Ken Borland

Danie van Tonder continued to provide free tuition out on the golf course to his fellow Sunshine Tour pros on the art of winning as he claimed the Vodacom Championship Reloaded title by four strokes at Huddle Park on Friday, his third trophy in the five-event Rise Up Series.

It has been an extraordinary run of form for the 29-year-old, Van Tonder becoming the first player to win three times in one Sunshine Tour season since Oliver Bekker in 2017, and he has certainly learnt how to win with something that is now approaching monotonous regularity.

Going into the final round at Huddle Park with a three-stroke lead after a 40-foot eagle on his last hole in he second round, Van Tonder immediately took control on Friday with a birdie at the par-four first hole. An eagle on the sixth and a birdie on the ninth, the two par-fives, completed the perfect front nine when leading, and he ended the round with a six-under 66, playing immaculate, bogey-free golf.

“Everyone wants to try and win every time they play, I wanted to win five-out-of-five, but it’s very hard in this profession. But I had to teach myself the right mentality on the course, I do get cross but now I try to use that to my advantage, hitting the ball further and straighter. I’m very aggressive out there and I just try and make the impossible possible. I’m very happy because I’ve been working and practising hard and I’ve played good golf,” Van Tonder said on Friday after winning another R95 100, which saw him top the Rise Up Series order of merit by more than R132 000 from second-placed Darren Fichardt, who missed the cut at Huddle Park.

While Van Tonder’s game-plan is to simply overpower golf courses, he also had the gall on Friday to not drop a single shot, in fact he made just one bogey the whole tournament, despite his aggressive approach. It was telling that Jaco Ahlers won the Betway Birdie Challenge for the Rise Up Series, with 79 across the five tournaments, but could only finish second on Friday despite shooting a superb 65. The difference is that while Van Tonder ‘only’ made 77 birdies, he is eliminating the mistakes that separate the winner from the also-rans.

“To have three wins, I have no words, and I knew I had to make birdies today because Jaco played very well. Fortunately I don’t hit the ball so skew, I hit it as hard as I can and straight, and I’ve always made lots of birdies. But I saw that my mistake was making bogeys as well, and so many of those are unnecessary bogeys.

“To shoot 21-under-par shows that I’m not making bogeys, there are always birdies out there. My chipping has also always been good, I have a 63⁰ lob-wedge and when I have that in my hand I feel like I have an 80% chance of chipping in,” Van Tonder said.

Brazilian veteran Adilson da Silva shared second place with Ahlers on 17-under after shooting a 66, while Jacques Blaauw finished in fourth on 16-under and rookie Malcolm Mitchell was one stroke further back after both of them closed with 68s.

The Proteas were meant to make their return from the Covid-19 Lockdown with a tour to the West Indies in the southern hemisphere winter, but it seems it will be England touring South Africa that will provide them with their first taste of international action.

England are keen to play three ODIs and three T20 internationals from mid-November to early December, with domestic action kicking off in South Africa on November 2. While British media have speculated that the series will take place in a bio-bubble in Cape Town, it is known that Highveld venues have also been told to prepare to host the 50-over world champions.

The series against one of the Big Three provides an opportunity too good to waste for CSA to start generating some much-needed income after all cricket came to a standstill in March.

Despite this week’s series loss to Australia, England remain a powerhouse white-ball outfit and their tour could be one of the highlights of the summer, particularly since Sri Lanka will be the Test opposition over the traditional festive season schedule.

Then again, the Proteas have a score to settle with Sri Lanka, who became the first sub-continent team to win a series in South Africa with their shock 2-0 triumph in 2018/19.

South Africa’s cricketers will have four-day cricket in November and December in which to get up to full power, with the Momentum One-Day Cup scheduled for early next year. While the Mzansi Super League has reportedly been scrapped for this season due to the constraints of Lockdown, it is possible that a franchise T20 competition will be played to end the summer.

There is a massive irony in a body such as Sascoc, wracked by internal strife and lacking credibility, making an intervention in the affairs of Cricket South Africa, a federation that seems to daily provide a new definition of rock-bottom.

But one can only hope this is a rocket (a spark would have little effect on the thick-skinned people sitting on the CSA Board) that leads to a real shift in the mindsets of those arrogant directors that refuse to budge a centimetre from a place at the top table of a sport they have parasitized rather than served.

If Sascoc threatening to take over does not force the CSA Board into standing down and releasing the Fundudzi Forensic Report, then the next option has to be for them to be threatened with being declared delinquent directors. There have been a litany of governance disasters at CSA over the last couple of years and there is no way they can continue to deny their own involvement and culpability.

There is no doubt people like former CEO Thabang Moroe and company secretary Welsh Gwaza have been involved in malfeasance, but who appointed and enabled these self-serving charlatans? The directors did and they have failed in their fiduciary duties, which have a clear legal basis.

The Members Council and the CSA Board of Directors are meeting together in Johannesburg over the weekend and, as one delegate put it, this is “make-or-break” time for the organisation. Will selfish, individualistic priorities prevail and continue the death spiral into chaos and oblivion? Or will there finally be some leadership and accountability shown?

Either way, Sascoc are going to impose a task team inquiring into CSA’s affairs, which is no bad thing. But if leadership and accountability win the day then there are enough top-class people who love cricket who will be able to step into the leadership vacuum and help CSA back to stability.

One of those is Judith February, a lawyer based at the Institute for Security Studies, the former head of IDASA’s governance programme, a Visiting Fellow at the Wits School of Governance, a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and a massive cricket fan.

“You cannot be on a board and not take responsibility, resigning just before the AGM is too little, too late because they have presided over matters to that point. Directors have left in silence or written letters, but it was because they did not flex their muscles that Thabang Moroe was allowed to operate in that way. CSA’s Memorandum of Incorporation is very clear and they have breached it on every front.

“We can join the dots intelligently and see that there is something deeply wrong with the system and the people who manage it and the people who oversee them. A clean break is the best option and clearly we need to interrogate why someone of such integrity and capability as Jacques Faul could find no space to work in CSA. The players’ statement about the boardroom shenanigans was also really important,” February said this week in a Daily Maverick webinar discussing cricket in South Africa’s fight for survival.

Does February, a governance specialist and former executive director of the HSRC’s Democracy and Governance unit, not just sound like the perfect candidate to be an independent director on a new-look CSA Board?

There are also some brilliant, impressive people on the Members Council – one thinks of Ben Dladla, Craig Nel, Anne Vilas and Tebogo Siko – who are dong their best to restore the credibility of CSA, but their efforts are being stymied by the presence of seven directors of the Board in the 14-strong Members Council itself.

The Nicholson Inquiry, which the CSA Board have now committed to return to eight years after its release, called for change in how the Board was constituted, recommending nine of the 12 directors be independents.

But in 2013 it was the selfsame Sascoc who refused to accept that and pressured CSA (although it probably suited their Board back then too) into going with a 7-5 split in favour of non-independents. And that’s a major reason why CSA are in the mess they are in now.

Directors without the competence, skills or experience to run a billion-and business have been voted in to ensure certain powerful figures enjoy support and can dispense patronage in return. In some cases, these directors have been earning twice as much from Board fees as from their ‘main’ source of income; no wonder they are desperate to keep their noses in the CSA trough.

In the coming weeks, Sascoc have a vital role to play in supporting the efforts of those who want to change this system and put cricket back in the control of people who firstly love and serve the game, and secondly have the expertise to run it properly.

Cape Cobras coach Ashwell Prince said on Monday that he would prefer to attack the reasons for players going overseas at the next Cricket South Africa Coaches’ Conference but he was happy to firmly back the expansion of premier domestic competitions to 12 teams, saying this would provide more playing opportunity.

The Cobras had already lost talented young batsman David Bedingham to a Kolpak deal mid-season, but the end of the summer has brought the confirmation that senior bowlers Dane Paterson and Dane Piedt are also no longer going to be based at Newlands but will be plying their trade overseas.

Paceman Paterson, who played in South Africa’s final Test of the season, against England at the Wanderers, is also heading to England on a Kolpak deal, while off-spinner Piedt is breaking new ground in playing in the United States.

“They were key bowlers in our attack and we will miss them as leaders. Each case needs to be treated individually and when you’re over 30, especially as a bowler, I’m sure you calculate whether you have a realistic chance of playing for the Proteas.

“But other factors also play a role in guys leaving, but we always talk around them and we don’t deal with them,” Prince said on Monday.

When asked what these ‘other factors’ are, Prince said he would prefer to raise them at the Coaches’ Conference rather than elaborate to the media.

“I have mentioned them before at the Coaches’ Conference and CSA are well aware of them. I believe that’s my platform. We’ve got to get the system operating the best we can, if we can improve it it’s important we identify those areas. I tend to make my feelings heard and I hope the committees considered what I said,” the outspoken former Proteas batsman said.

Prince was more forthcoming when it came to his views on the present franchise system, with six teams still playing in the premier competitions next season but with a reduced number of fixtures.

“The sooner we get to a system that we can have for 10-20 years the better. I’m not convinced by this makeshift plan, although I know it’s based on finances. But we need to get the system fine-tuned so it can last for the next 10 years.

“I’m a firm believer in going to 12 teams, having played in England, where it works, and in South Africa before the franchise system.

“All the smaller provincial teams [barring North-West and Border] have won trophies, they produce talent and they can be competitive. It will get people playing more regularly; at the moment far too many cricketers don’t play regularly at the top level.

“I’m a big fan of opening up the system and more people getting opportunity. For example, a young batsman like Isma-eel Gafieldien, who made lots of runs for Boland, could play a full season with them rather than just having one or two matches for the Cobras. The game is the best teacher rather than just going to training. You learn far more in the heat of the moment.

“Places like Easterns produced Andre Nel, Andrew Hall and Zander de Bruyn, who all played for the Proteas. Border had Pieter Strydom, Steve Palframan, Makhaya Ntini and Mark Boucher. Boland has produced plenty of Proteas – guys like Henry Williams, Roger Telemachus, Henry Davids, Justin Ontong and Charl Langeveldt. These so-called ‘smaller’ provinces have talent and they will produce players for the country. And there’s nothing better for them than playing at a higher level,” Prince said.

Given the emergence of such quality talent as Kyle Verreynne, Janneman and Pieter Malan, Bedingham, Nandre Burger, Zubayr Hamza and George Linde, the 2019/20 season promised much for the Cobras.

But it ended in anticlimax with Prince’s charges finishing last in both the 4-Day Franchise Series and the Momentum One-Day Cup.

To add to the coach’s problems, he has lost nine of the 18 players contracted for last season as well as both nationally-contracted stars in the retired duo of Hashim Amla and Vernon Philander.

In terms of acquisitions, former Titans batsman Tony de Zorzi, who averaged over 45 in both competitions last season, is probably the most exciting.

The likes of Corbin Bosch, Tshepo Moreki, Onke Nyaku and Calvin Savage all have talent, but they all struggled to pin down regular places at their former franchises.

“I’m extremely excited about the players we have. In the bowling department we have more experience now in white-ball cricket which is obviously the area that needed strengthening. We’ve been more competitive in four-day cricket lately.

“The guys who have stayed are our core, they were predominantly starters in most competitions. We just had to make sure we secured good depth because we expect national call-ups. It’s obviously exciting to have those, but they hurt us last season – missing four key one-day players had a major effect.

“But to be honest this transfer window has been a bit of a nightmare with 100% of players’ contracts ending. It became a free-for-all with players just going to the highest bidder. And CSA have said that from May 1 we can give eight players two-year contracts, which means next year it’s going to be another free-for-all for the other 10 players. It will be even more of a bunfight if we go to 12 provinces,” Prince said.

Cobras 2020/21 squad – Ziyaad Abrahams, Jonathan Bird, Corbin Bosch, Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Isma-eel Gafieldien, Zubayr Hamza, George Linde, Pieter Malan, Janneman Malan, Imraan Manack, Aviwe Mgijima, Akhona Mnyaka, Tshepo Moreki, Onke Nyaku, Calvin Savage, Jason Smith, Kyle Verreynne.