And we’re not just looking at sports events, we want to be multi-cultural. SuperSport Park is at the hub of business and a rich sporting culture and it’s ideally situated in terms of the Gautrain and the N1,” Wright told The Pretoria News.

As for Kambarami’s appointment, Wright says the former marketing and events manager’s promotion was thoroughly well-deserved and another sign that the Titans are looking to the future.

“Transformation is a term that’s used loosely sometimes, but the essence of it is that I don’t see it as an appointment of someone of colour; Patricia has been appointed because of her abilities and she just happens to be black. She has shown her qualities and it’s absolutely on merit. She’s proven to everyone that she’s more than qualified for the post and that’s why it’s been so well accepted.

“Things like that have to happen in this cut-throat environment and recently there have been some other bold steps like all Premier League clubs being required to have at least one player of colour and our executive becoming 50/50. In the past there was a stigma around transformation and we were very much Afrikaans and all-white, but that is changing,” Wright said.

When Wright is not wearing a jacket and tie in his role as president of the union, he is out on the sports fields himself. While he played some Premier League cricket for the then Pretoria Tech, and has been in charge of cricket and hockey at the renamed Tshwane University of Technology for 20 years, he is perhaps best known as one of the leading hockey umpires in the world.

Wright has officiated in four Olympic Games (one final) and four World Cups, including being in charge of three finals.

“I think I’ve got two or three years left as an umpire, there’s an age cut-off of 47 for international hockey. So the Rio Olympics are in sight, but it depends on how fit I stay and whether the fire still burns. I have accomplished most things in terms of hockey umpiring, but I still want to contribute, although I now have a huge responsibility to cricket,” Wright said.

A board meeting can often be like a hockey Test with 22 under-pressure players getting emotional, and Wright has a knack of handling those sort of explosive situations.

“I think my umpiring does help at board meetings! I’ve learnt to listen and operate under pressure, how to deal with personalities.”

While the stadium and the union finances are important, Wright, exposed as he has been to top-class sport, knows how important it is for the Titans team to have the right culture and to enjoy success on the field.

“We’re not as prescriptive as to say trophies are required, but the coach is under no illusions as to how handy trophies are! We have to be realistic, a team will always have ups and downs, but with the quality squad we have, the Titans should always be in contention.

“I’m not a president who digs his nose into the team’s affairs, the coach and CEO must run that show, but there was previously an ethos of lacklustre performance and preparation and to survive in the franchise environment, there can be no place for that. It’s difficult for the coach to turn that around, but Rob Walter is determined and committed to promoting far more responsibility and productive preparation,” Wright said.

The product of Selborne College in East London also gives full support to the University of Pretoria’s dominance of local club cricket, which has ruffled some feathers.

“I know it’s not the opinion of all the clubs, but Tuks are an extremely valuable asset for us. If we draw comparisons with other franchises who don’t have a strong university, then we see they battle. Tuks are at the forefront of coaching and performance in South Africa and their record speaks for itself.

“They must be doing something right and their professionalism and ethics must rub off positively on the other clubs. So I see no reason to clip their wings, it would only be to the detriment of the franchise,” Wright said.

While the changing face of cricket is most obvious at the franchise level, the amateur, club game also needs plenty of attention. Fortunately Wright is a leader who has his feet firmly in both camps.

“I’m very much a  club man, I support the old traditions. Clubs are critical but we’re also moving into a very professional era. The days of volunteers running the show are few and far between. We need the right mix of club and professional people to steer us in the right direction.”

John Wright certainly seems to have the Titans ship facing in the right direction.