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Ken Borland



Maketa confident Proteas bowlers will do the business 0

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Ken

Proteas interim coach Malibongwe Maketa is confident that his bowlers will do the business and get 20 wickets in the first Test against Australia starting in Brisbane in the early hours of Saturday morning, SA time, and then he will just trust his batsmen to get the required runs.

South Africa have still not decided whether to play six frontline batsmen or seven, and will probably only make a decision once they have seen how much grass is taken off the Gabba pitch by the groundsman. There have been some suggestions that the Proteas should leave out slow left-armer Keshav Maharaj, but the late great Shane Warne described the Gabba as one of the best pitches in the world for bowling spin. Australia’s current No.1 spinner, Nathan Lyon, has a good record there with 42 wickets in 11 Tests at 30.71.

“I do believe we have enough in our attack to take 20 wickets,” Maketa told Australian media on Thursday. “That’s what Test cricket boils down to and I think the ball will play a good role in this series.

“Taking those 20 wickets is most definitely our priority. We have the bowlers to take those 20 wickets, and then we have to back our batsmen to score the runs.

“We’ve been playing on pitches that have been a bit challenging recently, offering all three things – movement through the air, bounce and seam. Here, judging by the nets, there will be more consistent, truer bounce.

“First-innings scores are vital in what are always very competitive games at the Gabba, we need to stay in the contest the whole time,” Maketa said.

The capital of Queensland state is also known as Brisvegas in recognition of the drunken debauchery that often goes down, and there is a cruise company bearing that name on the Brisbane River close to the Gabba. Brisvegans will no doubt be shouting the odds as they enjoy their favourite Spanish Mackerel fish barbecues, about the Proteas batsmen being all at sea.

The Proteas could respond with less palatable comments about sandpaper, but Maketa said on Thursday that bringing up the scandal from the last Test series between the two great rivals, in 2018, could be counter-productive for the tourists.

“We know it was not pleasant what Australia have been through and some players are still paying for those mistakes. But those situations sometimes galvanise a team and opening old wounds would maybe bring them closer together as a unit.

“We have no control over what Australia does, but we will always fight fire with fire, and it doesn’t take much for us to step up against them.

“But our focus is just on how we go about our business and ensuring we execute to the best of our ability from ball one, at a venue where the crowd can feel on top of you and because of their history, Australia are very confident here,” Maketa said.

CSA make anodyne plea for Sascoc & public to “trust us” 0

Posted on September 22, 2020 by Ken

“Trust us” was the anodyne plea made by Cricket South Africa on Thursday to both Sascoc and the cricket-loving public as they continued to try and justify why the complete Fundudzi Forensic Report cannot be made public.

CSA and Sascoc held a joint virtual press conference on Thursday, but far from presenting a unified front, it soon became apparent that the two organisations, both with distressing records in good governance, are at an impasse.

Sascoc president Aleck Skhosana said the mother body of all sports federations in South Africa are still resolved to set up an independent task team to investigate the affairs of CSA, and reiterated that the CSA Board and executive must step aside to ensure they have “unfettered access”.

But that task team will only be appointed after Sascoc have received the full forensic report, Skhosana saying this was necessary “so we don’t put the cart before the horse; if we choose the task team before we might put legal people on there instead of accounting; we need to know what kind of skills are required”.

But CSA are standing firm on their refusal to sideline their Board or executive, and will also only allow Sascoc to view the forensic report on the same basis as the Members Council last weekend – either just in summary form or at one of Bowman Gilfillan’s offices after signing a non-disclosure agreement.

CSA Acting President Beresford Williams said this was for legal reasons.

“It’s on the advice of our legal representatives, who cautioned against releasing it because there is a huge risk that it could compromise future litigation and legal matters that are already in process, plus open us up for future liability. The Members Council resolved unanimously that Sascoc’s access to the report should be under the same conditions as there’s was, in other words a summarised report,” Williams said.

Anne Vilas, the Central Gauteng Lions president and a member of the Members Council, made a plea for that body to be trusted, even though she could not state with 100% certainty whether the summary was written by Bowman Gilfillan, who are CSA’s lawyers and formerly employed controversial company secretary Welsh Gwaza, or by Fundudzi, the independent forensic investigators.

“I have been very vocal about the report but we had very enlightening discussions last weekend and we all understand CSA’s position that it would not be in the organisation’s best interest to make the report public. We don’t want to step on anybody’s rights, but further action will be taken if warranted and we will hold the Board responsible if necessary, you can trust us on that.

“No other investigations have been done to warrant the suspension of anyone other than Thabang Moroe right now, but stuff is going on and things will happen. But unless we firmly believe something is being withheld from us, there is not sufficient reason for the Board to stand down or anyone to resign. There’s nothing stopping any of the directors from standing at the AGM,” Vilas said when asked how the public were meant to believe CSA were not just hiding behind a shield of legal advice.

Williams would not give a straight answer as to whether CSA will comply with Sascoc, after Skhosana outlined the legal powers they have over CSA and their willingness to “take appropriate measures to ensure compliance”.

“Our engagement has been very positive and there has been great dialogue between the parties. We value Sascoc’s role and there’s no doubt that together we will find common ground. we are in engagement and that will continue. CSA responded in detail to Sascoc about our fiduciary duties and we are still engaging and talking to each other. I’m confident that we can move forward and find common ground,” Williams said in a top-class piece of obfuscation.

The former Western Province Cricket Association president also showed a distinct affection for denial when he said he and the other Board members had nothing to be held accountable over.

“I assure you that if there were any cases of concern in the report then we would have stood down. There were no negative findings to threaten the AGM and the Members Council unanimously agree that we should not be held accountable. I took the decision to continue to serve the game I’m passionate about, if I had acted irresponsibly or not in the best interests of CSA as a director then I would have moved on,” Williams said.

But “unanimously” is a word CSA have had a history of not understanding the proper meaning of and, as Skhosana himself said, “All trust has been lost in Cricket South Africa and we see evidence of that on a daily basis.”

Remember those old 45″s? 0

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Ken

 

Isaiah 12:2 – “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defence; he has become my salvation.”

It would be naive to think that storm clouds will not gather in life, darkening our lives. And it would be foolish to try to ignore them, in the futile hope that they will just disappear. It is far better to prepare in trust for the impending storm by standing firm in your living faith in the Almighty God.

That means God has to be at the centre of your life.I am always reminded of those old 45″ records that had the large hole in the middle … You had to carefully place the record over the spindle to ensure that it was centred … if the spindle was not in the middle of the hole then the record would spin unevenly and the sound that came out would be all wonky and distorted.

It’s the same with our lives. If God is not at the centre of our lives, then what we produce will be wonky, distorted and not very pleasant.

So if God is truly at the centre of your life then, even though the storm might not be dispersed, you can trust that God is still carrying out his holy design for your life!

“However threatening the circumstances may be, it is imperative that you do not allow anything to usurp God’s central role in your life.

With him as the centre you will maintain your balance.

“When your entire being is saturated by reverence and love for God, fear no longer rules your mind. Uncertainty is replaced by trust. Faith in God enables you to meet the future with joyful confidence. The ominous clouds might still be present, but you will be assured that your loving Father is working everything together for your good.” – A Shelter From The Storm, Solly Ozrovech

Meyer shows his enormous faith in Pollard 0

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Ken

 

The Springboks have placed enormous faith in young flyhalf Handre Pollard to start in the pivot position in their opening Rugby Championship match against Argentina at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, but coach Heyneke Meyer believes the 20-year-old has already earned such trust.

Pollard retains his berth as the starting flyhalf after his impressive debut against Scotland at the end of June, relegating veteran Morne Steyn to the bench. Meyer must have been tempted to go with the experience of Steyn, especially since Damian de Allende will be making his debut in midfield, and Ruan Pienaar, Bryan Habana and Jean de Villiers are all coming off extended absences from the field of play.

But there’s no doubting the Springbok coach’s high regard for Pollard.

“Handre is only 20, but he’s very mature and he has an experienced head on his shoulders. I’ve seen him playing since he was 15 and he has always impressed me as an unbelievable prospect.

“He’s one of the few flyhalves to have both a brilliant attacking game and a tactical game. You don’t find that a lot, the name Dan Carter springs to mind, most flyhalves have one or the other,” Meyer said on Wednesday.

“It’s a tough position and a flyhalf must have leadership qualities as well because the players must trust him. They expect him to stay cool and calm and make the right decisions and they must want to give him the ball.

“Handre is also big and tall for a flyhalf and most teams now attack in the 10/12 channel, but he’s big enough to knock back guys, even big forwards. There are no grey areas in his game and I believe a lot in him.”

While the likes of Juan de Jongh and S’Bura Sithole have both surely done enough to warrant consideration at outside centre, Meyer has backed what he sees as De Allende’s potential in the number 13 jersey.

The 23-year-old is yet to play outside centre in SuperRugby, but he played there at school and had one Currie Cup outing in that position for Western Province against the Blue Bulls last year.

He certainly has the attributes to make a success of his new-found role, being big, strong and quick, while also having fine hands.

“I was really impressed with Damian in SuperRugby. I always look at players when they are playing away in tough conditions and I like his mental toughness.

“He’s a big guy but he’s skilful as well, he has the soft touches, runs beautiful lines and gets the ball away. I think he can bring another dimension to our backline and I feel he can be superb at 13,” Meyer said.

The other notable feature of the Springbok team announced on Wednesday was Lood de Jager shifting from number four to number five lock, to replace the injured Victor Matfield.

South Africa’s most-capped player has stayed with the squad to lend his considerable wisdom to De Jager, and Meyer is confident that the 21-year-old can make another step in his meteoric rise and run the lineouts.

“It wasn’t that easy to select at number five, but Lood is intelligent enough to run the lineout and, even though he’s been a typical number four, I’ve always felt that we could groom him at five.

“He’s one of the most improved players I’ve worked with and he has an unbelievable future. Eben Etzebeth can also play five, but he hasn’t played for a while, plus Lood is very good outside of the lineouts as well,” Meyer said.

Bakkies Botha will make his first Rugby Championship start since 2011 alongside De Jager, with Etzebeth as cover on the bench.

Tendai Mtawarira starts at loosehead prop, to extend the South African record with Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis as a front-row trio to 17 Tests.

Jan Serfontein, after his excellent performances in the incoming Tests, will get the chance to put in a hard-hitting 20 minutes off the bench on Saturday, while Francois Hougaard is the reserve scrumhalf to Ruan Pienaar.

In the absence of Fourie du Preez, Meyer admitted that their service has to speed up in the Rugby Championship.

“I always thought Test rugby would become more of an arm-wrestle, but more tries than ever are being scored and the game is getting quicker and quicker. So all the scrumhalves in South Africa need to play at a higher tempo if we’re going to be the best. They need to up it because we need to speed up our ball. We need ball on the front foot because we have a big flyhalf and centres that attack the line.”

Meyer said Argentina would require the Springboks’ full focus on Saturday.

“It’s always tough against Argentina because they are a contesting team, they contest for the ball in every facet of the game. The scrum is always a huge contest and they’re one of the best teams at the breakdown.

“They have a new coach [Daniel Hourcade] so they’re going to play with a lot of passion and lately they’ve been moving the ball around more, so they’ll test our defence,” Meyer said.

Springbok team: 15-Willie le Roux, 14-Cornal Hendricks, 13-Damian de Allende, 12-Jean de Villiers, 11-Bryan Habana, 10-Handre Pollard, 9-Ruan Pienaar, 8-Duane Vermeulen, 7-Willem Alberts, 6-Francois Louw, 5-Lood de Jager, 4-Bakkies Botha, 3-Jannie du Plessis, 2-Bismarck du Plessis, 1-Tendai Mtawarira. Replacements – 16-Adriaan Strauss, 17-Trevor Nyakane, 18-Frans Malherbe, 19-Eben Etzebeth, 20-Marcell Coetzee, 21-Francois Hougaard, 22-Morne Steyn, 23-Jan Serfontein.

 

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  • Thought of the Day

    John 13:35 – “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

    “The Christian’s standards are the standards of Christ and, in his entire conduct and disposition, he strives to reflect the image of Christ.

    “Christ fills us with the love that we lack so that we can achieve his purpose with our lives. If we find it difficult to love, … open our lives to his Spirit and allow him to love others through us.” – Solly Ozrovech, A Shelter From The Storm

    His loveliness must be reflected in our lives. Our good deeds must reflect his love.

     



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