Ken Borland

Coming into the new year, the Cape Cobras were so far above them on the Four-Day Domestic Series log that the Highveld Lions players almost had to rick their necks to see them. That was after the Lions had made such a train wreck of their first game back after the Mzansi Super League triumph that they had been thrashed by 279 runs by the Dolphins at the Wanderers.

But they managed to chase down the high-flying Cobras and then showed the same never-say-die spirit to seal the deal and claim the four-day title in the most dramatic fashion in the penultimate over of their final game, in Potchefstroom this week.

So how exactly did they pull off one of the most remarkable comebacks in South African first-class history?

“It was a great, spirited effort and we toiled hard, plus it is never easy to get a result in Potchefstroom. It took a massive effort because things have not been all rosy here for the last couple of years but the new management and leadership has restored confidence. It was important that we all just stayed with each other.

“We kept our energy and focus and we had to keep believing we still had a chance. You’ve just got to keep in the game, even though I saw some heads drop when the rain came in Potchefstroom. We’ve tried to be a lot more positive this season, to always try and take the game forward. It’s mostly the same personnel, so it’s just been the approach and the language we use that has made the difference,” captain Temba Bavuma said as the Lions celebrated their success at the Wanderers on Friday.

Head coach Enoch Nkwe has now robed himself in two major trophies since taking over at the Wanderers, but on Friday had flown to the Netherlands to be with his family. Assistant coach Wandile Gwavu spoke in his place about how trusting the 21 players they used in the four-day competition had been a key ingredient in their success.

“Enoch’s most important word was ‘trust’ and he must take a lot of credit. When new players came in and performed so well it was because they knew they were trusted and what was expected of them. We believed from the start of the year that we could still win. The Cobras are a very inexperienced unit in four-day cricket and we thought they might have a blip.

“So we just wanted to make sure we were right behind them, we just wanted to stay as close as possible to them. But you still have to give them and Ashwell Prince a lot of credit because they led the competition for 39 out of 40 days, so we have a lot of respect for them still. Having our experienced players like Temba, Stephen Cook and Malusi Siboto went a long way for us,” Gwavu said.

New players who have announced themselves in this campaign have been batsmen Kagiso Rapulana (average 84.40) and Wihan Lubbe (two centuries), left-arm quick Nandre Burger (18 wickets at 22.38) and all-rounder Delano Potgieter, with his remarkable century and four wickets on debut in the final game.

Having stuck to their task with great resilience, the Lions are now enjoying the sweet smell of success.

Pote Human admitted that the time is coming when he has to start rotating players, but for now the Bulls coach is able to just freshen up his squad in one or two areas, as he did on Wednesday when he announced a team with three changes in it to face the Chiefs in their SuperRugby game at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Centre Burger Odendaal and flank Ruan Steenkamp, both probable first-choice players, return to the starting line-up after prolonged injury absences, while a shoulder niggle for regular fullback Warrick Gelant has convinced Human to rest the Springbok for this weekend and bring in Divan Rossouw as the last line of defence.

Dylan Sage and Tim Agaba, the players displaced by Odendaal and Steenkamp, are both on the bench, along with returning lock Eli Snyman.

When one considers that available players such as Roelof Smit, Marco van Staden, Jaco Visagie, Aston Fortuin, Travis Ismaiel and Johnny Kotze are all unable to get into the match-day 23 right now, then one can see that Human suddenly has the depth to start rotating players and ensure his squad stays fresh in the toughest competition in world rugby.

“It’s getting more and more difficult to select the team but it’s a good place to be. Some Springboks do need game-time off as well, but we have Marco, Manie Libbok, Johnny and Travis all back and available and it was close between Jaco Visagie and Corniel Els for the substitute hooker position this weekend. So it’s a nice position to be in,” Human said at Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday.

The Chiefs, despite their mediocre start to the campaign, remain extremely dangerous opposition and the Bulls will need to shut them down at source on Saturday. The Bulls pack have certainly rolled up their sleeves in the first month of SuperRugby and Jason Jenkins and Hanro Liebenberg did well enough as the starting lock pairing against the Sharks in their last game for Human to persist with them as they tackle Brodie Retallick and his forwards.

“We kept the same locks because they did very well against the Sharks and they will be very physical, which is what will be needed against the Chiefs. We will try and force our game on their’s and if we can win the battle up front then we’re halfway there. We have the pack to do it so I think we’ll be okay.

“The scrums have been a big plus point for us, with Daan Human [scrummaging coach] coming in and he has done unbelievable work. I’m old school: If we can do well in the scrums and get go-forward then we’ll be okay,” Human said.

Squad: 15-Divan Rossouw, 14-Cornal Hendricks, 13-Jesse Kriel, 12-Burger Odendaal, 11-Rosko Specman, 10-Handre Pollard, 9-Ivan van Zyl, 8-Duane Vermeulen, 7-Jannes Kirsten, 6-Ruan Steenkamp, 5-Jason Jenkins, 4-Hanro Liebenberg, 3-Trevor Nyakane, 2-Schalk Brits, 1-Lizo Gqoboka. Replacements – 16-Corniel Els, 17-Simphiwe Matanzima, 18-Dayan van der Westhuyzen, 19-Eli Snyman, 20-Tim Agaba, 21-Embrose Papier, 22-Manie Libbok, 23-Dylan Sage.

When Marizanne Kapp mooted the idea of becoming a professional cricketer to her mother, her greatest supporter, it did not go down well. But remembering it was the previous decade and Cricket South Africa contracts and having their matches televised was still a long way off for our top women’s players, this should not be a surprise.

Mother Nereda Lamprecht had earlier been the one to approach the principal of Hoerskool DF Malherbe to convince him to allow her 13-year-old daughter to play boys cricket at the Port Elizabeth school. The immense talent was obvious, but ensuring Kapp had the platform to reach her potential was another matter.

“To be able to play cricket for a living, that’s my biggest dream come true. My mother was so upset when I told her I wanted to be a professional cricketer, she said no, I must get a proper job. Well now I can take her anywhere in the world she wants to go and pay for her, so I guess it worked out in the end.

“I was a bit of a tomboy growing up and I wanted to do anything the boys were doing. My cousins used to play cricket in the streets, so I started playing with them and then I graduated to indoor cricket. Then my mother went to the principal and asked if I could join the boys team. I did everything at school and I got provincial colours for swimming, biathlon, cross-country and netball, but it was cricket that really stuck,” Kapp, who has a degree in sports management and is studying for another one in human resources, told Saturday Citizen.

Chosen by South Africa for the first time in March 2009, Kapp was still a teenager when she was given a baptism of fire by hosts Australia in the World Cup. But she has grown into one of the best all-rounders in world cricket, chosen by the International Cricket Council for their 2017 ODI team of the year and headhunted by the Sydney Sixers for the inaugural Big Bash in 2015. That’s the most lucrative event for women’s cricketers, their version of the IPL, and the Sixers have been the most successful team, winning the title twice and being runners-up in the other two seasons.

There is no question that the Proteas Women have been helped into the upper echelons of the world game by the arrival of the tremendously athletic Kapp. She forms a formidable new-ball partnership with Shabnim Ismail, rated by many as the best in the world, while she is good enough with the bat to play in the top-order and she has scored South Africa’s only World Cup century.

A feisty character on the field, Kapp may seem a bit shy and withdrawn in the public eye when not playing cricket. But she is clearly the type of person you can go to war with and is hard on herself. She is especially eager to contribute more with the bat.

“I really want to do a bit more with the bat, I’ve been playing for the Proteas for quite a while now and the seniors need to put up their hands and take the load. The bowling is still our team’s big strength, but the batting has to improve. Batting at number three, I’d like to end more games.

“The bowling just comes more naturally for me and in ODIs you’re normally bowling first and batting second. Which is why my batting took a bit of a knock, but I want to get into it more and it’s something I can work on. I’m just waiting for the chance now because we’re playing matches every second day at the moment, whereas in the past we had a few more rest days,” Kapp says.

The Proteas, having whitewashed Sri Lanka 3-0 in their T20 series, now take on the tourists in three ODIs in Potchefstroom next week and if Kapp plays in them all, she will be tantalisingly poised on 99 ODI caps.

Her wife, Dane van Niekerk, is the national captain and will probably get to the 100^th game milestone first as she already has 98 caps. They will join Mignon du Preez and Trisha Chetty as the only centurions.

The corridors of Cricket South Africa  can be a rabbit warren of political intrigue, but one thing they are clearly getting right is stabilising and growing the women’s game. Kapp is very appreciative of their efforts and, once her playing days are over (which will hopefully only be in a long while because she is only 29), she is determined to continue working towards the progress of South African women’s cricket.

“It’s tough but there are very good signs which show how serious CSA are in taking the women’s game forward. I wold like to give back when I’m done playing, to contribute to women’s cricket here becoming like it is in Australia,” Kapp said.

https://citizen.co.za/sport/south-african-sport/sa-cricket-sport/2080036/women-in-sport-how-feisty-marizanne-won-her-mom-over/

The Proteas want to take young, courageous cricketers without the old baggage to the next World Cup, and much of the coming season will be dedicated to finding those players, according to the captain Faf du Plessis.

The 2018/19 season was officially launched in Centurion on Tuesday and, despite the attraction of the Test series against Pakistan, the focus of the summer will be on what happens at the end of the season – the World Cup in England.

“Our focus is not on the short-term, everything is looking ahead to the World Cup, so sometimes the team that is selected might not be the best available, but that’s how we get guys more experience ahead of our goal, the World Cup. We want to give a few guys more time and we will speed up that process now, even though our results have not been as good as we would have wanted.

“But it means we can see some young, courageous cricketers, and I believe that’s how we can win the World Cup, by losing the baggage. We don’t want the players to be limited and so mentally challenged; the mental side of things is the only hurdle we have left to conquer because we have the skills and we’ve done the planning, we’ve just lacked in mentality,” Du Plessis said on Tuesday.

The road to the World Cup includes ODIs against Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Sri Lanka at home, as well as a short tour to Australia, and Du Plessis said the matches will be used mostly to fine-tune the side mentally as well as sift through the last few pieces of the selection puzzle.

“We want to try and free up the guys mentally, so there’s no fear of failure, the players must get out there and be able to do the job, and we must equip them for that time. That extra 10-20% mentally is where we have not been as good as we could be. I’ve been to two World Cups and we’ve had different approaches in the lead-up and also mentally.

“So I’ve seen the benefits of what has worked and we will try and take from that, but I’ve also seen the bad. A few guys have shown that they are made for international cricket, they’re ready, and a few guys need more time. So we’ll probably only have a more settled team when we play Pakistan and Sri Lanka next year, then we can look more at the style of play we want for the 15-man squad,” Du Plessis said.

https://citizen.co.za/sport/south-african-sport/sa-cricket-sport/2004903/faf-proteas-want-fearless-men-without-baggage-for-world-cup/