Ken Borland

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One-day internationals between South Africa and New Zealand always seem to have added spice, mostly because on the odd occasion the Black Caps have managed to win, they have often been the key games that have hurt the Proteas the most.

Of the 55 ODIs the two countries have played against each other, South Africa have won 33 and New Zealand 18, with four no results.

World Cup matches have been particularly happy occasions for the Kiwis, starting back in 1992 when they played an ODI against South Africa for the first time, at Eden Park in Auckland.

Kepler Wessels’ team, fresh out of isolation, were pummelled by seven wickets with 15-and-a-half overs to spare as New Zealand brought a fresh approach to limited-overs cricket.

South Africa did win their 1996 World Cup meeting in Faisalabad, thanks to their superb fielding and a fiery half-century from Hansie Cronje, and swept to victory at Edgbaston in 1999 after a brilliant all-round display by Jacques Kallis.

But since then, the Black Caps have notched three successive World Cup wins, with the trouble starting in Johannesburg in 2003 when Stephen Fleming’s great 134* powered New Zealand to victory and overshadowed Herschelle Gibbs’s wonderful 143, leaving the hosts on the brink of elimination and giving the visitors their first ODI win in South Africa.

New Zealand also took the spoils on the tropical island of Grenada, just off South America, in the 2007 World Cup, winning by five wickets to clinch a semi-final berth.

The 2011 World Cup defeat in Dhaka was perhaps the saddest of the lot because South Africa were riding high, their form steadily growing as they reached the quarterfinals, before Jacob Oram brutally chopped them down on a deteriorating pitch.

It felt like the apocalypse but, to their credit, South Africa rebounded by whitewashing the Kiwis 3-0 in New Zealand less than a year later in their most recent ODI meeting.

Despite all the World Cup pain they have inflicted, it is clear New Zealand will be up against it in the three ODIs between January 19 and 25. They have limped their way to just two victories in 18 previous matches against South Africa here, but perhaps it will suit the tourists that the games will be played in the smaller venues of Paarl, Kimberley and Potchefstroom.

With Ross Taylor, his captaincy having been called into question, on sabbatical, New Zealand will rely heavily on new skipper Brendon McCullum to lead the batting, while there will also be a heavy load on the shoulders of 34-year-old all-rounder Oram.

The attack is also missing key experience with spinner Dan Vettori out injured, but there is potential aplenty in young seamers Tim Southee and Trent Boult, while veteran Kyle Mills usually enjoys conditions in South Africa.

The ODI series kicks off on Saturday a.m., January 19 in Paarl and South Africa will no doubt be eager to repay one of their arch-enemies for all that World Cup misery.

But it is clear the Proteas ODI squad is still a work in progress, with coach Gary Kirsten having an eye firmly on the next World Cup final at the end of March 2015, probably in either Sydney or Melbourne.

At the moment, there are places open in the team, with perhaps a third of the squad still not settled, but there is no reason to fear that. Kirsten and the selectors should have an amnesty from criticism as they sift through the potential talent and they will no doubt have plans to introduce some new faces in this series.

And, with Paarl, Kimberley and Potchefstroom renowned for being three of the driest places in the country, rain is unlikely to interfere with those plans!

Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, the venues for the two Tests against New Zealand this summer, are the two South African cities most like Auckland so the tourists should feel right at home.

And, while the Kiwis have generally had an awkward time in South Africa, losing 14 of the 21 Tests they have played here, two of their three triumphs have come at the two coastal cities.

And, just to make Brendon McCullum’s visitors feel even more at home, they will land in South Africa 50 years after they won Tests in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth – their first ever overseas – to share the 1962 series 2-2.

South Africa’s team is a totally different beast these days, however. They are the number one ranked team in Test cricket and the record-breaking exploits of Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander are the greatest in the country’s history.

Back in 1962, South Africa were a team in transition. Captain Jackie McGlew, swashbuckling batsman Roy McLean, wicketkeeper Johnnie Waite and fast bowlers Peter Heine and Neil Adcock were all at the end of their careers, while Eddie Barlow, Peter Pollock, Colin Bland and Tiger Lance were all playing in their first series and would go on to form part of the team that dominated world cricket at the end of the decade.

Having beaten their hosts by 72 runs in the second Test in Cape Town and by 40 runs in Port Elizabeth, New Zealand promptly won their first Test back in South Africa after isolation, winning by 137 runs at the Wanderers in 1994, but since then the Proteas have had a perfect record at home against the Black Caps.

In fact, since losing by nine wickets in Auckland in 2004, South Africa have been totally dominant in Tests against New Zealand.

Ken Rutherford, who captained New Zealand to that 1994 triumph at the Wanderers, is now living in Johannesburg and he believes his countryman are definitely the underdogs.

“On paper, New Zealand are clearly up against it. It will be a huge challenge against the world’s number one team. South Africa have half-a-dozen world-class players, while the current New Zealand team maybe just lacks a bit of star quality.

“South Africa have individuals who can take the game away from you. But New Zealand haven’t played good Test cricket for a while because they haven’t yet recognised that in one hour, someone can take the whole match away from you, they’re less able to spot those opportunities,” Rutherford said.

While the visiting batsmen should find the going relatively easy at Sahara Park Newlands – New Zealand scored 593 for eight declared (Stephen Fleming 262) in their last match there – Port Elizabeth, especially if it is cloudy, could be an entirely different prospect.

With a bit of grass on the pitch, Steyn, Morkel, Philander and Kallis will be out to break the Geneva Convention, but the visiting attack will also enjoy those conditions.

While the Black Caps are without second leading wicket-taker Dan Vettori, whose left-arm spin has frequently chained the South African batsmen down, Chris Martin has prospered against the Proteas before and is the leading wicket-taker in Tests between the two countries. Doug Bracewell has had his moments too, while Trent Boult and Tim Southee are two talented youngsters and Neil Wagner is returning to the country of his birth.

New Zealand’s batting will revolve around the ever-dangerous McCullum, while Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson are not to be underestimated. Their best batsman, Ross Taylor, is not touring however and his replacement, Peter Fulton, did not have a happy time in South Africa in 2005/6, scoring just 65 runs in four innings.

South Africa’s limited-overs contests with New Zealand have often been antagonistic affairs and the abbreviated, all-action nature of T20 cricket means the adrenaline and intensity can only be ramped up a couple of notches.

The history of T20 matches between the two nations goes back to October 2005 when New Zealand played the first T20 international on African soil, beating the Proteas by five wickets at the BidVest Wanderers Stadium.

Since then, however, South Africa have had a clear advantage over the Black Caps, winning six of the last seven encounters.

Those wins have not always been clearcut, however, with South Africa winning off the last ball at the Wanderers in November 2007, by one run at Lord’s in the 2009 ICC World T20, and by just three runs in their last meeting with the Kiwis.

That victory in Auckland in February, bowlers Marchant de Lange, Morne Morkel and Johan Botha strangling the hosts in the last five overs, clinched a hard-fought series win for the Proteas.

New Zealand, led by the chic batting of Martin Guptill, had won the first game and should have won the decider, but were blown away by Richard Levi in the second match.

It seems a long time ago that Levi blasted his astonishing 117 not out off just 51 balls in Hamilton, breaking the world records for fastest T20 century (45 balls) and most sixes (13). The 24-year-old almost inevitably lost form after suddenly finding himself in the international limelight and, by the end of the ICC World T20 in October he had been dropped. But the Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras opener has regained his touch and has been one of the star performers in the Momentum One-Day Cup this year.

The whole ICC World T20 affair is one Proteas coach Gary Kirsten will want to put behind him as quickly as possible as the former India coach completed a miserable record of having lost all nine of the matches he has been involved in in the SuperEights stage of that competition.

The next T20 world cup will be upon us apace in Bangladesh in April 2014, the year before the 50-over World Cup South Africa so desperately want to win, and Kirsten will begin the process of building a new squad when the Proteas face New Zealand in three internationals in Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth over the Christmas period.

Success in twenty20 international cricket has not come as swiftly for Hashim Amla as he would have liked, but Levi has surely done enough to earn a recall, while it is clear Faf du Plessis has what it takes to excel for South Africa in all formats.

Then again, Amla showed during his magnificent 196 off just 221 balls in the Perth Test against Australia that he has the ability to put any attack to the sword, so that trio could make a perfectly acceptable top three.

Jacques Kallis, the most complete cricketer South Africa has ever produced, deserves a rest before the Tests, but AB de Villiers is the perfect batsman to anchor the middle-order.

JP Duminy’s unfortunate injury does leave a hole, however, with Farhaan Behardien and Justin Ontong not enjoying totally convincing form at domestic level.

With Johan Botha, South Africa’s most successful T20 spinner, also out of contention and Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn possibly resting after their heavy workloads in 2012, Kirsten has the chance to clean the slate and introduce some new faces.

Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Ryan McLaren, Hardus Viljoen, Andrew Birch and Aaron Phangiso are all players who have covered themselves in glory in recent months.

New Zealand, meanwhile, are still tearing their hair out over their inconsistency and have injury problems to boot, with Dan Vettori ruled out of the tour with an achilles problem.

A South African has not won the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City in five years, but the two firm home favourites, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, both downplayed their chances at the Gary Player Country Club on Wednesday.

Schwartzel is the more familiar with the great course at Sun City and will be making his fourth appearance when the $5-million tournament tees off on Thursday.

But the 28-year-old’s form disappeared after a freak rib muscle tear in June and is only just showing signs of reappearing, leaving Schwartzel unsure of his chances.

Oosthuizen, meanwhile, began the year with victory in the African Open and added the Malaysian Open crown in April, but has failed to win since then, even a run of five successive top-10 finishes in recent weeks not entirely cheering him up.

The 30-year-old has also had to weather the disappointment of two playoff losses this year, including the heartbreak of just missing out on the Masters title won by Bubba Watson at Augusta.

Ranked number seven in the world, Oosthuizen is one of the hottest golfers on the planet right now, but he was surprisingly downbeat about his chances at Sun City.

“It’s been frustrating because I feel I’ve been playing better than my finishes. I guess I’m satisfied with the year overall, but disappointed that I lost twice in playoffs. I just haven’t been putting myself in good positions come Sunday.

“I always say I want three wins a season, I’ve got two, so to win here this weekend would end the year on a high,” Oosthuizen said on Wednesday.

Oosthuizen, whose previous appearance in the NGC was a last-place finish in 2010, expects two-time defending champion Lee Westwood to be his biggest obstacle, particularly since the Englishman can call his driver into service on most holes.

“I forgot how narrow the fairways are and how thick the kikuyu is. The rough is really thick all around the fairways and greens, because of the recent rain, so you have to drive straight or you’re going to struggle. The greens are running pure but the rain has made them a bit slow and you just have to adapt to the speed,” Oosthuizen said after his pro-am round on Wednesday.

“So you have to think that Lee Westwood’s name is going to be right up there. He has an amazing record around this course, he’s a world-class player and one of the best ball-strikers in the game.

“He drives the ball so straight and he has great iron play, so he gives himself so many opportunities for birdies. He’s able to take driver on a lot of holes where the rest of us take three-wood, that’s how confident he is with that club,” Oosthuizen said.

Schwartzel, born and raised in Gauteng, said he was actually not entirely comfortable on the 7162-metre Gary Player Country Club course.

“It’s always a fantastic week here and I’ve always loved the golf course, but it’s not really suited to my game. I’m a fader of the ball and you mostly see holes moving left-to-right here with the fairway slopes. So you need to draw the ball here to do well,” Schwartzel said.

The 2011 Masters champion’s main problem this year has been the changes to his swing caused by the rib injury he suffered at the U.S. Open.

“It was a bit of misfortune when I tore my intercostal – I don’t even know how it happened, I basically sat down and could hardly breathe – and it halted my pretty good form up till then.

“I came back two or three weeks early because I wanted to play in the Open, but I created some bad habits in my swing to play around the injury. That led to a lot of inconsistency and frustration.

“But for the last month-and-a-half, I’ve been pain-free and I’m getting the swing back to where it was. But it’s been a long process coming back from that injury and I’m not expecting anything this week. If I have a good week and play the way I know I can, then I’m easily capable of winning. But it’s too early to say what’s going to happen, even though things are definitely turning,” Schwartzel said.

Justin Rose was, like Schwartzel, born in Johannesburg, but the Englishman is now at home in all the great cities of the world having won four titles in America, five in Europe, two in South Africa and one each in Japan and Australia.

With the minimum of fuss, he has risen to number four in the world rankings – the best in the NGC field – and his recent form includes a brilliant 62, the low round of the tournament, in the final round of last weekend’s World Tour Championship in Dubai, where he finished second to world number one Rory McIlroy.

Westwood, Schwartzel and Oosthuizen will all have maximum respect for Rose and his ability to claim the spoils at Sun City, while they will also no doubt see former world number one Martin Kaymer as a threat.

Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts is likely to be a crowd favourite, with the spectators getting to see just how far he does smite the ball, but he will have to marry consistent accuracy to his tremendous power in order to win the title.

There is a third South African in the field in Garth Mulroy, who qualified by virtue of winning the 2011 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, but it is difficult to see the world number 201 having the game to beat the rest of the field which also includes resurgent 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie.

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