Ken Borland

South Africa’s top-order produced a terrible batting display in the first T20 against India in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, crashing to nine for five after being sent in to bat, and top-scorer Keshav Maharaj admitted that they had been caught unawares in the powerplay and needed to look at ways of ensuring such a parlous start does not happen again.

The Proteas eventually made it to 106-8 thanks largely to Maharaj’s greatly determined 41 off 35 balls, while there were also rearguard knocks by Aiden Markram (25) and Wayne Parnell (24). But despite a shaky start they saw them reduced to 17-2 in the seventh over, India cruised to victory by eight wickets with 20 balls to spare, thanks to unbeaten half-centuries by Lokesh Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav.

“We don’t want to dwell too much on the match, but there are things we can address and hopefully rectify,” Maharaj said after the awful start to the tour. “We do need to chat about how we started.

“When you are put under pressure like that then it’s very difficult to come back. But we showed some fight and we can build on that. It showed great character to go from nine for five to 106, we made a game of it and there are a lot of positives from that.

“But we need to adjust better against the new ball, they were getting a lot of swing, so we needed a change of plan and mindset. We didn’t expect the ball to swing so much, and the pitch was also two-paced, there was a lot of tennis ball bounce, so it was not easy.

“We need to find a way to combat the swing up front and our application at the top also needs to be looked at. But the ball was swinging prodigiously and we were just trying to get to the 16^th over and not get bowled out,” Maharaj said.

Losing five wickets in the powerplay was the difference between the two sides though, as Rahul dug in and Suryakumar scored an inspired 50 not out in 33 balls.

“With five wickets down in the powerplay, you’ve still got to be focused. We wanted to try and get to 16 overs and not get bowed out, and then unfortunately Wayne got out.

“Our seam bowlers also did really well in the powerplay, KG Rabada and Wayne were exceptional. Small moments went India’s way, but they batted exceptionally well.

“It was always going to be very difficult to come back from five wickets down in the powerplay, maybe it was a bit of rustiness on our part. Hopefully we can execute much better and make the second T20 more exciting.

“Conditions were in the bowlers’ favour, but full credit to Deepak Chahar and Arshdeep Singh for landing the ball in the right areas. They had us under pressure in the powerplay,” Maharaj said.

CAPE ST FRANCIS, Eastern Cape – Golfing in the sand dunes and bush of the St Francis Links can be a confusing experience for those who do not know one of South Africa’s top courses well and director of golf Jeff Clause, a Master PGA Professional, says the Vodacom Origins of Golf Sunshine Tour event that will start there on Thursday will be a test of temperament.

Being the fun-loving, entertaining character he is, Clause uses a song to describe how the professionals should approach the magnificent Jack Nicklaus designed course.

“It’s like the Kenny Rogers song The Gambler – ‘You’ve got to know when to hold them and know when to fold them’,” Clause says. “There are holes that demand much respect and others, if you’re with the wind, that you can attack.

“When you’re out there in the dunes, there’s more to the course than meets the eye. It can be visually distorting and often there is more room than what you see. I think this course really excels in some wind, but not necessarily the tough conditions we had on the first day of the pro-am.

“All links and coastal courses have wind as a factor in the design and we are generally an east-west course. There are three par-threes that go across north-south, and one par-four and one par-five, meaning there are 13 holes that will be either downwind or into the wind.

“The difference can be three clubs. But we’ve given golfers as much landing area as we can and the course is a lot more playable than when we opened in 2007. This will be our 12^th Vodacom Origins of Golf event and, in the first one, +9 made the cut, while 13-under was the winner last year,” Clause says.

“Our aim is to make it more than a putting contest. It takes more than that to win here. Why I love links golf is because it requires more shots. If you learn to play here, you can play anywhere.

“It’s more about shot-making, where you put the ball, where you leave it for the next shot. You can burn up every hole or you can blow it, so you need a strong mind around here.

“Steve Surry had a putt for 62 here last year in the PGA Championship, while on a bad day, pro golfers are tiptoeing around 90 here.

“Next year is the 100^th anniversary of the PGA Championship, and our aim is to return that tournament to past glories.

“But we also love the Vodacom Origins of Golf series, we love working with them, I like the format which brings the amateurs in to enjoy our course. We have property owners here who have bought because of this tournament,” Clause says.

The Paarl Royals have emerged from this week’s SA20 Auction with the most impressive roster of players, benefiting from a bold start to the auction and then a strong finish as they kept valuable bid money in reserve.

Having pre-bought T20 stars like David Miller, Jos Buttler and Obed McCoy, Paarl then netted two marquee bowlers from the first set of players to go under the hammer, getting Proteas lynchpins in Tabraiz Shamsi and Lungi Ngidi.

Jason Roy, Dane Vilas and Bjorn Fortuin, all with strong T20 pedigrees, came from sets two, three and six respectively, before a late flurry of bidding saw Paarl emerge from the express rounds at the end with half-a-dozen fantastic signings.

Former England captain Eoin Morgan was their penultimate pick for R2 million and the Royals have gained some great local talent in Boland stars Ferisco Adams and Imraan Manack, and hard-hitting batsmen Wihan Lubbe, Evan Jones and Mitchell van Buuren.

JP Duminy, in his first year as a head coach, said he will benefit from the experience of players like Morgan, captain Miller, Buttler and Roy.

“The team has an inexperienced coach so it needs a good bunch of leaders,” Duminy said with characteristic modesty. “Fortunately it played out that way.

“There’s a lot of leadership quality in the squad, Eoin Morgan is a World Cup winning captain, and David Miller will gain traction from that as he gets exposure to the captaincy.

“We know Jason Roy will be destructive up front and I’m sure he will find form in the next few months. We had planned for Donovan Ferreira, but that did not work out and then it was about who will fill the finisher role?

“Eoin is one of the leading finishers in world cricket and Evan Jones is someone for the future as well, and he will have the opportunity to learn from Eoin,” Duminy said.

While the Proteas’ leading run-scorer in T20 cricket said much of their success at the auction in Cape Town was ‘the rub of the green’, there is little doubt the Royals executed a carefully thought-out strategy, aiming for players who have done well in Paarl before.

“Bjorn Fortuin and Tabraiz Shamsi were pivotal to the success of the Paarl Rocks in the 2019 MSL, and I’ve already seen a pic on social media about how excited they are to play together again,” Duminy laughed an hour after the auction.

“And it’s good to see locals like Ferisco and Imraan in the squad; Ferisco sent me a message saying he will be bringing the whole of Robertson to our home games!”

Watching T20 cricket at Boland Park is set to once again be a real earful as well as an eye-catching experience.

Paarl Royals squad – Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Wihan Lubbe, David Miller, Eoin Morgan, Dane Vilas, Corbin Bosch, Bjorn Fortuin, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi, Obed McCoy, Evan Jones, Ferisco Adams, Mitchell van Buuren, Imraan Manack, Ramon Simmonds, Codi Yusuf.

PENNINGTON, KwaZulu-Natal – American Brooklin Bailey shattered the peace at the Selborne Park Golf Club on Thursday with a thunderous start as he cruised to a 64 and the first-round lead in the Gary & Vivienne Player Challenge.

Bailey eagled the par-five first hole on the course adjoining the Indian Ocean and then picked up birdies on the next two holes for a phenomenal four-under start through three holes, and although his run was ended by a bogey at the par-three fourth, he parred his way through to the turn.

The 28-year-old then cruised through the back nine in five-under 31 to post an eight-under-par 64, finishing the first day one shot ahead of the South African trio of Ruan Korb, Sean Bradley and Albert Venter.

The dropped shot on the fourth hole was Bailey’s only blemish as he collected seven birdies and an eagle to post his lowest round since joining the Sunshine Tour last year.

The Texan seems to have found some form after his maiden top-10 finish in the Sunshine Tour’s previous event – the Vodacom Origins of Golf Highland Gate tournament at the end of August.

Bailey worked his magic after Korb and Bradley, playing in the same three-ball, had already posted their 65s, so he did well to go under their marks.

Bailey said after his round that he just felt right at home from the get-go in the R1.2 million event.

“It’s the Bermuda Grass for me, we play on it in Texas and I just love it, my confidence just gets higher when I’m on it. Playing in the wind is also something we do a lot of in Texas, so all-in-all it was helpful for me,” Bailey said.

“You need to be patient on the Selborne course and I like that as well, but I also like being able to give it a go when you can. I like to know you can push it when you want to as well.

“I’ve just fallen in love with the Sunshine Tour, I think there are great opportunities here. The tour does a fantastic job of providing opportunities to advance our careers. Everyone here just wants to see you thrive and it’s healthy competition.”

The tournament is a tribute to the late wife of South Africa’s greatest golfer and the continuation of Gary and Vivienne Player’s legacy through the work of their foundation.

Bailey feels a connection to the nine-time Major champion and recognises the lustre of the event bearing the Player name.

“I actually watched Gary, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer play the Par-Three Tournament at Augusta for the last time together, so to be in contention in this event, attached to a golfer like Gary, is amazing.

“It makes me really want to sketch my own name in golfing history as well,” Bailey said.

Korb’s round caught alight after he began with three straights pars – despite both the first and third holes being par-fives – as the 28-year-old fired off four birdies on the trot from the fourth hole, and then also birdied nine and 10 for good measure. After his only bogey of the day, on the par-three 15^th, he finished birdie-birdie for his joint-best round of the season.

Bradley started his round birdie-birdie and picked up another shot at the par-four ninth hole, and also completed his round birdie-birdie after gaining successive shots on the 12^th and 13^th holes. It was the Royal Cape golfer’s best round of the season.

The in-form Venter, who is second on the Luno Order of Merit after his victory at the SunBet Challenge at Time Square last month, also reached seven-under-par as he blazed home in five-under 31.

Five players, including veteran Hennie Otto and amateur Kyle de Beer, shot six-under-par 66s.