Cricket......

[babse]

was this tour a last min decision? 

surely a ODI series against the top ranked side is a slight priority for one of our best players 

 

surely he should've been managed there to be available for every possibly game over here.... anyway, my love for that IPL tournie continues 

 

Faf was released after lots of time at IPL (3 month biosecure bubble away from home in UAE) and contributing to the T20 space. He must be carefully managed for overload, role exhaustion and general player well-being. His seniority is precious to the team environment, amongst other attributes.

 

The English have a chartered flight back on Thursday. Some players are heading back to BBL. Decision about the rest of the ODI series will likely be made today. The clock is ticking.

[bertusras]

Yeah no I'm with you on this one babse. It's a sad fact that Making Lots and Lots and Lots and Lots of Money > Playing for your National Team.

['Dale]

was this tour a last min decision? 

surely a ODI series against the top ranked side is a slight priority for one of our best players 

 

surely he should've been managed there to be available for every possibly game over here.... anyway, my love for that IPL tournie continues 

 

The tour was in the balance as it wasn't guaranteed government clearance so the hosts were not certain about game time.

 

There are several benefits for releasing players to global events like IPL, BBL, etc, @babse

It supplies important international experience, of the best outings against spin, and, in a way, keeps the South African game in the international spotlight.

 

The downside is players like Rabada suffer from overuse and then breaks down when the national team needs him. Individually, the financial rewards are stupendous with the strength of the dollar, but the time away from home ridiculous.

 

Above all else, the team is in a serious rut, have failed to transform with ample opportunity due to big challenges at grassroots level and now face a performance challenge as well as a representative challenge.

 

Must say, I feel like watching lekka Test Cricket. It remains my favourite kind of chess.

[gemmerbal]

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

 

was this tour a last min decision?

surely a ODI series against the top ranked side is a slight priority for one of our best players

 

surely he should've been managed there to be available for every possibly game over here.... anyway, my love for that IPL tournie continues

[Mntboy]

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

 

 

When I saw Sky was live streaming the Bob Willis Trophy final on YouTube I watched a session or two especially seeing that Cook, Harmer and Ten Doeschate were all playing. In the comments section there was a guy going off about how good the IPL is. You should've seen some of the comments that he got back blasting him for commenting as he was. I just couldn't help but find it funny!!!!!

[Mntboy]

The tour was in the balance as it wasn't guaranteed government clearance so the hosts were not certain about game time.

 

There are several benefits for releasing players to global events like IPL, BBL, etc, @babse

It supplies important international experience, of the best outings against spin, and, in a way, keeps the South African game in the international spotlight.

 

The downside is players like Rabada suffer from overuse and then breaks down when the national team needs him. Individually, the financial rewards are stupendous with the strength of the dollar, but the time away from home ridiculous.

 

Above all else, the team is in a serious rut, have failed to transform with ample opportunity due to big challenges at grassroots level and now face a performance challenge as well as a representative challenge.

 

Must say, I feel like watching lekka Test Cricket. It remains my favourite kind of chess.

Test Cricket = Best Cricket

 

The longest format has always intrigued me more than the shorter one's. A greater test of one's ability and character.

[gemmerbal]

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

 

Test Cricket = Best Cricket

 

The longest format has always intrigued me more than the shorter one's. A greater test of one's ability and character.

[Mntboy]

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

 

 

The white ball stuff fills the coffers of the boards though, so you understand why they get played but they aren't that memorable unless something special happens in the match.

 

Even with the domestic stuff I find the 4 Day matches to be more interesting. AD needs to find a way to get his bowlers confidence back up after back to back losses for the Knights. And Prince needs to find a way for the Cobras to do something other than draw or lose. Pieter Malan finding some form is a boost. Also seeing Wiaan Mulder do well at the Lions after an injury lay off is pretty good too. It's stuff like that that makes it so interesting to watch and follow and I haven't mentioned any of the subplots that so often go with individual fixtures as well.

[gemmerbal]

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.

The white ball stuff fills the coffers of the boards though, so you understand why they get played but they aren't that memorable unless something special happens in the match.

Even with the domestic stuff I find the 4 Day matches to be more interesting. AD needs to find a way to get his bowlers confidence back up after back to back losses for the Knights. And Prince needs to find a way for the Cobras to do something other than draw or lose. Pieter Malan finding some form is a boost. Also seeing Wiaan Mulder do well at the Lions after an injury lay off is pretty good too. It's stuff like that that makes it so interesting to watch and follow and I haven't mentioned any of the subplots that so often go with individual fixtures as well.

Edited December 7, 2020 by gemmerbal

[Mntboy]

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.

Mik en Moer - akkuraat baie akkuraat! [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

 

Doesn't Premier League cricket qualify you for a Level 1 coaching certificate? Or at least a few points towards one? That's if you've ever considered doing that. Did you find the adjustment to English conditions tricky or was it something that didn't effect you much?

 

On the pink ball stuff, I think it's an interesting take on long form cricket. It's certainly entertaining but I view it as being a different, modified playing condition for what is still FC/Test cricket. Is probably best played where the fields and weather conditions are suited to it.

[gemmerbal]

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.

Mik en Moer - akkuraat baie akkuraat! [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

Doesn't Premier League cricket qualify you for a Level 1 coaching certificate? Or at least a few points towards one? That's if you've ever considered doing that. Did you find the adjustment to English conditions tricky or was it something that didn't effect you much?

On the pink ball stuff, I think it's an interesting take on long form cricket. It's certainly entertaining but I view it as being a different, modified playing condition for what is still FC/Test cricket. Is probably best played where the fields and weather conditions are suited to it.

[gemmerbal]

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.

 

Mik en Moer - akkuraat baie akkuraat! [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

Doesn't Premier League cricket qualify you for a Level 1 coaching certificate? Or at least a few points towards one? That's if you've ever considered doing that. Did you find the adjustment to English conditions tricky or was it something that didn't effect you much?

On the pink ball stuff, I think it's an interesting take on long form cricket. It's certainly entertaining but I view it as being a different, modified playing condition for what is still FC/Test cricket. Is probably best played where the fields and weather conditions are suited to it.

[Mntboy]

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.

My brother never let on that there were threats and such from his time umpiring matches but he was umpiring the lower levels. League 2 mostly iirc. 

 

Sounds like you had an amazing time playing in England!

[Mntboy]

I think what many of us suspected might happen, has happened. Here's the link to the article on Cricinfo: 

 

South Africa vs England 2020 - Tour called off after Covid-19 outbreak (espncricinfo.com)

[IceCreamMan]

Real pity. One of hte things i look forward to in the dreary winter months is watching cricket being played in the nice sunshiney regions of the world. 

 

CSA should hang their heads in shame

[Shebeen]

 

Above all else, the team is in a serious rut, have failed to transform with ample opportunity due to big challenges at grassroots level and now face a performance challenge as well as a representative challenge.

 

Must say, I feel like watching lekka Test Cricket. It remains my favourite kind of chess.

I must say I am disappointed that the proteas haven't been able to kick on.

 

if we jump in a delorean to 2015.

Toetie is about to oversee a disastrous bok period, with record losses to nz and argentina, wales/scotland. not all is fault, but Rassie took basically the same team to the top in a very short time.

 

bafana bafana..well ja, nothing really to get excited about here (and I've tried to look, and making the 1/4 finals of AFCON 2019 is considered the finest result of the decade. they are that incredibly crap).

 

blitzbokke - world class, a shining example to how things can go if the suits and politicians just f#$% off and they concentrate on the game.

 

proteas - on the verge of really coming good. some greats approaching the end but the pipeline looked good and (save the blitzbokke), by far the most transformed national side with world class players there on merit.

 

I feel we only look at the results of the top team, and the proteas were on a shaky base with the gap from provincial to national just widening. the big3 have really messed us around for a decade, but CSA shenanigans have really but the team into turbo reverse. in the middle of this is sandpapergate 2018, where we got a chance to welakapela the aussies, thank the pope we didn't stick the knife in.

 

 

this is from exactly 5 years ago - there's something dead inside you if this doesn't give you goosebumps.

 

 

back in my Delorean, to the end of 2020, and it's just disappointing how far backwards we have come.