Ken Borland

The players, through their union, the South African Cricketers Association, have now had their say in the governance crisis in South African cricket and have questioned whether the Members Council is acting in the best interests of the game.

Cricket South Africa stands on the brink of no longer being recognised by the Minister of Sport and therefore unable to represent the country internationally, after the events of the Special General Meeting last weekend in which the Members Council refused to ratify the proposed amendments to the constitution that would have ushered in a more independent board of directors.

SACA accused the Members Council of acting in bad faith.

“We respect the fact that the Minister has shown great patience in dealing with the governance crisis, and the events as they unfolded at the Special General Meeting of 17 April 2021, were in bad faith and disrespectful not only to his office, but to all cricketers and the public. Government intervention in the sport will have dire consequences, the full extent of which we do not yet know.

“The right to represent South Africa may be withdrawn and the ICC may suspend Cricket South Africa. These outcomes will in turn impact touring, broadcast rights and sponsorship deals. Ultimately the financial viability of the game will suffer and cricket at all levels will be severely prejudiced. The Members’ Council has now acted contrary to the wishes of the Minister, the Nicholson Recommendations, King IV Governance principles, and international best practice – how can this be in the best interests of our game?,” SACA said in a statement released on Monday night and signed by national captains Temba Bavuma, Dane van Niekerk and Dean Elgar.

SACA pointed out that these events will be particularly injurious to the women’s game in South Africa. The last 14 months have been smooth sailing for the Proteas Women, as they have reached career-high rankings in the sport. But all their had work will be undone if CSA aquaplane out of control and drive cricket off a bridge.

“The Momentum Proteas Women’s team has enjoyed unparalleled success over the past 14 months, and the women’s game in South Africa is on the verge of significant expansion. The development of the game is now under serious threat, and at a time when we should be enthusiastic about the future, we have to be concerned about its future.
“The Proteas Men’s team has an ICC World T20 Event in November. Preparation has already started for this event, and the current state of cricket administration undermines our work in this regard. It may even lead to our suspension from this event should the ICC decide to suspend South Africa. To the sponsors, we apologise for the actions of our administrators who have undermined and betrayed your commitment to the sport,” the statement says.

The Bulls got away with their ill-discipline at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night as they snuck through 34-29 against the Stormers in their preparation series match.

The Bulls would have wasted a 34-26 lead in the final minute were it not for Stormers eighthman Juarno Augustus dropping the ball when he was clear over the tryline. The try was close enough to the poles for the conversion – and a 36-34 win for the visitors – to be almost a formality.

It was their own ill-discipline in the first half which saw the Bulls trailing 7-20 after 34 minutes as the Stormers used a rash of penalties, and the problems the Bulls had throughout the night at scrum-time, to take control of the match through two tries by powerful wing Leolin Zas.

The Bulls did strike back before halftime when hooker Joe van Zyl scored from a rolling maul, and then an excellent second half saw them mount a trademark comeback.

Wing Marco Janse van Vuren forced his way through three tacklers to score, followed by lock Ruan Nortje dotting down after flank Marco van Staden surged off a lineout drive. The Bulls then earned a penalty try after a superb break by centre Cornal Hendricks, with Stormers centre Ruhan Nel yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-down which prevented the offload and an almost certain try being scored.

The Bulls were in control as the final minute approached, with replacement flyhalf Morne Steyn adding a penalty for a 34-26 lead, but their discipline then went walkabout again.

Nortje was yellow-carded for yet again going in on the side of a maul, Tim Swiel kicking a penalty to make it 29-34. The Bulls understandably went deep with the restart, but were a bit stand-offish in defence and at the rucks, and then conceded a couple of penalties to allow the Stormers to set a lineout five metres from their line.

Were it not for the calamitous error by Augustus, the Bulls would have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Bulls coach Jake White said before the match that he did not care too much about the result, but was more interested in his team honing certain aspects of their play.

The scrum certainly needs some work, they could do with more accuracy at lineout time and over-eagerness was often their worst enemy. The positive is that the Bulls managed to retain possession for long periods of the second half and with a bit more focus they would have won comfortably.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Richard Kriel, Joe van Zyl, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Ruan Nortje, penalty try. Conversions: Chris Smith (2). Penalty: Morne Steyn.

Stormers – Tries: Leolin Zas (2). Conversions: Kade Wolhuter (2). Penalties: Wolhuter (3), Tim Swiel (2).

Sharks coach Sean Everitt bemoaned the errors that were littered throughout their game and through the full 80 minutes as being the reason for their exciting 39-38 loss to the Free State Cheetahs in their preparation match in Bloemfontein on Wednesday night.

The Sharks dominated possession and territory in the first half but were 28-7 down as the Cheetahs thrived on attacking off turnover ball, before the visitors pulled a try back to go into the break 12-28 down. The second half was a thrilling affair as the Sharks fought back and claimed a 38-36 lead, only for back-to-back mistakes to allow the Free Staters to kick a last-minute penalty to win the match.

“Our accuracy in execution let us down over the full 80 minutes and an example of that was the four or five attacking lineouts we had 10 metres out which we did not convert. But it was not one particular area that was affected by mistakes, it was all areas – kickoff receipt, lineouts, scrum penalties, breakdown. So we made a lot of errors which cost us,” Everitt said.

Replacement flyhalf Manie Libbok was at the heart of some dazzling rugby in the second half, coolly taking on the defensive line with his sleight of hand and foot, but Everitt was particularly pleased with the showing of the replacement front row, where things have headed south for the Sharks before.

“We did well though to fight back and be in a position to win. We always want to play ball-in-hand, but we can only do it if the conditions and the opposition allow it. We will kick if that’s maybe where the opposition weakness is. But playing attacking rugby needs a solid platform. All attack starts at set-piece and depth in the front row is vitally important,” Everitt said.

“We learnt some hard lessons in the Currie Cup but it was tough for those up-and-coming front rowers because Covid meant they did not get enough game-time and they weren’t able to scrum as much as they would have liked in training. But to see Ntuthuko Mchunu carry the ball and scrum like he did was very pleasing, especially since he was an eighthman at Maritzburg College two years ago before heading down to Durban. With him and Michael Kumbirai we are really growing our depth.”

It is certainly part of Proteas coach Mark Boucher’s mandate to ensure a steady flow of youngsters come through and perform at international level, but his No.1 priority is for South Africa to have a winning cricket team, hence his decision to stick with veteran former captain Faf du Plessis, a move which was thoroughly justified in the first Test against Sri Lanka.

The 36-year-old Du Plessis scored a magnificent, career-best 199, an innings which began under pressure with South Africa slipping from 200 for two when he came to the crease, to 220 for four. Thanks to the class and skill of Du Plessis, and the help of the lower-middle order, the Proteas were able to post 621, setting up an innings win that seemed most unlikely when Sri Lanka scored 396 batting first. It was the third highest first innings total South Africa have conceded in a Test they have gone on to win.

There is no doubt a rebuilding Proteas team thoroughly enjoy having the cool, calm wisdom of Du Plessis still around. Not least of all the new captain, Quinton de Kock.

“It’s important to have senior guys with experience. People always talk about youngsters coming through but you need a balance. Faf really showed his experience, you need that under pressure, he showed his leadership and how to handle the pressure because he’s been through those situations many times before,” De Kock said after the first Test.

“It helps me too to have good leaders in the team and although I’ve never captained a team before in first-class cricket, I have stood next to Faf for most of my Test career so I very much knew what the captaincy was about.”

Boucher, who has taken a lot of flak in the last year for sticking with his former captain, described the presence of Du Plessis as being like “gold dust”.

“I know what Faf is worth, I understand what he has done for South Africa. He’s a great player who went through a bit of a dip in form but his place was never under pressure for me. You need experience and he showed that in this game. He did very good work over the Covid Lockdown period on his technique and he looks very comfortable at the crease now.

“He really wanted to score big runs and he is gold dust to us. It’s nice to have him in such good form and good spirits. We’re going to need him in the big series coming up,” Boucher said after the Centurion triumph.

After the Test series loss to England at the start of 2020, I wrote a column [https://citizen.co.za/sport/sport-columnists/2236293/dont-savage-faf-yet-he-had-a-lot-of-external-issues-to-deal-with/] asking where Du Plessis fitted in in the future red-ball plans of the Proteas. I said the only question I would ask Faf before selecting him for the team would be “Are you still enjoying your cricket?”

The sheer hunger Du Plessis has shown in getting as fit as he has ever been over Lockdown and continuing to work on improving his game are all the proof one needs to know that South Africa’s ninth highest Test run-getter is still loving the sport.

“The Lockdown really helped, mentally it allowed me to freshen up, but I also knew I could control how fit I was. People say I’m at the end of my career but it depends on how good your body is, how fit you are is much more important than your age. So I really pushed myself, I may be 36 but I feel fitter than ever before, I’m moving better now than when I was 23/24. Now the younger guys must stay with me.

“I’ve definitely scored hundreds against better attacks and in hotter conditions and match situations, so this innings was not close to some of those. But from a timing and statement point of view it showed those who doubt my ability that nothing has changed and I am still trying to improve,” Du Plessis said after his 199.

The last part of that sentence – “I am still trying to improve” – is the clincher: the still-hungry Du Plessis should be part of the Test team for the foreseeable future and the often wonky South African batting line-up will definitely reap the benefits of having the man for all situations there.