Cricket season

My 2c re the withering Protea's.....

Every single world cup year we find ourselves in the same position... For 3 years prior to WC year, we seem to have and idea of our "best" team and generally have a very "settled" team barring the odd change for Injuries and rest periods... Yet 6-12 months before the WC we seem to get our heads so far into the ground and the light seems to disappear altogether....

I would love to know, with the starting line ups for our first 2 games, how many ODI's have these teams started together in the last year??? Honestly not knowing the answer, i am willing to go out on a limb and say 0... Max 1.....

Lets not forget that this is professional sport, not club cricket. The small margins is what makes the difference.... On their day the 8 ranked team can beat the 3rd ranked team if those small differences fall in their favour. This brings me to 3 specific players - Amla, Steyn and Ngidi.....

Amla, no need to bring up his form over the last couple years. However, barring the unfortunate family crisis with his dads health, guess what he decided to do just before the WC started.... Yip you guessed it, pull out of franchise cricket to do work in the nets... Sorry, but if you cannot cut it at provincial level out on the park, what do you expect to do on the biggest stage...

Steyn - Imvho, even without injury, he would not be in my squad. Steyn has lost his intimidation factor aswell as a few clicks on the speedometer. He is not the force of old. He is riddled with injury and i just cannot see him blowing teams away. Lets also not forget that Steyn is one of those bowlers who needs alot of bowling to start reaching his peak... Which means that should he play every match from now until the end of the WC, he might get max 100 overs under the belt.... So he should start hitting close to peak levels just after the WC is over....

Ngidi - No doubt a talent and at his age, i too would have tried to rush him into the squad after injury..... If he did not have a injury record like he does.... I liken him to an Australian, whom IMVHO, is one of the best quickies in world cricket, Pat Cummins... As a youngster he burst onto the scene, but like Ngidi plagued with injuries.Cricket Australia went back to their franchise level and told them he would not bowl more than X amount of balls at practice and in matched. He was basically in the wilderness for close on 2 years. This allowed his body time to adjust to the demands required playing international cricket. He has come back better than ever, and barring me putting the mockers on him, he has stayed relatively injury free.... Instead of running Ngidi into the ground, we should surely be looking into this direction.. After all, we did have a young bowler hitting speeds of 150+, yet after a year or so, he saw his whole career done by injuries after being pushed to hard... Remember a chap named Ngam..... I would hate to see this happen to Ngidi.

So while other teams are fine tuning their squads for the WC, SA are trying to find out who their squad is, and on top of it, instead of taking 15 fully fit match ready players, we take 12 or 13 fit players, and probably 5 extra physios and doctors... No wonder we cannot compete when its WC time.... Hell, 2 games into the WC and the coaches are still scratching their heads wondering what our line up should be.........

Steyn has been withdrawn from the World Cup Squad. Beuran Hendricks is the replacement.

naresh wrote: Steyn has been withdrawn from the World Cup Squad. Beuran Hendricks is the replacement.

I[ would have liked to see Vernon Philander instead.

YEAH!!
Now they must send the other Hendricks as well - to replace Amla (I think he has batted as if though concussed for a long time - should not even have been selected)

Screen grab of

Graeme Joffe

I was asked by a number of twitter followers to please expand on my tweet ... so, here goes!

On the field, the Proteas made a lot of schoolboy errors against Bangladesh in all departments. The most glaring was to win the toss AGAIN and bowl first AGAIN. I remember as captain of the Fairways Primary Ter Horst (U9/U10) team in the 80s, our coach, Jimmy Cook told us, you win the toss, you always bat first. So, not sure what has changed since or how the Proteas can think they’re good chasers at a World Cup. Their record certainly doesn’t show it and scoreboard pressure is a real thing. The bowling and fielding was flat and then they forgot to keep a right/left handed batting combo going at a crucial time.

I’m not a cricket expert but after eight years of investigating the systemic corruption, maladministration and nepotism in SA sport, I can safely say, all three have a dire effect on overall performance.

Let’s start with Border cricket who in the last five years has gotten close to R50 million from the National Lottery.

Yes, R50 million!

No-one can shed light on what the R50 million was used for apart from some officials using it to fund their own lavish lifestyles.

Had that R50 million been used for grass roots development, structured academies and for looking after some young disadvantaged talent, cricket would have been the winner. Instead, kids have given up on their dream and given up on the sport.

Border cricket is a ghost.

Cricket SA (CSA) is one of the wealthiest federations and also gets millions from the National Lottery. But you still have the player drain (Kolpak) and others who can’t make a living from the game throwing in the towel.

Where’s all the money going?

So, you’ve lost depth at a schoolboy, amateur and provincial level which doesn’t bode well for the national team and you end up picking half a squad of veterans for the 2019 World Cup who have already failed at previous World Cups.

No depth and no fight for places in the squad!

There’s no longer strength vs strength at the provincial level either which has been watered down to almost a club competition.

The quota system is a smokescreen for the lack of grass roots development and lazy administration. It’s also racist and discriminatory.

Interesting to see a trio of South Africans working with the current Bangladesh team. Neil McKenzie as the batting coach, Ryan Cook (fielding coach) and Gary Kirsten as a consultant. You think these guys may know a thing or two about the game?

Just for the record CSA, Kirsten coached India to World Cup glory in 2011.

Why aren’t these coaches/consultants in the SA system?

Because of administrators who want “yes” people and not people who want the best for the players and team!

How many great cricket players, coaches have been flushed out of the SA cricket system because they weren’t yes people?

CSA has had numerous boardroom battles with Presidents and CEO’s fighting over money and lest we not forget the whole Gerald Majola saga.

But still corruption and nepotism is rife within CSA and Majola is now the ‘Sedgars rep’ for their lucrative, non-tendered CSA contracts.

Administrators in it for their own personal gain and not what’s in it for the players.

You still have selection interference and from administrators who have never ever played the game.

How can you expect to win trophies if you don't send out your best 11 players?

But at the same time, credit to Bangladesh for getting professional help and for improving all the time!

Bafana Bafana losing to Botswana shouldn’t be a surprise either. SA football is riddled with corruption, maladministration and nepotism.

When last did you read a feel good story between SAFA and the PSL?

The Jordaan/Khoza battle over power and money has crippled the game and it shows on the field. The players know it.

There’s also no consistency and long term planning.

Bafana Bafana have had how many coaches in the last 10 years and how much has been paid out to terminate their contracts?

Millions and millions which could have been used for development down the drain!

Clubs and junior programs are fighting for survival whilst millions from the Lottery and FIFA legacy program disappears.

Good players and coaches give up.

I repeat, how can you expect to win trophies if you don't send out your best 11 players?

It’s exactly the same in SA Rugby, SA Athletics and SA swimming and the officials get away with it because the Sports Ministry and SASCOC are just as corrupt!

They all have dirt on each other until the thieves fall out over money. That’s the only time you may hear about it as there is no culture of investigative sports journalism in SA.

The rot just gets deeper!

SA sport has been demonized by systemic corruption, maladministration and nepotism!

My take so far

England very good, their loss to Pakistan was due to poor fielding, will make semis with ease
Pakistan are a team who play on confidence so win will help, they beat the top but will lose to the bottom teams
Australia look good as well
West Indies great start should get better with each match
NZ always make the semis so good chance
Bangladesh brilliant, mind you not much needed to beat SA
SA poor and will be shocked if they win more than 2 matches
Sri Lanka look poor
Afghanistan no pressure just enjoy
India ?

Amla's inclusion an absolute master stroke by the selectors.. They obviously saw something that we couldnt :whistle:

There is nobody with brains in this side. Its overcast and the pitch is alive and we bat 1st......but when its beautiful weather we bowl 1st. They all missed cricket 101 at school. Sad bunch of daffodils !

neigh wrote: There is nobody with brains in this side. Its overcast and the pitch is alive and we bat 1st......but when its beautiful weather we bowl 1st. They all missed cricket 101 at school. Sad bunch of daffodils !

to be fair to your favourite skipper of all time, it was sunny with no clouds when he won the toss. But he obviously did not look at Dark Sky weather forecast (an app that everybody has) for if he did he would have seen that the cloud was on its way

These pricks could hit a cows backside with a banjo if it stood right in front of them. 150 all out ! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Afghanistan must think they have a chance against us . Cant see us beating any teams other than afghans and SL . I really thought that with the pressure off they would do well but afraid not. It is going to be a long embarrassing tournament for our boys

If the Proteas lose today then the only positive is that they have lost to two teams who will finish in the top 4, India and England. Now they know that they just have to win every match from now. In 1992 Pakistan won 1 of there first 5 matches and ended up winning the WC.