Ken Borland

The energy levels of our DP World Lions men’s team are obviously high and they have had the benefit of a full week’s preparation ahead of their first outing in the defence of their CSA 4-Day Series title as they host the Momentum Multiply Titans from Tuesday.

Our Pride’s last outing saw them clinch the CSA T20 Challenge title in the most emphatic of fashion, hammeriing the self-same Titans in the final, having beaten their Gauteng derby rivals earlier in the week in Qualifier 1.

The Titans will now return to the DP World Wanderers Stadium bullring and Russell Domingo, #ThePrideOfJozi head coach, has warned that their neighbours will be hurting and keen for revenge.

But most of the DP World Lions squad named for the four-day opener played a major role in last season’s triumph, as well as being key members of the squad that won the CSA T20 Challenge last month, so there is plenty of confidence in our Pride’s camp.

“We played a warm-up game and we’ve had net sessions in the last week, so it has been good prep. There’s a good vibe in the squad and the energy levels are high. If you asked us what was the trophy we most want to win, it would be the red-ball one.

“It would have been a nightmare week if we had lost the final, but the Titans will bring a really good team and they will be hurting. There are never any easy games against them, but we are all up for the challenge,” Domingo said.

Connor Esterhuizen, who finished as the DP World Lions’ leading run-scorer in the triumphant T20 campaign, will again be wearing the wicketkeeper’s gloves with Wandile Makwetu still recovering from his broken finger.

The seasoned Josh Richards and the exciting young Mohammed Manack are set to open the batting, with the class of captain Dominic Hendricks and Zubayr Hamza to follow. Mitchell van Buuren will be the mainstay of the middle-order, while Delano Potgieter, the hero of last season’s four-day final, fills the all-rounder berth.

The exciting trio of Lutho Sipamla, whose demolition job on the Titans in the T20 final earned him a recall to the Proteas squad, Tshepo Moreki and Codi Yusuf will look after the pace bowling department, while Bjorn Fortuin and Junaid Dawood, the joint leading wicket-taker in the T20 competition, are the spin bowlers in the squad.

Khaya Fakude is the new face in the team, the DP World Lions Academy batsman having impressed the coaching staff with his ability and talent. The KES and University of Johannesburg representative hails from Kanyamazane near Nelspruit.

EDENVALE (Gauteng) – Kyle Barker has been trying to massage his game in preparation for DP World Tour Qualifying School at the end of this month in Spain, and the 26-year-old fired an exceptional 63 in the opening round of the Fortress Invitational at Glendower Golf Club on Thursday to fill him with confidence.

The Serengeti Estates golfer enjoys a one-stroke lead in the R2 million event, after Werner Deyzel and defending champion Robin Williams pushed him hard with 64s.

Barker’s nine-under-par score, which was also bogey-free, was his best round of the season and it seems he could be peaking at the right time after a solid, but unspectacular start to the campaign sees him sitting in 18^th position on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy.

“I had a great first couple of months but then things just slowed down. I was struggling a bit with my game and the set-up in my bag. But now I’ve found a really nice putter that is rolling the ball fantastically.

“This is my last event before going to DP World Tour Qualifying School and I really enjoyed the day. I was hitting the ball really nicely on the range in my warm-up and I just wanted to keep that feeling going, so birdies on the first two holes was a great way to start. I didn’t know that I was going to make only 26 putts though!

“The greens were very receptive after rain on Tuesday night, long-irons were pretty much stopping where they landed and wayward tee-shots would not bounce into too much trouble under trees. So I could be quite aggressive, but the back nine was a bit tougher because the wind picked up,” Barker said.

The highlight of a round that was just the right therapy for Barker was his eagle on the par-five 11^th.

“I smashed a drive down the middle and I had 196m to the front left, but the wind was slightly in my face, about seven or eight metres. So I hit a 205 shot with a six-iron, it was a bit long, in the middle of the green, but I had a downhill, 30ft putt which straight in the middle of the hole, which was really cool,” Barker explained.

Deyzel and Williams also had eagles in the first round, both of them on the 500m par-five sixth. Williams hit a brilliant seven-iron from 165 metres to three feet, which put him level with Barker on nine-under-par, but he bogeyed the par-three eighth, his penultimate hole.

Williams continued the momentum from his brilliant fourth-place finish in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship earlier this month and he was satisfied that he had positioned himself well in his first defence of a title in his professional career.

“It’s been really cool today, it’s the first time I’ve defended and I’m just remembering all the good memories from last year. It all kicked off for me here last year. Playing in Europe was good, but it is so tough there because everything is so different.

“My game was really good today, everything was solid, just a bit of a mistake on eight. But I kept the ball on the fairways. It’s just a course I really enjoy, the par-fives are not that long, so I picture them as par-fours and try to be more aggressive, as long as you find the fairway. I drove well and was able to take advantage of the par-fives.

“I will definitely take that first round, I just want to put myself in position to defend on the back nine on Sunday,” Williams said.

Vice-captain Temba Bavuma has said it was poor batting that saw the Proteas sell themselves short after plenty of hard work in preparation for the Test series against Australia.

After the horrors of the two-day Test in Brisbane, South Africa could only manage to score 189 and 204 on a good batting pitch in Melbourne to lose the second Test, and with it the series, by a massive innings and 182 runs.

“This is not what we prepared for, we haven’t done justice to all the work put in, which is quite disappointing, and it’s obviously disappointing the way we have got out in the two Tests,” Bavuma said after the conclusion of the second Test.

“To be brutally honest, the batting group has just not been good enough and our inexperience has really been shown up. We needed big partnerships and it’s not a matter of blaming the conditions.

“There have been a lot of conversations about all our disciplines, and the skill and execution we have shown has simply not been good enough. We now need action to get to where we need to be.

“The same questions will be asked in the third Test and we have to find answers to those questions that are continually being asked,” Bavuma said.

As impressive as the Australian attack were, South Africa did help them out in the second innings with two runouts. Bavuma was at the crease for both of them, but while he did not accept blame for the dismissals of Khaya Zondo and Keshav Maharaj, he was willing to point the finger at himself for not going on further than the 65 he did score.

“I was involved with both run outs, I was the common denominator, but I don’t want to assign fault to anyone,” Bavuma said. “But it does show a lack of clarity in the decision-making, when there had been a bit of pressure and it was a key period.

“I then probably had a brainfart when I got out today, if I had been with another proper batsman I probably wouldn’t have played that shot. Sixties are good for the moment, but they won’t change the outcome of the game.

“I’m obviously guilty of that in my career and I’m trying to change that. To carry on batting through tough periods and sessions is probably my biggest challenge, to just keep batting and see how far I can go,” Bavuma admitted.

Travelling to Kimberley and not having the right preparation, cohesion and mindset is often disastrous and that is why the Bulls on Friday named a powerful, URC-strength side for their Currie Cup match against Griquas at Tafel Lager Park on Saturday.

Eight of the starting XV who played last week in Italy have been included for Saturday’s Currie Cup encounter, and another eight who were on the bench against Zebre Parma will also be travelling to the Northern Cape.

“You can never underestimate Griquas,” Bulls Currie Cup coach Gert Smal explained, “and going to Kimberley can be really difficult if you’re not prepared. That’s why our team looks like that.

“It’s an important match for us to win and we haven’t played Currie Cup for a month, we are trying to get some rhythm and so it’s important for the team to have played together a bit.

“It’s always tough playing Griquas on their home ground but we want to see if we can beat them there. They are the giant-killers, but we will be ready for whatever is thrown at us, ready for the challenge.

“There are four areas we need to concentrate on and if we do them well then we will get the result: Griquas maul quite a lot, contestables, the breakdown and our mindset,” Smal said on Friday.

The top-of-the-log Sharks played the Pumas in Nelspruit on Friday night, going into the match with a four-point lead over the Bulls in third place, so the importance of Smal’s team getting four points in Kimberley is clear, because the last thing they want is for the KwaZulu-Natalians to open an eight-point lead on them.

“We take the Currie Cup seriously, we want to make sure we can win it,” Smal said. “We look at each game and choose the best team for that specific match, depending on how badly we feel we need the points.”

With the schedule allowing the Bulls to pick many of their best players, they will be looking to unleash their full might on Griquas.

Bulls team:Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, Stedman Gans, Cornal Hendricks, Richard Kriel, Chris Smith, Embrose Papier; Muller Uys, Arno Botha, Marcell Coetzee (CAPT), Janko Swanepoel, Walt Steenkamp, Robert Hunt, Bismarck du Plessis, Simphiwe Matanzima. IMPACT-Schalk Erasmus, Lizo Gqoboka, Kowie Roos, Reinhardt Ludwig, WJ Steenkamp, Keagan Johannes, Juan Mostert, Lionel Mapoe.