Ken Borland

The Northerns Titans continued their assault for top spot on the CSA T20 Challenge log when they chased down a target of 149 against the Central Gauteng Lions with ease, winning by seven wickets with 11 balls to spare at St George’s Park on Thursday.

Quinton de Kock set about the bowling from the outset, racing to 22 off 11 balls, before Bjorn Fortuin (4-0-23-1) had him caught.

The chase was then brilliantly managed by captain Theunis de Bruyn, who stroked a fluent 63 not out off 51 balls, and Heinrich Klaasen, who sped to 44 off 33 deliveries as they broke the back of the chase with a third-wicket stand of 106 off just 71 balls.

Malusi Siboto took 2/21 in 3.1 overs as he and Fortuin were the only Lions bowlers not to fetch.

Having elected to bat first, the Lions made a fine start with Reeza Hendricks (41 off 37) and Kagiso Rapulana (31 off 25) added 58 for the first wicket in 8.3 overs.

Tabraiz Shamsi (4-0-25-2) then set in motion a collapse with the wickets of Hendricks and the dangerous Shane Dadswell (0) with successive deliveries, as the Lions slumped to 101/6 in the 16^th over.

Sisanda Magala gave them some hope, however, as he blasted a quickfire 33 not out off just 18 deliveries.

Shamsi was backed up by excellent spin bowling by Aaron Phangiso (4-0-18-1) and Dewald Brevis (3-0-18-1).

Northerns are now just one point behind the log-leading Western Province side.

In the afternoon game, another sensational innings by Tristan Stubbs took Eastern Province to 156/6 after they elected to bat first, but the Warriors would pay for poor fielding and untidy bowling as the Boland Rocks passed that score with three wickets and two balls to spare.

Stubbs continued to push for higher honours as he belted 47 off 30 balls, with Wihan Lubbe (35 off 25) and Diego Rosier (31 off 22) providing valuable help.

Boland’s spinners, led by leggie Shaun von Berg (4-0-26-3), were outstanding – Imran Manack taking 1/21 and Siyabonga Mahima conceding just 22 runs in their quota of overs.

The Warriors dismissed both Malan brothers in the first two overs, but Boland were then let off the hook as catches were dropped, allowing Clyde Fortuin and Ferisco Adams, who both scored 27 off 17 balls, to provide some impetus.

Young Michael Copeland played an impressively mature innings of 40 and Christiaan Jonker hit 30 off 25, before Hardus Viljoen saw the Rocks home with 18 not out off 8 balls.

Jon-Jon Smuts (4-0-16-1) led a good bowling display by the spinners, with Tsepo Ndwandwa taking 2/33 and Lizo Makhosi 1/16 in three overs.

South African captain Keenan Horne is looking forward to his team putting aside the mixed fortunes they have had against top opposition and performing with more consistency against them in the FIH Hockey Pro League that gets underway in Potchefstroom from Tuesday.

The home side are missing a couple of key players as they take on the Netherlands, India, France and Germany in the South African leg of the league this month. The Dutch, the Indians and the Germans are all powerhouses of the game, although they have come to Potchefstroom with some new players as they begin preparations for the World Cup in a year’s time.

South Africa were 3-0 up against the Netherlands in last year’s Olympic Games, before losing 5-3, but they did pull off a famous 4-3 win over Germany, who were winners by the same scoreline in their previous meeting, which followed 6-2 and 6-1 wins in the two Tests before that.

India have beaten South Africa 5-1 and 5-0 in their last two engagements.

“Even if our primary aim is to grow the team, as a competitive player you always want to win,” Horne said on Monday. “We don’t always get the chance to play against teams in the top-eight and it’s usually in tough tournament conditions.

“So it is always great to get one of their scalps and we know we are able to do it. But we really need to build our consistency, what we really want is to be able to compete in every single game,” Horne said.

While South Africa will have home-ground advantage – Potchefstroom bringing heat and high-altitude into the equation – Horne said their opponents have shown the ability to adapt to different conditions.

“We’re coming up against really top teams who tour all around the world. So they play in all sorts of conditions and they are used to adjusting.

“But the altitude and heat will not be as difficult for us, so if it is an advantage we will take whatever we can get,” Horne said.

South Africa have certainly shown the ability to score goals – notching 11 in their three matches against Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands at the Olympics – but coach Garreth Ewing said they have to shore up their defence in the Pro League. Especially since they have a tough opening fixture against the Dutch at 8pm on Tuesday.

“The Netherlands are very skilful and gifted all around the field and it’s going to be a challenge for our defence. That’s our first focus, trying to get that right,” Ewing said.

The FIH Pro League that will be hosted in Potchefstroom from Tuesday provides the South African men’s team with the ideal avenue of measuring their progress against the top hockey nations in the world, according to national coach Garreth Ewing.

South Africa will come up against India, the Netherlands and Germany, all inside the top-six on the world rankings, in the tournament that runs through to February 21 and features 14 matches, eight of them involving the hosts.

“It’s an amazing opportunity, although it will be incredibly tough,” Ewing told The Citizen. “But we’ve got to play against the very best in the world if we are going to find out what we need to grow as a team.

“You’re never going to play against teams in the top eight of the rankings without them being strong outfits, but teams in the Pro League do mix up their line-ups a bit.

“It’s often used an opportunity to expose new players because it’s considered the beginning of the next Olympic cycle. And that’s the same as what I’m doing. But the top sides will have their usual superstars here as well,” Ewing said.

South Africa’s squad will include three players who have graduated from the ‘pram’ of the SA U21 team into the senior game – Clayton Saker, Connor Beauchamp and Sihle Ngubane.

And the prodigies that are the Cassiem brothers – Dayaan and Mustapha – are both back in the fold.

Unfortunately, South Africa will be without their regular captain, Tim Drummond. Because hockey is strictly speaking an amateur sport in South Africa, many of the players don’t have much leeway when it comes to taking leave from their full-time jobs and the veteran midfielder has had to declare himself unavailable.

Fellow Olympian Keenan Horne takes over the captaincy, with Tuks star Bili Ntuli, a member of the national team since 2015, his deputy.

“There are a few changes, but we have the bulk of the Africa Cup squad that won the title last month,” Ewing said. “And we’re taking a 23-man squad to Potchefstroom because we have quite a few games in a short space of time.

“Leave has been a big issue for some guys, but that’s the nature of the sport in this country. So we are going to experience some serious pressures, but it’s more about the experience of playing really hard matches than the results.

“We’re going to have to pay a lot more attention to defence and tap into the counter-attacking strength we used so well in the Tokyo Olympics.

“We need to be a lot more comfortable on the ball under pressure, and this tournament is an invaluable opportunity to get experience of that,” Ewing said.

“We will take a lot of confidence from beating one of the top sides in the world with our first XI not in place,” Proteas coach Mark Boucher said after his team completed an astonishing 3-0 series whitewash of India with a thrilling four-run win at Newlands on Sunday.

Even without pace spearheads Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, and with ace spinner Tabraiz Shamsi sitting out the last game, South Africa dominated the ODI series in conditions that were more suited to the Indian team, following their memorable Test series triumph.

“There has been a great progression in the field, both on the field and off, in terms of the environment – it’s a happy changeroom and the results show that,” Boucher said.

“I believe we turned the corner a while ago, before that we gave lots of players opportunities and we are reaping the rewards now. When players are injured or sitting out, the guys are coming through.

“I like the look and balance of our batting, they did really well, we are getting hundreds and it is a powerful top six. We have a couple of all-rounders who have put in solid performances.

“In terms of our fast bowlers, Anrich and KG still have to come back, Marco Jansen has a lot of potential and Lungi Ngidi did a fantastic job leading from the front. And we have world-class spinners,” Boucher said.

One of the biggest positives from the series for Boucher was the way India, renowned both for playing spin and their own slow bowlers, were outplayed by both the Proteas batsmen and their spinners, Shamsi, Keshav Maharaj and Aiden Markram, whose selection for the sixth bowler role paid off.

“We’ve put a lot of hard work into playing in subcontinental conditions and the heatwave in the Western Cape meant the pitches played a bit like that.

“We played spin really well in Sri Lanka and we have a good batch of spin bowlers now, with Aiden doing a good job too. So I’m not surprised we did so well.

“That’s the big positive for me – the way we played spin and the way we bowled it. From a spin perspective, we outplayed and outbowled India,” Boucher said.