Ken Borland

PRETORIA, Gauteng – Albert Venter led by four strokes after the first round of the SunBet Challenge hosted by Time Square Casino at the Wingate Park Country Club and the 26-year-old ensured he kept the door closed on his rivals in Thursday’s second round as he posted a solid three-under-par 69 to stretch that advantage to five strokes.

Venter will head into the final round on 12-under-par for the tournament, having shot a brilliant 63 in the first round.

There was a blustery wind in Pretoria on Thursday, just the sort of conditions in which a golfer could blow a lead on the hard and fast greens of Wingate Park, and Venter began his round cautiously, being level-par, with a birdie and a bogey, through his first eight holes.

But he was then able to tear around the turn with three birdies in the next four holes. Six straight pars coming in on the front nine completed a round which could only be considered a success.

“The wind picked up a lot today so my first few holes were not too bad. It was definitely trickier today to figure out which way it was blowing. Because the course is tree-lined, it swirls around a bit,” Venter said.

“There were quite difficult decisions to make over which irons to play. But we predicted the wind would pick up and the plan was to get my score as low as possible to build a bit of a cushion.

“Thankfully I kept my head in the game and managed to get a decent score. I can’t control what the other golfers do, but I am in a really good position,” Venter said.

On a hard day to shoot a really low score, Estiaan Conradie (69) and Jean Hugo (68) have done really well to position themselves as Venter’s closest challengers, on seven-under-par.

Luke Brown produced the round of the day, a 66 that included seven birdies to join Ruan Korb (70) on six-under for the tournament.

Venter won the Zimbabwe Open in May for his maiden Sunshine Tour title and will be able to learn from that experience in Friday’s final round.

“The big thing about winning is trying to get into those positions more and more, trying to get used to the atmosphere and nerves you face on the final day,” the Silver Lakes golfer said.

“I’ve been in quite a few situations like that in the last few years, although I wouldn’t say I’m experienced. But I’ve been in the situation before and I know how to deal with the nerves and the adrenaline.

“I can’t get ahead of myself, I have to stay patient and stick to my guns,” Venter said.

Sarel Erwee and Dean Elgar gave South Africa a solid start to their first innings as the Proteas reached 158 for two at tea on the second day of the first Test against England at Lord’s on Thursday.

Having bowled England out for just 165 in the first hour of the second day, Erwee and Elgar survived a testing 12 overs before lunch and then compiled an excellent opening stand of 85.

England, who huffed and puffed for a breakthrough, only broke the defiant partnership between the two left-handers when Elgar fell to a freakish dismissal. A leg-side delivery from Jimmy Anderson struck him on the thigh-pad and then bounced up to hit the back of his arm, sending it back on to Elgar’s stumps. Ironically, he had survived a couple of unplayable deliveries from Anderson earlier in his innings.

The South African captain was out for 47, a typically pugnacious innings, blunting the bowling and leading from the front.

Keegan Petersen then contributed 24 in a second-wicket stand of 53 with Erwee, before being caught in the slips off Matthew Potts. The most inexperienced of England’s pacemen was wayward against the two left-handers but was more settled against the right-handers.

Aiden Markram, back in the Proteas Test family after his successful IPL sojourn, then accompanied Erwee to tea, playing one gorgeous cover-drive for four off Anderson to reach 16 not out.

Erwee had got stuck in to score 60 not out and can be extremely proud of his effort. Gutsy, solid in defence and able to punish the bad ball he looks wonderfully determined not to give anything away.

Earlier, Kagiso Rabada duly completed his five-wicket haul, bowling superbly in the first hour of the morning session to finish with five for 52 in 19 overs.

England had resumed on a struggling 116 for six after the Proteas pacemen had dominated the 32 overs able to be played on the first day before rain washed out play. Ollie Pope was the key man for them on 61 not out, but the determined No.3 was the first batsman to fall on Thursday, in the fifth over of the day.

Rabada kept plugging away with great control and skill just outside the off-stump, and Pope inside-edged a big drive into his stumps to be bowled for 73.

A beautiful slower ball then accounted for Stuart Broad (15) and Rabada wrapped up his 12^th five-wicket haul in his 73^rd Test by trapping Jimmy Anderson lbw for a first-ball duck.

Left-armer Marco Jansen finished with two for 30 in eight overs and Anrich Nortje was also wonderful on the first day, finishing with three for 63 in 13 overs.

Hashim Amla’s skill was shining like a diamond in the Centurion gloom as his unbeaten half-century gave South Africa a solid platform on a SuperSport Park pitch on which steep bounce made batting hard in the fifth Momentum One-Day International against the West Indies on Wednesday.

Amla had moved to 54 not out off 52 balls, taking South Africa to 114 for two after 21 overs, midway through their innings in a match reduced to 42 overs a side due to rain.

The West Indies had won the toss and unsurprisingly elected to bowl first after bad weather wiped out two-and-a-half hours of play, and their pacemen were able to extract awkward bounce, some of it inconsistent, to trouble the South African top-order.

Cross-batted leg-side shots cost both Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis their wickets, while Rilee Rossouw was enjoying a few lives as he battled to 24 not out off 40 deliveries with just one boundary.

De Kock, playing his first game for the Proteas since doing his ankle ligaments at the same ground in mid-December, had just one scoring stroke, a lofted square-drive for four off Sheldon Cottrell, before Jason Holder removed him with his third delivery of the match.

De Kock tried to pull a shortish delivery away on the leg-side but could only splice the ball, sending a simple catch looping on the off-side.

Du Plessis hung around for 27 balls, hitting two fours, as he and Amla added a run-a-ball 53 for the second wicket, before Andre Russell banged one in head-high, a top-edged hook landing in fine leg’s hands. South Africa’s T20 captain was out for 16.

Rossouw, the ultimate in feast or famine batting it seems, came to the crease in the 11^th over in the number four position, the return of De Kock having shifted him out of the opening berth.

The left-hander was not always fluent at the crease, but he enjoyed some of the luck which has previously not been with him in the 13 other innings of his ODI career.

Seamer Carlos Brathwaite was the best of the West Indian bowlers, joining the attack in the ninth over and immediately dropping the run-rate with a tight line on the off stump, just 18 runs coming from the 26-year-old’s six-over spell.

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