Ken Borland

Aiden Markram is not sure whether or not his game has grown from his couple of weeks playing in the IPL in the UAE, but he does believe he has a better idea of the flexibility required in T20 cricket, which he says is going to be crucial for the Proteas in the forthcoming World Cup.

Markram joined the Punjab Kings for the completion of the IPL following the withdrawal of English star Dawid Malan, and, batting in the middle-order, made starts in every innings as he ended with 146 runs in six innings, averaging 29.20 with a strike-rate of 122.68.

When South Africa begin their T20 World Cup campaign on October 23 against Australia in Abu Dhabi, the middle-order is where Markram is most likely to find a place in the team.

“The pressure is always a lot more at a World Cup, the environment is all about pressure and you need to perform under it. The IPL is also high-pressured,” Markram said on Monday, “but I’m not sure if my game has grown or not.

“But it’s obviously a good standard of cricket and I was learning on the job, mingling with some seriously good players, chatting to legends of T20 cricket, but also trying to work things out in the middle during games.

“The important thing is that you have plans for the conditions before matches, the type of cricket you want to play, but if conditions don’t allow it then you have to have something else to fall back on.

“Trusting that back-up plan is important and we have certainly upskilled ourselves lately. I don’t think this team brings too much baggage from previous World Cups and we haven’t had too many chats about 2019,” Markram said.

In terms of the conditions, the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi is in the desert but within sight of the dhows in the Persian Gulf, and arguably the best place for batting in the United Arab Emirates. The Proteas have an attack to thrive in most conditions, but the question is whether South Africa does have the batting line-up to put up big enough scores.

“Conditions were not too bad in the IPL, but each ground was very different, which I didn’t expect because I thought the conditions would be pretty generic. But each ground poses a different set of challenges.

“The pitches are not the easiest to bat on, but once you get in, you can take the game away from the opposition. But it’s tough at first for the batsman coming in.

“Sharjah [where they play a qualifier and England] was probably the toughest batting pitch and Abu Dhabi the nicest to bat on.

“In general you’re looking to take pace off the ball, that’s the go-to, lots of changes in pace. And you have to bowl your spinners at the right time, getting that decision right is important,” Markram said.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt had much to consider when it came to selecting his team for their United Rugby Championship clash against the Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun on Saturday; he needed to look at his side through the lenses of the fast-paced artificial pitch they are playing on, the opposition’s strong lineout, maul and breakdown work, and their powerful presence in the collisions.

In the end Everitt decided to bolster his lineout resources and give his pack more beef for those gainline collisions, moving a lock, Gerbrandt Grobler, to flank and recalling Ruben van Heerden to the starting line-up. Hyron Andrews remains as the lock reserve.

“When we recruited Gerbrandt it was with the dual positions of lock and flank in mind and, from a lineout point of view, he will bring a different dynamic at No.7, and we know Glasgow contest the lineouts very well with Richie Gray there,” Everitt said.

“Hyron and Ruben were our first-choice locks last year in Super Rugby and in the early stages of the Currie Cup, but unfortunately they both got injured. But they were both really good off the bench last week.

“The thing with the artificial pitch is that it makes the people quicker but it does not necessarily mean the game will be quicker. There will be more high-speed running than on grass, but we have trained and adapted well and I don’t see the pace of the game as a threat at all.

“Glasgow were originally coached by Dave Rennie so they play like a Super Rugby side, they bring a high tempo and a high-line defence, and they like to carry a lot. It’s a different threat and we just have to keep them out,” Everitt said.

While Munster were content to “suffocate and strangle” the Sharks last weekend, the Warriors are going to look to quickly counter-attack off every error and the Sharks are going to have to, as ever, improve their discipline and ball-retention.

“Conceding 17 penalties is not acceptable, although we were on the wrong side of a few 50/50s. But we need to adapt in the mauls and breakdowns and it’s a big learning curve.

“The European teams are really disciplined in how they execute their plans. I thought we played really well at times against Munster, but we paid for our errors.

“We are up against international players and if we don’t look after the ball then we will be punished dearly. The penalty count is also important, but that’s not hard to fix.

“We don’t want to be playing between the 10-metre lines, we need to manage the game better and limit our turnovers,” Everitt said.

GQEBERHA, Eastern Cape – If being a professional on the Sunshine Tour since last year has taught Siyanda Mwandla anything, it has apprised him of the fact that he needs to be enjoying himself more while he is trying to make a living playing golf.

Mwandla, who was one of the most exciting amateurs in the country during his days at the Ernie Els Fancourt Foundation, won his tour card last year and finished 137th on the order of merit after playing 10 events.

This year he has built on that experience and is sitting 107^th, having played a dozen tournaments. The last of those, the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Mount Edgecombe leg, saw the 27-year-old post his best-ever round on tour, a 67 that saw him lying second after the first day. A par of 73s to close saw Mwandla finish in a tie for 38^th, but it is all part of the learning experience.

This week’s Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event at Humewood is another opportunity to take a step forward in his career, with his game definitely trending upwards.

“The way I approach tournaments this year has been the difference. In the past, if I played with friends on a Saturday or on my own, I was happy and excited, but then I would be playing in the Sunshine Tour on the Wednesday and I would be anxious. It felt like two different rounds when it should be the same. I didn’t understand that I was meant to be having fun on the course whatever I was playing.

“I’ve been working with a sports psychologist and no tournament should be bigger in terms of mindset. I need to stay in the moment, in the present, and not get too far ahead of myself. So nowadays I don’t ask for much, I just want to play the final round and make cuts consistently, so I don’t have to think about that,” Mwandla said on Wednesday at Humewood as rain forced him to take a break from preparations for the fourth leg of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series.

His Mount Edgecombe performance was a sign for Mwandla that the swing changes he put in place with coach Emile Steinmann are starting to bed in and he is not expecting any drama around the Humewood links this week, even if the weather, already windy and wet, continues to worsen.

“The swing changes were not all that comfortable at first but we are trying to get more consistency. I stuck with it and two weeks ago I saw some results. I like the Humewood course and I’ve had some nice amateur finishes here. You’ve got to have a bit of luck with the draw because you can be playing 12 holes with no wind and then for the last six you’re suddenly playing into the wind.

“You have to play a lot of knock-down shots here and sometimes you even feel like there’s a wind blowing when it’s not. It’s a thinking course from Hole One and although I’ve been working on getting my ball-flight higher since I moved to Johannesburg, growing up on the KZN North Coast means I subconsciously still have the low shots, I don’t have to even think about it. So I’m very comfortable here,” Mwandla said.

GQEBERHA, Eastern Cape – Vodacom’s 17-year title sponsorship of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series makes them one of the Sunshine Tour’s most loyal partners, giving South African professionals playing opportunities through the winter, but the telecommunications company has always also been focused on the higher calling of helping develop people in general and supporting charitable initiatives in the communities they visit.

This week the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series is in Gqeberha for the two-day Pro-Am and then the professional tournament at Humewood Golf Club, and Tshego Malinga, the executive head of department for the Customer Business Unit Eastern Region, is focused on making sure the event touches many peoples’ lives.

“We have the ability to make sure profit meets purpose and I am a firm believer that the two are never mutually exclusive. At the centre of everything we do at Vodacom is the desire to enable our customers to live out their purpose. We do that by connecting them in an environment in which they can express their passions and aspirations.

“But it’s also important for Vodacom to be part of the development of South Africa as a whole, and sport plays a very important part in the development of the nation. We want to help people explore their talent and hopefully some of them can go on to become international icons. We also want to be helpful to the community and the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series has really assisted in the funding of many charities,” Malinga says.

This week’s Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Pro-Am at Humewood will be raising funds for the Maro Foundation, which was started in 2014 by Pamela Mabini.

A social and gender activist from Kwazakhele, Mabini used her corporate connections to distribute food, blankets, clothes, shoes and hygiene products to the homeless. Since then she has opened two facilities in Johannesburg for the rehoming of mentally handicapped, disabled or HIV-positive children who have been abandoned by their families,

“We have the ability to really help this NGO that is also helping in the fight against gender-based violence, so that’s our big focus for this tournament. We want to help those who have less access to things we might take for granted. We need a consciousness of the environment we operate in, we can’t just be focused on our share price.

“It is super special for us to be able to host this event and help the Maro Foundation in these times of Covid and all the hesitation around that. It’s a tricky balance making sure people are safe but also bringing them together. We really want the show to go on, so we can keep helping people. It’s an honour for Vodacom to be able to do that,” Malinga says.

Although not a golfer herself, Malinga is also acutely aware of the history of Humewood Golf Club, one of South Africa’s top courses and the host of many major tournaments.

“Vodacom, Humewood and the Eastern Cape are all very iconic brands, so this event is the amalgamation of very strong South African brands. We all have a responsibility to society and Humewood has a strong heritage in both Eastern Cape and Port Elizabeth society. It has credibility because of its heritage and this collection of brands people love makes it easier to galvanise them around their shared history and love for the province and city,” Malinga says.

The Pro-Am Dinner on the eve of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series has already raised R25 000 for the Maro Foundation, with the fundraising efforts continuing all week.