SA Ladies on Fire!!!!

 

Congratulations to the South African ladies cricket side.  They have been brilliant in the last 2 weeks and been able to achieve something that their male counterparts have not been able to.

Playing and beating India in the subcontinent is one of the hardest challenges in cricket, but the Proteas Women haven't just beaten India, they have given them a cricketing lesson.  To convincingly win both the ODI and T20 series against a side ranked higher than them is a remarkable achievement!! 

Captain Suné Luus summed it up perfectly by saying that "the girls are backing themselves and playing fearless cricket", and this is obviously showing in the results they have achieved.  There is so much confidence flowing through the side at the moment. It is something that is unfortunately sorely lacking in the men's team and they will do well to take to a leaf out of the ladies' book.

So why have our ladies done so well? Obviously a lot of credit must go to Hilton Moreeng and his management staff for their preparations ahead of the India series, but I think the big reason is that our senior players stood up to the challenge. 

Its an old saying in cricket that in order to do well in big games and series' your experienced players need to play well and Lizelle Lee, Laura Wolvaardt and Suné Luus in particular have been fantastic with the bat, whilst Shabnim Ismail has led the way brilliantly with the ball.  Having these senior players perform so well and consistently has paved the way for the likes of Anneke Bosch and Lara Goodall to really shine. Bosch in particular has been good with both bat and ball in the T20 series. 

Partnerships have been key for the South Africans with bat in hand.  The top 6 have all managed to get partnerships going during crucial stages and that has made such a big difference.  

That was one of the biggest problems for the men when they recently toured Pakistan, they lost crucial wickets and crucial times, didn't get sufficient partnerships and senior players like Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock were particularly poor with the bat.

After their series' triumph, the ladies have now moved up to 2nd in the world in ODI's and are rapidly closing the gap on the top 3 in T20's.  Although Australia are at the top of the pile and have a sizable lead over the chasing pack, they will have taken notice of this South African performance and will be nervously looking over their shoulder.

The Future of Test Cricket

I am a cricket purist and test cricket is and always will be the pinnacle of the sport, but the whole cricketing landscape has changed since the advent of T20 cricket.

How many test matches have gone the distance since international T20 cricket was introduced in 2005? There has been a steady decline of test matches lasting the full 5 days and its no wonder the ICC is looking at introducing 4 day test cricket.

One just has to look at recent test series' (SA vs Pakistan), (India vs England), (SA vs Sri Lanka), (Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan) to strengthen my point.  Only one of those matches went the distance with 2 of them ending inside 2 days.  Why is this and how much revenue is being lost because of this?

Yes, one can point to pitches and playing conditions for the odd game.  Covid19 has also played its role, as players are not as well prepared lately as they would normally be.  

But, my view is that since the introduction of T20 cricket we have seen a steady change in mindset.  From a playing perspective, more and more loose and rash shots are being played during test cricket than before. Teams are looking to score quicker in test cricket and this will inevitably lead to poorer shot selection.  Are players prepared to graft for their runs as they did before or are they moving towards a T20 "mode". This is highly debatable!! 

I coach primary school children and it is amazing to see how many of them would rather play the reverse sweep, lap slog or scoop shot before trying to master the cover drive, straight drive or on drive. 

We have also seen how a lack of foot movement in test cricket has led to the loss of many unnecessary wickets.  Again, in T20 cricket, most foot movement has gone out the window and its pretty much "see ball, hit ball".  

One must remember that the T20 cricket pitch and the test pitch are vastly different.  T20 pitches are often nice and flat (to promote run scoring), where as test pitches might favour spin or fast bowling (depending on where you are playing) which challenges batsmen technically and forces them to adapt. There have been so many "collapses" in test cricket lately and if one has to analyse, you'll find its either down to a lack of application, poor footwork or poor shot selection. I think this is because players are adopting more of a limited overs approach. This needs to change if test cricket is to get back to its glory days.

It may sound like I am against T20 cricket, but far from it, I love watching the format.  Its amazing to see how batsmen and bowlers have had to evolve their games to try and outsmart each other and there is a lot of skill involved.  It as has also brought in the crowds and is a great money spinner for the ICC. There is most definitely a place in world cricket for the shortest format of the game, but not to the extent that it dominates world cricket. 

As much as I enjoy T20 cricket, I do feel that international cricket is geared towards the shorter version of the game.  Just look at tour itineraries now days, many tours consist of 2 test matches, 3 ODI's and 3 - 5 T20 internationals.  There are even T20 only series (NZ vs Aus is currently on the go).   There are also more and more T20 tournaments popping up all over the world with lots of money involved to lure players.  I'm afraid it doesn't bode well for the future of test cricket.

What I am saying is that I believe the days of 5 day test cricket are over.  Unless we start seeing a change of mindset by administrators and players alike, 4 day test cricket will soon become the norm and if it continues the way it is, who knows where test cricket might be in another 15 years!!

South Africa in a spin!!

 

Once again South Africa's inability to cope with spin and leg spin in particular has led them to a test and T20 series defeat against Pakistan.

This has been an age old problem for South Africa.  Whether its been Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, Stuart Macgill, Mushtaq Ahmed, Danish Kaneria and now Yasir Shah, South Africa have constantly battled against leg spin in particular.  

Lets face it, it's not easy to go to the subcontinent and face spin.  One just has to look how Ravi Ashwin and Axar Patel recently destroyed England in the second test in Chennai, but for South Africa it has been an ongoing problem and is a problem that needs to be sorted out if we ever wish to become number 1 in the world again.

Covid 19 has not helped and SA didn't have the time to prepare adequately for the Pakistan tour and with Covid set to be with us for some time still, a bit of thinking out the box maybe necessary. Unfortunately it's not just test cricket, Pakistan's spinners were the difference in the T20 series as well. SA were good against the quicks, but as soon as the likes of of Zahid Mahmood, Mohammad Nawaz and Usman Qadir were introduced, the games turned Pakistan's way.  

One of South Africa's biggest problems is that our local conditions are not geared towards spin and we don't face enough quality spinners on slow turning tracks to prepare properly.  A change of mindset is needed.

We saw this past weekend in the CSA T20 league how teams battled against Keshav Maharaj on a slightly slow Kingsmead wicket.  In 3 games Maharaj has taken 6 wickets at a ridiculous average of 7.5 at less than 4 runs per over.  Perhaps the time has come to expose our batsmen to more of these conditions so that we can improve our play

against spin, help us to become a more all-rounded team and ultimately reach the summit of world cricket again.

It wasn't that long ago that India were seen as a sub continent only team that could not deal with the faster, bouncier wickets in SA, Australia and England.  Their recent series win in Australia against arguably one of the best fast bowling units in world cricket shows how far they have come and is proof that with a change of mindset and the right preparation anything is possible.

 

Sensational India!!!

 November 1988, the last time Australia lost a test match at the Gabba. Let that sink in!!

For India to pull of such a famous win at the Gabba with such an injury ravaged team is truly an amazing feat, especially if you take into account that Australia were at full strength.

Australia, boasting 3 bowlers in the world top 10 (Cummins, Hazelwood and Starc) couldn't knock over a batting line up missing the likes of Kohli, Rahul and Vihari. 

Infact, the list of Indian players that have been injured during the series is staggering:  Barring Kohli who returned to India for the birth of his first child, the list is:  Rahul, Vihari, Shami, Yadav, Bumrah, Ashwin, Jadeja and Agarwal. 

So for India to pull of a series win is truly monumental.  It was impressive to see how Ajinkya Rahane stepped up taking over the reigns from Kohli to lead India to this famous win.  What will be even more pleasing from an Indian point of you view is how the youngsters performed during this series:

Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant were superb with the bat and Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur were equally brilliant with the ball and deserve all the accolades they get.  

Australia on the other hand have got a bit of soul searching to do. Their batting lacked depth and there was too much pressure on Labuschagne and Smith to perform in each game (the pair scored the lion's share of Australia's runs).  Even their much vaunted bowling attack battled at times in their own conditions.  Throw in a couple of chirps from captain Tim Payne, some questionable "gardening" by Steve Smith and a first loss at the Gabba in over 30 years, it will be a series the Aussies will want to forget rather quickly.

On the flip side, Cameron Green and Will Pucovski have showed that barring injuries they are destined to have long careers in the baggy green. 

What this series did show, is that test cricket is alive and well!!

Congratulations and well done to India for a fantastic and well deserved series win!!

SA vs Pakistan

 It's been 14 long years since we last played cricket on Pakistan soil.

Graeme Smith was still captain back then and a team boasting the likes of Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini and Mark Boucher beat Pakistan 1 - 0.

I for one am very happy and excited to see us touring Pakistan again.  Like India, Pakistan is a cricket mad country with a very rich cricketing history.  The likes of Imran Khan, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Inzamam - ul - Haq, Shoaib Akhtar (just to name a few) have set the cricketing world alight with their performances through the years.  It has been so sad that the cricketing public has been starved of international cricket for so long.  Thankfully this is changing with more teams set to visit in 2021.

Its something new for the SA players (although Boucher is still there, albeit as coach) and they will have to embrace the new conditions and culture.

The series itself should be a hotly contested one.  Pakistan have just come off a poor showing in New Zealand and have made a number of changes to their squad whilst the Proteas had a comfortable home series win again Sri Lanka.  SA will be full of confidence, but Pakistan in their own back yard will be a totally different proposition than a depleted Sri Lanka at home.  

Even though Pakistan have made a number of changes to their squad, they will be strong at home.  Babar Azam returns to lead a side that boasts players like Azhar Ali, Yasir Shah, Shaheen-Shah Afridi and Hasan Ali.  The youngsters coming in will also have a point to prove.  In my view Yasir Shah could be our biggest problem.  Although his form of late hasn't been great, he is experienced and has a wonderful record at home.  The proteas have had their troubles against quality leg spinners over the years and will have to watch him carefully.

From a South African point of view the likes of Elgar, Markram, du Plessis, van der Dussen, Bavuma and de Kock need to kick on from the Sri Lankan series and post runs on the board.  It will be good to have KG back as he is the leader of the attack.  His experience in sub-continent conditions will also be invaluable to a relatively inexperienced pace attack.  Our bowling is going to be crucial and we will have to hit the right lines and lengths early on to put pressure on Pakistan.

It should be a cracking series.  Lets hope it makes for great viewing and that injuries and  Covid 19 can take a bit of back seat for now!!

CRICKET IN THE COVID WORLD

Elgar pushes one into the covers and scampers through for a single to bring up his 13th test century. He punches the air and raises his bat to acknowledge his team mates and turns to acknowledge the crowd, but wait, there is no crowd....

From playing in front of empty stadiums to training and playing in bio-bubbles!!

What a bizarre 2020 it was and 2021 has started out the same way!!

How the life of the professional cricketer (any professional sportsman and woman for that matter) has changed in the last year. Empty stadiums and automated crowd sounds have started becoming the norm.

The phrase "lonely at the top" has never been more relevant as it is now. Playing and living in bio-bubbles can surely not be sustained for an indefinite period of time.

It has been great for the armchair enthusiasts to finally see some cricket and other sport back on TV, giving us something to pass the time with during this Covid-19 pandemic.

But what effect will this start having on the players?

Quinton de Kock has recently spoken about his excitement in touring Pakistan for the first time in years, but at the same time as expressed his concerns over life in the bio-bubble. And he should know better than most, having spent almost 2 months in his IPL bubble, then coming back home and back into bubbles for the England and Sri Lanka series' and now off to Pakistan. What makes it tougher is that each country has its own lockdown levels and quarantine laws.

We have heard from numerous players from Australia and England expressing concern about prolonged bio-bubbles and the negative psychological effect it may start to have on players. Having limited contact with family and friends and not having the necessary break away from the game for a prolonged period of time is going to take its toll, no matter how mentally tough you are.

We have also seen an unusually high amount of injuries lately (India, Sri Lanka and Australia have been hard hit). Is this due to the lack of domestic cricket being played due to Covid?, Are players not getting the necessary amount of game time under their belt leading up to an international series?

How do we fix this? One answer may be to only have short international tours for the foreseeable future until Covid - 19 starts to calm down.

Whichever way the ICC decide to go, it will not be easy and team management are going to have to come up with new and innovative ways to deal with the mental and physical well being of players. We have heard a number of stories already of players breaking quarantine and bio-bubble rules. This not only puts the team at risk but also jeopardizes the series being played.

One thing we do know, is that all players the world over are in the same boat in these uncertain times and only time will tell what effect Covid 19 will have on our beloved game!!