Ken Borland

To make a star one needs enough heat and pressure to start nuclear fusion in a cloud of gas, but in a cricketing sense it’s all about CSA’s pipeline and KFC Mini-Cricket provides the masses of raw material that are necessary to find the ones that will glow brightly on fields around the country in the future.

KFC Marketing Director Thabisa Mkhwanazi says it is the biggest grassroots development program in the country, which is a big call, but the numbers back her up. More than 114 000 kids from 5584 schools were involved in the program last season, thanks to the dedication of nearly 9000 volunteer coaches and the excellent custodianship of CSA’s mass-participation manager, David Mokopanele.

Corrie van Zyl, CSA’s general manager of cricket, makes an even bigger call and says it is the best development program in the world. The fact that countries like Australia, India and England have been in contact wanting to know more about KFC Mini-Cricket, especially their marvellous Kids v Proteas Tour, suggests he may be correct.

I was privileged to attend the KFC Mini-Cricket National Seminar held in Kruger Park this week, which is an incentive for the top coaches of the previous season, a celebration of what has been achieved and a focused look at their future targets.

It may surprise some to know that I don’t recall hearing the word “transformation” once over the two days and that’s simply because, at that level, both coaches and players are already predominantly Black. Colour is one thing, but fixing the socio-economic conditions that make it so hard for any talented boy or girl to make it from the vast rural areas of our country is another matter altogether and KFC Mini-Cricket is probably the best weapon we have when it comes to taking the game to greater portions of our population.

Van Zyl was one of the speakers who addressed the delegates drawn from all 16 affiliates of Cricket South Africa and he pointed out in no uncertain terms that excellence at the highest level was non-negotiable, but that it was also dependent on grassroots development and vice-versa.

The former international fast bowler and national coach used the example of The Oaks Cricket Club from a small village near Hoedspruit where Cavaan Moyakamela, a coach with an extraordinary love for the game, mentors 70 children on a concrete slab.

“Imagine if a guy from The Oaks is chosen for the Limpopo U13 side, he will bring great passion and we can use and enhance that. Our dream is that a kid from that area can become a Protea, but there will be performance gaps – socio-economic factors that affect his health, physical and psychological development and his lifestyle – that we need to close for him.

“We cannot change the benchmark of international cricket, we have to take the players to that standard, and the responsibility of our coaches is to get the player there. If we don’t maintain excellence at international level then the grassroots suffers because we need money to develop that. They both depend on each other because the grassroots is the base of our game.

“KFC Mini-Cricket is the biggest part of that base, it is strong and built on the passion and dedication of the coaches. If we are to maintain excellence then we need quality coaching, so we need to grow coaches so the kids can grow under them. The growth of the program has been so good that with that base, the cream will rise to the top,” Van Zyl said.

Temba Bavuma spoke movingly about how he was first introduced to cricket via the program, getting to run around on the same Newlands ground where he scored his historic maiden Test century last summer; AB de Villiers is also a product, while the program is going strong in the remote regions of the former Transkei and Limpopo. It’s reach will only increase thanks to the wonderful news that KFC have extended their sponsorship of the program for another 10 years.

When the Kids v Proteas Tour came to Umtata, it was like the world’s greatest bazaar had hit town, such was the reaction.

“It brought Umtata to a standstill! Their little school was playing against the Proteas and it was magical. Many of the communities we have stores in hunger for this sort of development and our dream is for young people to look back and remember ‘the day KFC came to my small town with cricket’,” Mkhwanazi says.

It’s not exactly been a glorious week to be South African with disgraceful xenophobic attacks adding to the regular shame brought on the nation by corrupt leaders and authorities, and Eskom. But on the sporting front, Cricket South Africa (CSA) are facing humiliation as the threads start to come apart about what really happened in yet another World Cup disaster.

Mike Horn, the world-renowned adventurer, who became the first person to circumnavigate the equator under his own steam in 2000, and motivational coach, has no reason to lie about what happened in the changeroom ahead of the semi-final against New Zealand and his allegations of interference in selection have merely confirmed what just about everyone believes happened.

Remember, not one of the players has stood up and supported the “official” version provided by CSA and their staff, and neither has the Players’ Association.

The only possible reason for CSA to lie so blatantly about interference in selection is that they are ashamed of their own transformation model, because all right-minded people surely support the broader objectives of the policy?

And CSA are right to feel ashamed because they have shown little desire for ensuring that the goals of transformation are met, rather than merely fulfilling a quota and jumping into action when some heat is applied to them by politicians wanting a quick-fix rather than actually making the effort required to change our society.

Their utter disregard for the spirit of transformation was shown by Aaron Phangiso not getting a single game at the World Cup, a damning indictment of how shallow the whole #ProteaFire campaign was. If South Africa really were strong contenders to win the tournament, as their leadership constantly assured everyone, then it had to be utter nonsense that playing Phangiso against Ireland and/or the UAE would jeopardise their log position.

Half of the games the Proteas played in the World Cup were with only three players of colour, so why, if three was fine for the quarterfinal against Sri Lanka and the matches against West Indies, Ireland and Pakistan, did there need to be an intervention on the eve of the semi-final? Why didn’t the same interferer intervene for Phangiso?

The CSA board have shown before that they are as self-serving as any odium of politicians and there are members of that untrustworthy body who have previously severely undermined the Proteas and the players with cheap points-scoring efforts designed to further their own ambitions rather than the good of South African cricket.

With Horn having pulled the first thread out, the truth will eventually come out and then instead of having #ProteaFire, CSA will have been exposed as just one big #ProteaLiar.

But the CSA board are ruthless bullies and whoever breaks ranks can expect their privileged position in South African cricket to come to a quick end. Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat is the man sitting with the most egg on his face at the moment, but as an employee of the board, he will certainly lose his job if he reveals the truth.

It’s little wonder then that someone like Fanie de Villiers, whose out-of-touch views of South African cricket have led to him being persona non grata with the team, is sadly able to entice one of our brightest talents, Hardus Viljoen, into emigrating to New Zealand.

The basic truth, as it always has been, is that until Cricket South Africa have a board whose priority is the good of the game in this country and not their own ambitions and fiefdoms, real transformation will not be achieved.

Bulls coach Nollis Marais acknowledges that public expectation will be high when his new-look team start their SuperRugby campaign against the Stormers in Cape Town this weekend, but he wants to shield his team from those pressures.
“It’s time for the new blood to step up and they can learn from the guys who have played SuperRugby before. But I don’t want them to get caught up in the emotion of a Western Province versus Bulls game, we need to make sure that we are level-headed and don’t allow them to dictate how we play. I want the guys to just play, it’s going to be a big game but we must just look forward to it.
“As a coach, you always want to win trophies, but at the moment our aim is just to make the playoffs first,” Marais said.
And while most of the attention has been focused on the exciting Bulls backline and the major blow that is the loss of flyhalf Handre Pollard to injury, Marais said his attention has been on ensuring his team has a good set-piece.
“You need solid set-pieces to play any sort of attacking rugby. You have to at least win your own ball, to give yourself an attacking platform, sometimes it’s the only way to generate momentum.
“Handre is obviously a big loss because he brings a brand of attacking and physical play to flyhalf. But I used Tian Schoeman for the whole Currie Cup and he’s a good talent. Francois Brummer has been through the mill and they need to step up. But we can’t expect them to be Handre Pollard, they just need to be themselves,” Marais added.

Spaniard Adrian Otaegui took advantage of the friendlier conditions available at the start of the second round of the Tshwane Open at Pretoria Country Club on Friday, shooting a superb eight-under-par 62 to claim a two-stroke lead at the halfway stage of the co-sanctioned tournament.

Otaegui was in the first three-ball off at 6.40am and he set the tone for his round with birdies on the par-four second and third holes. Five birdies in a row from the eighth saw him surge up the leaderboard and he then made twos at both of the par-threes on the back nine, before bogeying the last to finish on 11-under for the tournament.

“We were first to tee off this morning and the conditions were perfect. I like playing that early and I did really well. I made a lot of birdies and I’m happy with my round. It was a good round from the beginning.

“The greens were perfect, because we opened the course. They were good yesterday, but when you play first the course is in very good condition and you can take advantage,” Otaegui said after his best round on the European Tour.

South African Merrick Bremner is two shots back at nine-under-par after a typically attacking approach brought him a four-under-par 66. He started his round at the 10^th hole but was level-par for the day after a bogey on the first, but four birdies would come in his last six holes to leave him alone in second place.

While joint overnight leader Morten Orum Madsen would come undone with two double-bogeys in his first four holes and successive bogeys around the turn, leaving him six shots off the pace on five-under, David Horsey kept himself in strong contention.

The Englishman started on the 10^th and put a double-bogey on the fourth behind him as he collected two birdies coming in to finish on eight-under, in a tie for third with South Africans Keith Horne and Trevor Fisher Junior, and Italian Edoardo Molinari.

Sunshine Tour Order of Merit leader Andy Sullivan had an icky round of 71 to miss the cut, while it also all went wrong for Lindani Ndwandwe, who posted a promising 68 in the first round before a run of five successive bogeys from the third hole saw him shoot 79 on Friday and also miss the cut.

The in-form Wallie Coetsee had steadily climbed the leaderboard with four birdies as he stood on the 18^th tee tied with Bremner on nine-under, but then suffered a major blow as his tee-shot found one of the numerous bunkers on a hole that is usually a par-five but is a par-four in this tournament.

The lapse led to a double-bogey which pushed Coetsee back down to seven-under, in a tie for seventh with fellow South Africans Dean Burmester and George Coetzee.

Conditions were definitely trickier on the second day at Pretoria Country Club, with sunny and warm conditions speeding up the greens and a capricious breeze making club selection tricky.

“I found the wind quite tricky. It was really swirling in completely opposite directions and I got a lot of clubs wrong compared to yesterday. You’re trying to make birdies with wedges in your hand and you’re hitting it five or 10 metres short because the wind changes on you. That can get quite frustrating. I think the wind was the biggest factor in why the scores weren’t that low,” Horne said after his 67.

Otaegui, who learnt the game at the same Real Golf Club de San Sebastian as former Ryder Cup captain Jose-Maria Olazabal, who is also his mentor, said Pretoria Country Club suited him.

“I like these type of courses that are old-style and have trees, so that you have to place the ball. You don’t need to hit it far, but rather put it in a place where you can attack the pins. Even if I missed a few tee shots today I hit some good irons and gave myself birdie chances,” the 22-year-old said.

He may be on top of the leaderboard at the moment, but Otaegui is not getting ahead of himself as he eyes his first top-three finish on the European Tour.

“I’m happy, but we still have a lot of way to go. It’s just 50% of the tournament and so many things can happen. I just have to be patient tomorrow. Let’s see if I’ve learnt something from these last two rounds,” he said.

Molinari, a two-time European Tour winner and a former Ryder Cup player, was slow out of the gate as he started on the 10^th, only making his first birdie on the 18^th hole. But he also picked up shots on the first and on his last two holes to put himself amongst the leaders.