Ken Borland

Each and every Proteas supporter will have their own view on how the team is performing and where it is heading, and many are not shy to share that on social media, but national coach Mark Boucher said after the T20 series loss to Pakistan that public opinion is not something he listens to.

“I would have probably hanged myself long ago if I was worried about public opinion. We will stick to our guns, the players themselves came up with the way we want to play. But I take a massive amount of responsibility for our defeats, I won’t shy away from that. If you can’t handle the pressure then you should get out of the kitchen, but I am looking forward to getting the first-choice squad back.

“I am extremely hurt by this series loss but I am not going to panic because I understand there have been trying circumstances. The injuries to Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen were big losses on top of the five players going to the IPL. But we were dealt those cards and I have to try and win with those. It’s been very frustrating to not win more series and I understand how the public feels,” Boucher said after South Africa lost the last T20 off the penultimate ball to lose the series 3-1.

While the series reflected positively on the abilities of Aiden Markram, Janneman Malan, Lizaad Williams and George Linde to step up, there is still the nagging doubt that South Africa’s fringe players have the necessary skills for the Proteas to return to being powerhouses of international cricket. Boucher said the next couple of months will be spent on up-skilling players.

“I’ll have a week or so break and then I’ll get back into it. This break is not really going to be an off-season, it’s an opportunity to up-skill ourselves and build up the fitness levels so we have the intensity and energy required to match the best in the world. There will be a lot of skill work in this short period of time and hopefully our efforts will start showing in the West Indies in June.

“My wish is that we get back to winning again and I do believe we will do that when we get our full-strength squad back. Quite a few of these players can hold their heads high, but we can see the next group of players is quite rough around the edges – they are good in patches, but in international cricket you can’t afford that, you need to be polished all round,” Boucher said.

Bulls coach Jake White has never been averse to stirring up a bit of controversy and, although he does not have much of a social media presence he knows very well how to stoke up conversation before a big game. And in South African rugby, matches don’t get much bigger than the Currie Cup final, which the Bulls will host against the Sharks on Saturday.

But this week White, who admitted that he still feels the pressure of crunch matches, has been strangely restrained and even went as far as to suggest the Sharks might be favourites because half of their team have won the Currie Cup previously. Knowing how canny Jake is though, this is almost certainly some sort of mind game and he will ensure his Bulls team are the most inhospitable of hosts on Saturday.

That’s the thing about  the 57-year-old White, who has been a top-level coach now for almost 20 years, dating back to when he led the Junior Springboks to the U21 World Cup crown in 2002 – there is always a plan and it usually comes off. From utterly transforming a Springbok team that was in disarray in 2004 into World Cup champions in 2007, winning a rare Tri-Nations title along the way, he then took the Brumbies to the 2013 SuperRugby final and the Sharks to the 2014 semifinals, before leading Montpellier to the European Challenge Cup in 2016.

“I’ve been in enough finals and playoffs to know how it works and you can never take away the pressure. So I still feel the pressure and myself and the players will make mistakes, but a final brings the best out of certain players and they take their opportunities. There’s a real buzz in the squad, it’s so nice to be in the changeroom, you can just feel it.

“This is a very proud and driven team, they have a great hunger to win the Currie Cup and I just need to channel that the right way. I felt what it was like to win in the 2007 World Cup and I would like to taste that again, although it doesn’t get easier. But hopefully I can transfer my experience and the lessons I have learnt to the team. I’ll be trying to keep them calm and they must just enjoy the moment,” White said.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt (51) would have had a lot of interaction with White in 2014 because he was one of the Sharks’ assistant coaches, but the relationship between the head coach, his assistants and the players reportedly became strained leading to the World Cup winner spending just a year in Durban.

White was accused of being dictatorial but he has certainly softened since then, and is well-versed in global modern rugby trends.

Everitt’s coaching stock has certainly grown hugely since then as well, and Brad MacLeod-Henderson, who coached with him at the Sharks, winning the Currie Cup in 2013, described him as being a mentor who placed more responsibility on the players.

“Sean is more collaborative, he won’t pitch up and say ‘this is what we are going to do’. He will help the players make the right decisions, depending on the cues the opposition give them. As a former backline player, he’s more creative and he’s in favour of ball-in-hand rugby and having a go. But he wants the players to have a look first; if it’s on, have a go, if not, go to the air. It’s about space and getting the balance right.

“Sean is a great guy and all the players respond well to him being a good person. They have a lot of respect for him, he’s well-liked by the players and they will go the extra mile for him. He has created a good environment  and that’s why the players want to be in Durban because they’re happy on the field,” MacLeod-Henderson told Saturday Citizen on Friday.

GolfRSA have sought clarity from government over the status of golf courses and clubs when South Africa’s Covid-19 Lockdown is eased to Level III on June 1, after the spread of rumours on social media that while Sunshine Tour professionals will be able to resume competition, golf courses and clubs will remain closed for amateur or recreational golf.

Officials from GolfRSA, which runs all golf in the country and technically even represent the professionals of the Sunshine Tour, are known to have had discussions on Monday afternoon with Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa but will not comment further than the statement they issued prior to that conversation on Monday.

“Following President Ramaphosa’s speech on Sunday night …, GolfRSA – on behalf of the delegation representing the golf industry – is waiting for the Level III Lockdown regulations to be gazetted before making any comment. Meanwhile, we are urgently seeking clarity on golf’s position from government,” the statement read.

The Level III regulations could be published as quickly as Tuesday.

GolfRSA have previously submitted a proposal for the reopening of golf courses and clubs to the minister, which he then took to the Command Council. Insiders have told The Citizen that the submission focused on the obvious reasons for allowing golf to be played, such as the safety of the sport in terms of social distancing, all the studies which indicate it is a valuable source of exercise, and the socio-economic factors. Re-opening courses and clubs would allow more than 40 000 people, many of them vulnerable low-income workers, to return to work. The golf industry as a whole employs more than 250 000 people.

The long suspension of golf has seen eight clubs permanently close their doors and 34 others are considering retrenchments.

In terms of professional golf, the U.S. PGA Tour will kick off with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, from June 11, but it’s going to be a long wait for the many South Africans on the European Tour, which will restart with the British Masters from July 23. Both tours will return to play without any spectators allowed.

The Sunshine Tour are believed to feel it is more important to get amateur and recreational golf up and running first because the professional game is not keen to play without spectators.

The last couple of weeks in social media have shown that we really are a nation prone to hysteria and thoroughly unreasonable presumptions. And I’m not referring to Penny Sparrow or Velaphi Khumalo, both of whose outrageous comments have been met with the storm of disgust they deserve.

Instead, it is the treatment of the South African cricket team, and especially players like Hashim Amla and Temba Bavuma, that has irritated me immensely.

We have a tendency in this country to criticise and call for this person or that person to “Fall”, never considering context, whether there is someone capable of replacing the subject of our derision, or the many great things the person may have done in the recent past.

South African cricket fans can count themselves blessed beyond measure that they have a person like Hashim Amla representing them: a truly great batsman respected worldwide and a person of tremendous fortitude, integrity and decency, a colossal figure in uniting the dressingroom.

But a bad year, capped by a poor performance in Durban in the Boxing Day Test, and Amla was being crucified, so-called Proteas supporters spewing vitriol at one of this country’s finest men. I was not surprised when he decided to relinquish the captaincy; having taken it on reluctantly, doing it out of a noble sense of duty, the hysterical reaction to his mistakes and the struggles of the team would have hurt and almost certainly contributed to his feeling that someone else could do the job better.

I can remember when Graeme Smith – South Africa’s most successful Test leader – started the captaincy: He made mistakes too, but he was given time to grow into the position and learn from those errors. Of course, Smith fitted the public perception that a captain should be square-jawed and vocal, leading from the front; but some great leaders lead by example and are more cerebral, in the mould of Mike Brearley, who turned England cricket around.

AB de Villiers can certainly do the job, but does he have the desire to play in every Test (as the captain must) for the next five years, plus handle the onerous off-field duties of the skipper, having already complained about his workload?

Amla revealed his feeling in his post-match press conference that he was doubted due to his skin colour and despite his domestic figures suggesting he was eminently qualified for the step up. The treatment of Bavuma these last couple of weeks shows that Amla has a point and that old prejudices still run deep.

Bavuma is but at the start of his international career and yet was written off by many critics, few of whom have paid any attention to domestic cricket, where the 25-year-old has consistently been amongst the leading run-scorers in the Sunfoil Series. Bavuma had batted seven times in Tests before his breakthrough, superb century at Newlands, scoring one half-century but showing enough mental grit and adaptability, especially in India, to suggest he could prosper.

Jacques Kallis took eight innings to get past 50 for the first time and made his first century in his 10^th knock.

I have the unmistakeable feeling, as one person suggested on social media, that being a player of colour in the national team brings with it an automatic tainting, an attitude that quotas have earned them the place, that they are mediocre until they prove otherwise several times.

Apart from the continued and inexplicable absence of Stephen Cook as a specialist opener, the current players in the South African squad are the best available in the country. The domestic figures show that and perhaps the critics should study the game at all levels and ditch the prejudices of the past.

In the meantime, we should all savour the magnificent comeback by the Proteas in Cape Town, a sure sign that the spirit and fight remains and the leadership within the squad is still sound.