Ken Borland

Being a South African cricket fan can certainly be like a sugar rush as they have demonstrated this summer with their sterling deeds against India and in New Zealand. But it can also be like the massive shot of glucose that leads to hypertension and diabetes, especially when one considers all the boardroom shenanigans and our previous World Cup woes.

Which is why the last week has been an especially sweet one – in the healthiest sense possible – thanks to the irrepressible form shown by our Women’s Proteas at the World Cup in New Zealand and the great news that Cricket South Africa have finally found their new, permanent CEO.

And he was there all along, hiding in plain view, if you like, in the form of Pholetsi Moseki, who has been serving as acting CEO anyway for the last 15 months. Choosing the right person, which CSA did when Moseki replaced the disgraced Kugandrie Govender, has borne fruit for the organisation since December 2020. I am confident Moseki will continue to be the glue that is fixing many of the cracks and wounds the organisation suffered in recent years.

As the saying goes, to get the juice out of an orange you need to apply pressure and it has been incredible to see how Marizanne Kapp and the rest of the Proteas have blossomed when their matches have been on a knife-edge at the World Cup. Kapp has enjoyed a phenomenal week and is displaying the sort of all-round stardom that has previously been the preserve of Lance Klusener and Ben Stokes at World Cups.

In the sterilised, rarefied atmosphere of a World Cup, the Proteas are producing the goods and, with Australia, are the only unbeaten team after four matches. It is encouraging though, that with South Africa probably just one win away from the semi-finals, they have not yet produced their best cricket. There are still areas of their game that need cleaning up.

The Proteas will be anxious to sort out the middle-order batting collapses that have made it necessary for Kapp to produce her late heroics with the bat, in the company of, at various times, Chloe Tryon, Trisha Chetty, Shabnim Ismail and Ayabonga Khaka.

Two key batters have not fired at all, with Lizelle Lee scoring just 28 runs in three innings and Mignon du Preez making 27 in four knocks. Plus Tazmin Brits has been uneasy at the crease and her 51 runs in four innings have come at a strike-rate of just 40.

If a couple of those batters can click next week, then South Africa will be hard to stop as they head into the knock-outs.

Magnificent is probably the best description of the Proteas bowlers, who can comfortably claim to be the best attack at the World Cup.

Ismail, Masabata Klaas, Khaka and Kapp apply such consistent pressure on the opposition throughout that the Proteas’ relatively low totals have proven to be enough.

As for the Proteas men’s side, they have their chance to once again enthral us in their series against Bangladesh. The ODIs are all on the highveld and South Africa will be favoured to win comfortably, having seen off the might of India 3-0 in their previous 50-over series.

Victory in the Test series will have to be achieved via their reserve strength, with five regulars deciding not to delay their departure for the IPL.

The fact is the IPL is their chief employer, at least in financial terms, so it is difficult to criticise the players for putting their livelihoods first.

But it is also unavoidable that Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen have both put their shaky Test careers in doubt by not playing against Bangladesh in the two-match series.

One of them was going to fall by the wayside anyway with Keegan Petersen returning, and Ryan Rickelton has been in such good form this summer that, if he finally gets the chance, he might just imitate Sarel Erwee and make an immediate impression.

It seems likely that Duanne Olivier or Marco Jansen will be joining Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje in the Proteas pace attack to take on India in their Test series starting on Boxing Day, and SA A coach Malibongwe Maketa believes left-armer Jansen has earned his shot at an international debut.

While the return of Olivier after nearly three years of being a Kolpak player has hogged the headlines – unsurprisingly given his outstanding domestic form – many observers of the SA A series against India A, that ended this week with the third successive draw, are extremely excited about a potential Test debut for Jansen.

The 21-year-old must have been a contender for the player of the series award that eventually went to leading run-scorer Sarel Erwee (251 @ 50.20). Jansen bowled much better than his final figures of six wickets at 31.83 suggest, and he also averaged 63.50 with the bat, producing some crucial lower-order runs.

“Marco is an unassuming guy in the way he goes about his business,” Maketa told Saturday Citizen on Friday, “he does the job without much fanfare. But his runs and his bowling ability have been invaluable.

“He’s been our aggressor with the ball, he’s the guy we’ve turned to to break partnerships. He had an unbelievable series and his call-up to the Test squad is very much deserved,” Maketa said.

Erwee is also in the Test squad but only likely to make his debut if one of the regular opening batsmen, captain Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram, suffer an injury or illness. But the left-hander was one of the SA A stars to send a clear message to the selectors that he has what it takes to succeed at international level, given he scored 38 and 41, and 75 and 97, in the last two matches against a powerful India A attack.

Paceman Glenton Stuurman is also in the Test squad, with the improvement he showed with the old ball pleasing Maketa and also showing the national selectors that he is progressing as a bowler.

Others to show their careers are on an upward curve were fast bowler Lutho Sipamla, who was the leading wicket-taker for SA A, and batsman Tony de Zorzi, who batted positively in accumulating 234 runs (second only to Erwee) at 46.80. Zubayr Hamza produced an outstanding unbeaten century in the last game, and Pieter Malan opened the series with a big hundred.

“To hold our own against a team of that quality showed that we need to keep investing in these players,” Maketa said. “It was a very good India A team and I’m pleased with our performance.

“In all the games we had opportunities to really put them in the corner, but we let those chances go, it was slightly disappointing that we let India A back in the game.

“But overall, I was pleased that we were able to get into those situations, that we gave ourselves those opportunities,” Maketa said.

It may no longer be a co-sanctioned event, but the allure of playing the SA Open at Gary Player Country Club and having a shot at hoisting that famous and imposing multi-tiered trophy certainly brought out the best of Neil Schietekat on the first day at Sun City on Thursday.

Schietekat fired a marvellous seven-under-par 65 to join Oliver Bekker at the top of the leaderboard and afterwards pronounced his love for the famous Gary Player-designed course, where he won the SunBet Challenge in 2018.

“In my opinion this is the best course in the country and it helps that I’ve won here before,” Schietekat said after collecting six birdies and an eagle. “Obviously I’m going to lean towards this course, but I do love it and I played it today the same way as when I won in 2018.

“When they moved the SA Open here last year, I thought that maybe gave me a better chance of winning it. There’s still a long way to go, but I hit some good shots today on a course that was quite soft.

“It no longer being co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour is another story, but everyone here still wants to win it. It’s still our national open and it’s still the same trophy that you’ll hoist if you do win,” Schietekat said.

Bekker went out early on Thursday morning and made a fast start from the 10^th hole with three successive birdies. The seven-time Sunshine Tour winner was out in 32 and then eagled the first as he came home in 33. Schietekat admitted he felt a bit of pressure chasing the score set by Bekker.

“The scores were pretty good in the morning and I was one-over through four holes, so you put a bit of pressure on yourself,” the 37-year-old from Harrismith said.

But he finally caught him with a run of three successive birdies from the fourth hole, having eagled the par-five first as he spun a pitch-shot back into the hole despite “cursing” himself for finding the fairway bunker from the tee.

Having enjoyed a fine season which includes eight top-10 finishes in 16 events, Schietekat looks well-equipped to win again at the Gary Player Country Club.

But European Tour campaigner Bryce Easton and the experienced Lyle Rowe are just one shot behind on six-under, while there is a group of four golfers tied in fifth place on five-under – Hennie du Plessis, Albert Venter, Heinrich Bruiners and Hennie O’Kennedy.

Former world top 50 golfer Justin Harding is three strokes off the lead after a 68, while the other favourites – Shaun Norris (69), Danie van Tonder (69), defending champion Christiaan Bezuidenhout (70), Dylan Frittelli (70), Dean Burmester (71) and Brandon Stone (72) – have some catching up to do but are decently placed.

Bulls coach Jake White all but admitted on Friday that it will be a long shot for his team to beat Leinster, symbols of all that is strong in European rugby, when they meet in their opening United Rugby Championship match at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday, but he added that it is a lengthy competition and whatever happens, South Africa’s champions will know how close they are to competing for honours up north.

Leinster won the last four editions of the Pro14 before the rebranding with the arrival of the four South African franchises, and they are also perennial contenders for the Champions Cup, Europe’s premier competition, having reached the knockout stages in 12 of the last 13 years and winning the title five times.

“It’s all an unknown for us but a great opportunity. Leinster are like the Barcelona of rugby and there’s not much I have to say to the team about playing them. It will be a great benchmark of where we are early on, it will be  a huge test coming up against guys who have played 30-40 Tests for Ireland and European finals. They are by far the leaders in European rugby.

“We have guys who have played against the same teams in the Currie Cup, which is a significant difference. So it’s going to be a massive fixture for us but it is a long tournament – we could play 21 more games. So one thing we can learn from Leinster is that it’s not so much about the first game, they have often been slow starters, it’s about how you adapt and evolve through the competition,” White said.

The Sharks, bridesmaids to the Bulls since rugby returned after Covid, have a similarly dauting task as they take on Munster, perennial runners-up to Leinster recently, on Saturday night. One gets the feeling the Sharks legged it to Ireland with some relief as their last match was yet another defeat to the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, the biggest margin of defeat in Currie Cup final history.

But the Sharks are traditionally good travellers and coach Sean Everitt knows they will be playing finals rugby once again, rather than the running game they would probably prefer.

“Munster are a well-drilled team who do not give you much, so it’s going to be about execution on the day. Johann van Graan is a well-organised coach, he’s been involved at the highest level with the Springboks and has brought a style to Munster that is very difficult to play against – they suffocate and strangle you. They are a well-oiled machine.

“Munster defend really well and have a strong kicking game – they want to trap you into playing in the wrong areas. So it’s going to be tough for us, but we are focused on what we need to do to succeed. We need to manage the game better and be more disciplined in that regard,” Everitt said.

The Stormers, given their recent troubles, will be grateful that they start against Italian opposition in the form of Benetton Treviso.

But Treviso were the team that destroyed the Bulls in the Rainbow Cup final and, given the Western Cape team’s struggles against their arch-rivals recently, they will have their hands full in northern Italy.