Ken Borland

“Just add it to my tab,” Graeme Smith would be justified in saying as India’s tour to South Africa was confirmed and in no small part due to the excellent relationship CSA’s director of cricket enjoys with Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli.

Although India will arrive a week later than the scheduled date of December 9, they will still be playing three Tests and three ODIs in December/January. The four T20s that were meant to be played have, however, been postponed, although CSA are confident that they will be played sometime in 2022.

Many in India seemed to be itching to ditch the tour in light of the Omicron variant of Covid now sweeping the world, but those in the know say the respect former Proteas captain Smith is held in by BCCI president Ganguly and India captain Kohli, helped sway the most powerful team in world cricket.

Given that the broadcast rights alone are worth at least $100 million, Smith has saved financially-troubled CSA hundreds of millions of rand.

The first Test will now start on Boxing Day (December 26) and be played at SuperSport Park in Centurion, while the Wanderers will now host the New Years Test, from January 3. Newlands in Cape Town unfortunately again misses out on their traditional New Years Test, but they will stage the third and final Test from January 11/12.

The ODI series is scheduled for the Cape thereafter.

Omicron is still considered a threat to the tour, however, so it is likely that no spectators will be allowed at the games, insiders say. The number of Covid cases in the country has been rising rapidly, so CSA have had to put a lot of planning into ensuring their bio-secure bubbles in Gauteng and Cape Town will be based on the strictest protocols.

2022 is another T20 World Cup year and CSA are confident India will return to complete their tour with four T20 matches, worth around $20 million each, before the global showpiece is held in Australia in October/November.

India are currently playing their second and last Test against New Zealand, which is due to finish on December 7, and the uncertainty surrounding quarantines has led to their departure being delayed by a week.

Bulls coach Jake White may be saying he will be looking to play more from scrums in the United Rugby Championship going forward, but that is not going to weaken the resolve of his front row to make a point when they come up against the Sharks at Kings Park on Friday night.

White said one of the differences in northern hemisphere rugby that his team will need to adapt to is that sides tend to use the scrum as an attacking platform and not something from which to earn penalties.

But the outspoken coach made a point of saying how much he was looking forward to seeing former Springbok hooker Bismarck du Plessis taking on Bongi Mbonambi, the incumbent in the Green and Gold No.2 jersey. He is also keen to see how another Springbok, Lizo Gqoboka, does as he comes off the bench as tighthead cover, having switched back to the other side of the scrum, where he started his career.

“I don’t really want a whole lot of penalties at scrum time,” White said on Thursday. “In South Africa you see the scrum is used as an opportunity to get out of your half or get points, via penalties.

“But in the rest of the URC, teams see it as an opportunity to attack, with eight forwards all tied in there. They try and get the ball in and out quickly.

“The Sharks have been speaking for months about how strong they will be when all their Springboks return and then it will just be a matter of time before they dominate. Well this is it now, it’s a home game for them and their Boks are back.

“Bongi has been the dominant hooker for South Africa, while Bismarck is also a World Cup winner who has played 79 Tests. I’m sure he will introduce himself to Bongi and I’m looking forward to that battle,” White said.

While the likes of Ox Nche and Aphelele Fassi have for some undisclosed reason been blacklisted from playing for the Sharks on Friday night, the KwaZulu-Natalians will have Siya Kolisi, Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi and Sbu Nkosi also lining up alongside Mbonambi.

Am has moved to inside centre, setting up an intriguing tussle with a Bulls backline that sees David Kriel playing at outside centre and Kurt-Lee Arendse at fullback.

The Bulls have lost the services of Springbok mainstay Trevor Nyakane but probably have five million reasons to be happy to let him go, with coach Jake White saying on Wednesday that he was “comfortable” with the versatile prop’s move.

The 32-year-old Nyakane, who played in 12 of the Springboks’ 13 Tests this year, has signed with French club Racing 92, and will begin his three-year deal in Paris before the end of the month. Nyakane had two more years to run on his Bulls contract, however, and the Pretoria franchise will reportedly receive R5 million from one of the leading clubs in Europe in compensation.

“Trevor is no longer with us, although we were going to give him time off until January anyway,” White said on Wednesday. “He was never going to stay with us forever and post the 2023 World Cup, I didn’t see him playing domestically anyway.

“It was always highly likely that he was going overseas and we haven’t had him for six months anyway, plus we were likely to not have him for big chunks of next year.

“He’s been fantastic for the Bulls and is a great team man, but in terms of return on investment, sometimes it’s the right time to release a player.

“We’re very comfortable letting him go and we are busy planning to get one or two other tightheads in our squad. It’s not ideal losing players overseas, but you don’t want to be paying big money for players if you never see them,” White said.

The former Springbok coach also suggested that the national team might have to go back to their previous policy of having zero overseas-based players in their line-up, in order to protect franchise rugby at home.

“It raises the question whether the policy of picking overseas players for the Springboks is going to last forever? Because long-term that policy is to the detriment of the franchises and that’s a fact,” White said.

“For me, the Irish and Kiwi model, where only home-based players are picked for the national team, works and they have been successful with it. Australia have the Matt Giteau rule allowing more experienced players from overseas to play for the Wallabies.

“At the moment I’m not sure the franchises get a return on investment because you have so many players unavailable for long periods and we have a salary cap. But we are not as affected as the Stormers or Sharks,” White said.

Wayne Parnell is back in the Proteas fold for the first time in four years with the 32-year-old all-rounder saying on Thursday that his recall was most unexpected as his focus this summer has purely been on shepherding the young players in the Western Province team.

Parnell is the first former Kolpak player to be chosen for the national squad since the end of that talent-draining ruling in January 2020. It may just be for a three-match ODI series against the Netherlands from which several first-choice players are being rested, but given how well he has performed with both bat and ball for Western Province, Parnell could well add his name to the serious discussions over all-rounder spots.

“For me it’s been a crazy journey over the last couple of years,” Parnell said on Thursday. “I didn’t set out to come back and play for the Proteas, I was just trying to add value for Western Province, help the younger guys.

“I had no expectation, I didn’t think I would ever play for South Africa again. But I am still young enough and I can contribute. I’ve only spoken to Victor Mpitsang [convenor of selectors] about where I fit in and opportunities going forward.

“I still have to sit down with Mark Boucher [head coach] and understand what they’re thinking, but I cannot turn down my country. And if I play well then maybe I will play against India,” Parnell said.

The former SA U19 captain and leading wicket-taker at the 2008 U19 World Cup is one of South Africa’s great unfulfilled talents, despite playing six Tests, 65 ODIs and 40 T20s for the Proteas.

But he said on Thursday that he has been able to find more enjoyment in playing now and any past mismanagement lay in the past.

“I’m more experienced now and I know how to deal with different circumstances. I’ve been enjoying playing different roles and having more freedom. International cricket is different because there is a lot more competition for places.

“Now I look at the game completely differently and I feel comfortable with what I can bring to any team and I’m not worried about being better than the guy next to me.

“There were a lot of different factors to my career, but I don’t look back. Yes, a lot of things could have been done differently, but I don’t blame anyone. Maybe it will be better this time,” Parnell said.