STRIKING IT RICH: Bulls fell short but what a great weekend for SA sport

DUBLIN GAME WAS CASE OF THE TIDE COMING IN

With the pivotal third day of the World Test Championship final at Lord’s in mind, the last edition of this column, which was penned shortly before flying back to Cape Town from a two-week mainly rugby related sojourn in Durban, wished readers luck with their nerves.

Watching sport can be a trying business if you feel really vested in how things turn out and those who saw the massive significance to the ultimate form of the sport of the Proteas’s quest for the test cricket mace in their final against Australia and also doubled as Bulls supporters would have had a particularly fraught few days.

Only in the Bulls’ instance at least they didn’t draw it out. Even the most optimistic Bulls fan would have stopped biting their nails and faced up to reality in the first quarter of the Vodacom URC final in Dublin that brought to an end a Saturday that, because one set of rank underdogs won in London, might have offered those vested in the Bulls some flickering hope.

Former All Black, Lions and now England Women coach John Mitchell once told me that sometimes when you are in the coaching box you just have to accept that the tide is coming in. In other words, the momentum is just so overwhelmingly in favour of the other team that it can’t be stopped.

It was my feeling watching the Croke Park final. This wasn’t going to be a day when Bulls fans would need to bite nails like they would have watching the Proteas on the third afternoon (Friday) and fourth morning (Saturday). From the early minutes hope evaporated.

A DAY WHEN I WAS A SUPPORTER AND NOT A REPORTER

It’s funny how hope can make one more nervous. After landing back in Cape Town to discover that the Australian tail had wagged, some of the nerves that had started gnawing once SA played themselves back into the game on the second evening dissipated. Chasing over 280 in a fourth innings meant that the Proteas weren’t favourites any longer, there wasn’t quite the same level of expectation. Somehow that made it easier.

But that changed when the Aiden Markram and Wiaan Mulder first drop partnership of 61 revealed that there was a good reason Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, as someone had put it, had batted like Graeme Pollock (left handers both but clearly that’s nonsense) in compiling their frustrating last wicket partnership. The pitch had flattened out under the sunny skies.

The ease with which Markram and Mulder handled the Australian pace attack offered great hope, and after that the die was cast. This was going to be a fraught couple of hours, although at least I could still watch it then. Until the last hour of day three, and Markram had reached his century, it was still hope rather than expectation.

But at the close of play I was convinced - the Proteas were going to win. There would be no choke this time. Even a few quick wickets in the early morning wouldn’t be enough for the Aussies as they just didn’t have enough to defend.

Then the mind started to play tricks, and in particular the memory of the very first test the Proteas played post isolation, against the West Indies in the Caribbean, started to hover somewhere in the recesses of the brain. SA needed not much more on the fourth morning of that game, also with eight wickets left, and were bowled out well short.

It didn’t happen, but let me confess when Temba Bavuma was nicked off soon after play resumed it was impossible to watch, mainly because the buildup to the start of play, with so much talk of history being made, had ratcheted up the emotions and the nerves to a ridiculously high level.

When it comes to cricket, I can be a supporter, and not, as I pointed out to Brendan Venter when during the 1994 Springbok tour of New Zealand he accused me of being unpatriotic because of something I had written in the Kiwi media, a reporter. So nerves and all that are allowed, although I’d be lying if they are not also there when the Boks are playing in a World Cup final, where sport in this country appears to transcend what it really is and become something else.

MANY WOULD HAVE JOINED KESHAV IN SHEDDING TEARS

Those who have supported the Proteas down the years and suffered the frustration with them would have been bound up in knots during the two and a bit hours it took Temba’s team to make the 69. Keshav Maharaj was not the only South African to weep openly when the target was reached.

I turned off after Temba’s wicket in the hope that if I turned on again half an hour later we’d be a lot closer to the target and the thumping in my chest would ease. Alas, as Aussie cricketers do, they were still fighting tooth and nail. They hadn’t taken another wicket, but SA weren’t much closer to the target either.

Fortunately there were no more twists, and the barrier was crossed, something that had added significance in that surely after seeing how the five day game can fluctuate, there will now be more converts to the ultimate form of cricket.

IT SO NEARLY NEVER HAPPENED

On that last point, let’s not forget when we get all defensive in the face of overseas criticism of the SA cricketing priorities why they are criticising us. Sending a second string team to New Zealand last year, regardless of the reasons, was not a good look and not a great comment on how seriously the test format is taken over here.

Make no mistake, I love the BetwaySA20, and this column earlier in the year waxed lyrical about that. But with all the overseas stars bringing such quality to that competition regardless of whether all the Proteas are playing, my view at the time was that we could have sent a stronger team to New Zealand and still been able to satisfy both objectives - make money and sell the sport through the local competition and put up a good fist of challenging for the WTC mace at the same time.

As it turned out Shukri Conrad and his team did what they needed to by winning seven tests in a row to make the final, and the win at Lord’s makes it eight. But the series defeat in New Zealand certainly made it harder and just one or two slip-ups after that would have denied us the joy we experienced as a nation this past weekend.

So it was great to hear Markram say afterwards that hopefully now everyone will see that test cricket is indeed the ultimate format!

FORMAT UNDER THREAT IN SA

When the winning runs came at Lord’s it was probably exactly one week on from a conversation I had with an educator with a cricketing bent at the Northwood reunion. He told me that unlike when I was at school, when a whole day on the cricket field was nirvana, these days the kids coming into the sport want things to happen quicker.

There’s still an appetite to be involved over a whole day, but the preference, according to my source, is for there to be a 20-over double header. Batsmen then get to bat twice in the day, bowlers get another chance too. In two separate games.

It does my head in, but then the same source told me that basketball is starting to catch on as a summer sport (apparently that’s something Northwood are good at) and it could in time threaten cricket. So maybe capturing participants through the short-form game is better than seeing the tall, gangly fast bowlers with potential turn to another sport they might be good at.

Hopefully though the events that took place over four days in London a week ago will have brought home to youngsters what test cricket can be.

MULDER BRINGS BALANCE

Sorry, but it is hard to get away from cricket this week, and after my daughter returned home from London yesterday (Wednesday) at the same time the Proteas did, she noted that their bus seemed to be heading to Pretoria.

“Well, maybe they are going straight into camp,” I told her, “because they do have a test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo set to start on 28 June.”

There was a time when we played enough test cricket for a Zimbabwe game not be particularly exciting, but it is now. If I didn’t have to cover the Boks against the Barbarians on the same day, I’d be investigating flight costs to Zimbabwe or, perhaps more realistically, finding out if the Greyhound bus goes there…

Seriously though, there was a time when the Proteas weren’t rank underdogs against the Aussies. I still remember Graeme Smith mouthing the words “We are No 1” when leaving the field after what was not an official final but a de facto one, also at Lord’s, against England in 2012.

That was an experienced team, much more experienced than the one that won the mace a few days ago, but there is potential for the current team to grow to a point where they can defend their title if you look at what is happening elsewhere.

Because this country doesn’t play enough test cricket, I have almost found myself becoming an England supporter when they are not playing the Proteas, mainly because of their captain Ben Stokes’ approach to the game.

However, while England could have the best batting line-up in the world if their selectors could ever settle on a combination, their most fearsome bowlers (Jofra Archer, Mark Wood etc) hardly ever play, and since Broad and Anderson retired their attack has been bun and coke.

SA would do well against them in a series if it was played right now, a kind of “our bowlers against their batters” scenario.

The win over Australia may have been a one-off and perhaps in a series the Aussies would be favoured, but if you look at their team they are in for a serious rebuild in a year or two. Their batting is already suspect and it will become even more so when Steve Smith retires. Cameron Green was the only player in the Aussie team at Lord’s under the age of 30.

That’s not the case with SA, and one thing the most recent edition of the Betway20 showed us was that there are many promising young batsmen coming through in this country. Not that there isn’t plenty of promise in the current team.

Tristan Stubbs hasn’t quite reached his potential yet, but he will. I’d bat David Bedingham higher up the order. The 28-year-old Ryan Rickleton is a talent that will be around for several years yet.

But the most positive thing about the current Proteas team is the balance that Wiaan Mulder brings. He’s a dinkum batting allrounder rather than a bowling allrounder and while he made a slow start, anyone who watches him can see that any critics of his batting ability are misguided. If he is not a No 3, he’s certainly got the ability to be a really good No 6.

IF THAT’S HIS POLICY, RASSIE HAS IT RIGHT

So let’s get back to rugby. On the second afternoon of the cricket I was interrupted by a Springbok press conference where coach Rassie Erasmus was a little indignant at one point over criticism of his policy of selecting overseas based players.

Given that this critic believes that selecting overseas based players who have yet to play for the Boks over home based players, for example Juarno Augustus over Evan Roos, sends out the wrong message and undermines the SA rugby ecosystem, what he had to say was heartening.

Rassie pointed out that with the exception of Jasper Wiese, who had after all played quite a bit for the Cheetahs before going overseas, he had not selected a young player (23 was the age he mentioned). In Augustus’ case he was a Junior Bok and is a seasoned professional, or so Rassie argued, but he is not going to get into the habit of choosing players based overseas who haven’t made it here first.

If that is his policy then that’s brilliant and many of the misgivings about his selection of overseas players fall away. Boan Venter, 26-years-old and set to play for Scotland next year if Rassie didn’t pounce now, is also a player in a position where reinforcements are needed in the absence of the injured Gerhard Steenekamp and Ntuthuko Mchunu and the retired Steven Kitshoff.

There are exceptions to every rule, and while those who have scrummed against him reckon Vernon Matongo is going to be a great international loosehead in time, Venter’s form over a long period for Edinburgh is worth making an exception for.

But as a rule young players should be discouraged from thinking they can go overseas and still make it into the Bok squad.

LIONS FACE PLENTY OF JEOPARDY IN DUBLIN

The British and Irish Lions tour of Australia isn’t set to start for another two weeks but they see their first action when they play against Argentina in Dublin on Friday night. Coach Andy Farrell has named a strong team, to be captained by tour leader Maro Itoje, but I hope that by choosing the Pumas as their warmup opponents the Lions’ bosses haven’t bitten off more than they can chew.

Argentina beat both the Boks and the All Blacks in last year’s Castle Lager Rugby Championship. And they scored more than 60 against the Lions’ opponents, the Wallabies. Whether the Aussies are going to be competitive against the Lions is another separate talking point.

After watching the Brumbies get outplayed by the Chiefs in last week’s Super Rugby semifinal, I have my doubts.

However, the Lions are a composite team, and will thus take time to gel. The Pumas team, which includes the likes of all the influential players like skipper Julian Montoya and Pablo Matera is a stronger one than expected given so many of the Argentine players play in France, where the Top 14 is heading into the knockout rounds.

The Lions and the Pumas drew in Cardiff before one of the previous Lions tours, but the Pumas are a better team now. Before the 2021 tour the Lions played Japan before leaving for South Africa, and that might have been a much wiser choice of opponent.

The reminder of that game, which from memory was played in Edinburgh, is also a reminder of the peril the Lions players face in playing a game before they head on tour. The Lions tour captain Alun-Wyn Jones got injured against Japan four years ago and the Lions had to start their trip without him.

SOME SENSE AT LAST RE CURRIE CUP

The decision to play the Currie Cup over one round does not completely alleviate the problems implicit in playing rugby in what should be the South African off-season, but it is a step forward from last year. Indeed, it is good to see that the concept of less is more is being understood - at least when it comes to the domestic competition.

Having been converted to the 20 over game by the Betway tournament, I was looking forward to watching some IPL this year. Alas, it was just too long so I lost interest.

I’m sure I wasn’t alone. And the length of the URC season, with the EPCR competitions woven in, is also potentially problematic and may explain why some people at the Northwood reunion day (they played and lost to Hilton) asked me which trophy it was the Sharks would be competing for when they played their semifinal against the Bulls later in the day.

The number of people who could be considered proper rugby supporters and well versed in the sport who asked what could be considered stupid questions was astounding. Like “Aren’t the Sharks Champions?” No they’re not, that was the Challenge Cup and they aren’t champions of that anymore either. Or “Will a Sharks win get them into the Champions Cup?”

No, they’re already in the Champions Cup, they just needed to finish eighth in the URC to achieve that.

Clearly there still needs to be some hard sell, although the derbies appear to be well supported. Which got me thinking - play a round of the Currie Cup now, with the scheduled start being the last weekend of July, and then, if this country really doesn’t have the appetite for Champions Cup, maybe drop out of that competition and play another round of the Currie Cup in that window and then a semifinal and final.

LET IT BE WON IN MAY

I agree with the former Springbok flanker and assistant coach and also Currie Cup winner as both a player and coach with Western Province, Gert Smal, that the Currie Cup trophy should be put in a museum. But seeing there is a quest to keep it going, and I can understand it from the viewpoint of the smaller unions, maybe my suggestion is worth thinking about.

First prize is to get people interested in the Champions Cup, and get the teams to a point where they can challenge for the title, something that seemed very distant watching the Bulls against Leinster.

Second prize might be to play just the URC as an international franchise competition and amp up the Currie Cup in the gaps where there would have been Champions Cup, with the final being played in the Champions Cup final spot in late May.

Then Naas would have to change what he said all those years ago - the Currie Cup would indeed be won in May.