gemmerbal

WPCA cancelled the entire club cricket season over the weekend. There was going to be a shortened season starting some time in Feb, but they have now pulled the plug completely. I feel sorry for my mates. While golfers and cyclists can enjoy their hobbies, spare a thought for these guys who have nothing. Langa CC wrote a letter to the WPCA arguing that the loss of interest among the youth in the gang ravaged areas will do these youngsters no good as boredom will now drive them to other nefarious activities. I kind of see their point. In a way im glad i hung up my bowling boots a couple of years ago, but still.

sidenote: VERY happy to see KG back and firing on all cylinders. 200 test wickets, man it feels like he only started playing 2 seasons ago, but then im reminded he made his debut at age 20 in 2015. talented youngster this: really love watching him bowl, and he is a very capable nr 9 batsman.

bang bang bang... masterclass being put on by Yasir Shah. Nauman chipping in being supported by some awesome close catching. time for the nr 5 bastman to do what a nr 5 batsman is supposed to. another start by Markram, another innings with potential thrown away.

exactly why I went with the 1/4" drive, it goes from 4-20Nm. the 1/2"drive starts at 20Nm or something, not useful for that carbon seatpost/handlebar nuts/bolts - which is why I bought it.

it was less than 3k...

Ja, I also dont understand the logic in taking the new ball and then give it to Kesh, and a couple of overs later Markram has a dabble. WTF??? KG was operating at the other end; if I was Anna I would have beaten my skipper with a wicket, this is super ridiculous. Anna Nortje is by far our quickest bowler, you take the new IMMEDIATELY after the 80 overs and toss it to your speed merchant, unless the okes are hooping it reverse, you take the new nut finish en klaar. Thanks Kesh/George, have a break. It looks like this game will see day 5 afterall - tempting fate here, we still need 2 wickets and then we have to bat on a day 3 pitch in Karachi... haha

once it has been seen it cannot be unseen... HUGE respect for Aleem as un umpire, and big ups to the General for his movies! back to bussiness: we are looking a bit shaky at tea, 179/6. getting ourselves in and then getting ourselves out, although that Bavuma runout was a classy piece of fielding. not sure about our bowling attack, more specifically about Ngidi - I have a suspicion he will be ineffective. that means we will be toiling with 4 bowlers and the odd spell from Elgar. this series will possibly be closer than we'd like. but hey, that's what touring is all about, its not supposed to be easy. Great to see cricket being played in Pakistan again: the breeding ground of the 2 W's and possibly the most lethal opening bowling attack ever produced in world cricket!

please check if this link works: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wrr8kzxvrsmu7d0/karoo-to-coast-split-calculator.xlsx?dl=0

if memory serves me correctly, you could download an Excel spreadsheet from their website, giving some rough estimates of what a training programme would look like. I dont see it on their website, but i might have it saved somewhere. I will post it here if i find it.

Any thoughts on this machine? Currently im using an espresso machine, nothing wrong with it, just thinking it would be nice to have a bean to cup setup, coz im lazy...

As seen on fb [emoji1787]

Yes you did say hopefully The elephant in the room is this: with the 6 franchise system and the mandatory transformation targets that are in place, we lost a lot of quality players because there simply was not room for them in the system - i hate dragging politics into the conversation but on this point i dont see how i can avoid it. So maybe, on that basis, we will have these guys in the system because Kolpak wont be an option anymore; you make a good point there. In fact, if this pans out to be the case, maybe we will see the new system produce a bigger pool of decent cricketers - again you make an excellent argument for this. But yes, the finances, that is the one thing that needs serious attention. And it starts by having QUALIFIED administrators running the game, not politicians.

Some additional reading, which has some relevance to the current conversation https://www.sacricketmag.com/south-african-kolpak-players-what-next-2020/ https://www.ozy.com/the-new-and-the-next/guess-whos-cheering-for-brexit-south-african-cricket/303230/

The problem that i foresee is this: if theres not enough money to keep the strength in 6 franchises, how does CSA expect to do it for 15? Yes, Kolpak will no longer be a factor in terms of losing our players from the local circuit, but where will the money come from to support 205 odd contracted players? With match attendances non-existent and the lack of broadcasting exposure for potential sponsors, i just dont know the answer to that question. Yes we have seen a dedicated channel on the DSTV platform providing some broadcasting, but i dont think thats enough to pull sponsors. And let me not comment on the quality of cricket on show, again, that is based on the current 6 franchise system. My logic tells me that you do not create quality by dilution. The county system on which CSA is basing their decision has one big advantage: they have plenty of overseas talent bolstering their setup (Kolpak, naturalised expats etc etc). And of course salaries are paid in pounds. And then, whats to stop players ditching a div2 side to go play in div1? This debate has been going on for a while, i believe it was Corrie van Zyl who first pushed for the 2 division system with promotion/relegation. But i honestly feel that all that will be achieved is that we will have more players playing on a further weakened circuit. Again, it is my view that this is no recipe for creating quality. Since we are talking money: operating 15 stadia on a full time basis is about 2,5 times more expensive than operating 6...

Its a pleasure. I thought long and hard, I did consider others but ultimately a good friend of mine, and a proper cyclist btw, recommended the Rapides. So yeah, thus far I cant complain. Go for it!

Yes very much, the microspline freebody has been faultless. Just checked now on strava and saw I've done about 1300kms on the rapide wheels. Recently replaced the tyres with vittoria saguaro cape cobras (2.2) and coupled with the 25mm internal width, I must admit, I've not felt this comfortable and confident on techie singletracks since I can remember. Astonishingly, the rapide wheels shaved off over 2kgs off of my bike weight - it's ridiculous how heavy those Jalco/Merida Big Nine wheels are! I'm a stingy spender, but this was money well spent in my opinion.

Working my way through the Seinfeld series while working. Kramer absolutely cracks me up!

On the pink ball cricket: Im a bit undecided on that one. In the one hand it's making the longer format a bit more interesting and probably drawing in a younger crowd. On the other hand, is a pink ball test in Perth really the same as a red ball test at Newlands? I dont know... I do know that the advent of white ball cricket was supposed to attract younger crowds/money. So I guess that kind of answers it for me.

Ja finished my level 2 for both coaching and umpiring, but I never really gave it any thought other than coaching/playing abroad. umpiring at club level and being threatened with knives/guns is not really what I would like to be doing on a saturday - it is a reality in the WC. As an opening bowler I soon learnt to pitch the ball up, those wickets were/are really sticky and you have some guys just parking off on the backfoot as soon as they hear you are a Saffa (because naturally we are used to a different length back here) and then you are chasing leather. I'll tell you this though, when you get that length right and you hit the seam, I got a little wet spot in my jockstrap hahaha... interestingly, I also prepared our home wicket... haha Jeez that was fun times. I recall one afternoon, parking off on the Bomag rolling the wicket, listening to some tunes on my discman, and even above the rumble and vibration of the Bomag, I heard NEXT level rumbling... took off my headphones and 2 Chinooks were low level flying through the valley... OMG that was insane! We also had midweek cricket, basically it was like pub cricket mostly. We tied the final on the last ball and won the replay, against a side with 4 windies and a couple of aussies. fun times This was pre-social media, sadly the memories are only in my head, and from a couple of newspaper clippings.

as an ex player, i never enjoyed the mik en moer cricket. so i tend to be biased on that basis unfortunately. cricket in my view is played with a red ball, not a white one - i know... what about the pink one EDIT: ex premier league, not first class. it was a close as I was ever going to get sadly. so it probably disqualifies my view around playing for money although I did enjoy a couple of seasons of semi pro status in the UK back in the day.

You are preaching to the choir my friend! Cannot agree more!

You and me both dude. I hate the freeking Indian Parkie League because of exactly that reason!

He was released for the ODI’s as far as I know.

https://omnico.co.za/brand/crankbrothers