Ken Borland

Kagiso Rabada provided the fire up front with three wickets but it was spinner Keshav Maharaj who made the key strikes as he claimed only the second hat-trick for South Africa in Test history to send the West Indies plummeting to 109 for six at lunch on the fourth day of the second Test at St Lucia.

The left-arm spinner removed Kieran Powell (51), Jason Holder (0) and Joshua de Silva (0) with successive deliveries in the penultimate over before lunch, Anrich Nortje, Keegan Petersen and Wiaan Mulder taking catches of increasing difficulty to help Maharaj to the wonderful achievement.

Opener Powell looked in the mood to stick around as the West Indies went in search of a steep target of 324 for victory, but then suddenly decided to tee-up Maharaj and slog-swept him straight to Nortje at deep midwicket. The tall Holder then inside-edged his first ball on to his pad from where it rebounded quickly to short-leg, Petersen taking a sharp catch quite high to his left.

The hat-trick ball saw Mulder snatch a marvellous one-handed grab at leg-slip, diving to his right, as Da Silva tickled Maharaj around the corner.

South Africa’s only other Test hat-trick came in 1960 when fast bowler Geoff Griffin performed the feat against England at Lord’s.

Despite Maharaj’s success, the St Lucia pitch continues to be a haven for fast bowling and Rabada was outstanding up front as he had West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite (6) caught in the slips in his second over of the day.

A vicious, superbly-directed short ball then saw Shai Hope (2) glove a catch to the slips, while Kyle Mayers looked set for bigger things but eventually succumbed to some fine pressure bowling on 34 when he skied a wild pull at a delivery outside off stump from Rabada and Proteas captain Dean Elgar took his second well-judged catch of the morning.

Jermaine Blackwood survived through to lunch on 5 not out, while Kemar Roach is on one. The West Indies were only too happy for the sanctuary of the changeroom after their collapse from 90 for two, losing four wickets for 17 runs, left them still needing 215 runs to level the series with just four wickets standing.

Once Cricket South Africa had sent their plan for a return to play to the Department of Health as well, and also provided additional information on how they would handle any positive tests, getting approval has proved to be a breeze and 3TCricket is set to mark the first bit of on-field action in a few weeks.

Government announced at the weekend that cricket was one of seven sports to be granted approval to return to training and play. So the hiccup that caused the original launch of 3TCricket on June 27 to be postponed has only lasted a week and fans can expect the new format, which features three teams competing at the same time in a 36-over contest, to be unveiled soon.

CSA’s procedures to mitigate the risk of Covid-19 infection are apparently good enough to allow them to continue with plans to hold the 3TCricket opener at SuperSport Park, even though Centurion is in a hotspot for the pandemic. There had been speculation that the event could be moved to Potchefstroom, which is not a hotspot.

“Because Centurion is a hotspot, we had to run our plans through the Department of Health and the National Institute of Communicable Diseases as well as the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. The health authorities went through our plan and then requested additional information around testing and what would happen with positive tests.

“Once we provided them with that, they were subsequently happy and we added those details into our original plan. The event can still be held at Centurion, the government has no objection to that, and we can expect to have an announcement on the venue in the next few days,” Dr Shuaib Manjra, CSA’s chief medical officer, told The Citizen on Monday.

And, if cricket comprising 12 overs an innings does not blow your hair back, then there is a strong possibility that the Proteas will be returning to international action in August.

South Africa are scheduled to play two Tests and five T20 Internationals against the West Indies and they are proceeding with their plans as if that series will still go ahead. What still needs to be decided, however, is if it will take place as it was meant to in the Caribbean – on one island – or be held either in England, where the West Indians are currently preparing in a bio-bubble for a three-Test series, or here in South Africa.

The lucrative T20 series that CSA were hoping to host against India, also in August, now looks more likely to be postponed to early next year.

Women’s sport has always taken the back seat in this macho country of ours, but the last 10 days have shown just how much can be achieved, and how much joy our female sports stars can bring us when they are provided with decent support.

The Proteas women’s cricket team are the obvious example and one could only salute a magnificent effort when they were pipped by eventual champions England in their World Cup semi-final, which was one of the classic games of the tournament as the hosts and favourites were so nearly undone by the tenacious underdogs.

Our national women’s cricket team have become the most-improved team in the game thanks to the wonderful support they have been given by Momentum and Cricket South Africa. Many young girls will have been inspired by their efforts and it is vital that the momentum created by their exploits is not lost.

The national women’s hockey team have just finished a global tournament of their own in the Hockey World League, which will go down as yet another international showpiece sporting event that we have hosted with aplomb.

Unfortunately, South African hockey does not have the same sort of backing as our cricketers, and it still sticks in the craw to see Investec, founded in Johannesburg in 1974, emblazoned all over the England team. But they have arguably more female talent than even the cricketers do simply because it has been ‘acceptable’ in our misogynistic society for women to play hockey for far longer than it has for cricket.

They showed that they have the ability to consistently be in the top-10 in the world rankings by finishing fifth in the Hockey World League Semifinals, pulling off a memorable win over eventual champions, the United States, as well as beating Ireland and Japan and finishing above India in the final standings. They also qualified automatically for the World Cup.

The obvious enjoyment they get from playing alongside each other, their tremendous team spirit, is one of their greatest assets, but sadly, it was obviously lacking from the men’s team, who managed to avoid relegation but did not win any other games.

Again, South Africa has the male talent to push for a top-10 place, with several of our players sought-after members of overseas clubs, which enables them to escape the poor economic prospects of an amateur sport in this country.

But it is this split-nature of the team – made up of locally-based and overseas-based players – that is causing problems, just as it did with Springbok rugby. According to players who are part of the expanded national squad, the environment in the camp is “hostile” and this threatens to scupper any hopes of our men’s team recouping the losses they have suffered over the last few years of neglect.

Sure, hockey overseas is more professional and better, but the returning players need to realise their job is to lift up their team-mates who are still slogging it out back at home, not belittle them. The team culture is non-existent, with some stars apparently staying in their own hotels, and it is up to the senior players to set an example.

Apart from results, there has been one casualty already with coach Fabian Gregory resigning to take up a position overseas. He says he battled to get his ideas through to the team, that he had a hard time dealing with certain “know-it-all” players.

The senior players, apparently, found it hard to take Gregory seriously as a coach, especially those who are based overseas.

So a new coach will have to be found before the Africa Cup in October – which will be crucial for World Cup qualification – and, hard as it will be for some absolute stalwarts of South African hockey, the time seems right to make a new start with the men’s team, who are really rather old in global terms.

My new broom would be Garreth Ewing, who was one of Gregory’s assistants at the Hockey World League, and I have been highly-impressed by the work he has done with both the SA U21 and University of Johannesburg sides, both in terms of the brand of hockey they play and the team culture he has grown.

The fact that the national selectors were willing to choose a 33-year-old new cap for Test cricket in Stephen Cook this summer has provided hope and no little inspiration to Heino Kuhn, who is the leading run-scorer in the Sunfoil Series this season.

The 31-year-old Titans batsman also averaged 60 in the Momentum One-Day Cup and a golden summer has pushed Kuhn right back into the picture for national honours after playing five T20 internationals for South Africa as a wicketkeeper/batsman between 2009 and 2011.

Kuhn is now strictly an opening batsman (and a quality fielder too) and regularly goes big, with six centuries in the last two seasons. His tally of 18 first-class hundreds includes three doubles and a 191 for South Africa A against Bangladesh A.

“It was nice to see Stephen Cook get an opportunity with the Proteas, I was happy for him because for years he’s been flippen good for the Lions. It was great that he took his chance and it’s great to see that South African cricket is now like Australian cricket where, if you’re a good enough batsman, you’re never too old.

“As long as my body holds, I’ll always believe that I can play for South Africa again and my fiancé Trudie probably believes even more than me! But I’m playing the best cricket of my career and luckily enough I have another two years on my contract with the Titans, so I hope I can continue this run because it’s the best I’ve ever batted,” Kuhn says.

The Titans stalwart – he has been granted a benefit season by the franchise – says his purple patch is not down to anything new in his technique but rather a better focus on the basics of top-order batting.

“I just try to bat time and play straight. I know I have the square shots, but if I just try and play straight and face a lot of balls then I know I’ll get runs. I know that if I face 200 balls then I’ll be close to a hundred. It’s about sticking to the basics and Rob Walter [Titans coach] is big on us just worrying about our own things and not the opposition,” Kuhn says.

It’s amazing to think of all the different jobs Kuhn has fulfilled on a cricket field since his days at Affies in the early 2000s, playing alongside AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis. He was actually a middle-order batsman who dabbled in leg-spin.

“I batted four at Coke Week for Northerns, behind AB and Faf, and I batted twice, scoring 40 not out and four not out, the winning runs. And at club level, Roelof van der Merwe kept wicket and I bowled leg-spin, and then one day I said we should swop. I made a stumping off Roela and our ways were set!

“I was very fortunate to keep to guys like Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Alfonso Thomas, Paul Harris and Imran Tahir in my early days at the Titans. But if opening the batting is the only way I can play in a team, I’ll definitely take it. Not many people enjoy opening, but I put up my hand, I like the challenge. It’s like I prefer a green pitch because then you have to work for your runs and you know you deserve them. It’s lovely to get runs in those tough conditions,” Kuhn says.

The likeable man from Piet Retief certainly deserves a successful benefit and another look-in at international cricket, and there have been few more loyal servants of the Titans.

“At the beginning of my career I was fortunate to have traditional team-mates like Martin van Jaarsveld and Pierre de Bruyn, so that was the way I grew up. My family are all here in Pretoria and the Titans are the best franchise in the land. I can’t see myself playing in another country and, if I don’t play any more cricket for South Africa, then I won’t play international cricket for anybody else,” Kuhn says.