Ken Borland

Spin bowler Keshav Maharaj played a vital innings in the first Test against England that provided a crucial cushion for the Proteas, and on Tuesday he praised batting consultant Justin Sammons for the great work he has done with all the batsmen, the lower-order included.

When Maharaj came to the crease at Lord’s late on the second day, South Africa had slipped to 210/6, losing three wickets for 23 runs as England captain Ben Stokes produced an inspired spell for his team.

But Maharaj helped regain the momentum by scoring a pugnacious 41, as he and Marco Jansen (48) added 72 for the seventh wicket in just 12-and-a-half overs.

Anrich Nortje then added 28 not out on the third morning, boosting South Africa to a decisive first-innings lead of 161. It has been noticeable how much the batting of the lower-order has improved, and those runs are vital for a team playing with just six specialist batsmen and no real batting all-rounder.

“When Mark Boucher took over as coach, he really made us work hard on our batting because he knew how vital 70 runs can be,” Maharaj said. “So there’s lots of time spent by us in the nets.

“Mark, Justin Sammons and the other coaches really put in a lot of work throwing to us. Sammo has been exceptional for the batting unit as a whole, and he makes sure us in the lower-order really take care of the nitty-gritty of batting.

“As a batting unit, I’m sure the top six want more centuries, they are very driven. I’m sure in the second and third Tests we will see some hundreds.

“SJ Erwee showed really good application and he and Dean Elgar really set a good platform for us. The middle-order did not really fire, but I’m sure they’ll get that right in this Test coming up,” Maharaj said.

Speaking of Elgar, Maharaj said his direct captaincy style had been one of the reasons for the Proteas turnaround in Test cricket.

“We are more sound as a unit, we are going about our business a lot better,” Maharaj said. “From Dean’s first tour in charge to the West Indies last year, he put a lot of clarity in place.

“That’s what we needed, a bit of a shake-up. Dean is very driven and the youngsters feed off him as things have aligned in terms of discipline and culture.”

But Maharaj also respects the strength of the English camp ahead of the second Test starting at Old Trafford on Thursday.

“We know England are fierce competitors and they will do everything to try and bounce back. They have played some really good cricket in the last year.

“They have fought out of situations where they weren’t favoured to win. They have some world-class players and we know what they are capable of,” Maharaj warned.

Paul Adams’ refusal to testify in Mark Boucher’s disciplinary hearing is an unfortunate development that will not only considerably weaken Cricket South Africa’s case, but also reflects badly on the former spin bowler and makes it harder for the current Proteas coach to clear his name in an unambiguous fashion.

Having showed an admirable level of courage in testifying at the Social Justice and Nation-Building hearings about an offensive team song the Proteas used in fines meetings in the late 1990s, Adams now seems to have lost his nerve when it comes to presenting and justifying the same evidence, but this time with Boucher’s representatives being able to cross-examine and test his claims.

It shows again that for SJN Ombudsman Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza to err so badly in allowing inflammatory allegations to be publicly aired without being properly subjected to legal processes has only created more headaches for Cricket South Africa.

Adams was also disingenuous in his weekend statement announcing his decision when he claimed he never meant to single out Boucher in his SJN testimony. While Boucher’s name was admittedly brought into the conversation by one of Ntsebeza’s legal assistants, Adams went on to say that Boucher “should come and say sorry, if that’s enough, but we can’t brush this under the carpet”.

Adams also went on to target Boucher’s appointment as Titans coach in 2016.

No amount of “sorry”s can fully cleanse the stain of being unjustifiably called a racist and Adams’ refusal to further discuss his allegations has denied Boucher the chance of properly exonerating himself if he is innocent of the offences his former team-mate accuses him of doing.

With Enoch Nkwe also not expected to testify, CSA’s entire case could quickly disintegrate. But the public may not be as quick to forget the allegations that were made against Boucher but which have never actually been disproven.

That could only have happened if Adams had availed himself to answer such probing questions as what other songs were sung, what songs did he participate in and who actually wrote the offensive lyrics?

Having provided the matches to those who are looking to burn down Boucher’s career, Adams has now slipped out of being held accountable for what he said.

Eight months ago, Clive Eksteen was ‘just’ a former Test cricketer whose passion for the sport remained. But now he has to apply the same cunning he showed as a spin bowler to Cricket South Africa’s commercial operations and this week he was dishing out praise to the KFC Mini-Cricket programme where it all begins in terms of the game in this country.

“This is where it all starts, it would be so much harder for us to implement our plans without a program like this,” Eksteen told the KFC Mini-Cricket National Seminar at Kruger Park. “This is not only about the pipeline, it goes way beyond that. We want to get cricket to all 55 million people in this country, to create a love for the game. Cricket has got to make a difference in this country, it has to play a crucial role, and it starts with the little kids. There are more than 100 000 involved in the programme, thanks to the more than 8000 coaches, which is enough to fill all six of our international stadia.”

“When Temba Bavuma played that awesome knock at Newlands, the TV ratings went through the roof and from that we can see how big this game can become in South Africa. We had 14 million unique viewers watching cricket last season and there were 500 000 tickets sold for people to go watch the cricket at the ground, which is 68% more than the previous year,” Eksteen said as he applied factual numbers rather than spin to his mode of attack.

For CSA, it is just as important to cultivate customers for their product: to have cricket fans going to the matches or watching on TV.

“We have the most diverse following of any sport in South Africa but we’re not finished yet, cricket must get to every part of the country, we want to create a passion for the game. It’s a hard sport, but it teaches you a lot and you make friends for life.

“There’s no doubt we have fantastic talent second to none, but not all the kids will become reasonable cricketers let alone internationals. But they can become passionate followers and that’s a win for us from a commercial point of view. Full stadia, people watching the game, that’s what drives the sport. For sponsors, it ultimately comes down to numbers and when your first program starts with over 100 000 kids, from very diverse backgrounds, then that’s a massive plus.

“Coaches make the biggest impact on kids and KFC Mini-Cricket creates that passion and love for the game, it’s our flagship program and the beginning of how we sustain the game,” Eksteen said.