Ken Borland

Mfuneko Ngam points to the north-east and says “Vuyisa comes from that mountain over there”, referring to Vuyisa Makhaphela, the Warriors opening batsman and his home village in the foothills of the Amatole Mountains in Alice.

We were standing alongside the main cricket field of the University of Fort Hare rural academy that Ngam runs in the heartland of Black African cricket, shortly after Cricket South Africa and Momentum announced that they are going to invest significantly in the joint venture programme that is undoubtedly going to produce successors to the likes of international fast bowlers Ngam and Makhaya Ntini, both of whom come from the same area.

Earlier, Raymond Booi, the Border Cricket Board’s high performance coach, had pointed out Mdingi village, lower down in the foothills, where Ntini and more recently Aya Gqamane (who, according to CSA development consultant Greg Hayes “never missed the ball with his plank as a little youngster”) come from.

Thando Mnyaka and Somila Seyibokwe are also members of the Warriors squad who hail from the same area and have all come through the Fort Hare academy.

“Vuyisa gave up cricket, he wanted nothing to do with it. But I managed to convince him to come and register at our MSC Business College and for the last two years he has been with the Warriors,” Ngam says.
The educational aspect is a key component of the program, because not everybody is going to make it in top-class cricket, as Ngam stresses.
“We are trying to build holistic cricketers, they must study and play. When we first started, nobody wanted to study but these kids need to understand that they need something to fall back on. That also takes the pressure off them when it comes to playing cricket.”
As a company, Momentum have placed a special emphasis on education leading to financial wellness, and Danie van den Bergh, the head of brand, said the academy is a perfect fit.
“They’ve built a dream here, we love it and we have bought into it. It’s a common thread in Africa that education is a key to success and if we can link sport to education then we can leave a legacy long after our six years with Cricket South Africa are over. It’s about long-term values and spreading the love of the game to everybody,” Van den Bergh said.
Amongst the improvements recently completed at the academy are a residence for the 15 cricketers per year that are in the programme, indoor and outdoor nets, a pristine outfield, large sightscreens and an electronic scoreboard.
If this initiative could be repeated in all the provinces, imagine the talent that could be unearthed and, as CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat pointed out, the rural areas have also produced legends such as Dale Steyn and Lance Klusener.
But the one characteristic that most rural areas in this country share is that they are poor and the Eastern Cape is particularly hard up, judging by the condition of some of the roads and abandoned factories. But nevertheless they are rightfully proud of their history and what they have produced, including numerous great leaders starting with Madiba and Oliver Tambo.
“The University of Fort Hare has a rich history and people know about it without knowing where Alice is! A former ICC head, Ray Mali, comes from here, as do two former ministers of sport, Ngconde Balfour and Makhenkosi Stofile. There are also famous schools like Lovedale and Healdtown here.

“It’s a tower of knowledge but people in the Eastern Cape are so poor that they don’t benefit. But they’ve built a beautiful facility here where African cricket was first played,” Border president Thando Ganda said.

“We’re very humbled that CSA are using Fort Hare as a venue. We’re often second-best in Border but an academy like this, with its unified approach, is something different and we’re sure cricketers from here will now come out on top,” Noel Knicklebein, the university’s deputy registrar said.

The likes of Queen’s, Dale, Selborne and Hudson Park have a close relationship with the academy and boys placed in those schools have regularly made provincial teams. Two girls from the programme have gone on to represent the Proteas Women and eight other students have successfully completed their varsity degrees.

The hills of the Eastern Cape have once again started to provide memorable talent.

Whatever people say about going to Benoni, Willowmoore Park is rapidly becoming a field of dreams for the Unlimited Titans players with Roelof van der Merwe and Rowan Richards adding to the list of phenomenal individual performances there in the Sunfoil Series victory over the Chevrolet Warriors over the weekend.

Van der Merwe turned his maiden first-class century into a double, scoring 205 not out as the Titans amassed 539 for six in their first innings. Left-arm paceman Richards then took five for 31 as the Titans dismissed the Warriors for the second time with just a dozen overs remaining in the match. His final spell was a phenomenal 5.4-3-2-5 and included a hat-trick to end the match.

It is only the fourth time that a double century and a hat-trick have been scored in the same first-class match in South Africa and the second time it has happened at Willowmoore Park. The other occasion was the famous match in 1948/49 when Denis Compton blazed a triple century for the English tourists in 181 minutes against North-Eastern Transvaal, with seamer Cliff Gladwin then taking a hat-trick.

Last season, Shaun von Berg blasted the fastest century – off 73 balls – in franchise four-day history for the Titans against the Cape Cobras in Benoni.

Van der Merwe has always been one of the hardest workers in the Titans team and the dramatic improvement in his batting – he was their leading run-scorer in last season’s Sunfoil Series and averaged 55.57 – has been the reward.

“It’s all about the way you train in the nets and it’s just mental really. My target is to face a hundred balls, it’s a simple thing, but often scoring a fifty isn’t enough to get you there,” Van der Merwe said of his improvement.

“The way the Titans’ set-up is now, Shaun von Berg is the number one spinner for four-day cricket and the only way I can be sure of playing is by being a batsman. I’ve become almost a part-time bowler if you like, but that’s how I stay in the side, through scoring runs and my bowling is an extra,” the left-arm spinner said.

The Titans batsmen have struggled for consistency in recent times and coach Rob Walter has often stressed the importance of scoring centuries. It was typical Bulldog Roelof for him to go and make that first hundred of the season a double!

“We have struggled over the past few seasons to make big scores, so it was a good start in Benoni. I was very stressed going to a hundred for the first time, I felt sure something was going to go wrong again in the 90s, but I was able to play with freedom after that,” Van der Merwe, whose previous highest score was 93 against the Highveld Lions in 2010, said.

The Titans have been waiting for Richards to find his best form after a long-term injury lay-off, and the 30-year-old hit his straps in spectacular fashion as he wrecked the Warriors’ brave effort to save the game.

“It’s my first hat-trick and it makes it really special that it won the game and gave me a five-for,” Richards said after his career-best figures in the Sunfoil Series.

“I knew it would be my last spell of the day, so I just pushed it and made sure I hit good areas. There had been a lot of effort before me by the other seamers, JP de Villiers and Ethy Mbhalati, that broke the long partnership between Colin Ingram and Ryan Bailey, and we just said that another wicket would bring more breakthroughs. We never gave up and I found my rhythm at the right time.”

Colin Ingram and Ryan Bailey were able to check the Unlimited Titans’ progress for three-and-a-half hours, but ultimately the Chevrolet Warriors were swept away by a Rowan Richards hat-trick as the home side won their Sunfoil Series match by 170 runs at Willowmoore Park in Benoni on Sunday.

The Warriors had begun the final day on 51 for two chasing an unlikely 414 for victory and survival was on their mind, especially after Jon-Jon Smuts was caught in the gully off JP de Villiers in the second over of the day.

Colin Ackermann batted for two hours in scoring 47 before being dismissed by medium-pacer Farhaan Behardien, leaving the Warriors on a shaky 111 for four with 83 overs still left on the final day.

But Ingram and Bailey dug in so well they might have been called mole-men. They added 113 in 56 overs for the fifth wicket; the left-handed Ingram compact and secure, but able to play some pleasing strokes when the opportunity presented itself, while burly Bailey seldom strayed from the crease as he prodded and deflected, an occasional well-timed punch down the ground being as far as he was willing to go in terms of strokeplay.

They survived together for 14 overs until lunch, taken on 151 for four, and then ploughed on until tea, which the Warriors reached on a far healthier 215 for four.

The Titans were heavily reliant on the second new ball when the final session began with Ingram on 87 and Bailey on 38, and it might not have been resignation on the home team’s faces but it was certainly concern when the experienced duo survived for another six overs after tea.

It was Ethy Mbhalati who made the crucial breakthrough, claiming a return catch from Bailey, whose stroke was a prod that would have been more effective if one was trying to scrape guano off the pitch rather than intercept a cricket ball.

It had nevertheless been an immense effort from Bailey, who faced 171 balls for his 40 runs and showed once again how valuable his experience is in this Warriors batting line-up.

Ingram would fall four overs later as he edged Richards low to Farhaan Behardien in the gully and the rest would go quickly as the left-arm paceman produced a top-class spell of swing bowling – five for two in 5.4 overs with three maidens – a phenomenal burst in which he moved the ball both ways.

Ingram was unfortunate not to achieve his second century of the match, falling for 93 off 226 balls in a little over five hours at the crease, a wonderful effort.

Simon Harmer and Athenkosi Dyili hung around for six overs before Richards produced a snorter which spat up from back of a length and Harmer (7) could only glove the ball to wicketkeeper Mangaliso Mosehle.

There were still a dozen overs left for the Titans to claim the last three wickets when Richards began the 103rd over, bowling from the Harpur Street End. But, having clearly rediscovered his rhythm, the 30-year-old proceeded to end the match in the most spectacular way possible.

The second ball of the over saw the left-handed Dyili (10) prodding at a delivery that swung away from him, edging a catch into the midriff of double-centurion Roelof van der Merwe at third slip.

Sisanda Magala was next up and he was bowled by a beauty that nipped away from the right-hander, squaring the batsman up and knocking over the off-bail.

Basheer Walters was the hat-trick victim, able only to prod at another away-swinger, sending an edge into the safe hands of Van der Merwe at third slip.

“It’s my first hat-trick and it makes it really special that it won the game and gave me a five-for,” hero Richards said after his career-best figures of five for 31 in the Sunfoil Series.

“I knew it would be my last spell of the day, so I just pushed it and made sure I hit good areas. There had been a lot of effort before me by the other seamers, JP and Ethy, that broke the long partnership, and we just said that another wicket would bring more breakthroughs. We never gave up and I found my rhythm at the right time.”

Captain Henry Davids was delighted with the way his team had bounced back from a poor performance and a 190-run hammering at the hands of the Highveld Lions last weekend.

“During our pre-season camp in Knysna, we spoke about winning games after tea on the last day and that’s what makes this the best format, it tests everything in your game. We hung in there, we stayed patient and we knew the new ball would make it tough for the batsmen.

“Things happen quickly on this pitch, wickets fall in clusters and the guys bowled brilliantly, especially that spell from Rowan. Plus there was that unbelievable double-hundred from Roelof that really set the team up in the first innings,” Davids said.