SonOfAPitch

So.  Who is Joel Santana and why would he succeed Carlos Perreira as coach of the SA national soccer team?

The answer?  God only knows!

For one, I have no clue to what state of mind the SAFA executives are finding themselves in.  Neither do I understand the notion that the best coach for the national side should be Brazilian.  As I saw it, at the time, Parreira was go-to man since the national side had a tough time qualifying for any top competition, let alone winning matches convincingly.  And who better to lead the fightback than a man that has coached a national team to 7 world cup finals and winning one, with Brazil , in 1994.  And when his stint as coach started you could literally smell the confusion in the SA side’s playing style as they were evolving from an African style of play to the more lethal and rampant style of the South Americans.

So in order to remain consistent, it seems, the executives opted for another Brazilian in the form of Joel Santana.  I guess their choices may have been limited since there are four African Nations qualifiers coming up shortly and steering the shoddy boat which is SA football into that ocean with no captain at the wheel is all but suicidal, but why another Brazilian?

I can only guess that the top brass are reluctant to change the national side’s focus in playing style too much before such big games and the 2010 world cup coming up.  It looked as if the SA side finally got the hang off their new style and felt comfortable enough in its skin in the drubbing handed to Paraguay .  But still…why Joel Santana.

Joel Santana is a bit of a coaching legend in Brazil .  Not unlike Gordon Igesund for SA.  But Gordon’s never coached a national side!  And neither have Joel.  Some would argue that there might be politics at work when a renowned coach are left out to dry when a national coach is selected, and there may be valid arguments for it too.  Gordon Igesund have won the PSL with four different teams inside 10 years, most of which were teams that no-one would have fancied as champs at the start of that particular season.  Surely that is a mark of a brilliant coach?  Did Joel do the same?

Some would argue that he has a pretty effective record albeit not a great one.  He won a few state championships and one national title as coach, but he was also fired four times inside 2 years from four different clubs.  His track record as coach looks stable, but then again, so is Trott Moloto’s! 

I can understand that Carlos Parreira would have felt a bit guilty in resigning so soon after his appointment and even embarrassed in some way.  He was supposed to be the last hope of a side aiming to perform well in the 2010 World Cup and now he splits at the first sign of getting homesick.  I would also have suggested an able replacement in the hope that it would put the baby which is SA football to rest.  Fortunately it would be the decision of the SA executives to either accept the replacement in good faith or to politely decline the offer and opting to pursue other avenues in finding a suitable replacement.

It is shocking, to say the least, that the top brass hurriedly decided in hiring Joel based on Carlos’ recommendations.  At $200 000 he does not come cheap and he (Joel) have already told sources that he would cherish the opportunity as he would make more during his 30 month contract than he made the last 30 years.  Where are the loyalties lying with this man?  At the moment, clearly not football; let alone SA football. 

And for how long must Gordon Igesund be knocking on doors for an opportunity to lead the SA charge to greatness?  

Every man has the right to his own opinion and to have it respected.  This is mine…SA football is taking two steps forward and three steps back every time they make an important decision.  If this new venture with Joel Santana flops I will be first to point fingers and not feel guilty about it too as I have seen this coming a mile away.  And just for that, even though I would under normal circumstances never admit it, I hope that SA exits the world cup in round one.  If only to see if ol’ Gordon gets his shot at long last.

According to a source that wished to remain nameless, he is missing his family and his wife is sick and lonely.

Carlos, I for one will miss you and your reasonably no-nonsense approach to coaching a bunch of sissies and drama queens.  But, I wonder, what will happen now?

Trott Moloto has been appointed as caretaker coach how many times now?  And if memory serves me correct, wasn’t he fired as coach of the side himself?

With a country gearing to host the first World Cup on African soil this announcement from the graying Carlos could not have come at a worse time.  SA soccer SEEMED to have gotten its act together with a decent display against Paraguay when they drubbed them 3-0.  And with a wealth of friendly matches lined up for the hosts up to 2010 it looked like the much needed international experience a lot of the young players needed was being hand delivered by XPS!  But game time against world class opposition means jack s#@ t if you have no one capable of taking such a match and turning it into reference book for the players to feed off of.

It is probably too early to speculate about a possible successor to Carlos.  But I can almost certainly stick my head out by saying that it will be a South African taking charge.  For too long the bosses have denied themselves a bigger bonus due to the big paycheck they had to sign for old Carlos.  Who better to rope in than a man that would work for a year’s supply of petrol and a paycheck he could use to put one child through school.

I am very sorry if I come across as pessimistic about the future of our football come next Monday, but South African soccer bosses have, too many times in the past, stuck their foot in it and made great decision making look like a pipedream.  The last great decision they made was to appoint Carlos, and even then they were divided in that decision.  The man had no knowledge of our football, the tiny pool of decent players to choose from, a horde of pessimistic elitists breathing down neck and too many reporters condemning him for his salary to contend with.  Yet he did remarkably well.  I don’t want to speak too soon, but I don’t think for one second that we have someone inside our borders capable of taking the reigns and running with it.

Monday will be a sad day for SA soccer.  One could only hope that the dark clouds will lift and someone will take responsibility for the wellbeing of the soccer in this country in the same way a foreigner did until now.

Ciao

I am a big sports fanatic.  One sport though, and I know I will be stoned for saying this, that never really grew on me, although I know a lot about it, is soccer.

I know enough about SA soccer in particular to recognize that our very own recent “golden age” is something of the past, and it’s been p[ast tense for a good few years as well.  I am referring to the time when Eric Tinkler, Lucas Radebe, Niel Tovey, Mark Fish, Shoes and a very young Benny Mac was playing the game free from interference of the soccer bosses.

The pressure put on Bafana to perform is enormous and that no other sport in South Africa (and I think more than one rugby lover will disagree) carries as much responsibility as soccer.  This responsibility stretches further than on the pitch results as the soccer bosses and government was pushing to have a national team in a sport that is truly representative of the South African public and as such would be presented as role models to the youngsters.   

I think that the situation currently with their imported coach Carlos Pareira can only turn nasty.  In any game there are a number of exercises that needs to be completed in order to perform to the best of your ability.  It is all about training, your mindset, physical fitness, mental toughness, conditioning, strategy, skills training and the level of skills present in the player involved.  Shoot me if you wish, but I don’t think the best coach in the world can help a side when the skills are lacking.  

It’s almost as if the South African public became restless after having spent years watching their side being trounced in friendly and international matches.  The move to get the ex Brazil coach in for an exorbitant amount of money was a good one, but only from a public relations point of view.  How can any administrator worth his salt be of the opinion that a set of players, that can hardly compete with Lesotho (with a total population the size of Pretoria ), can be trained to do the impossible?  Carlos is a man, not a god.  His success was built on the fact that Brazil has a wealth of natural wizards of the round ball.  When will the soccer bosses realize that their success does not lay in the services of a man that is just …a man?  When the public realizes it first?  When the general feeling starts to wash over everyone that makes you feel like saying “Ok…now we have tried everything…what should now be done?”

I have this feeling that the only way forward is proper development of young talent.  A lot is done to do that already, but is the people involved in those programs necessarily the right person for the job?  I am not pointing fingers, but I saw an insert on TV a week ago about a development soccer tourney that was organized where dozens of teams vied for a trophy.  Awesome!  But now what happens to those players that have been noticed during the tourney?  Anyone?  Are they left to their own devices?  I find it hard to believe that an administrator’s heart can be in the right place when he proclaims from the rooftops that he loved to see the raw natural shine through at the tourney, but upon being asked about the development of that talent, he said: “There is plenty of scouts around.  I am sure they will be taken care of…”.  Not good enough.

SA have slipped I the world rankings from a good-ish 32 around ten years ago to a low 78 (December 2007).  Even with our current coach.  In Africa there should not be more than 10 real contenders at any given moment for any Afcon trophy.  The continent is juts not big enough to house more “real” contenders.  We are ranked number 17 in Africa .  That is BAD!  When will anyone start to take responsibility for soccer and the impending talent being bled into higher leagues?  Why can our international youth teams do so well in international competitions but you rarely see them make an appearance in senior competitions?  Something is wrong.

Stop blaming Benny for not playing for his country and accuse him of single handedly ruining the national team.  Stop looking for excuses to avoid the real crunch situations.  Stop blaming coaches for poor performances.  You breed lazy players, uninspired players and worst of all, players that does not see any reason in bettering themselves.  It’s time to hold the playing players accountable.  After all, all our sporting codes do it.  Look at Beckham, he was sent packing due to bad form.  And this is a guy that would walk into any squad in world football.  And he was posted out of a side that could not qualify for Euro 2008.  

Nuff said.

Use it, don’t use it…

Even though my opinion may count for absolutely zilch, indulge me for a while while I give a perspective from a player such as myself.

In cricket you have predominently two types of cricketers.  The thinking, intelligent, technically correct cricketer and the innovative, superintelligent cricketer with an eye to match.

Now…take an average game of cricket and you will find that during the course of a match less than 40% of all runs scored comes from the ball crossing the ropes…(for those less eloquent in the cricket lingo, “hitting boundaries”).  So for the sake of the argument, let’s take that little statistic and translate it into what it would take to score those runs.  First of all you will need bowlers bowling at you at a reasonable line and lenght, good pace, decent spin…all in all not giving you all that much to work with.  As a batsman you need to have faith in the human makeup that determines that all people during the course of ANY physical activity will tire and therefor the odd loose ball will be bowled.  On the flipside you have batsmen that is, as mentioned earlier, technically correct, intelligent and are opportunists.  When the odd bad delivery arrives you need to capitilise to make sure you reach that average of 40% in boundaries.  Yet you technical prowess will see you through the quiet periods chipping away at a score with well directed little glances and pushes into space.

If anyone reading the above still don’t know what point I am trying to bring accross, suffice to say that the above is what typically would happen during and evenly contested 50 over game when the batting side, during the modern era, will push towards a score of around 250/6.

T20 cricket requires a different breed of cricketer.  This type of cricketer has an excellent knowledge of the workings of his OWN body, knows how to and when to push the limits, can get extremely innovative in his shot selection or a delivery that needs to be bowled, knows his surroundings inside and out and knows the players he is playing against.  I don’t believe yet that we have seen the ultimate of what T20 cricket has to offer.  In the next ten years specialist cricketers will evolve from the older form of the game we all have known for many decades that will be suited ONLY for this form of the T20 format.  A good indicator that my prediction is not that farfetched is that India have started a professional T20 league that will utilise the best players the cricket world have to offer.  From such a league, a new breed of cricketer will inevitably be spawned that could possibly push all boundaries in the shortened version.  What boudaries you may ask? 

Well, with the advent of T20 cricket we all believed that achieving a score of 160 in your 20 overs will be a match winning total.  In the first season of this form in the domestic competion in South Africa is was not uncommon to see sides win more than they would lose with scores of as little as 140.  During the recent Twenty20 world cup we have seen many sides bringing in fresh players the world knew very little about because of their superior hitting skills.  Guys like Misbah, Morkel, Philander…and various others…  Now a match winning total, from a batsman’s point of view, is touching 200!

Taking into consideration that a total of 720 runs could theoretically be scored in a 120 ball stint, when will we be seeing batting totals touching 300?  The first glimpse of such an occurence was during that magnificient one day game between SA and Oz where 880 runs was scored in 100 overs with the loss of 13 wickets.  That is a comined sustained runrate of almost 9 runs per over!  That already rivals the 9,5 runs per over needed to win more games than you will lose in the T20 format.  Is 300 runs an innings that far off into the future?  I think not.

Talking about the batsman point of view may have you think by now that maybe I am inclined to rule that the T20 version is officially a batsman’s game.  But let’s delve into the bowler’s point of view for a moment.

One of the most difficult balls to contend with, nevermind scoring off, is the yorker.  Highly underutilised in the modern game, 50 overs and T20, it makes perfect sense that a superior bowler of the yorker would be worth his weight in gold.  If it swings…oh my…bags full of sticks and economical figures are on the cards, in BOTH forms of the game.  The secret to being a great bowler, as opposed to being a good one, is the ability to develope a fair amount of variation in your deliveries.  A good example of that would be Shaun Pollock during the T20 world cup.  At a vital stage in of the games he bowled a few slow bouncers!  The term “slow bouncers”  would have had people like Afridi and Gibbs salivating at the prospect a few years ago, but in the context of a hard fought T20 match, you are expecting balls to be delivered at even pace.  It is commonly recognised that when the pressure is on bowlers tend to want to bowl too quickly, too straight (aiming for the stumps).  Can you imagine what a monkey you must feel like when a slow bouncer beats you all ends up?  Priceless.  Now compare Pollock to Stuard Broad from England.  I am a bowler myself, but being 31 years old I can guarantee you that even though I have less pace than he has, that Indian Yuvraj Singh would not have come close to 36 runs in a over off my bowling!  Yes, he smashed 50 off 12 balls, awesome I understand, but how one-track minded do you as a bowling attack have to be to allow something like that?

So! Verdict?  I believe that T20 cricket will evolve, just like the 50 format did during the 70’s and 80’s and to a lesser degree during the 90’s.  We have not seen the best that T20 cricket have to offer.  But to wether this format is a batsman’s or bowler’s game?  At the moment my feeling is that it’s predominently an individualist’s game.  One man can win or lose a game for you.  Lack of variety on the part of a bowler or a batsmen will be exposed, maybe not just yet, as I believe that as the game would evolve, so the coaching of T20 sides and the players’ style would evolve, BUT… real specialist, big hitting batsmen and highly intelligent bowlers with superior variety will spawn from it.  So ask me the question again in 10 years or so, maybe then the true answer would be evident to all anyway…

The time…11pm.  Date 14/10/2007.

As per my previous statement when I started this blog, my main focus will be on writing about the happenings in the world of cricket, or wherever my inquiring mind, inquisitive nature or love of sport takes me.

So why would the above time and date be so important?  Well, I just watched the semi final between SA and Argentina in the IRB Rugby World Cup.

Some would say that the only reason I would decide to put pen to paper (so to speak, it’s more like putting digits to keyboard really) was because SA had a stake in the match, won it and since I am a South African it would be an obvious topic to write about it.  You would not be far wrong for thinking that, but because I write about more than just scores and results (you know, outcome based writing…) I NEEDED to write about the game and other observations simply because that I believe there is much more to this specific world cup than meets the eye.

Firstly, congratulations to the Boks for thrashing Argentina 37 – 13.  It was clinical enough to be able to sit back, enjoy the moment and relive the positives.  Bryan Habana has developed into an absolute star.  Widely believed in the rugby fraternity to be the quickest human to ever run out on the rugby pitch (personally I would love to see a 1 on 1 sprint between Habana and Ngwenya of the USA) many believed that speed was his only attribute when he first came on the scene.  The skill he showed in chipping the ball over the forwards of Argentina and chasing it down and ANTICIPATING the lateral bounce and taking it chest high in a fluid motion for the 50m plus try, showed more than just unadulterated pace, it showed maturity.  Something I wish will rub off on Francois Steyn very soon. 

Steyn, you are talented, but you are also young.  Time will teach you that rugby is a 15 man game and having a great game in the Tri-Nations against Oz does not entitle you to believe that you CAN run the ball from anywhere or drop a goal from your own 22.  The same happened to Brent Russel a few short years ago and these days he struggles to get himself into contention for higher honors.  Learn quickly, or you may just find yourself on the bench more often than not.

My focus now changes slightly.  Throughout this world cup I have seen lesser sides, and some bigger sides every now and again, get away with murder on the field.  From off the ball incidents, blatant misconduct, forward passes not picked up (not always easy to pick it up, but nevertheless) to high tackles galore.  Maybe my prejudice towards my national side is hampering my judgment, but … Is it just me, or are the referees and officials targeting the SA squad in their matches?  I find it very hard to believe that when two sides of 15 grown up beefy motherfluffers take to a field that there can be only one side that transgresses on the laws.  Yet the citing of Schalk Burger in the match against Samoa, the later citing of Steyn and tonight the penalty given to the Pumas when John Smit “was involved in a “off-the-ball incident” looked very suspect.  The penalty in question against the SA skipper was especially suspect as the linesman was very quick to point the incident out, but on the replay it was quite evident that the Argentinian was the actual offender!  It leaves the question on why this would be the case?  Now for the sake of not coming across as a conspiracy theorist, I am going to take a very definite back seat on this issue and just state, for the record, that I believe that the refereeing in this tournament is of poor standard.

At times during this match one could have been forgiven for thinking he was watching Manchester United playing FC Porto.  There was a fair amount of soccer skills displayed by both sides…from clever little ground kicks to instinctive hoofing up the field to the very silly high flying “soccer dives” to manipulate the referees into raising an arm and blowing the whistle…wink wink…*cough*contepomi*cough*

I still remarked to my wife before the start of the game that I felt proud as a rugby lover to witness a team like Argentina in the semis as they did extraordinarily well to get there.  Even though I expected that the fairy tale would inevitably end, I did expect the game to be played in a very good spirit.  But much like their soccer counterparts, all South American teams tend to carry their emotions on their sleeve, and the game very nearly turned sour in the latter stages of the second half once the Argentineans got out of reach of the score they were chasing.  The most embarrassing moment, I feel, was when Juan Smith got sent off for a high tackle (that could have happened to everyone trying to defend your try line) and the Argentineans decided to go ape.  I thought for a second about how silly you need to be to start throwing punches and sour the game, when my thoughts was not even evaporated yet and a Puma idiot decided to back palm Bismarck Du Plessis in the face.  Personally, if I was Bismarck, and this was not a game that would have had an impact on me featuring in the final, knowing full well that I indulge in Klipdrift brandy on weekends, that puma would have gone down boy!!

After the needle I witnessed at the end of the game my initial feeling of pride for the Pumas had made way for a good old fashioned feeling of “pack your bags and &*%$ off boys” feeling.

I am sure that many would agree with me that this world cup is extraordinary in many respects.  Much was expected of Ireland but they folded like a flimsy house of cards under pressure.  O’Driscol never got his troops going and they exited prematurely.  I never really expected much of Wales, so bugger off expecting some deep insight from me on why they were so poor in this tourney.  Charvis, especially, was disappointing.  New Zeeland had probably the best build up to this world cup of all the sides.  Much like a school friend of mine remarked in his own blog, many expected them to arrive and conquer with no sweat spilt.  But I, for one, felt uneasy about their chances.  Mainly because their coach came across waaaaaaay to arrogant for my liking.  When Henry ran his mouth off during the tri-nations I honestly expected an early exit for them.  With a statement like “If I have to win a world cup based on defense, I would rather not win it at all” he pretty much got what he wanted.

So with “minnows” pushing the limits against their much esteemed counterparts, big guns flying home early and the odd narrow victory for various sides, the semi finals panned out in such a fashion that even the best bookies in the world could not have predicted it.

The team with undoubtedly the worst run going into the tourney playing against the host nation, and the only “powerhouse” left in the form of SA duking it out against a bunch of passionate Latin Americans.  Funny how it turned out that two pools in the tourney had no representatives in the semis.   Even more frightening is the fact that we (SA) have to face England AGAIN… this time though in the final.  But again, teams from the same pool. 

Kaya Molotana summed it up perfectly in his post match analysis.  He said in no uncertain terms that SA would do very well to forget about the 36 – 0 win over England in the pool game.  England are playing 10 times better now than three weeks ago, and with a point to prove and the possibility of being the only side ever to defend a title they will be a totally different opponent in the final next Saturday.

 
So rejoice, all South Africans.  We are on the verge of another title and we have done well.  Here’s to Bryan Habana attempting to break Jonah Lomu’s record of 8 tries in a tournament.  But let’s not get totally carried away now.  Francois Pienaar said it best in 1995… “You don’t play yourself into a final only to lose it”.

So the short of it all is, too many “off-the-ball” antics and too little concentration on the park.  The only person seemingly interested in playing cricket is Younis Khan.  Keep up the good batting matey.  What will it take to have you rub off on your team mates?  Whatever the answer, Younis, leave it till after we left Pakistan.
I am rather enjoying watching our side handing your asses to you…

Now before I dissect the current performance over in Paki country completely, I feel the need to make a statement that may be welcomed by some, dismissed by others.  Test cricket will NEVER die.  It may not be the form of cricket that will have fans flocking to stadiums or have ticket sharks salivating at the prospect of making a small killing on some prebought stubs, but for the purists and traditionalists among us there is nothing better to follow a well played chess match between two sides over a string of tests in a series.  And lets face it, in the shorter version (and you can choose which one you enjoy more; 20/20 or the 50 over version) there is pretty much one permutation only…one side bats, gets some runs, then have to either bowl the other out side to win or hope when the rain comes down and Mr. Duckworth/Lewis hands you a favor.  The permutations you have over a 5 day test match, if followed properly, is not all that different, but taking into account that over 5 days you have 15 sessions, 450 overs to be bowled, lunch and tea breaks, deteriorating pitches, weather anomalies, injuries, and some serious concentration thrown in there you have a recipe for some riveting viewing, IF you are the purist I mentioned. So…

South Africa is currently ranked 5th in the world, according to the cricket gurus out there, when it comes to the extended version of the game.  Trying to forge any sort of result in any sub continental country is hard enough as it is, but to go to Paki and virtually breeze past them is either a sign of a team growing up or that you are playing a side that lacks the experience you now possess. 

I find it very hard to believe that the Paki’s can be described as a new-look side or inexperienced since I took a gander at their credentials and there is not one person in that squad, apart from Misbah, that does not have a “settled” test record.  I say settled, because how many tests do you need to play before you are seen as experienced?  20, 30, 60?  There is no shortage of match winners in their side either.  Inzamam can be prolific, Danish Kaneria can rip a ball sideways on a sheet of PG Glass’ best, Asif and Gul can be match winning fast bowlers on the day and Younis Khan showed just what he is renowned for in the first test when he pretty much clobbered our Flora all over Karachi.

So where in lies the problem in their inept performances thus far in the series?  Let’s not forget that their coach, Bob Woolmer mysteriously died during the world cup in the West Indies this year.  Lets also not forget about the initial speculations that some Paki’s may have had something to do with Bobbie turning up quiet.  So some may say that the effect of something like that may not have worn off yet… I say B.S. with Bisto poured all over it, as there was no effects of the whole ordeal evident in their performances in SA during the 20/20 world cup…  you don’t reach a 20/20 world cup final when you are wiping tears from your eyes you are spilling over Bob.  And Jacques Kallis scored 5 consecutive tons in 5 tests in 2004 shortly after his father passed away.  So don’t give me that crap…

The fact is, unless something is written in their local papers quite soon about the poor performance of Pakistan in the last two tests, we will not really know what has been happening behind the scenes.  All I know is that South Africa is rampant, and it makes you cream just waiting for the one dayers on those flat sub continental pitches.

I have decided to give, in the spirit of this new blog, an award on a weekly basis to a sportsman, does not matter which code, who have performed well.  So, without further delay, my award for the second week in October 2007, goes to…………ttttttttttrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….DISH!!!!!

Jacques Kallis!

For scoring two consecutive test hundreds in the first test, scoring a fifty in the first innings, second test and looking like scoring a ton in his second innings (at the time of posting this he was 94*) and in the process raising an almighty middle finger towards the stand where the administrators and selectors are present)!

Till next time…

PS:  Did I ever mention that Jacques Kallis is family of mine?  Not?  Well, he is…sort of, ….long way around…he probably don’t even know about my existence…but he is family.  But far enough removed that if I could have slept with his sister it would have been within the confines of the law…I think… And if my wife reads this, it was an analogy!  I don’t want to sleep with his sister!  Does he even have a sister?

For many years we, as South African cricket fans, had to hear that our national team’s bowling attack is predictable, too monotonous, etc.

Lets analyze the attack a bit.  We have had Shaun Pollock, Ntini, Kallis (when he really wants to bend his back he can be quicker than Ntini on the day), Nel, Steyn and whoever else that can chuck the cherry down at pace head up the bowling attack.  And that has been the status quo for many years.  “What about Robin Petersen” some may ask…Well, my dear unenligtenend friends, what about him? 

When you have the press, administrators and team management complain for years about the lack of properly trained / coached spin bowlers, you tend to have teams picked without a spin bowler.  So to keep the balance in the side, you pick Robin.  If his inclusion in the squad the last few years could be described as anything else BUT political, I would welcome the differing point of view without taking you seriously.  He gets picked, plays in the most unimportant of games just to justify his inclusion in the squad and even then he gets “klapped” for 40 in 5 overs.  For five snakes people, Smith as captain has bowled more overs than Petersen the last two years, and even the captain goes for plenty.  So when the crunch games start you fall back onto a 5 prong seam attack.  So is predictable really that stupid a statement?  I think not…

So a relative nobody arrives on the scene, and no disrespect Mr Harris, but no-one, or at least 80% of the cricket mad population of South Africa has never heard of you before you donned the green on 2 January 2007.  But what we found was someone that could actually bowl with control, get some purchase off the pitch and had a level of maturity in his approach of someone that was a national veteran.  Did it earn him a spot in the one day squad? No!  Did it earn him a spot in World Cup squad…No!!  It earned him the tag as a test bowler…

Now, in the modern game of cricket, even when you take into consideration the current cricket greats such as Jacques Kallis and Ponting, they will cringe at being left out of a one-day squad because they feel they have the guns to contribute to both forms of the game.  We all saw what a huge ruccus it caused when Kallis was dropped from the 20/20 world cup squad.  It does not matter how we, the administartors or the team selectors felt about his batting style and tempo, HE felt he had mroe in him than people gave him credit for.  So lets compare that situation with a find like Paul Harris.

Why would anyone leave someone like Harris, that has proved himself time and time again, out of the SA one day squad?  What is the reasoning behind that?  Let’s look at his replacement for the one day series against Pakistan comming up shortly…Johan Botha.  So many questions has been asked of his bowling action the last few years it’s scary.  He last wore a SA shirt 18 MONTHS ago.  He is not even in Pakistan at the moment.  Yet he will replace Harris as the spin bowler for the one day series. 

Having played the game for quite some time now I can honestly say that there is NO difference in the way you bowl a ball in a long or shorter form of the game.  The batsmen’s approach is what changes, not the way a ball is being bowled.  So how would someone like Botha bowling in the one day series change the face of the attack?  In all likelyhood, if your test skills are up to scratch, you have the skills the bowl in a one-dayer.  Botha has played one test match and 13 one dayers, and in both forms of the game he averages 5 runs an over!  And combined he has taken only 9 wickets!  Surely someone like Harris proved himslef and should have been given the task of spinning a few webs in the upcomming one day series?

Or is it just too fashionable to have your two completely different squads for what is essentially one sport?

I understand the inclusion of some big hitting batsmen, or extra batsmen in your lineup that can hold an end witha  ball if needed, like a Van der Wath or a Philander.  But surely you don’t gamble with a spinner when you have already found a match winner?

This may be lenghty post to start off with, but forthose who stick around, you may be amused!!

This post will be an introduction, others to follow will vary in content based on what’s happening around the world of sport, cricket in particular!

Please do not read this if you are going to see me as a boaster or some arrogant bugger that blowing his own trumpet…this piece really should serve as motivation to other buding sportsmen out here…

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                                                                 “I even tried my hand at some spin bowling that game…first and last time ever!”

 Ever seen the Adidas ad on TV …David Beckham, Jonah Lomu…”Impossible is nothing?”

I have been a fan of cricket for as long as I can remember.  It’s not that bad a statement to make since my earliest recollection of the sport involved me hitting many a tennisball into the neighbours swimmingpool…at age 4.

I have lived through some terrible heartache, had my heart broken, fell in love…by cricket and with cricket.

I have been playing cricket competitively for a good 20 years now, but in all honesty, it was never ever plain sailing.

If I scored more than 10 runs in all of the matches I played at school level (7 years), it would be a lot!  I was so sh1t scared of a cricket ball that the coaches ended up sticking me in at 11, never got a bowl, and fielded me at fine leg, third man.  That is the loneliest you can possibly feel, and the highlight of your match would undoubtedly be one of two things…the naive expectation of some serious runs on the board while you pad up just “to show the coach you can”, and when a misplaced or ill-directed shot from the batsmen loops up to you and there is the promise of a catch.  Lets face it, fielding at fine leg or third man at the pace the bowlers deliver balls at school level you are RARELY going to have an errand ball come your way…so Coach was playing it safe by hiding me away.

My worst game ever would undoubtedly be the match we played in 1993 against Paarl Boys High on a cool Saturday morning.  We bowled them out for 15 that morning in 7 overs and our opening batsmen scored the runs in under 2 overs.  Great result for the league, but personally, to get up on a Saturday morning and to motivate yourself to go and humiliate yourself once again just to get there and the match is over is a bit of a bummer!

So after a short break in proceedings the coaches decided to play another game.  But this time, everyone that do not bowl normally, will bowl, and the batting orders would be reversed!!  WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY!…I thougt…Oh the naivity of a silly old 17 year old boy…

So Paarl Boys High wins the toss and decide to bat…again…no biggie this time round, I am opening the bowling and the batting, so either way I am in the game…OI!!

I could not possibly have bowled a worse over if I was handcuffed to a tree, my shoelaces tied to each other or both my eyes was poked out by a stray crow.  I don’t think that my over was ever completed…must have been close to 15 no-balls bowled, front foot at least a meter over the the popping crease as no-one ever taught me about no-balls.  I kept on thinking I was bowling wides, and after the first few that came of the bat and was relatively close to the stumps I started thinking that the umpire is missing a good game here!!  “How is that a no ball Sir?”…”Your front foot is WAAAAAAAY over the line son!!”.  Please dear God could a crack not just open up in the pitch and swallow me…

So about 35 runs later, and *not completing my over, I took consolation in the little pleasure of opening the batting and having, single handedly mind you, put at least 35 runs on the board to chase down after the first over!!  I felt good, never mind the misplaced pleasure..

As I put on my pads and take the bat in hand, I look up and see a score of 174 to chase in 35 overs (how does any team get bowled out for 15 then make 174…beyond me…).  First ball bowled at me, I leave like a champ!!  Never mind I never saw it!  I left it…

Second ball, slower one…my eyes light up…i cock that bat like a 9mm…and only at the point of impact do I notice that the ball never bounced…it just died…now imagine someone standing there with a baseball swing, and the ball never rises, and you still manage to connect…  It must have appeared to people like I am an octopus…

I made contact yes, but the ball, strangely, went straight up…high…giving even the players on the bench enough time to run on and catch it.

Out for 0 off 2 balls.  Again, consolation taken from the fact that other openers also fail from time to time.

So modest beginnings, to say the very least about it all, but I never lost my passion.

So mucking around the cricket the cricket nets with a friend of mine, that became one of the youngest ever premier club league umpires in South Africa, was the order of the day for a few years after school.  Untill one day we were still mucking about when I noticed the players on the field…and I thought quietly to myself that I CAN play there.

So I joined a cricket club and never looked back.  From a quiet first season in the Boland league playing for Brackenfell, to moving to Oudtshoorn where my real cricket schooling took place!!  There was two leagues in the SWD region (South Western Districts).  The premier “A” league and the “B” league.  The “B” league consisted of about ten sides that was scattered over a radius of 300 km’s!!!!  Not for the feint hearted when it comes to traveling for games.  Fortunately, Oudtshoorn had four cricket teams, all of which was involved in the premier league (12 teams).

I phoned Albertus Kennedy (unbeknown te me at the time, he was the the president of the SWD cricket board), a young captain in the defence force.  So he met me that night shortly after my arrival in Old Horn and he took me to the nets where the guys was busy with a net.  Keep in mind that my major achievements so far in cricket at club level was the picking up a handfull of wickets (rather expensively, but nothing like the attrocious bowling in high school) and the odd 20 or 30 scored against minor teams.

Our first game against a strong side, had me batting at 5.  I scored some of the sweetest boundaries I have ever hit, cover driving their premier bowler for three 4’s before leaving the park caught at point.  A sweet 27 to start off with and smiles all around as the side now feels they have another batsmen.  I was quick to play the innings down a bit as I know what my performance was like prior to my arrival in Oudtshoorn.  But funnily enough, being a tad older, not scared of a cricket ball anymore and open to a lot of suggestions, my cricket prowess grew exponentially.  I even tried my hand at some spin bowling that game…first and last time ever! I was amazed to see my balls spin 90 degrees… OFF THE BAT!!!! yikes, deary me….

Lessons learned in slow 50 run partnerships with an even slower-batting opening partner against some tight line-and-length bowling and quick blitzes of 40’s when the occasion needed it and the odd lesson learnt about taking on a real slow spinner whose lack of spin is his biggest weapon, was welcomed with open arms.  From big talking on the side of the field to big talking in the living room over a barbeque about batting technique, exchanging of tips, practise pocedures, etc…it all became part of the way that I believe to this day cricket is supposed to be played!!

Four of my finest moments?  Playing against Knysna shortly after they acquired the services of a certain Mr Richard Pryke (ex SA “A” player that hails from Kwazulu Natal).  He had one big thing going for him.  Experience, as he was in his late 30’s and obviously have been through the mill, some pace, balls that swing both ways (in the air, then pitches and leaves you), a big intimidating mouth and the oddball action of bowling off the wrong foot with BOTH arms coming over.

The first ball I faced off him I got split in half by a peach.  We were 23/2 batting first, and both guys that lost their wickets were quick to give tips on facing this freak.  Did not help AT ALL since you still don’t know how to read him, when to begin your back and across movements, when to start your downward motion with the bat…

So he calls me a monkey.  If I was still 17 it would have broken me, but having had the experience by that time, I stayed calm and took out my frustrations on the poor unsuspecting spin bowler bowling in tandem with “The Freak”. Some big straight sixes and some sweeps to cow for 4’s later, Mr Pryke decided to expand on his verbal abuse by politely enquiring about my cricket skills for Oudtshoorn Defence Force and if my playing cricket had anything to do with a missus at home I wanted to get away from…My batting partner told him to be carefull,  because one bad ball will see him swallow his words, and true as Bob, he delivers a low beamer at pace.  Now friends, family, colleagues, brothers of the cricket freternity, how rarely do you let an opportunity like that go past?

Even before the ball started it’s downward decent over the boundary line over deep square leg’s head did Mr Pryke turn on his heals and started his walk back to his spot. He was totally screwed up after that shot and he got pulled from the bowling after a few more disappeared off my bat between cover and point for some sweet revenge!  We left the field with a score of 153 in 40 overs, but a personal battle was won, 78 not out!  And the acknowledgement from Mr Pryke as we left the park for the break was all I needed to seal the sweet taste in my mind forever!  We lost that game by 2 wickets in the end, but I slept like a baby that night!

Then there was beating a rampant Union Stars (with 8 SWD provincial players at their core) at home in my first season at the club.  We were average..had some stars in the batting line up, but no consistency.  Had bowlers that can hold their own, but not without letting the extras collumn look like a top order batsmen in form!  And to beat this side against all odds was the equivalent of Kenya beating Australia in a test series 3 - 0!!

Then Mosselbay away, a gorgeous pitch and field that has the most stunning 270 degree view of “the point” over the ocean.  Elevated towards the heavens… the horizon turning orange and purple at 7 at night, just after completion of a game!! Awesome!!  That game effectively started my bowling career.  I had pace, developed control, was busy working on seam movement…and I was ready.  Three wickets…!!!!!!!!  ending with 3/17 in 8 overs opening the bowling agaisnt seasoned opening batsmen and boasting Mr Koopman that avaraged 80 runs an innings that season as a prized scalp!

Then Pacaltsdorp!  What a black day for the arrogant!  It was my swan song for the club as plans was already made to move to Cape Town.  It was the last game of the season in the 60 over format.  They needed to beat us to clinch the trophy.  We arrive at their field bright and early, and as we start to warm up by playing touch rugby, I take the captain aside and discreetly point out the fact that Pacaltsdorp is busy taking their victory photos for the newspaper already!!  True as God is my witness, he turns and sees it himself, calls the guys over and the speech that follows could not have been better or more powerfull if Winston Churchill wrote it himself!

We annihilated them that day.  Scoring 213/6 in 60 overs on a wet, green and sticky pitch, of which at least 50 came off the last 3 overs…and then bowling them out for 168.  Their coach summed it up, jogging around the field while they chased the runs, being 154/4 at that stage, shouting “take it one run, one ball at a time boys!”  We went the other route, taking it one wicket at a time, and it was the best fielding display I have ever witnessed by a side I was involved with.  Catches sticking when they should have popped out, acrobatics galore, pulling near every bit of half chance your way! Taking their renowned tail to the cleaners for 14 runs!  Afterall, their number 10 batsmen scored 50’s for SWD!

I still have contact with Andre Olivier, a young promising opening batsmen that was in our side back then.  He is a regular in the SWD side now and they play in a league just beneath the Supersport series in South Africa.

The story is not finished yet.

And so I move to Milnerton cricket club just after my arrival back in Cape Town.  In the last 3 seasons I ended up playing games for all sides except the 1st side. My most memorable moment thus far in the club was being on 94 (I…think…see I don’t count my runs ever, you will drive yourself dilly) and Wray van Schalkwyk comes jogging onto the park with a Powerade and dry gloves (only excuse he could think of to come out to the middle) and he tells me my score.  “Just stay calm, 100 is there for the taking matey!”  He jinxed me!  The next ball is a high full toss outside offstump and in my attempt to just push it down to 3rd man i catch a thick outside edge that gulley takes easily.  In all fairness the umpy was supposed to call no-ball, but you get some decisions that go your way and some that don’t.

The players I am involved with now are some extraordinary beings.  All nice guys with so much talent hidden away, and every now and again it just shines through.  Like Wray for instance..this dude klaps 6es through point at the same rate most club players hit fours.  Mike van der Merwe, dear old VD (we wont go into what the generally accepted meaning for VD is), no foot movement AT ALL…he bats like Bugsy has cemented his feet already.  And believe me, every side we play against remarks on it and chirps him about that, but the intelligence seems to have gone astray as they obviously never realise that they are not the first team to notice that.  And he laughs it off.  Chirps soon dies down when he is sitting pretty on 40 after 8 overs and our score has rocketed to proportions equal to 20/20 cricket.

Last season I earned myself the batting trophy for my side.  Barely missing out on the top run scorer tag for the club as a guy from the first side pipped me by 13 runs.  Taking the second most wickets for my side as well during the season was pretty cool as well.  But all in all I tried to stay humble about it as I know that I needed luck, good old fashioned grit and determination and also a good dollop of ignorance just to be able to have that trophy today. And remembering where you came from and the time, work and sacrifice you have put into the sport, is key to remain humble, focused and in love with the game!

I am 31 years of age right now, with at least another ten years of competitive club cricket in me.  The moral of my story?  NEVER GIVE UP…no matter who you are, what you do, what your sports discipline are, never ever ever give up.  Giving up is admitting to yourself that others were right.

Ever seen that Adidas ad?

Impossible really is nothing!!!!

*All indications are I never completed that over.  I lost count of the balls bowled anyway, close to the end I even tried standing stationary…sweet peter…