Ken Borland

“I am very proud of the way we bounced back, it showed that we have learnt from our mistakes,” chuffed DP World Lions captain Bjorn Fortuin said shortly after lifting the CSA T20 Challenge trophy following their commanding seven-wicket win with 14 balls to spare over the HollywoodBets Dolphins in Johannesburg on Sunday.

While the margin of victory was ultimately comfortable, there were tough periods in the game that our Pride had to overcome. The Dolphins dominated the last five overs of their batting innings to post a competitive 165 for eight, and the DP World Lions had lost three wickets by the halfway stage of their chase.

But just as Fortuin (4-0-24-2) and Codi Yusuf (4-1-16-2) stepped up with the ball, Reeza Hendricks and Wiaan Mulder made light of the situation with the bat, plundering a tremendous unbeaten 85 runs for the fourth wicket off just 48 balls.

Hendricks played the perfect anchoring role, facing the first ball of the innings and batting through to the end to finish with a wonderful 73 not out off 52 balls, including three sixes. Mulder blasted a fiery 55 not out off just 26 balls, with four sixes.

“All of the squad have been responsible for us winning at some stage,” Fortuin said. “It’s nice to see the younger players developing alongside all the very established players we have.

“The Dolphins batted well after we made it difficult for them at the start, but with our batting line-up, I know if we restrict the opposition to anything close to par, then I’m confident we will chase it down.”

Hendricks and Mulder showed their experience and class during their partnership, when another wicket for the Dolphins could have made for an awkward finish for the #PrideOfJozi. After Ryan Rickelton (18 off 13) and Hendricks had rushed the DP World Lions to 50 in five-and-a-half overs, the Dolphins struck back with three wickets and did not concede another boundary in the next fifty runs.

But vitally, they could not buy another wicket.

“They really kept us honest in the middle and it was important for me to try and bat deep,” Hendricks said. “It was also important to bat well up front and lay a platform, and we did that between Ryan and myself. One of the top four then had to bat through and today it just happened to be me. At the DP World Wanderers Stadium, you want to take it as deep as possible because with wickets in hand, you can always score well in the last five overs.

“We did slow down after the powerplay, but we really needed to make sure we didn’t lose another wicket. Wiaan then came in and played an unbelievable knock, it changed the momentum and put the Dolphins under pressure,” Hendricks said.

Yusuf did a superb job with the ball in the final over, removing both the set batsmen, Jason Smith (51) and Eathan Bosch (17), and he was impressively cheap, going for just four runs an over in his four-over quota.

“Codi has been massive for us. He was in and out of the team at the beginning of the competition and it is tough for a youngster to be mentally up for it when you get dropped after one game and then come back in and are expected to produce. He has a bright future and he’s not just a white-ball bowler,” captain Fortuin said.

Fortuin himself capped an outstanding season with his telling contribution, ending the competition as the second most economical bowler with a run-rate of just 5.85. The left-arm spinner was only fractionally behind Imraan Manack of Boland (5.83).

Rickelton (441) ended as the second-highest run-scorer, with Hendricks just one run behind, while leg-spinner Nqaba Peter, who bowled three tidy overs before getting some punishment in his fourth on Sunday, took the second-most wickets.

Helen Kreuzer was able to make the 10ft putt for birdie on the first playoff hole that she had missed shortly before in regulation play on the par-five 18^th, giving the German her first professional title as she won the Fidelity ADT Ladies Challenge at the Blue Valley Golf Estate on Friday.

Kreuzer reached the 72^nd hole on 12-under-par, back-to-back threes on the par-four 16^th and 17^th holes seeing her catch up with Tina Mazarino at the top of the leaderboard. But while the missed putt forced her to settle for par and a playoff with the Norwegian, Kreuzer was then able to take advantage of the wide fairways at the Gary Player design, and went for the green in two after a great drive, which would have pleased him.

“I hit a really good drive on the first playoff hole on 18 and decided to go for it with a three-wood. I was just off the green and I managed to get up-and-down, sinking the putt I missed for birdie during my round,” Kreuzer explained afterwards.

“It’s my first professional win so I feel amazing, the only other thing that comes close is maybe winning the national championship at college with Lynn University.”

With Mazarino producing a brilliant round of 65 to overtake those who had set the pace after the first two rounds, Kreuzer had to play at her best to catch the 23-year-old.

Kreuzer was superb on the front nine, playing in the final group with leader Ellen Hutchinson-Kay, going out in just 30 strokes. She began her round birdie-par-eagle and further birdies on the fifth, eighth and ninth holes saw her grab the lead.

But she then suffered a double setback when she bogeyed the par-four 10^th and 11^th holes.

“I was really on top of my game, hitting the ball close and my putter was hot. Ellen also played really well on the front nine, and it was good to be in the final group with her because that kept me going and I always felt I needed a few more birdies to get ahead of her.

“But then on 10 there was a very tough pin, I hit my approach a little long and bogey was not the end of the world there. And then on 11 a three-foot par putt just lipped out. You then have to tell yourself to stay in the moment and keep playing,” Kreuzer said.

The 25-year-old from Frankfurt certainly showed her mettle with that late pair of birdies.

“I was really excited about playing in the final group and keen to see what the day would bring. It was a great group, we had a lot of fun and all enjoyed ourselves, just taking it shot-by-shot. I was very pleased to pull through for the win. It was a big achievement, and now being able to play in the two Ladies European Tour co-sanctioned events on the Sunshine Tour is what I came for,” Kreuzer said.

While Hutchinson-Kay reached the turn on 11-under, she struggled on the back nine with bogeys on the 11^th and 14^th holes leaving her in third place.

Another German, Verena Gimmy, made a late charge up the leaderboard with a scintillating 64 to finish in a tie for fourth on eight-under-par with compatriot Carolin Kauffmann (69) and leading South African Kiera Floyd (68).

Pretoria Country Club’s Danielle du Toit also had an excellent final day, shooting a 66 to share seventh place on seven-under with Romy Meekers (69) and Ariane Klotz (72), who was second going into the last round.

A much-changed South African batting line-up was all geared up to bat first in testing conditions at The Oval on Thursday, but they never had the chance as rain returned shortly after the toss and washed out the entire opening day’s play of the third and decisive Test against England.

England won the toss, which had been delayed by half-an-hour due to morning showers, and elected to bowl first, ensuring that the spotlight – and the pressure – will be firmly on a Proteas batting line-up that has not had much to shout about lately.

For the match at The Oval, two changes to the batting line-up have been made, with the inexperienced duo of Ryan Rickelton and Khaya Zondo coming in for the injured Rassie van der Dussen and the dropped Aiden Markram.

The 26-year-old Rickelton returns after playing two Tests against Bangladesh at the end of last summer and scoring 114 runs at an average of 38. Zondo made his Test debut on the last day of that series as a Covid substitute and did not bat, but he is a 32-year-old domestic stalwart who has more than 6000 first-class runs to his name.

Rickelton is a St Stithians product, as is bowling spearhead Kagiso Rabada, and the prestigious Randburg school gained a third player in the XI when all-rounder Wiaan Mulder was selected due to Lungi Ngidi’s hamstring niggle.

Mulder was initially only called into the squad last week as the replacement for Van der Dussen, and has been in fine form with the bat for Leicestershire in county cricket.

South Africa made a fourth change when paceman and handy lower-order batsman Marco Jansen was selected instead of second spinner Simon Harmer. Given the weather conditions, the Proteas are likely to get more buck for their rand from Jansen’s left-arm seam than Harmer’s off-spin.

But first of all their batsmen will have a mountain to climb, with captain Dean Elgar saying at the toss that they are “going to have to knuckle down and start well, runs are key, taking 20 wickets is covered”.

Dwaine Pretorius has bent the selectors’ ears his way shortly before a world cup on two previous occasions and the 32-year-old all-rounder will be hoping to do it a third time when the Proteas tour Sri Lanka next month.

South Africa has such a great tradition of all-rounders and competition for those places has been stiff, but Pretorius made the cut for both the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2019 World Cup. The latter tournament was the last time he played an ODI for South Africa and he finished a wretched tournament for the Proteas as their most economical bowler.

And now the T20 World Cup looms in October/November and Pretorius has one chance to stake his claim for that touring party with his performances in Sri Lanka. That he has left it this late is no fault of his own – he has had terrible luck with injury and then caught Covid, which meant his last match for the Proteas was in February in Pakistan.

“The last six months have been the most frustrating of my career ever. First I broke my ribs taking a catch and then the night before flying to the West Indies I tested positive for Covid. Missing that one flight meant I missed two tours, to both the Caribbean and Ireland, so it was a shocker. Covid has brought a lot of new challenges, bubbles aren’t easy and there’s no leeway.

“So it’s been a tough one, but I just have to get over it and deal with it. It’s the third time I’m going through this sort of pressure, it was the same in 2017 and the 2019. I just take it game-to-game and focus on what’s in front of me now. I will try and play my brand of cricket that I believe can add value to the team,” Pretorius told The Citizen on Thursday.

The T20 World Cup is also being played on the subcontinent and Pretorius has bowled cannily in those conditions before and he strikes the ball strongly in the lower middle-order. He is a really valuable white-ball cricketer.

Andile Phehlukwayo has been left out of the T20 squad for Sri Lanka and that leaves Pretorius, Wiaan Mulder and spinner George Linde to fight for probably two all-round places in the XI.

“If I try and do a role that is not me, then the chances of success are so much less. I know I can do the fifth/sixth bowler role and I have the power with the bat to finish innings. I will just try and prove that again and hopefully the selectors will decide I am the type of player they want in the World Cup squad.

“It’s a fight-or-flight situation and you just have to back what makes you you. I can score boundaries from ball one, but it’s risky and I could get out for less than 10 every time and then I will miss the World Cup,” a philosophical Pretorius said.

Opener Janneman Malan has also been left out of the T20 squad and Lungi Ngidi (personal reasons), Quinton de Kock (resting) and David Miller (hamstring injury) will miss the ODIs in Sri Lanka. Fast bowler Junior Dala returns to the Proteas squad, having also last played in Pakistan in February, and he will boost the wicket-taking capability of the attack.

Proteas squads

ODI – Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma (captain), Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, George Linde, Wiaan Mulder, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Junior Dala, Beuran Hendricks, Lizaad Williams.

T20 – Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, George Linde, Wiaan Mulder, Bjorn Fortuin, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Beuran Hendricks, Sisanda Magala, Lizaad Williams.