Ken Borland

Pakistan-bound Janneman Malan and Nandre Burger showed important signs of hot form as they led the Cape Cobras to a vital 76-run win over the Imperial Lions in their Momentum One-Day Cup match in Potchefstroom on Friday.

The victory keeps the Cape Cobras alive in the competition and their match against the Warriors on Saturday will decide who goes through to the semi-finals with the Lions, who were already guaranteed first place on the log and rested some key players.

Malan and debutant Burger have both been included in the Proteas squad for the T20 series in Pakistan that starts on February 11.

Opening batsman Malan blazed 95 off 97 balls to lead the Cobras to a formidable 284 for five, with brother Pieter scoring 53 in a first-wicket stand of 131 with the Protea. A run-a-ball 40 from captain Zubayr Hamza and the talented Jonathan Bird’s 50 not out off 47 balls added the finishing touches to the innings.

Left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin, who is also heading for Pakistan, continued his fine tournament as he was the pick of the Lions bowlers with two for 42 in nine overs.

Left-arm quick Burger then had the Lions under pressure from the outset with a feisty new-ball burst in which he also swung the ball, bowling Reeza Hendricks (another T20 squad member but sadly out of form) for just 6 with a beauty.

Burger deserved much better than his final figures of two for 51 in nine overs, and seamer Onke Nyaku then built on the pressure created with some outstanding bowling of his own to take four for 29 in 10 overs as the Lions were bowled out for 208, giving the Cobras a bonus point which puts them level-pegging with the Warriors on the log.

Fortuin lashed 39 off 29 balls and Eldred Hawken scored a run-a-ball 37, but they were ancillary efforts as by then the required run-rate was almost 10 runs-per-over and the Lions were seven down. Nicky van den Bergh was the only other batsman to threaten the Cobras as he scored 35.

Lanky off-spinner Imraan Manack played a good supporting tole to the Cobras seamers as he took two for 31 in 7.4 overs.

“This just reaffirms what I’ve been saying about having a team together for a long time and being able to prepare properly – then you have a chance to win,” was coach Jake White’s response to his makeshift Bulls side being hammered 44-14 by the Pumas in their Currie Cup match in Nelspruit at the weekend.

Given the thoroughly unusual week they had, it was always going to be an uphill task for the youthful Bulls outfit to beat a fired-up Pumas side. Having emerged from their Covid outbreak, the Bulls had to play the Lions in a crucial clash in midweek with a weakened team. But they managed to sneak a win over their Gauteng neighbours, thereby ensuring they would finish top of the log.

They then had to wait 48 hours before they could do Covid testing again, leaving precious little time before Sunday’s match with the Pumas. White was always going to wrap his first-choice players in cotton-wool before their semi-final against the Lions on January 23, but he would have liked more time to prepare the largely U21 side he threw into action at the Mbombela Stadium.

“It was always going to be tough having just one training session together with this team, a guy like replacement flank Divan Venter only trained with us for 20 minutes because Nizaam Carr pulled out on the Friday. We’ve brought much better teams to Nelspruit and struggled, and this was a very new squad. But it’s never nice losing and I did hope for a better performance.

“I was pleased with the 7-10 score in the second half, but it was not ideal to go 31-0 down after the first 25 minutes. But all credit to the Pumas, we wanted to get those early points but they did it to us instead. They’ve been in Lockdown for a long time and made huge sacrifices, so it’s nice for them to get some reward. They should have won against some much better teams than what we brought here this time,” White admitted.

White said the best thing to come out of the game was that here were no injuries and now his team have the better part of two weeks to prepare for the knockout stages. The halfback pairing of Morne Steyn and Ivan van Zyl were probably the only two players who started against the Pumas and are likely to feature in the semi-final, and they were pulled off the field at halftime.

“The most important thing is that we didn’t get any injuries, which is quite nice. I was worried that we would lose one or two players, which is why Elrigh Louw and Johan Grobbelaar didn’t get on and Lizo Gqoboka only had limited time. I wanted to give Morne Steyn some game time and confidence, but two weeks out from a semi-final, you just don’t want the guys to get injured.

“I didn’t want to risk anyone and fortunately there were no injuries. I had still hoped we would be more competitive, like we were in the second half, but you’ve got to pay your school fees and a guy like Jan-Hendrik Wessels maybe lost just one game in his whole Grey College school career. But now we need to win our last two games, we’ve worked hard for a home semi-final and we have not lost at home yet,” White said.

Western Province snatched a last-minute 31-29 win over the Free State Cheetahs in their Currie Cup match in Bloemfontein on Saturday, in what may turn out to be a landmark moment in the careers of flyhalf Tim Swiel and tighthead prop Neethling Fouche.

The 27-year-old Fouche is a journeyman who went from Grey College in Bloemfontein to the University of Pretoria, but failed to cement a place with the Bulls. He then joined Western Province but has again only enjoyed sporadic appearances. On Saturday, coming on as a replacement for the formidable Frans Malherbe, Fouche conceded a scrum penalty to Free State’s behemoth loosehead Boan Venter, which allowed the Cheetahs to snatch a 29-28 lead.

But with the final hooter imminent, Western Province were awarded a scrum and Fouche managed to turn the tables and win a penalty against Venter.

Step up Swiel, also 27 and who played nine times each for Western Province and the Sharks, before heading back to England, where he was born, in 2014 to play for Harlequins and Newcastle. He returned to Cape Town this year but initially had to play second fiddle while the more flamboyant talents of Damian Willemse were tried at flyhalf.

But on Saturday, from 49 metres out and on an angle, Swiel was able to land the penalty and keep Western Province on course for a home semi-final; if he had missed, they would have slipped to fourth on the log and been in danger of missing the playoffs all together. His kick has also ended Free State’s hopes of defending their Currie Cup title.

Swiel had earlier landed six other penalties as Western Province punished the ill-discipline of the Cheetahs and took a 23-9 lead after 53 minutes.

But then Free State wing Rosko Specman made his mark, first of all sparking the counter-attack, Venter showing his all-round skills with a good run and slick hands, which allowed the home side to kick a penalty to touch, setting the rolling maul from which hooker Wilmar Arnoldi scored.

Two minutes later, fullback Clayton Blommetjies fielded a kick ahead by Western Province around the halfway line and sliced through a gap in the chase line, before feeding Specman, who raced away to score and suddenly the match was all square at 23-23.

It was an astonishing comeback because for most of the first hour, Western Province had looked in firm control. Their industrial-strength scrum and the Cheetahs’ own ill discipline was earning them a steady flow of penalties. As the first half came to an end, it was still a tightly-fought contest on the scoreboard though with the visitors only 12-9 ahead.

But a massive eight-man scrum allowed Swiel to kick a penalty deep inside the Free State 22. Hardworking loose forward Jaco Coetzee then burst around the front of the lineout and, with the Cheetahs expecting a maul, there was only one defender in front of him, the poor scrumhalf, and he blasted over for the try to give Western Province a 17-9 lead at the break.

Two offsides penalties early in the second half stretched that to 23-9 and the contest looked over. But Free State mounted a ferocious comeback and Western Province were hard-pressed to hold their nerve in the end.

Scorers

Free State Cheetahs – Tries: Wilmar Arnoldi, Rosko Specman. Conversions: Francois Steyn (2). Penalties: Steyn (5).

Western Province – Tries: Jaco Coetzee, Bongi Mbonambi. Penalties: Tim Swiel (7).

*Lions fullback Tiaan Swanepoel will return from Nelspruit with 22 points in his property as he spearheaded their 33-25 win over the Pumas on Saturday.

The hard-fought triumph means the Lions are still in the hunt for a home semi-final, with Swanepoel’s two tries and four penalties playing the major role in that.

*The Sharks posted a comprehensive 47-19 win over Griquas in Durban which ended their two-match losing streak.

They are now level with the Lions on 33 points, two points behind the Bulls and Western Province.

Next week’s matches between the Bulls and Lions and Western Province and the Sharks will be crucial in deciding who gets home semi-finals.

With the injury-decimated Sri Lankan side succumbing to an innings defeat midway through the fourth day, it may have seemed there was not much resistance from the tourists in the first Test against South Africa at Centurion, but Proteas captain Quinton de Kock said it was still a hard-fought win and there are plenty of positives the hosts will take from the game.

Sure, Sri Lanka were bowled out for just 180 in their second innings, with only Kusal Perera (64) and Wanindu Hasaranga (59) providing much resistance as they went down by an innings and 45 runs, but rewind to two days earlier and South Africa were certainly under pressure.

Having conceded 396, the third largest first innings total they have ever managed to overcome to win a Test, South Africa made it to lunch on 45 without loss. Openers Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram provided the ideal platform by taking that first-wicket stand to 141, but even then there was a mid-afternoon wobble as the Proteas slid from 200 for one to 220 for four.

And then enter Faf du Plessis with a magnificent 199, and Temba Bavuma and their crucial fifth-wicket partnership of 179, added to with great effect by Wiaan Mulder and Keshav Maharaj.

“A Test win never comes easy and we still had to earn it. We fought really hard with the bat after Sri Lanka came out with plenty of intent. It was quite a difficult pitch and we knew we had to be positive. Aiden and Dean started really well and their momentum really helped the rest of the batsmen. Then Faf showed how important is to have senior guys with experience, we needed that under pressure.

“And then the bowlers came back really nicely in the second innings. A guy like Wiaan Mulder is still a youngster but he bowled with maturity, he showed what he’s about and really added value with the ball. Lutho Sipamla made a great comeback, the first day all came down to his Test debut and nerves, he began to bowl like he has been in the nets and it was great to see that fight from him,” De Kock said after starting his Test captaincy tenure with a win.

De Kock said the presence of other leaders who have been captains in the franchise system in the Proteas team had helped him deal with captaincy for the first time in long-format cricket.

“I’ve never captained before in a first-class game but you do have more time to think about things and it helps to have good leaders in the team around me – guys like Dean, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba and Faf. I’ve been standing next to Faf for most of my Test career so I very much knew what Test captaincy is about.

“People always talk about youngsters coming through but you need a balance. Faf really showed his experience in this Test, we needed that under pressure. He showed his leadership and how to handle that pressure because he’s been through those situations many times before,” De Kock said.