Cricket......

[Stretch]

saw that, was waiting for it.

 

I'm sorry, but I unfortunately have to agree with the selectors. AB can't just chop and change his mind like that. If he really wanted to play WC, he shouldn't have taken himself out of the running.

 

Him leaking this to the media now(if it was him), is also a d:(k move

One person does nota winning team make. He had a pretty *** wc last time as well.

[Shebeen]

One person does nota winning team make. He had a pretty *** wc last time as well.

He had an excellent WC with the bat.

as captain, not so much.

as a bowler, yes as a bowler he was very ordinary.

Thought he could bowl death overs to new zealand!

 

We played a 6 match ODI series against india in SA last year. they smashed as convincingly.

that was AB's swansong, he didn't perform well.

 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/cricket/scores/series/18065/ind-in-sa-2017-18?type=odi

[Christie]

One person does nota winning team make. He had a pretty *** wc last time as well.

Dont agree, he had a good WC. He averaged in the 90s, hit 166 of 62 vs WI.

 

That said, I also agree with the call not to take him.

[gemmerbal]

In my opinion you touched on the root of the problem: the standard of cricket at our domestic level is not acceptable, and we can now finally see the fruits of CSA’s labours. Ive said this before as well, club cricket 20 years ago was probably stronger than the current provincial/franchise setup. Guys scoring 700runs a season is now considered as having a good season. My god man, Cullinan and the likes scored 1200 runs in a bad season going back 30 years.

 

My post quoting Mr Joffe’s writings is very significant too. Long read but worth it.

 

I feel sad that we are in a position where we probably wont even make the top 5. I feel sad that we are having to debate the once mighty Proteas’ lack of quality and performance. The sport i grew up with and have dedicated 30years of my life to, is dying a painfully slow death. Its like watching your dog die, it sucks donkey balls!

 

Imo the quotas had no role to play in their WC performance.

 

Age may be an issue: Amla had fast eyes and wrists, which made his unorthodox technique work. Perhaps both eyesight and wrist speed have slowed a bit with age, say by 5%, which now exposes the technique. Taking him and Steyn based on their reputations was a risk. Tahir is old, but was also the leading wicket taker in the IPL, no age problem there. Miller, QdK, Rassie, Markram, Rabada are not old

 

(Quotas are killing SA sport at a provincial level imo, but that is a debate for another day)

[Shebeen]

https://manners-on-cricket.com/how-low-can-the-proteas-sink/

 

I though that Rabada opening spell was just magic, we were in with a sniff then.

 

 

In my opinion you touched on the root of the problem: the standard of cricket at our domestic level is not acceptable, and we can now finally see the fruits of CSA’s labours. Ive said this before as well, club cricket 20 years ago was probably stronger than the current provincial/franchise setup. Guys scoring 700runs a season is now considered as having a good season. My god man, Cullinan and the likes scored 1200 runs in a bad season going back 30 years.

My post quoting Mr Joffe’s writings is very significant too. Long read but worth it.

I feel sad that we are in a position where we probably wont even make the top 5. I feel sad that we are having to debate the once mighty Proteas’ lack of quality and performance. The sport i grew up with and have dedicated 30years of my life to, is dying a painfully slow death. Its like watching your dog die, it sucks donkey balls!
 

appreciate your insights, (let's push the toss aside).

Do you not think that's symptomatic around the world?

Club cricket is probably much weaker everywhere, people don't have time to commit to it.

I don't think there's as many young families where dad spends his weekend on a cricket pitch.

 

Provincial cricket is also struggling, everywhere. The days of newlands being packed for the 4day Currie cup v Transvaal, or every B&H night cricket game are so far removed from what we see now. Even the finals of our limited over comps see empty stands. They play 4day games in maritzburg as it's just so much cheaper to run than kingsmead if there's only 50 spectators coming.

[gemmerbal]

You are partially correct; given the circumstances Faf finds himself in, he has no option but to bowl first and hope to restrict the opposition to a below par score, in other words he knows the batting is frail and that the bowling department is probably our best weapon at the moment. We should have batted first agains Bangladesh, that was such a poor decision. And i reckon we also should have batted against the Poms just to get ourselves into the WC, although they are in form and it probably wouldnt have made any difference.

 

Having said that, if we had our guys in form (or if the selector would just do the right thing and select guys in form and not on emotions going to the WC) then i still go with win the toss and bat. Scoreboard pressure is something you have to use to your advantage whenever you can.

 

I can see it now, we will probably play out of our socks from here on and end up with an outside chance of qualifying by the time our last game against the Aussies comes around. And guess what happens then...

 

Did not know you were a former pro cricketer, but still think that winning the toss does not mean automatically batting first in limited overs cricket.

 

Let's turn this around.

 

9 games played so far this tournament.

8 captains have chosen to field first, Faf against India was the only to bat first. Virat said he would have bowled first if he won the toss.

 

Do you really think all these captains have made the wrong decision?

Edited June 6, 2019 by gemmerbal

[gemmerbal]

Rabada is class and he is the one shining light in our otherwise bleak looking cricket future. If we can get Ngidi fit and injury free, we will have 2 decent bowlers. But KG is just pure world class.

 

All your other comments are valid. I stopped playing when the youngsters that came into the cloakroom didnt have the respect for our senior guys and it was being accepted because if you dealt with it, the club management would give you all sorts of hell because little Johnny’s mom is upset that he was treated in a manner that she disapproves of. Thats where the rot started for me. No respect for the senior statesmen. And then you have boys who’s parents make a big scene when he gets dropped and they take him to another club etc etc. this nonsense started happening at club level, then i knew it was time.

 

Man, thinking back now, theres no ways in hell id ever tjoon Big Mac, Hassan Pangarker or Lloyd Ferreira when i was a youngster playing against these okes. No ways in hell! Id be bliksemed so hard...

 

https://manners-on-cricket.com/how-low-can-the-proteas-sink/

 

I though that Rabada opening spell was just magic, we were in with a sniff then.

 

 

appreciate your insights, (let's push the toss aside).

Do you not think that's symptomatic around the world?

Club cricket is probably much weaker everywhere, people don't have time to commit to it.

I don't think there's as many young families where dad spends his weekend on a cricket pitch.

 

Provincial cricket is also struggling, everywhere. The days of newlands being packed for the 4day Currie cup v Transvaal, or every B&H night cricket game are so far removed from what we see now. Even the finals of our limited over comps see empty stands. They play 4day games in maritzburg as it's just so much cheaper to run than kingsmead if there's only 50 spectators coming.

Edited June 6, 2019 by gemmerbal

[Christie]

https://manners-on-cricket.com/how-low-can-the-proteas-sink/

 

...The days of newlands being packed for the 4day Currie cup v Transvaal, or every B&H night cricket game are so far removed from what we see now. Even the finals of our limited over comps see empty stands. They play 4day games in maritzburg as it's just so much cheaper to run than kingsmead if there's only 50 spectators coming.

Imo due in large to the internet - people can watch dstv on their phones. , vs the discomfort of travel and risk of disruption of the game due to the elements. Smaller crowd means less atmosphere etc etc. Also partly due to the volume of quality sport available to watch - an event needs to be super entertaining to draw full stands.

BBL, super rugby also not filling the stands.

Edited June 6, 2019 by Christie

[Escapee..]

Imo due in large to the internet - people can watch dstv on their phones. , and risk disruption of the game due to the elements. Smaller crowd means less atmosphere etc etc. Also partly due to the volume of quality sport available to watch - an event needs to be super entertaining to draw full stands.

BBL, super rugby also not filling the stands.

 

How do they manage to still pull the large crowds in the States?

 

If you look at the majority of their big sports, packed stands from college level and up

[Christie]

^ I dont know, perhaps we could learn from their success. (But I thought that is how t20 came to be). Also, the BBL also has problems filling the stands - they wanted to hire ABD to fix that.

Edited June 6, 2019 by Christie

[gemmerbal]

Its called Passion.

[Shebeen]

How do they manage to still pull the large crowds in the States?

 

If you look at the majority of their big sports, packed stands from college level and up

I think US pro sports is potentially unsustainable.

 

All the money comes from huge TV deals.

If they can't lock that down, then there's less $$$ coming in.

 

We're probably going to see it first here, with DSTV potentially nosediving then supersport doesn't have cash to pay for TV rights.

[gemmerbal]

In a world where people date online, Passion is completely lost. Swipe left, swipe right... easy peasy

[gemmerbal]

Look at the crowds at the TdF? No problems there? Because they have Passion ♥️

[Shebeen]

AB doesn't tweet much it seems. he just sent this out, and is not getting universal love. but you can really see how he is revered by Indians.

 

https://twitter.com/ABdeVilliers17/status/1136564783686279168

[Escapee..]

Look at the crowds at the TdF? No problems there? Because they have Passion ♥️

 

Difficult to compare though

 

TDF is once a year, its a holiday as well for most people.