IOL Sport - May 2022 - Football Special

Volume 5 May 2022

IOL

SPORT FOOTBALL SPECIAL

COVER STORY

HEIR TO THE THRONE D I O GO JOTA: LIVERP OOL ’S N E W F R E SH P R I N C E

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CONTENTS IOL COVER STORY

Volume 5 May 2022

IOL

SPORT FOOTBALL SPECIAL

FRESH PRINCE Liverpool may have unearthed a successor to the Egyptian King Mohamed Salah in Diogo Jota.

COVER STORY

HEIR TO THE THRONE D I O G O JOTA : L I V E R P O O L ’S N E W F R E SH P R I N CE

EDITOR’S NOTE

5

THE BIG CHIEF

14

KNOCKOUT

6

BENNI IN A NEW AREA?

16

HOME FIRES BURNING

8

DARE TO DREAM

18

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

10

CRICKET 2.0

20

THE QUEST CONTINUES

22

SETTING THE PACE

24

The beautiful game has once again delivered one of the most gripping seasons on both the domestic front and abroad.

Rodney Berman is renowned for staging mega boxing fights and has delivered once again.

South African rugby franchises are taking the United Rugby Championship by storm after an indifferent start to the new competition.

The Springbok women’s rugby teams are under no illusions of the magnitude of the season that lies ahead.

HEIR TO THE THRONE

Diogo Jota has shown through his football intelligence that he is a worthy successor to Mohamed Salah at Anfield.

12

Cover: https://besthqwallpapers.com/ Design & Production: Matthys Moss | matthys.moss@inl.co.za Acting IOL Sport Digimag Editor: Zaahier Adams | zaahier.adams@inl.co.za IOL Sport Live Editor: John Goliath | john.goliath@inl.co.za Acting Executive IOL Sport Editor: Thulani Mbatha | thulani.mbatha@inl.co.za

Kaizer Chiefs would be well advised to appoint Arthur Zwane on a permanent basis to restore the Amakhosi’s identity.

A look at five teams that could potentially be keen on the current PSL Coach of the Season Benni McCarthy’s services.

It may seem impossible, but can Africa finally shine at the Fifa World Cup in Qatar later this year?

Teenage sensation Dewald Brevis and the Indian Premier League are dragging South African cricket kicking and screaming into uncharted territory.

The birth of a professional domestic league is the logical next step in the Momentum Proteas’ Women cricket team’s evolution.

South Africa’s record-breaker Lee-Anne Pace is ready to transfer her local success to the United States.

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New Chiefs football image here

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EDITOR’S NOTE Football: The ultimate soap opera The beautiful game has once again delivered one of the most gripping seasons both on the domestic front and abroad.

The drama has surpassed anything a daily soap opera could deliver with particularly the managers feeling the pressure.

Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp has had no such qualms as his juggernaut Reds chase an unprecedented quadruple in England and in Europe.

Klopp’s biggest concern, though, has been trying to secure his star forward Mohamed Salah on a new long-term contract. However, with the sand running out of the hour glass in relation to Salah’s future, the German mastermind may have already secured a replacement in Diogo Jota. The Portuguese international has silently become a club hero in his short time at Anfield and is fast shaping into the future of Liverpool. He is our cover story for this month.

Other managers have not been as fortunate with Bafana Bafana legend Benni McCarthy seeking new pastures after being axed at AmaZulu just one season after leading Usuthu to the CAF Champions League, while Kaizer Chiefs may finally realise that “local is lekker” with the appointment of Arthur Zwane and Dillon Sheppard on a permanent basis after Englishman Stuart Baxter was shown the door.

The Fifa World Cup is, of course, also happening later this year in Qatar and everyone on the continent is crossing their fingers that the Arabian desert will be a happy hunting ground for Africa’s Big Five.

We certainly hope that you enjoy our “Football Special”, although we haven’t forgotten your other favourites, such as the South African team’s rise up the United Rugby Championship table and the groundbreaking Proteas women’s team’s continued quest.

Until next month …

Zaahier Adams

SPORT MAG VOL.5 | P5 | MAY ‘22

KNOCKOUT Rodney Berman is renowned for staging mega boxing fights and has delivered once again.

Photos: N-SQUARED By: Herman Gibbs

ONLY a brave man would take the chance of pitting two explosive boxers in the same ring for his next blockbuster double-header bill in Johannesburg in early June.

Rodney Berman is that man – one of the most knowledgeable and astute boxing promoters – not only in South Africa, but in the whole of Africa.

Berman recently announced the second Golden Gloves tournament of the year, pitting knockout “kids” Roarke Knapp against Brandon Thysse for the African Boxing Union (ABU) super-welterweight crown and a 12-round heavyweight bout between newly-crowned SA and ABU champion Joshua Pretorius and Chris Thompson.

Thysse and Knapp are power punches of note, and going by their records this 12-round encounter for the ABU super-welterweight crown held by Knapp will not go the distance.

“The match-up for the ABU super-welterweight title is an explosive one,” Berman said. “I don’t think we could have got a better pair of super-welterweights to fight each other on this double-header bill.

“They fought once before and it proved to be a cracker-jack affair. It ended in a TKO in favour of Thysse.

Now it’s time for redemption.”

Thysse’s record is 17 fights, 14

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wins, one draw and two losses (one on a knockout and another on a split decision).

Knapp is just as impressive in his professional career, after never having an amateur background.

He has 11 knockouts in his 13 wins, a loss via knockout and a draw in his 15 fights.

Meanwhile, Pretorius makes his first defence against a fighter who beat him on points over four rounds in May 2017 at Sibaya Casino and Entertainment Kingdom.

Thompson has had 14 fights, 11 wins (7 KOs), two losses and a draw.

It will be the first time that he will be fighting for a heavyweight title.

Berman staged a successful “heavyweight mania” at Emperors Palace where he matched a former cruiserweight, SA’s Kevin Lerena, against Romanian Bogdan Dinu in a heavyweight contest and came out smiling. Lerena destroyed Dinu, a veteran in the heavyweight division, in four rounds and is now the WBA

BOXING

inter-continental champion.

How does Berman manage to stage so many successful tournaments?

“It's a tough balancing act,” Berman said. “When we bring out international boxers we speak to our agents overseas and we get the low-down on the fighters before signing contracts.

“We assess every aspect of the fighter’s ability, record, style and who he has fought over the years.

A successful promoter must have a good match-maker and we have one in Jeff Ellis, who has been in the game a long time.”

TOP: Rodney Berman organised Lennox Lewis to come over and fight in South Africa.

RIGHT: IBO cruiserweight champion Kevin Lerena recently in action.

BOXING

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HOME FIRES

BURNING South African rugby franchises are taking the United Rugby Championship by storm after an indifferent start to the new competition.

Photos: BackpagePix | INPHO/Shutterstock By: Mike Greenaway

WHEN the South African United Rugby Championship (URC) teams returned from Europe last November with their tails between their legs, the whispered refrain was “wait ‘til they come to us!”.

Well, the European teams have come to South Africa and have experienced a month of collective hell in the Republic.

Why the dramatic turnaround in fortunes? Besides the obvious factor of the South Africans struggling with the frosty conditions in Europe in their winter month of November, it was also their baptism in a brand new competition. The opponents were new, the rugby itself was markedly different to Super Rugby and a most significant factor was the at times unfathomable refereeing of the northern hemisphere officials.

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Interestingly, when the Welsh, Scottish, Irish and Italian teams came to face the Sharks, Stormers, Bulls and Lions, the URC insisted on those same NH referees, but this time the locals had a much better understanding of how they would blow.

Looking at the SA teams, it has been the Stormers, who were the best SA team overseas, that have grown in leaps and bounds at home and are now looking like a good bet for a home semi-final after a hot streak of wins at DHL Stadium.

Flyhalf Manie Libbok along with fullbacks Damian Willemse and Warrick Gelant have been instrumental in the Stormers’ rise up the log.

The Lions have also enjoyed a turnaround in fortunes – they ended a nine-game losing sequence by winning four in a row against Cardiff, Munster, the Ospreys and Edinburgh before falling short against the Bulls and Connacht.

As for the Sharks, they remain on track for a playoff spot after victories over the Dragons, Lions and Leinster.

RUGBY

RIGHT: The Bulls fans have returned to Loftus Versfeld to see the likes of Madosh Tambwe in action.

FAR RIGHT: The Lions have cashed in on the Highveld altitude factor by playing a high-paced game.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Manie Libbok has been instrumental in the Stormers’ charge up the URC table.

RUGBY

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CHALLENGE ACCEPTED LEFT: South Africa’s Sizophila Solontsi breaks through France’s defence during Women’s Autumn Internationals, Stade de la Rabine, Vannes, France.

The Springbok women’s rugby teams are under no illusions of the magnitude of the season that lies ahead.

Photos: INPHO | Shutterstock/BackpagePix By: Wynona Louw

SOUTH Africa will have the opportunity to be the holders of both Rugby World Cups when the Springboks women’s team launch their assault in New Zealand later this year.

It is indeed a busy year for women’s rugby, with the Bok Sevens team also playing in Cape Town in September for the Rugby World Cup Sevens, just prior to the 15-player showpiece in the Land of the Long White Cloud the following month.

Unlike the Springbok men’s set-up, many of the Bok Sevens women’s players double up in the 15-player code too.

One of them is Bok Sevens captain Sizophila Solontsi, who

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recently played at the Hermanus Sevens in preparation for a tournament in France this month.

“We had our goals going into the Hermanus Sevens, and one of those goals was to not let any team score against us. Not conceding any tries and playing the ball wide were achievements for us,” said Solontsi.

“That tournament really helped us, especially because we have some new girls and some of them hadn’t even played Sevens before, so it was a good introduction.

“The goal now is to focus on more technical things and structures and, of course, we now shift our focus to Rugby Africa.”

Solontsi was part of the team that made their debut at the Cape Town Sevens in 2019 – the last time the World Rugby Sevens Series visited SA. It was an experience that proved invaluable to Solontsi, which she hopes will stand her in good stead when she returns with her Bok Sevens teammates for the tournament at Cape Town Stadium in September.

RUGBY

“For me personally, I would take that experience (of playing at the Cape Town Sevens) and put it in my pocket, because it was massive,” Solintsi said.

“It was overwhelming, but it also helps knowing that we have a few players in the squad that played at that kind of level. That will really benefit the lesser-experienced players.”

Springbok 15s women’s captain Nolusindiso Booi is equally upbeat about her team’s chances in New Zealand, especially after the recent camps with Bok men’s forwards coach Deon Davids, where extensive work was done on the physical aspect of the game.

“There are a lot of things we can take from that, for example, with our lineout jumpers,” Booi said.

“Also, since we are struggling with our scrums, now each and every player knows what they were doing wrong. So, we have learnt those small details, and now we can combine them with something better.”

Nolusindiso Booi wins a lineout for South Africa against France’s Coumba Diallo at the Stade de la Rabine, Vannes, France in 2021.

South Africa’s Sizophila Solontsi (centre) tackled by Barbarians’ Jenny Murphy (right) during the Autumn International match at Twickenham Stadium, London.

RUGBY

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COVER STORY

HEIR TO THE

THRONE

Portuguese international striker Diogo Jota is the new “Fresh Prince of Liverpool”.

Photos: EPA By: Eshlin Vedan

WITH Mohamed Salah’s future at Anfield still the subject of speculation, Liverpool may have unearthed the Egyptian king’s successor in Diogo Jota.

Salah’s deal with the Reds expires in June 2023. This means that if he does not sign a new deal, he will ideally have to be sold at the end of this season if Liverpool are to get a good fee instead of risking losing him for a bargain, or in the worst case scenario for free come next year.

Liverpool will have to make a tough decision regarding Salah.

To keep him, they will likely have to make him the highest paid footballer in the world, if not close to it. There is also no doubt that the vultures will soon begin to circle with astronomical salary offers.

But despite the Salah situation, Liverpool fans need not yet be too concerned.

Even with Salah being one of the best players in the Liverpool team, Jurgen Klopp’s side have shown they can function as a cohesive unit without him.

Jota has matured incredibly since joining Liverpool in 2020.

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He has quietly been banging in the goals this season.

Jota’s star performances may have not been talked about too much due to Salah’s Ballon d’or nominee quality performances, but if the Portugal international can continue at his current level of progress, he could just be good enough to succeed Salah within a year.

Despite not being one of the tallest players, he is still strong in the air. And what he does not possess in terms of natural talent, he makes up for with his football intelligence. He is also versatile in terms of playing anywhere across the front line.

When he joined Liverpool from fellow Premiership outfit Wolves, some questioned why Klopp signed him. His versatility is very likely to have been the biggest point as the

SOCCER

German tactician looked to ease the workload of Salah, Sadio Mane and Bobby Firmino without compromising their own roles.

In Luis Diaz, Liverpool also have plenty of hope. The Colombian winger only joined Liverpool in January and fits into the Reds’ tactical system so smoothly that one could easily be fooled into thinking that he’s been playing with the team for a few years.

Salah remains arguably the best attacker in the Premier League and Liverpool. However, Jota has proved this season that Liverpool now have yet another world-class and match-winning attacker in their side.

Bottom: Jota could be good enough to succeed Mohamed Salah within a year.

Diogo Jota has matured incredibly since joining Liverpool in 2020.

SOCCER

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THE BIG

CHIEF Kaizer Chiefs would be well advised to appoint Arthur Zwane on a permanent basis to restore the Amakhosi’s identity.

Photos: BackpagePix | ANA By: Mihlali Baleka

ARTHUR Zwane has a fairly visible spread of grey hair even though he’s maintained his slim figure after retirement from playing the beautiful game.

He is likely to develop a further spread of grey in his goatee before the end of the season. It’s that time of the season where he gets to audition for a job that he’s likely not going to get – regardless of the potential he displays.

When Kaizer Chiefs expectedly sacked coach Stuart Baxter following a series of poor results, controversial remarks and decisions, they once again turned to assistants Zwane and Dillon Sheppard until the end of the season.

This is not uncharted territory for the duo. After Gavin Hunt was fired towards the end of last season, it was Zwane and Sheppard, in their roles as interim coaches, that steered Chiefs to the top eight and CAF Champions League final.

Zwane led from the front, while Sheppard was happy to play the secondary role. That was expected,

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given that the former knows the culture and history of the club like the back of his hand.

He also played for Amakhosi, remember?

But no, it’s that he’s a club legend that makes ‘10111’ stand out. The Uefa B coaching licence Irish FA student, and classmate of Sheppard, knows the building blocks that Amakhosi need to lay so that they can become great once again.

Close followers of the Reserve League have looked on attentively as Zwane always urged his charges to never focus on the results, but rather play “the Chiefs way”.

Zwane’s passion for mastering basics and playing attractive football were more important than winning trophies. When his team won the Diski Shield by beating Mamelodi Sundowns, his game plan had everything: structure, flair, hunger and goals.

And when he took charge of Chiefs’ senior team late last year, where they won two games and lost one during Baxter’s battle with Covid-19, the team arguably played some of their best football.

He reiterated this ideology despite the recent Premiership loss to Stellenbosch FC under his stewardship.

“We need to play with flair – we’re Kaizer Chiefs and there must be an identity,” Zwane said “Players must know our style of

SOCCER

play and how we want to win games.

We shouldn’t be about winning for the sake of winning.”

Zwane was also responsible for the development of Nkosingiphile Ngcobo, the current darling of the club, Sabelo Radebe, Happy Mashiane and others. It was a ground-breaking statement that if Chiefs believed in their youngsters, they wouldn’t have to buy in the near future.

Flashes of that were slowly bursting into life under Hunt, given that he was forced to tap into Chiefs’ youth structures, due to the club enduring a one-year long transfer ban.

However, during Baxter’s reign, the youngsters were once again pushed to the sidelines.

And although Zwane and Sheppard lost their first game at the Danie Craven Stadium, the time may have finally arrived for Chiefs to make the big call.

Otherwise, they may well be back here next season, asking Zwane and Sheppard to finish another season after firing the new coach.

FAR RIGHT: Zwane is responsible for the development of youngsters Nkosingiphile Ngcobo and Happy Mashiane.

RIGHT: Zwane knows the culture and history of the Amakhosi like the back of his hand.

Arthur Zwane has led from the front, while Dillon Sheppard has been happy to play the secondary role.

SOCCER

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BENNI

IN A NEW AREA? A look at five teams that could potentially be keen on the current PSL Coach of the Season’s services.

Photos: BackpagePix By: Mihlali Baleka

DESPITE leading AmaZulu to the dizzy heights of the CAF Champions League in his first season, Benni McCarthy and the KwaZulu-Natal club parted ways recently.

IOL Sport football looks at five teams that could potentially be keen on the current PSL Coach of the Season’s services.

Orlando Pirates McCarthy is one of the Buccaneers’ favourite sons and the club’s fans would welcome their once championship-winning striker with open arms.

The co-coaching pairing of Mandla Ncikazi and Fadlu Davids hasn’t quite worked out following the resignation of Josef Zinnbauer.

They are on course to miss out on all the local trophies this term.

Africa also remains a jungle.

That Pirates are in the semi-finals

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of the CAF Confederation Cup doesn’t mean they’ll win the continental trophy.

Kaizer Chiefs McCarthy, who holds a Uefa A Pro coaching licence, has the pedigree to be at the helm of a club of Chiefs’ magnitude.

With Stuart Baxter being fired last month, Chiefs need a coach of McCarthy’s calibre as the players will fight for him and the badge.

SuperSport United Bidvest Wits’ collapse in 2020 was set to reinvigorate SuperSport as a top-four team.

But SuperSport have failed in that regard under the guidance of the now-fired Kaitano Tembo, who had to rebuild the team from scratch after the seniors left.

But with the club said to be enduring financial difficulties, they’d have to give McCarthy time to rebuild the team. He knows about nurturing the next stars, having started off as a 17-year-old at Seven Stars under coach Gavin Hunt.

Royal AM Take nothing away from

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incumbent John Maduka. He’s done a fantastic job. The fact that they have consistently been second on the PSL log is a feather in his cap.

But the newly-formed KZN club are an ambitious lot and should they dare achieve the improbable by qualifying for African football they’ll need a bigger figure at the helm.

They do not come bigger and better than McCarthy.

Owner Shauwn “MaMkhize” Mkhize might not even have to sack Maduka. Instead, she may try to convince Maduka to work as McCarthy’s deputy.

TS Galaxy The Rockets remain one of the most positive stories in the top flight, despite lacking experience.

However, the change in coaching personnel this season has resulted in Galaxy sitting in the relegation play-off spot so far this campaign.

It may be wise to stick with Sead Ramovic for the closing stages of this campaign in the hope that he steers them to safety.

And it’s then that chairman Tim Sukazi and McCarthy could consider joining forces.

Former AmaZulu coach Benni McCarthy during the 2021 CAF Champions League clash against TP Mazembe at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

LEFT: McCarthy celebrates a goal during his golden days at Buccaneers.

SOCCER

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Senegal’s Sadio Mane on the attack during the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final against Burkina Faso.

DARE TO DREAM

It may seem impossible, but can Africa finally shine at the Fifa World Cup in Qatar later this year?

Photos: BackpagePix | Independent Media By: Matshelane Mamabolo

THE African continent has hosted the World Cup, now how about one of our countries win the bloody thing for the first time? Wouldn’t that be grand?

The 2022 World Cup draw was recently concluded and while Africa seems to have its strongest five teams at the tournament – Ghana, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco and Cameroon – to represent it, there is nothing to suggest the continent should anticipate a glorious campaign by any of these sides when the world’s best 32 teams gather in Qatar in November and December.

The best an African team has done at the World Cup is reach the

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quarter-finals and all three of the countries that have done so will be in Qatar. Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana will all be eager to at least go one better than they have before.

The question one would ask is how their current squads compare to those that reached the last eight in previous campaigns.

Does Cameroon’s Rigobert Song have at his disposal a team with the magical enthusiasm and carefree attitude of the Indomitable Lions of Roger Milla, Kana Biyik, Cyrille Makanaky et al who dazzled at Italia 90?

Alilou Cisse, the coach of Senegal, was a member of the Lions of Teranga who stunned holders France in the opening match of the 2002 edition in South Korea and Japan.

Can he use that experience to inspire the current lot led by Liverpool’s irrepressible Sadio Mane to the last four?

Perhaps the country that got closest to a semi-final is Ghana, who

SOCCER

missed out on penalties to Uruguay in 2010. Can they reach those dizzy heights and more?

Senegal, the current African champions, should progress from a group with the host nation, Ecuador and the Netherlands.

Cameroon must wonder just why they have drawn Brazil again (they were in the same group with them in 2014), but should be able to tough it out with both Switzerland and Serbia for the runners-up spot.

Ghana will get the chance to settle their score with Uruguay in a group that also includes Portugal and South Korea.

It is a group the Black Stars can progress out of, although it won’t be easy, while the other two countries – Morocco and Tunisia – are old horses of the World Cup and hopefully are not just in the Arabian desert to make up the numbers.

Qatar 2022 is a World Cup of many firsts. Perhaps, just perhaps, it will be a first for Africa too.

Ghana have come closest to reaching the World Cup semi-finals back in South Africa in 2010. Will they be dancing again at Qatar 2022?

LEFT: Does Cameroon have at their disposal a team with the magical enthusiasm and carefree attitude of the Indomitable Lions of Roger Milla, Kana Biyik, Cyrille Makanaky et al who dazzled at Italia 90?

SOCCER

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CRICKET 2.0 South African cricket is entering uncharted territory due to the ever expanding Indian Premier League.

Photos: BackpagePix By: Stuart Hess

FOR all the understandable gnashing of teeth over the Proteas who chose to head off to the Indian Premier League (IPL) instead of playing the two Tests against Bangladesh, the presence of SA U-19 star Dewald Brevis in India should be equally – if not more – concerning for South African cricket.

Brevis turned 19 in the last week of April. Prior to the IPL his senior professional career consisted of nine T20 matches. The Mumbai Indians paid no regard to that.

Instead they paid Brevis R6.1 million. It suggests a new way of thinking for an IPL team when it comes to contracting foreign players.

It’s about development, following a method used by the big football clubs, in signing a player, helping him grow within a certain structure and then refining his potential.

Players no longer need to have played international cricket to attract interest, as is the case for the majority of foreign stars in the IPL. A good junior is a risk worth taking.

Brevis still hasn’t played a first-class match or a List A game.

His pathway to the Proteas is clearly

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Dewald Brevis of Mumbai Indians going to be very different. But that will also depend on what the future may look like for the Proteas because Test cricket is increasingly being marginalised when it comes to those teams not part of “The Big Three”.

Much of it has to do with the IPL which is increasingly taking bigger chunks out of the calendar. This year saw the league’s expansion from eight to 10 teams and it is only likely to get even bigger.

Star Sports’ broadcast deal for the IPL is worth a reported $2.5 billion, but that is expected to double next year when a new deal is set to be announced. That has further, worrying implications for international cricket.

The entire landscape of the sport, which has already changed so

CRICKET

radically in the last 10 years, will undergo even more change in the next decade.

And Brevis’ career will be an interesting study, in terms of what will be important for players in the future. Previously it was about playing 100 Tests and two to three World Cups. Now, with an expanding IPL, those priorities will look a lot different.

Cricket SA, desperate to find some stability after a protracted period of administrative chaos, will find itself at the whims of power players much bigger than it can handle.

The next Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the players’ association has to definitively provide clarity about players’ availability for the national side if it clashes with the IPL. Brevis’ potential Proteas future may hinge entirely upon it.

Top right: Dewald Brevis re-wrote the record books at the recent ICC Under-19 World Cup in the West Indies.

Bottom right: Brevis has only played a handful of T20 games and no first-class or List A matches for the Titans as yet.

CRICKET

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THE QUEST CONTINUES The birth of a professional domestic league is the logical next step in the Proteas’ Women cricket team’s evolution.

Photos: AFP | www.photosport.nz By: Zaahier Adams

THE Proteas’ Women’s team will wonder for the rest of their lives how they failed to give their best in the biggest game of their lives in their World Cup semi-final in Christchurch.

It will perhaps never be the remotest consolation that they were outplayed by an opponent whose own performance peaked at the most critical time.

This was a team that was supposed to be playing for the nation, for every gogo, single mother and little girl adoring them from back home.

Maybe the responsibility of being pioneers – no South African cricket team had qualified for a World Cup final before – was just too much.

The quest will now continue, but when the dust has settled, which may take longer for the veterans in the squad, South Africa should still look back on the competition with a degree of pleasure.

Of course, they will always regret losing to England in a second consecutive World Cup semi-final but they should still be able to reflect that reaching the play-offs in the manner in which they did with a game to spare is progression in its own right.

It was not simply bluster from their captain, Sune Luus, when she spoke of “a brilliant campaign” and “how all the players have stepped up at different times and it’s been amazing to see the growth in each and every player”.

RIGHT: Mignon Du Preez is the first of the veterans that have retired from ODI cricket post the World Cup disappointment in New Zealand.

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CRICKET

Luus’ philosophical approach is probably due to the fact that for South Africa to eventually scale their Everest the structures at home need to begin resembling the likes of finalists Australia and England.

The foundation has been laid with the contracting of the national squad, but the challenge has now been put to Cricket South Africa to capitalise on the excitement generated through the creation of greater opportunities for more female cricket players.

The birth of a women’s professional domestic cricket league is a much-needed intervention. The moment must be seized if South Africa are to eventually celebrate the return of champions.

TOP: The Proteas played for every gogo, single mother and little girl adoring them from back home.

LEFT: Chloe Tryon was one of the many Proteas that stepped up during the World Cup.

CRICKET

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SETTING THE PACE South Africa’s record-breaker Lee-Anne Pace is ready to transfer her local success to the United States.

Photos: Sunshine Tour By: Michael Sherman

AS the shadows grew at Steenberg Golf Club in Cape Town last month, Lee-Anne Pace holed a one-foot putt on the par-5 18th which signified an incredible 11th Ladies European Tour (LET) victory.

Not only did it mean the 41-year-old had won a record fifth SA Women’s Open, it also earned Pace a spot in the US Women’s Open later this year. It was a fitting end to a tournament which took six playoff holes to decide the winner – in which Pace outlasted Argentine Magdalena Simmermacher.

Pace burst onto the scene in 2010, with five victories on the LET. Those wins saw her end the season atop the LET order of merit as she won the Player of the Year award.

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It would be three years until she won again on the LET, with Pace claiming three victories. While she added a win in the SA Open in 2014, it would be another seven years before she stepped onto the winners’ podium again on the LET. That seven-year drought was broken at the 2021 SA Women’s Open, and of course she defended that title once more earlier this month.

It means Pace is not done yet, not by a long shot. Despite her pedigree on the LET, she is yet to shine in the 36 LPGA majors in which she has competed. In fact, her best finish is a tie for sixth at the 2015 Evian Championship.

Her results in the majors belie her incredible talent and potential, and it would be a travesty if SA’s best player since Sally Little does not claim at least one major title before her career is over.

Little, now aged 70, remains the only SA player to have won a women’s major with her victories

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at the PGA Championship in 1980 and the CP Women’s Open in 1988.

Though Little won 15 times on the LPGA Tour, it can be argued that Pace is a better player with her 23 professional victories.

Pace has one LPGA victory to her name – the 2014 Blue Bay LPGA – to go with her numerous victories on the LET. Pace also has 14 Sunshine Ladies Tour victories, since the tour began in 2014.

It surely will only be a matter of time before her dominance in SA is translated to major success in the United States.

TOP: Lee-Anne Pace during the trophy presentation of the 2021 Investec South African Women’s Open at Westlake Golf Club in Cape Town, South Africa.

South Africa’s record-breaker Lee-Anne Pace is ready to transfer her local success to the United States.

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SPORT MAG VOL.5 | P25 | MAY ‘22

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